In recent years, Medellín has attracted a diverse, highly skilled network of entrepreneurs and creatives from around the world. With a 97% literacy rate, a $38 million government fund for local tech and innovation, and three of the best universities in the country, Medellín’s business potential is set to grow to new heights.
The city’s transformation has gained significant international recognition. In 2012, Medellín was named the Most Innovative City in the World, and in 2018, it won the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize (the Nobel Prize equivalent for cities). As a result, between 2011 to 2018, more than 150 tech startups chose Medellín as their Latin American base.
While the business boom has many benefits – investment opportunities, enhanced worker skillset and knowledge, collaborations/partnerships – it does have some drawbacks. The talent market can become flooded (i.e. too many people offering the same services) and make finding the right companies or individuals to work with a long and expensive process.
Clickstein
Particularly for digital marketing, finding an expert is crucial to ensure your business reaches the widest and most appropriate audience. Digital marketing enables emerging companies to compete in their industries and drastically boost brand awareness and leads. In a highly-active entrepreneurial landscape like Medellín, digital marketing is a necessity.
Having launched in 2017, Clickstein is the latest project from marketing master Dan Linden. Clickstein is designed to bridge the gap between regular marketers that often focus on incorrect KPIs and push a performance-based holistic marketing focus. Based on the idea of “Einstein-inspired marketing formulas”. Dan has quickly propelled Clickstein to be one the best digital marketing companies in the United States, and hopes to grow the Latin American branch just as quickly.
Dan’s latest adventure. Speaking alongside New York Times best-selling celebrity Gary Vaynerchuk. In this article, Dan offers his insights into finding expert digital marketers in Medellín:
What is digital marketing?
First, let’s go back to basics and highlight what digital marketing entails. A simple task, but very effective in outlining what the main duties are for any marketer.
Digital marketing is how companies promote their products or services, and connect with their customers online. The key elements of effective digital marketing include:
– Email marketing
– Social media marketing
– Pay per click advertisement (PPC)
– Online PR
– Inbound or outbound marketing
– Content marketing
– SEO (search engine optimization)
– Automation
Why use digital marketing?
These days, customers are online. Digital marketing then, is the optimal way to reach new customers and retain existing ones.
Digital marketing is normally much cheaper in reaching the exact audience you’re looking for versus traditional modes of marketing and helps brands reach a global marketplace. It also allows companies to collect data on how customers interact with a brand (what works and doesn’t work) and empower marketers to make informed decisions on where to allocate spending. Not to mention, data provides marketers with a deeper understanding of their target groups, so content can be hyper-personalized. Plus, digital marketing lets campaigns be easily adapted and scaled – a ‘must’ for any business looking to take the next step in their growth.
So, how do you filter through the abundance of marketers in Medellín (or the United States) and hire someone best-suited to your needs? Here are five easy tricks:
Identify your business needs
It may sound obvious, but before you even begin your hunt for a digital marketer, you need to be clear about what you want that person to achieve for your business. Consider your company size, annual KPIs, budget, growth rate, conversion targets, and existing leads. Devote a good chunk of time to drawing up how digital marketing fits into your current performance and calculate realistic targets. You won’t necessarily need to share this information with candidates, it’s more an exercise so you can match your plans to marketers’ profiles.
Take a step back and make sure you’re ready for this new step. One of the elements that will make a difference when hiring a marketer is having an already working sales process. Getting your business into online marketing (when done well) is like opening the doors to many more customers, so you’ll need to have employees and resources to take care of all of them. The good thing is strategies like PPC Advertisement will only bring you users that are interested in your products or services, and that have interacted with your brand already.
Search in the right places
The large digital nomad community in Medellín has plenty of channels to help you find a suitable marketer. Facebook groups like Medellín Expat and Tourist Info are brilliant to ask for information about marketing companies in the city. There are also a number of marketing meet-ups that take place throughout the year – keep an eye on events posted in ex-pat groups and the calendars for places like Selena or Barrio Central. Once at the meet-up, ask around for digital marketing recommendations and be specific about what you’re looking for. Even in the digital age, word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful and reliable sources for referrals.
Review previous work examples
After you’ve read through their capabilities deck and deemed the company a good fit for your business, always ask about campaigns they have worked on before. Ideally, you want a breakdown of what they did, for how long, what the impact was, and how they moved forward. The example doesn’t necessarily have to have been successful, but should show how they learn from ongoing projects. A good marketer will be able to list multiple projects in detail, and will state which tools they used along the way.
With proof, make sure to get the overall story but also ask for screenshots and even a quick video run down. For example, Clickstein recently 10x a companies revenue just from Google Ads. They also recently created a micro-celebrity influencer in Medellín by taking them from 267 YouTube subscribers to over 120.000 in a matter of two months using their ‘YouTube subscriber Machine Formula”.
Consider the cultural fit
At its core, digital marketing is about selling your brand, so whoever owns that responsibility has to be a good cultural fit. You and your team need to work with your digital marketer seamlessly. They should be fantastic communicators, analytically-minded, creative, and able to tackle tasks independently. Moreover, they should reflect your brand in the way you envision. Put them to the test by asking questions about their workflow and business values. But be aware, they may need time to learn your business model and personal preferences.
At the same time, be transparent about whether you want someone to work closely with your company, or if you prefer a more hands-off approach. This dynamic is vital to develop an efficient partnership. When you speak to the potential marketer, ask if they confirm and review every detail with you, or if they are willing to take the reins and check in with you at a time frame you prefer. It’s very important that both parties know – and agree – in advance how close the relationship is.
Ask for a test project
For the final check, send your candidate a task to complete. Aim to design a small project that tests the business needs you set out at the beginning of your search. Examples of test projects could be building a landing page from scratch, conducting keyword research or doing competitor analysis. Give the candidate a clear goal, an outline, and a deadline, and once they have completed the task, set up a call with them to have them explain their work. This is the best way to assess a digital marketer in action
Have a profitable business or brand? Take your company to the next level with ‘Einstein inspired digital marketing formulas’.
Clickstein has helped hundreds of companies generate more revenue and boost their online visibility. With a high lead generation success rate, they look to partner with brands that earn between $200,000 and $2,000,000 a month. For more information, reach out through the contact page or message Clicksteins’s operations manager directly at ale@clickstein.com.
Editor’s note: This is a sponsored post.
