Interview With Laurens (Marketing Lead)

1) Where were you born and raised? Also tell us something unique about yourself.

Utrecht, the Netherlands. I've got a genetic mutation called DEC2, which allows me to get by on an average of 5 hours of sleep a night. It's helped me power through one or two late-night online courses over the past two years (;

2) What got you interested in marketing and what was your journey?

Being analytical and being an outside-the-box thinker have always been my most prominent qualities, and venturing into the world of marketing seemed like the ideal opportunity to put those attributes to the test!Upon graduating, I started working as a marketing generalist at a business specialised in business technologies, and was soon enough put in charge of managing its cybersecurity business units.

More than two years later, I decided to take a leap of faith into a more supervisory role in an AI solutions start-up company. I'll be kicking off that chapter in my marketing career in two weeks' time, so more on that yet to come!

3) What skills and industry do you specialize in?

B2B tech, with a background in ERP, SaaS and cybersecurity. I'll soon be expanding my marketing portfolio with AI solutions!

4) What is your best soft skill?

Empathy, I would say. In a business sense, I'm quite good at understanding the challenges which our prospects face on a role-to-role basis. This allows me to more easily create and optimise marketing funnels which convert awareness into action.

As a teammate, it allows me to better understand the challenges which my peers and colleagues face. This in turn helps me recognise and act upon opportunities to lend a helping hand when and where needed.

5) What softwares and tools do you use regularly?

SE Ranking, Hubspot, ChatGPT, Apollo and Google Search Console are my current mainstays.

6) What are your goals for the next year and into the future?

Most of all, I'd like to further develop my understanding of creating and executing marketing strategies on an overarching level. I feel that my understanding of the individual disciplines of marketing (PPC, SEO, CRO, etc.) is up to par, but I'm very much interested in learning how I could use my knowledge and skills to become an adept strategist.

7) What has been the hardest thing you dealt with in your career path?

Escaping my tunnelvision! I have a bad tendency of not being able to put tasks and projects aside until I'm 100% content with what I've been able to put together. Unfortunately, what your ego desires seldom aligns with what your employer or client actually needs in any given moment of time.

In that sense, I feel it's important to be able to make a distinction between putting something on the backburner because it's the wiser decision, and outright procrastinating on your responsibilities.

8) What is the biggest mistake you made that you want others to avoid?

Expecting too much of yourself, whilst taking too little pride in what you've achieved with the cards you were dealt. I started out as a marketing generalist, and for the life of me couldn't fathom why my knowledge of specific disciplines such as PPC wasn't on par with that of specialists with decades of experience. Talk about managing expectations, right?

9) Who are your favorite people in the industry that you follow?

Adriaan Dekker , Miles McNair and Georgi Zayakov.

10) Who has had the biggest influence on your career to date?

Most likely my manager at Enshore, which was my first employer post-graduation. I got to tackle so many different challenges in various industries, to which I fully attribute becoming a half-decent marketing generalist.

11) What has been your favorite course that you taken and why?

The PPC Hub by PPC Mastery! Always up-to-date, very in-depth, and tends to provide complementary real-world use cases which helps you get a better idea as to how certain knowledge could be applied to solve a challenge you'll likely come across sooner or later.

12) What would you tell yourself or someone who is just starting out in marketing?

Don't worry about doing online courses to get a headstart. Practical experience under lenient supervision is all you'll need to attain skills and knowledge at a rapid pace. Create a mock campaign in Google Ads, write some SEO-oriented content, and don't be shy to consult a colleague (or dare I say it, Google) when you're not sure what to do next. Be content to learn as you go.

13) If the entire world was listening to you, what would you have to say?

Cheesy as it may sound, take the opportunity to compliment someone on what they do (or better yet, who they are) every now and then. It really can make a profound difference in someone's day, or even week.

14) Where can we find you?

LinkedIn. I rarely post full-fledged content myself, but I love engaging in discussions pertaining to marketing and you'll likely see me doing so on a regular basis. Particularly when it comes to the topic of PPC, as I feel there are always new features and developments to collectively wrap our heads around as paid advertising aficionados.