Last month we started our Employee Spotlight series, which is our way of giving you an inside look at the people behind our brand. That being said, we hope you enjoyed getting to know our ‘Sales extraordinaire’, Gady! In continuation of the series, this month we want to bring some focus to our Marketing team…starting with one of its oldest members.
Meet Tjeerd. Tjeerd is our Digital Marketing Campaign Manager. Having started out as an intern here at Mopinion, Tjeerd knew he had a lot to prove – both to himself and to his team. Now we’re three years down the road and he’s still reveling in the excitement and responsibility involved in working at a software Startup.
Curious what Tjeerd had to say about working at Mopinion? Keep reading…
What initially drew you to working at Mopinion?
Tjeerd studied International Business Management Studies (IBMS) at the Hogeschool Rotterdam. As part of that study, he did an internship in London with a tech company, an exciting experience that made him realise how interested he was in working with tech companies. The experience also made him realise he wanted to pursue a career in B2B Digital Marketing.
‘One day I was at a seminar where one of the founders of Mopinion was speaking. My teacher at the time ended up recommending me to him and things just worked out! I started my internship at Mopinion shortly after. The internship gave me the chance (and freedom) to help set up a marketing / sales engine, which taught me a lot along the way!’
What does a typical work day look like for you?
A resident of Oudenbosch, about an hour commute from the office, Tjeerd’s day starts pretty early…
‘I wake up, walk my dog Mara and catch the train to Rotterdam. Once I get to the office I grab a cup of coffee and immediately start running through our analytics, which basically consists of checking trial sign ups, and monitoring email, advertisement and social media analytics.’
And that’s just his morning routine… Aside from that, he works on social media updates, checking up on the advertisements running and researching new keywords, as well as sitting down with colleagues and coming up with a game plan for all upcoming email campaigns.
And of course, there’s the occasional licorice thief, coming by to steal from Tjeerd’s licorice stash. We won’t name any names though…
What is your favorite part about working at Mopinion?
‘All of it, really. I love working with the team to come up with good strategies for targeting prospects – inbound or not! It’s really inspiring to brainstorm together and swap ideas.’
What are the biggest challenges you face in your job?
‘I’d say the biggest challenges are keeping up with fast-changing technologies and the behaviour of people. I mean you have tons of people out there preaching that email marketing is ‘dead’ while we still have a lot of success in that area.’
He continues, ‘in reality, it’s all about sending the right message at the right time to the right people. In fact, it’s kind of a game…but a very fun one at that!’
And now for the fun stuff…
What is your guilty pleasure?
‘That would probably be eating too much licorice’, he laughs.
‘The others’, he continues, ‘are dressing up for carnival back in my hometown and writing/acting out theatrical plays to entertain my cub scouts group during summer camp. In fact these are the two ‘traditional’ weeks I take off from work every year.’
Being from Brabant (a region in the south of the Netherlands), Tjeerd is an avid carnival-goer. He never fails to put his ‘all’ into celebrating the five day long carnival festivities – every day in a different costume.
Pictured: Tjeerd (right) at a Cub scouts summer-camp play (Dutch Golden Age)
Who inspires you?
I don’t have just one person. I believe that you can get inspiration from everyone in one way or another.
What is your favorite quote?
“If you keep thinking about what you want to do or what you hope will happen, you don’t do it, and it won’t happen.” – Desiderius Erasmus
Who is your favorite superhero?
‘My motto is, ‘If you can be Batman, always be Batman’. When I was three years old, I was given a Batman figurine for the Dutch holiday Sinterklaas and since then I’ve always loved Batman.’
What is your favorite movie?
You guessed it: Batman. But he also loves the films Twelve Years a Slave, Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars.
What is something not many people know about you?
‘There are few things actually’, he laughs. ‘In secondary school, I was a student at a ‘farmer’s school’. Here we focused a lot on how to take care of animals and garden.’
‘One of my biggest secrets though is that people don’t know that I’m a frog.’
Frog Mascot in Oudenbosch
This last one threw me a little too – don’t worry. Tjeerd explained that during Carnival, Oudenbosch transforms into ‘Puitenol’. This is their mascot, de Puit. All citizens of the town turn into “Puiten and Dikkoppen”. An adult is a Puit, which is the (local) name for Frog. A child is called a Dikkop, the (local) name for tadpole.
Stay tuned for more!
And there you have it! We hope you enjoyed this month’s Employee Spotlight! Stay tuned for our November spotlight…
