Companies wanting to make an impact in the digital space need to know their medium and know their audience – in equal measure.
That’s according to Head of Content for CBR Marketing Solutions, Amy Meyer, who says that, for every medium there must be a different strategy and a different approach, which goes for the different audiences as well. Understanding who you are speaking to and how you’re speaking to them will make the difference between success and failure in a campaign.
Amy joined the company in 2015, and as an avid writer, is loving the outlet she has to be creative, ideas-driven, and strategic, while having fun too. A Jo’burg girl, Amy studied journalism at the University of Johannesburg, with philosophy as her second major. This had an impact on her future. “I fell in love with the ethics side of philosophy and decided I wanted to write stuff that mattered.” She joined an NGO, doing research and writing proposals for government and private clients, but the wheels turned slowly or not at all, and the job became very disheartening. After almost two years, she decided to explore a different path, falling comfortably and happily into her position at CBR Marketing Solutions.
Particularly appealing for Amy is how the company sets itself apart from the rest: “When we run a campaign for a client, it has the heart of our client in it. We entrench ourselves in our clients’ businesses goals – we are partners.”
Specialising in digital marketing, CBR Marketing Solutions provides Amy with the welcomed challenge of writing for Social Media, search engine optimisation, AdWords, web and app design and development, multimedia, as well as above-the-line marketing.
“Our promise includes giving our best to every client and giving our best to each other. This makes all the difference in our day-to-day work lives. I love coming to work because my colleagues inspire and support me; we have fun together, and they’re just a bunch of awesome people. The work is great – it’s always different, exciting, and challenging – with fine-tuned strategizing essential for every campaign.” Meyer adds that philosophy gave her a love of strategy because “you need a strategy to prove a point. You determine your end goal then determine how to reach it in the most optimal way. That’s what marketing is about too.” Meyer concedes that she never thought she would end up in marketing, but acknowledges that it is a perfect fit for her.
Writing in the digital space is also a minefield that many copywriters don’t get through unscathed. “Too often, people write too academically and rigidly or too colloquially. It’s important to adjust your writing to the medium and the audience for whom you are writing. You need to find your balance, and tweak your writing per brand and per medium. It’s a constant challenge – and it makes the job all the more exciting.”
Meyer, who 30, lives with her partner and comes from a big family – “I love coming from a big family”. She describes herself as, among other things, “quite a nerd” who enjoys reading philosophy. “Sometimes when I face an issue, I might wonder what Aristotle would say about it – and then do some reading to work it out.” Her reading has taken a backseat in recent weeks as she has been going through weekend training course on the digital user experience.
Top of her bucket list is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro because “When you get to the top of a mountain I don’t think many feelings could compare!” Apart from that, she has the travel bug and wants to travel “everywhere”. Meyer is inspired by new ideas – hers or anyone else’s – and being able to see things in a different way. Her father inspires her too; he’s always full of new ideas.
Whatever trajectory Meyer’s life takes, words will always be at the core of it. To quote American Yehuda Berg, “Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power…”
For more information on CBR, go to www.cbrmarketing.co.za.
