Tell us about yourself, where you are born, what you do.
I am a boy from northern Italy precisely from Friuli Venezia Giulia, born in 1987. I have always been passionate about computer science and communication, in fact over the years I studied computer science in high school and then graduated in communication years later. After graduating, I did seven years as a marketing manager in a design company in the luxury sector, after which I quit and started my own company called Beliked. So I became a social media marketer for B2B companies.
What gives you energy?
I get energy from every single day, from my family, from my friends and above all from the passion for my work. Choosing not to be an employee anymore has given me a considerable charge, which makes me get up every day with a big smile. Energy also comes from the satisfaction of my customers, achieving goals and bringing home results completely recharges my batteries.
What’s your secret life hack?
I think everyone in the workplace has limitations but most people don’t even want to know them. I have been a marketer for 10 years now and every day, in every project I have always looked for different, unconventional ways not to get the results first but to get them in a better way and different from the others. My life hack is to adopt techniques and strategies coming from completely different sectors, in doing so I discovered new potential and obtained satisfying results.
What is your greatest challenges experience and how did you overcome it?
One of the biggest challenges was finding a budget for digital advertising. Many companies don’t have the money to invest in social media, for example, and this is a major problem these days. I therefore adopted a minimally invasive strategy for the brand that gave me sufficient margin to work, earn results and at the same time make the company understand the importance of these tools. So I made an estimate of the overall budget dedicated to general advertising and I asked each export area manager of the company to give me an advertising page for each geographical area, in doing so the brand did not have to find extra money but simply sacrificed a very small part of it. In doing so, over the years, I have managed to shift more and more budgets and build a strong brand image online.
Name a book that changed your life.
Contagious by Jonah Berger, it is not a big book indeed it is very small but for those involved in marketing it is definitely a must-read. It exposes the basic principles of marketing but from another point of view, it exposes the semiotics of products in a direct way by developing their virility. Once you read the book you see things differently and you analyze them are other aspects, which allow you to change your communication and make it better. It is certainly a book on par with the books of S.Godin no doubt, but few know it.
Tell us about your relationship with your phone. Does it sleep with you?
Absolutely not, the phone when I sleep is in airplane mode, I don’t turn it off of course because otherwise I can’t monitor my sleep but I hate receiving notifications when I sleep. I do a job that binds me deeply to it, during the day I have the smartphone practically always in my hand so at night I try to separate myself from it. The relationship I have with my phone is definitely a relationship of love and not hate, even if it is a potentially harmful tool it has improved my life and helps me to face it better on a daily basis. Each of us must find the right balance in its use, it is not the same for everyone but when it is found, everything becomes smoother.
How do you deal with email?
Years ago I wanted to read all the mail in ultra-fast times, but over time I learned to manage it and find the right pace. The emails keep coming and they don’t stop, so I never dedicate myself entirely to them but every time I have a small space, I read, reply and continue my routine. Furthermore, not all emails have the same priority and it is also essential to recognize which emails need more time and which ones take less. I learned this technique when I was Marketing Manager as an employee in a company where the use of emails is exaggerated, but it was a great school of life.
You unexpectedly find 15 minutes in your day, what do you do with it?
Fortunately or unfortunately my passions are my job so if I had fifteen minutes of free time, I would definitely go find information online to find out more. I inform myself a lot, constantly, also because every day there is something more to know, so that small amount of time would help me to disconnect from one job to go looking for information for another but I would take it as relaxation and not as stress .
When was the last time you felt burned out and why?
The last time was when a brand couldn’t understand what I was communicating. I am Italian and in Italy the use of social media is still in the stone age, especially here in the north so companies are mostly family-run and are foreign to the digital world. Some understand, some are proactive about it but many others are not, so basically my communication is already very simple to be effective but not always enough, so I am constantly looking for ways to make it easier to understand.
When was the last time you felt you failed and how did you overcome it?
Last year I failed in several things, I got downcast and knocked down a lot. When you squeeze like a lemon for a cause and then don’t get what you wanted, it’s really disappointing as a situation. But I have overcome it, I don’t think there is a manual to overcome difficult situations or to improve failures but I am convinced that there is only one solution that is good for everyone: Make a decision. When we fail we have 2 options, stay in that situation or react by making a decision, I reacted and decided to get out of that negative status to go towards something unknown but better than the negative one.
Share a quote that you love and that gives you strength or peace.
“Great companies are built on great products.” Elon Musk. I have several favorite quotes but this is the one that best reflects me at this time in my life. This is because I am building a company based on valuable products that differ greatly from most products offered by communication agencies in the advertising sector. This sentence motivates me to pursue my goal and reminds me which path I must follow.
How can we reach you?.
My core business is mainly on Instagram but I also include my company’s website.
Instagram