Backstory, Secret Superpowers, and Musings on the Marketing Industry
We had the pleasure of sitting down with, Sandra Squire, our CEO, and having a chat about her career so far, and how it affected her outlook, skillset, and business ethics. Without further ado, let’s do a deep dive into Sandra’s life.
1. What’s the biggest change in the agency business since you started?
A decade makes a world of difference, especially in today’s fast-paced world. We all expect things like fashion, music, and technology to change. But think for a moment about how ubiquitous smart devices became and how that impacted the marketing industry. As society shifts, marketing shifts with it.
Arguably, the last ten years have seen the greatest technological growth ever. In 2009, the iPhone was two years old, Android was in its infancy, and Samsung’s S9110 was the only smartwatch on the market. Back then, many consumers received marketing messages through ‘traditional’ offline mediums. Too much of the tech we take for granted was very new and just didn’t have the required market penetration.
Fast forward to the present day — the consumer that would have been reading a physical copy of the newspaper is now reading that newspaper online (probably on their mobile device). Likewise, the consumer that relied on television for news is now browsing social media to stay up to date. The average person spends about two hours a day browsing their five social media accounts. As people’s attention shifted from offline to online channels, marketing followed suit.
With the rise of online media, marketing messaging had to evolve. Ten years ago, push marketing was all the rage. It focused on introducing the product to consumers and constantly reminding them of it… i.e. pushing it on them until they make a purchase. This type of messaging wears on the customer, and they’re more likely to turn away from the product.
Pull marketing, on the other hand, draws the consumers to your brand by nurturing the relationship over time. You’ll be making them grow to love your product or service. Instead of relying solely on writing, marketing content now includes video, infographics, social media posts, images, blogs, e-books, and the list goes on!
Pull marketing targets the right customers at the right time and pulls them in to learn more about whatever you’re offering. With the many types of content in use today, it is more crucial than ever for a brand to be consistent across all mediums and channels. It takes an average of ten touchpoints for a customer to trust a business and make a purchase. It’s crucial for a brand to have these touchpoints be as consistent as possible. When a customer sees your brand and its message on social media, it should match the message on your website. Likewise, the message your brand is conveying online should match the message it is conveying offline at your physical location.
Customers don’t want to feel like they are being sold to anymore, they want to feel like you are on their side. Today’s marketing shows consumers how your product or service makes their lives better.
2. What’s your proudest moment in business?
I’ve been fortunate enough to have many proud moments in my career. I always take pride in what I do — providing quality service really matters to me.
One moment that stands out happened while I was working with a technical organisation whose business was in decline. I helped them define their key product and company messaging — playing to their strengths with a very complex technical product portfolio. A key enabler was to conduct an extensive competitor analysis as well as develop a suite of sales tools. These initiatives resulted in their repositioning in the market, which culminated in a 50% growth in market share. This was very rewarding for me personally, as their technology was not only complex but was also unfamiliar to me. The ultimate reward though was a client who was delighted with the outcome.
3. What sort of jobs did you do growing up and what lessons did you learn that you still apply to your today?
As a youngster, I had the traditional paper round and later, as a teenager, I worked in a corner shop. Both jobs taught me about the importance of hard work. I learned to be dependable and to honour my commitments. I also learnt about the value of money and how to be self-sufficient. Working with the public allowed me to develop my interpersonal skills serving customers from all walks of life.
Further into my career — my first ‘proper’ job actually — I worked for a company that designed high-end studio speakers. My job was to test and review prototypes to pick up any design faults before the product reached the manufacturing part of the process. This provided me with a solid technical background that has served me to this day. In practical terms, this role also helped to fund my marketing education — helping me get to where I am today.
4. What is your top-secret superpower?
Interesting — I would say the power of ‘time vision’ i.e., the ability to see both into the future and the past. I have a knack for understanding the past and that helps me redefine future marketing strategies.
Here’s one example: In the 90s, websites were technically online brochures, explaining business activities and products; they mostly focused on the business’s perspective. Fast forward to today: to be successful, businesses must engage with current and prospective clients by listening and solving their problems, focusing on benefits as well as building trust and maintaining relationships.
When I look to the future, I expect that social media activity will be key to maximising the visibility of content. This, in turn, will support powerful SEO strategies. So, my secret power (or not so secret anymore) has taught me to understand the past to determine the future.
5. Why do you think your agency stands out from other digital agencies?
We work collaboratively with our customers and take a holistic approach to the development of the marketing strategy. This allows us to better understand their business processes, identify pain points, and finally recommend marketing strategies that deliver the most benefit.
I said before that providing a quality service is important, and I’m happy to say that the whole team feels the same. We take pride in the quality of the service we provide to our clients.
The EBS Marketing team supports their customers with an extensive portfolio of services. This includes providing resources to fill skill gaps, creating compelling key messaging, and selecting and even developing sales tools that support campaign success. Finally, we can educate the client’s sales channel about the best implementation practices for the campaign.
6. What’s the last great book you read? Why was it great?
I would say ‘The Seeds of Happiness’ by Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov. A friend recommended this to me when we were studying philosophy together. I would go as far as to say that it changed my life. I was amazed by the messages the author was sharing in this book and they really taught me self-awareness and helped me understand what really makes me happy. It helped me to realise my business objectives; and in my personal life, to understand and focus on what really matters. It was also an enjoyable read.
