Shaheen Samavati recently spoke with William Lawrie, the London-based EMEA digital marketing manager at JLL. He described what it’s like to work in marketing for a massive real estate services company like JLL, which operates around the world. In this interview, he explains how he’s guiding the company through its large-scale digital transformation by managing accounts and stakeholder relationships, and offers advice for aspiring marketers.

You can watch the full conversation in the video above or on our YouTube channel, listen to the podcast on Apple and Spotify, and read our recap below.

Key takeaways

  • For a large company like JLL, working in Europe means balancing different schedules, budgets, resources and cultural contexts—although William points out that general similarities between countries makes adapting B2B social media content easier.
  • When localizing content, it helps to use a translator who’s well versed in both the specific subject matter and social media; high-quality translations in the local language improve engagement and overall performance.
  • Before fully committing to a big paid campaign, a good rule of thumb is to run small-scale tests, gauge performance and make any necessary adjustments first.
  • To break into corporate digital marketing, spend some time at smaller companies and invest in courses to gain expertise; William recommends CSS, HTML and UX courses on Udemy.
  • The new generation of consumers expects brands to know what they want, so the future of social media will likely rely on analytics and automation to target highly specific niches.
  • Digital is becoming such a big part of our lives that it’s difficult to do any campaign without digital marketing now.

In the end, the point of social media is to build an emotional connection with users, so that they see you as not just a brand, but a human.

Rapid-fire recs

What’s an app or tool that you can’t work without?

Hootsuite is great for scheduling for a large corporation. It allows us to plan and keep track of what everyone else is doing and posting. It also provides a lot of analytics, and makes it much easier to interact on social media.

Also check out: Top 10 apps for content and marketing professionals

A marketing influencer who you follow?

I follow a lot of Twitter accounts like Fast Company and TechCrunch to see what different companies are doing, rather than just following a single person or company. Econsultancy is also a good source of information on digital marketing trends.

See also: 8 inspiring content and marketing influencers to follow

A valuable resource, event or group?

The Adobe Summit brings together thought leaders and experts in different areas, to show you the trends in a variety of industries. For example, at the last one they interviewed people from Gen Z, the up-and-coming target demographic, about the customer experience.

Connect with William and Shaheen on LinkedIn.

This post was edited by Melissa Haun, a freelance content creator based in Lisbon.

For more insights into EMEA digital marketing:

Innovate and go digital – Christian Flaschka, global marketing expert at Markem-Imaje

Interact with your audience – Mariann Bartucz, online marketing manager at Starschema

Make room for growth – Santiago Garcia Solimei, global social media director at Meliá

Maximize growth through ABM – Andreas Mosegaard Villumsen, EMEA marketing manager

To see the full transcript, click on page number 2 below. 

Pages: 1 2