My Story In Sales and Marketing

I’ve worked in sales, marketing, public relations and copywriting since 2013. Yes, it’s been a long ride!

Coordinating International Architecture and Design Awards

In 2013, I became an international coordinator for the Eurasian Prize Architecture and Design Awards.

What does an international coordinator for an initiative like that do?

There was a strong commercial element to the competition, such as entry fees and sponsorships. So, I consider this to be my first experience in sales and marketing that included cold calling, cold emailing, copywriting, advertising and more. Here are a few things that kept me busy:

• Writing copy for the Awards’ website, social pages and printed collateral
• Recruiting the industry’s most respected experts for the Awards’ jury board
• Reaching out to architects, interior designers and real estate developers to convince them to enter the competition
• Developing partnerships with influential industry-specific media
• Managing the development of a complex entrant dashboard on the Awards’ website
• Onboarding contestants and judges on the platform

I am especially proud to have built an all-star jury board for the Awards’ 2018 edition, including:

• Odile Decq (Director and Founder of Studio Odile Decq)
• Rossana Orlandi (Director of Gallery Rossana Orlandi)
• Chris Wilkinson (CEO and founder of WilkinsonEyre)
• Paolo Bleve (Chief Editor and founder of IFDM)
• David Basulto (CEO and founder of ArchDaily)
• Zhang Ke
• Dang Qun (MAD Architects)

Marketing a Software Development Company

In 2015, I was contacted by Devvela, a software development company with a sales office in Chicago. They needed someone with a strong command of English and a willingness to learn to help reinvigorate their marketing efforts.

After accepting the job offer, I was titled a marketer and assigned a whole bunch of tasks.

Most of my work was rooted in copywriting on topics like software development, startups and entrepreneurship—things I knew next to nothing about at that time.

I dove into the subject by reading Eric Ries’s “The Lean Startup” and then moved toward publications in online media like Entrepreneur and Inc.

A few months in, Inc. linked to my article on why startups fail on Devvela’s blog. We paid nothing for that except for the time spent organically promoting the article online! The link is do-follow and still there.

Through this work, I got a knack for developing content like:

• Blog articles
• SEO content
• Newsletters
• Direct email
• Whitepapers
• Lead magnets
• Landing pages
• Case studies
• Company profiles on third-party platforms
• Cebsite content

I worked closely with the company’s managing co-owners, helping develop the overall marketing strategy and brand message.

Promoting a Prominent Interior Product Designer

In 2017, I switched back to my old familiar subject, interior design, by joining Ekaterina Elizarova Design Studio as a PR specialist.

Already an established professional passionate about her work, Ekaterina invited me to take on strategic communications and get her name out there.

Aside from the usual PR activities like writing press releases and product descriptions, building media relationships and running social media accounts, I meticulously crafted search-optimized copy for the studio’s website.

As a result, the website started appearing in the top image results for popular queries like “Italian designer furniture” and “designer pendant lighting.”

However, that didn’t happen until I detected a critical website error and led a team of programmers to fix it.

The name of the designer was featured in influential media, including Elle Decoration, Salon, IFDM, The Village and AD.

Writing Crypto Reviews and Marketing an ICO

In 2018, I began to collaborate with a media startup by researching and writing about ICOs and blockchain.

This was soon followed by an invitation from an actual ICO to join it as a Chief Strategy Officer.

The startup was on a mission to raise funds for the mass production of innovative appliances. Those appliances simplified growing various plants and vegetables and had an economic model around their use based on crypto.

The ICO was in its final stages, struggling to attract investors, but I was still thrilled to try my hand at a new venture like that.

During the first 24 hours on the project, I wrote 5,000 words of website copy, explaining the advanced technology and crypto economy of the project.

Later on, I wrote a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of the Gambia, cold-called investors and calibrated the ICO’s messaging.

It was 2018, the middle of the so-called “crypto winter.” Trust in that market had already been undermined, investors were cautious and most projects failed.

Ours was no exception. Nevertheless, I consider it as an unmatched opportunity to learn more about the industry from the inside.