He built a business that partnered with LinkedIn – Meet Marius Greeff

By Koketso Mamabolo

Marius Greeff, Turn Left Media co-founder

In 2016 Marius Greeff and business partner John Bowles started Turn Left Media as LinkedIn’s exclusive partner in sub-Saharan Africa. “Since then we’ve opened offices in Kenya, and Nigeria, and have become the Alliance Partner for LinkedIn’s Talent Solutions across Africa,” says Marius, who focused on marketing and communications during his studies at the University of Pretoria.

“I journeyed from Discovery to Exclusive Books, and that’s where the digital bug bit.” He worked in Exclusive Books’ e-commerce division before a move to Habari Media, who are the digital representatives for brands such as Facebook, the BBC and LinkedIn.

The years of experience, and cementing a partnership with a globally-recognised brand have made Marius an authoritative voice on strategic marketing, business partnerships, employer branding and more. Here he offers up his advice on communicating with customers and explains how advertising has changed since he started his career.

What are most businesses missing when it comes to strategic marketing?

Strategic marketing is a tactic used to set an organisation apart from its rivals by focusing on its advantages to provide customers with better service and value. In other words, strategic marketing aims to maximise the positive distinction that a firm has over its rivals in the eyes of the consumer. 

What would you say if someone proposed marriage to you during a first date? They don’t know your family history, favourite football team, or your preferred milk-to-tea ratio, so how could they ask you that? Even if you have common interests, they will first need to discover your dislikes for one another before any type of courtship could result in a question of that scale. We’re assuming you’d most likely respond with a resounding “NO” to them.

Before pushing the “Buy Now,” “Subscribe,” and “Book Today” buttons into the dialogue, businesses need to take more time courting their customers and learning what they want.

You might have coffee with each one of your potential clients to learn more about them and discover what makes them buy what they do. There is also another technique for you to get to know them considerably better if you don’t have time for that.

What does it take to form a partnership with a global brand such as LinkedIn?

Partnering with global brands offer several key benefits, including the “seat at the table” opportunity that bigger brands offer, access to global insights, and best in class examples. From a local partner perspective, the most important opportunity is to offer the brand expertise, connections, and scale into the local market that they wouldn’t be able to source anywhere else. A team of local, on-the-ground experts enables brands to be involved very early from a strategic level with our advertising partners. We believe that this social power in the market allows us to introduce new media offerings and opportunities, in a trust-based relationship with the brands with which we choose to work.

How can employer branding be improved?

Simply put, Employer Branding is a company’s or employer’s reputation, to their future, current and past employees. Minchington defines your employer brand as “the image of your organisation in the minds of existing workers and key stakeholders in the external market as a ‘Great place to work” (clients, employees or key stakeholders.). Another way to look at it is, ‘it’s what your employees say about the business, when the boss isn’t around.’

Three simple ways to improve your employer brand is:

1) Grow your social media presence: It is critical to interact with your organisation’s social content. Responding to comments and sharing photographs and videos adds to the authenticity of the conversation. Displaying the ordinary human aspect of the business fosters trust, engagement, and comprehension. Job seekers seek a means to connect with your business, so providing them with a peek behind the scenes is critical to their job search.

2) Employee advocacy programs: Implementing and promoting employee advocacy initiatives strengthens the employer brand and attracts excellent applicants. People want more from their employers than just a salary. They want employers who care about them personally and professionally and support the whole person. Ensure your company’s benefits and well-being initiatives are well-communicated so that workers and prospects know them.

3) Showcase company culture early & often: Highlighting employee tales is an excellent method to convey business culture and strengthen your employer brand. You must collaborate with HR to define and express business culture.

Why is corporate communication such an important part of a business’s success?

Corporate communication tools assist firms in developing and maintaining connections with essential stakeholders and enable organisations to reach their target audiences by utilising efficient advertising and public relations techniques. Corporate communication strategy aids businesses in their attempts to achieve their goals.

The significance of effective business communication cannot be overstated. Assertive communication keeps staff working efficiently and provides potential consumers with numerous opportunities to learn about a company’s products and services. Corporate communication supports executive meetings, the process of notifying the media or stakeholders about the latest developments, and how/why a particular brand is distinguishable from rivals.

How has the advertising landscape changed since you began your career?

The landscape has changed completely, from a digital perspective. Gone are the days of traditional banner advertising, the bread and butter of the industry, and replaced with programmatic technology, viewability and more three-letter acronyms than you can count. Marketers have had to deal with technological advances, adapt to clever marketing tools, and stay up with clients who live in a multi-channel environment. Our digital universe has become much more structured, transparent, and accountable, with a significantly higher focus on return on investment. 

Over the last ten years, the social media environment has shifted dramatically. MXIT and other social platforms have come and gone, but social advertising has firmly established itself in the fabric of our daily lives. After ten years, social media advertising is still evolving at breakneck speed. Each social media platform has its suite of sophisticated advertising products and targeting features, and brands now have multiple opportunities to connect with their customers in relevant ways.

Ten years ago, a video was limited to huge businesses with the purchasing capacity to reach viewers through TV or movie advertising. Today, anyone with a cellphone can make video content. Advertisers who use video to increase engagement and conversions at every stage of their buyer’s journey will be successful.

The use of smartphones and tablets has skyrocketed in the recent decade. With the ground-breaking launching of the iPhone in 2007, smartphones entered the mainstream market. Today, according to Statistica, smartphone ownership stands at 2.53 billion, with mobile devices accounting for 51.89% of global web traffic.

What do you think the digital marketing landscape will change in the next five or ten years – what do businesses need to prepare themselves for?

As the old saying goes, the only constant is change, and it’s difficult to predict the next two to three years, let alone 5+. I can however imagine that with the acceleration of connectivity, the immersive nature of digital and the Metaverse and the growth in technology adoption, a new wave of hyper-realistic social connectivity is incoming.