Marketing and Communications work closely together and have overlapping goals and responsibilities. In general, our communal goal is to make sure that people in our target audience know that imc exists.

They need to know what we do, which products and services we provide and how our products can support their organisations. And of course, they need to know where to find us and how to reach us.

For marketing, the end goal is simply selling our products. In Business-to-Business (B2B) marketing that boils down to lead generation; we try to filter the right people out of the crowds and then we hand these “leads” over to Sales, who will do the actual selling.

For communications, the final goal is not necessarily sales related. It is also about informing external and internal audiences. For example through social media, internal communication or by dealing with press and other public relations.

Basically, a lead is a relevant person in our target audience with a certain interest in imc and our products and services. The most important thing about leads is that you need to distinguish different types of leads. The two main categories are Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL) and Sales Qualified Leads (SQL).

An MQL is a relevant person who shows an interest in imc, but she/he does not necessarily have an immediate need or a purchase intent. An MQL might just be looking around, reading up on some topics, downloading a whitepaper, signing up for a webinar, etc. But that’s it… at least for now.

An SQL on the other hand, does have an immediate need or a purchase intent. They did their homework (when they were still an MQL), they know what they want and they are ready to talk to Sales now.

It is important to make this split in order to manage expectations and to avoid confusion between Marketing and Sales. On average, only 3% of the people in your target audience qualifies as an SQL.

The other 97 % is not ready to buy (yet), but that does not mean that you shouldn’t pay attention to them. On the contrary. You want to stay in touch with them, to make sure that they will think of imc as soon as they get to the SQL stage.

In other words, you need long-term strategies to make B2B marketing work. And that can be quite challenging.

Often the day starts with meetings because of the time difference between me and my colleagues in Asia and Australia. Then I check the performance of the running marketing campaigns and if there are any urgent things to do. After that, I try to find a 3-hour-slot in which I can work – uninterruptedly - on one of the bigger tasks on my to-do list.

These are things like analysing and optimising the results of long-term strategies, like Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and conversion optimisation. The rest of the day is mostly filled with all kinds of smaller tasks and daily routines such as preparing for upcoming events, meetings or webinars, testing new messaging, answering emails, etc.

I think patience and persistence are very important. As I mentioned earlier, B2B-marketing relies heavily on long-term strategies. Marketing and Sales cycles are long and your efforts do not instantly pay off in leads or sales.

It is not like selling consumer products on Amazon. That makes it important to define a long-term strategy and to stick to it. You can constantly test, change and optimise different tools and new channels, but your overall goal and strategy should be clear and consistent. And that is not always easy, so patience and persistence are essential.

What I find quite funny is the image of marketing people. Some people still seem to think that marketing people are like Don Draper from Mad Men: Slick men in suits day-drinking whisky in the office. But it is quite the opposite. I identify more with beardy nerds in unironed t-shirts staring at statistics all day.

It’s more Math Men than Mad Men I’m afraid. But that is what makes it so interesting for me. It is a combination of creativity and analysing data. You need to be creative to solve problems, to reach the right people, to find the right messaging, but you also need to analyse data.

It is not just being creative for the sake of being creative, but there are clear goals to be achieved. The data is helping you to do that better, quicker and/or more efficient. That is what I like a lot about this job.

My job title can mean something completely different in every company. Here at imc a Brand and Marketing Manager is responsible for all brand and marketing activities in a certain region, so you need to know a bit of everything.

I used to work for different marketing agencies in which I worked for over 50 different companies in various industries and different countries. I have had all kinds of roles from marketing strategy to data analysis and from content creation to performance marketing, so that gave me broad marketing experience. That comes in real handy in my role now at imc.

In terms of studying, I started with a Bachelor’s degree in Communication and Multimedia Design, followed by a Master’s in Business Communication and Digital Media. My time at the university taught me a certain way of analytical thinking, researching and problem solving, but – to be honest – the actual skills I need on a day-to-day basis I didn’t learn at uni, I learned them on the job.

While my friends wanted to become cool things like policemen or firefighters, I wanted to become a fiction writer. I told you I was a nerd…

Running. It keeps me fit and helps me to clear my mind. Since Corona I have set my goal to run at least 25 km a week plus at least one half marathon every month.

I could give a sophisticated answer or name some Tarantino or Guy Ritchie movies (which I love), but in the end, my all-time guilty pleasure is Dumb and Dumber…

At the moment, my girlfriend and I are rewatching all episodes of the Big Bang Theory. Who doesn’t love Sheldon?

Rock! I am always very impressed by the skills of many jazz musicians, but I feel like I don’t understand the music very well. After a 20 minute improvisation I’d quite like a hook, a chorus or some kind of structure again.

So, I prefer rock. I used to play bass guitar in various rock bands, but I actually play on a Fender Jazz bass, so – in a way - there is still a bit of a jazz influence.

We have different types of designers from motion designers for moving images to screen design and user interface specialists. However, the different roles will often overlap. As a visual designer, I create graphics, illustrations and sometimes also motion designs.

I already knew early on that I wanted to do something creative. That has guided me throughout my life. Even as a child, I was always drawing. But I also had a knack for technology and took web design courses while at school.

Studying something in that field was therefore an obvious choice. So, I did my degree in screen and web design in Freiburg and specialised in game design. That was very exciting, as it also gave me the opportunity to partake in the programming of several mobile phone games and development of PC games.

During my studies, I took several courses with Falk Hegewald, the Head of our content department, and that’s how I ended up at imc.

First, I check all emails and messages, and work on all the things that need to be delivered to the customer that day. Then, I start on my design tasks. I might, for example, create base designs or draw illustrations. Naturally, I also coordinate regularly with our project managers or instructional designers like Philipp Schossau.

Once an order is confirmed, the project managers and instructional designers clarify directly with the customer what they need and what they have in mind. The colleagues already develop a rough concept at this point, which they then hand over to us.

Next, design comes into it. You could say we are contributing visual creativity. We make suggestions on style, colours, font, as well as the atmosphere in a training course. We often also utilise mood boards where we sketch our proposals to help the customer picture it better. Then comes the base design.

Especially at the start of a project, close coordination is crucial, as it helps us understand what the customer has in mind and prevent us developing something in conflict with that vision. Books make for a good analogy here: Every reader pictures the described figures differently. That’s why screen adaptations are so difficult to create and often lead to disappointment. Obviously, we want to avoid that.

Of course, you need certain technical skills and at least have some experience with basics like Adobe programs. But above all, creativity, excitement, and curiosity are key for creating and designing special training courses. You always need to be ready and motivated to develop new ideas, so that the learner also enjoys the course to the fullest.

Yes. Absolutely. As I said earlier, I have always been very creative and love design. I enjoy it immensely. To balance out sitting at the computer all day, I like to head out into the great outdoors to practice landscape and animal photography and soak in nature. It helps me switch off completely.

I think it is particularly important to address problems directly, so that solutions can be found as quickly as possible. It is also important to always be open and honest with each other and avoid taking yourself too seriously. It’s OK to laugh about your own mistakes.

I’m a little torn. Of course, I spend a lot of time in front of the computer in my job, and there are many positive aspects – especially in these times. We must be thankful that we can already do so many things online, from shopping to video conferences. However, it’s still not the same as meeting someone in person.
For example, in the project I described earlier, it was such a beautiful feeling to work together – to draw on a whiteboard together, make corrections, redesign, discuss as a team. The thought and work processes are different in the digital sphere. I don’t think you can reproduce or replace it.

I do. I have an inflatable wedge cushion for my back. It’s like a sitting ball you place on the chair that makes you move. It really helped me.

Other than our office in Freiburg, I’ve only seen the old offices in Saarbrücken. I do think our office with the large kitchen, many plants and windows offering a view of the Vosges is rather beautiful. Sometimes, it can get a little noisy when everyone is in.

But I like the open plan. There are no closed doors, and you can walk over to anyone at any time. Of course, I would really like to visit our Melbourne office ...

The example that comes to my mind was not so much strange but different and unique.

Recently we had a workshop with a customer from Italy and the customer was not so fluent in English, although they could understand it. I understand Italian, as it’s very similar to my native language Romanian, but I can’t speak it. So finally, we ended up with me speaking English and the customer speaking Italian – and it worked!

Reactions like we recently received in our knowledge transfer! This is an internal format where we introduce new releases to all our colleagues from imc.

In the last knowledge transfer, when we demonstrated the highlights of the new release, our colleagues from all over the world were so impressed and happy and wrote things like “Wow, this is such a great feature”, or “looks awesome, great job”. It is such a good feeling to see your work being appreciated after you put in so much effort.

It is a very broad role. Essentially, I am responsible for the performance of the business and colleagues in the Asia business unit. I’m involved across many functions like Marketing, Sales, Consulting and Customer Support. At the same time, I’m dealing with our headquarter in Germany and our partners, so this requires a constant shift of focus.

I enjoy this varied work and collaboration with people. It’s a lot of pressure and I have to understand what is happening across different Asian markets, how the team can react, and which areas need to be improved. There is never too little to do in a day, but I always remind myself that there is another day!

There are so many things, it’s hard to have just one. Being honest has always been close to my heart, but even so at imc as we are working with customers, partners and colleagues.

We build long-term relationships because the work we do are not just transactional projects, but the relationship can last beyond the initial set-up and implementation. Therefore, an honest conversation is essential. And it’s also very important to set and communicate clear expectations.

I began my career in professional services and learning in Vancouver, Canada where I grew up. The business offered vendor-neutral technology certifications specialising in cloud computing, big data, service-oriented architecture etc.

I moved to Singapore in 2014 and here I worked for a global company that specialised in the area of leadership development, service excellence and sales effectiveness.

Coming to imc felt like I was going full circle to support organisations and individuals from a technology and digital perspective. My passion has always been on learning new things, so that fits well.

I think you can learn something from everyone, and it depends on what you take out of this situation. Also, I believe that depending on the stage of your life or career, one can resonate with different people.

I also think that while one can take advice from many people, it’s important to be clear about your own values, purpose, and internal compass to guide you through the good and bad times.

I like to take a walk and do some exercises, that helps me to clear my mind. But sometimes I also enjoy doing nothing, just sit on the couch and watch Netflix.

And, I like to organise things, a bit geeky, but like re-organising apps on my phone, that is quite relaxing for me!

We have divided the interview with Vildan into several sections. The video is in German but with English subtitles.

The whole video in full length you can watch here. Enjoy listening and watching!