Established the Global Content Marketing Department

Challenge

When I joined the Global Marketing team at Dreamscape Networks (now known as Newfold Digital), I needed to build a full content marketing function from scratch. This involved creating content for every stage of the funnel—TOFU (Top of Funnel), MOFU (Middle of Funnel), and BOFU (Bottom of Funnel)—as well as setting up a video production unit. We had to serve three brands, including one launching in the Indonesian market, while dealing with hiring challenges, high expectations, and tight deadlines for delivering quality content.

There was also a strong business need to build our brands, which meant plans for video podcasts, brand videos, and a behind-the-scenes look into brand building.

My Role

With my background in content marketing, I was brought on board to lead this effort as the first Head of Content Marketing for the organisation. I was responsible for producing a variety of content—blogs, lead magnets, videos, emails, and website copywriting. My role also included hiring and training team members, managing content requests from different departments, and ensuring we met our deadlines with top-notch content.

My Action

Laying the Groundwork: First, I focused on creating a strong team culture and effective processes. I developed a brand tone of voice guide to keep our content consistent. To tackle hiring challenges, I flew to our Cebu office to speed up the recruitment process. This hands-on approach helped us build a skilled and motivated team quickly.

Team Building and Training: I trained one of our writers to become an editor, giving them the skills to maintain content standards and mentor new writers. This not only improved our output but also encouraged continuous learning within the team. We also integrated technical writers into our content team, which streamlined operations and expanded our capabilities.

Innovative Hiring Practices: To establish our video production function, I used the Made In Singapore campaign to conduct a paid test for a video producer. This practical approach ensured we hired someone who was the perfect fit for our needs.

Optimising Processes: We started with Asana for project management and later transitioned to Confluence and Jira. This change made our work more transparent and accessible, allowing everyone to collaborate more easily.

Results

Content Delivery and Team Growth: We consistently delivered landing pages on time and built a Content Marketing team at Dreamscape that grew to 12+ members. This team handled Content Marketing, Technical Writing, Video Production, and Web Development. Our structured approach enabled us to deliver and scale various content types across multiple brands and countries.

Video Production and Campaign Success: We set up an in-house video production team capable of producing campaign videos and podcasts and coordinating with agencies for larger projects. This capability shone during the Made In Singapore campaign, which significantly boosted Vodien’s new bookings.

Improved Coordination: Leading the migration of our campaign/project management processes from Asana to Confluence and Jira in 2019 improved cross-department coordination. This move made our work more transparent and accessible, helping everyone work together more effectively.

Notable Achievements:

  • Crazy Domains’ Blog: By moving the platform from Blogspot to WordPress and implementing content audits, lead magnets, and internal links, we doubled the session duration of Crazy Domains’ blog in 2019.
  • Made In Singapore Campaign: This 2018 campaign increased year-over-year new bookings by 49.8% in the first month and month-over-month new bookings for the hosting vertical by 12.19%. It featured customer story videos on an interactive landing page, demonstrating our ability to produce engaging and effective content.
  • Made in Australia Video Production: Led the video content marketing efforts for the Made In Australia brand campaign in 2018, which included coordinating customer videos from Australia.

Reflections

Building the Content Marketing team from scratch was a challenging but incredibly rewarding experience. By creating strong processes, fostering a culture of excellence, and using innovative hiring and training practices, I was able to build a team capable of delivering high-quality content across multiple platforms. This journey highlighted the importance of strategic planning, effective team building, and ongoing process improvement in achieving and exceeding our goals.