Bas works in digital marketing, but most importantly: he works with people. And as Bas always says: everybody is different. Which means that every time Bas does a training session, consulting session or when he’s speaking, he adapts to the situation of those he works with. Through years of experience, Bas is able to effectively bring together stakeholders and facilitate workshops and training that generates action and results.
Here Bas would like to to introduce you to some of the people he has worked with. Reid their stories. It will give you insight on how Bas works with people
Read the different stories of Annemieke Bossen (KLM), Kristjan Mar Hauksson (SMFB), Samantha Noble (Koozai) and Mieke Weismann (Viacom) who each had different experiences with Bas on different topics.
Annemieke Bossen – KLM
Bas consults for KLM on their BlueBiz and related loyalty programs, specifically on the websites around them. Bas worked closely with Annemieke Bossen. Bas first met Annemieke on one of his training sessions. One thing he instantly liked is that she wasn’t afraid to challenge him, with the purpose of learning. After that they worked very pleasantly on KLM / Air France websites.
Here’s the story of Annemieke:
“I am a marketing strategist pur sang, I worked at KLM as a communications specialist for several years and then grew into more strategic marketing functions.
As the lead of B2B Marketing, I am working on the policy towards companies worldwide who buy tickets with us. Our BlueBiz program has an important role in this strategy.
I’ve worked with KLM since the last century ☺. Marketing is an industry which is constantly moving and Air France and KLM is not standing still. That makes my job a challenge every day, it’s never the same.
For Air France and KLM it’s important that we get a better knowledge of the companies of the travelers on our planes. Because most companies book through our travel agents, we don’t always know who they are. On top of that, only 2% of the companies are frequent flyers and are shattered amongst all different segments, which makes segmentation difficult. It makes that you are looking for a needle in a haystack.
Through Club Africa and Club China, we offer companies a knowledge platform for doing business in these parts of the world. It’s a service towards companies we know, but we hope that other companies will know to find us as well through this platform. Social and SEO play a big role in this.
Working with Bas
Bas has helped us in making the strategy of the platform work, both on Social as SEO areas. The strong thing about Bas is that he always knows how to hold a mirror in front of us, which makes that we make better and more solid choices. Next to that he has invaluable value in making the SEO strategy behind the platform work. Finally, Bas is a great guy to have on the team, clever, sympathetic and knowledgeable!”
Kristjan Mar Hauksson – SMFB Engine
Sometimes you meet people who no matter where they are or how sporadic you see them, will always be a friend of Bas. During the working hours with Kristjan Mar Hauksson, a relationship like that has grown. Bas has spoken at several conferences together with Kristjan, including two amazing trips to Iran, and helped him find speakers and moderating for his own conference, RIMC in Island.
Here’s Kristjan’s story:
“Hi, I am Kristjan Mar Hauksson, an Internet marketing expert from Iceland. To get to know me in one sentence: I have a great wife, five kids, I play the guitar and I simply love people!
I’m the son of an artist father and a nurse mother and I am a massive ADHD. That is a dangerous mix, but I got focused on music that then lead me to computers that then lead me to the Internet. I have been doing this type of work more and less since 1997.
I now have multiple roles, but my main focus at the moment is being the COO of SMFB Engine in Oslo, Norway and online marketing company with a creative twist. Now I am working for companies such as Ikea, Mondelez and Nordic Choice Hotels to mention some.
With our services we are solving the problems of Internet communications, what can be done to get the message across? Sometimes it’s about 360-degree turnarounds when companies stop thinking as marketers and start thinking more as publishers or something simple like running an Adwords campaign on Google or managing Facebook presence.
The best part of the job I think is the people and how fast things move, I love that.”
Working with Bas
Bas and I met at a conference in London if I remember correctly and it just clicked, we have since then done couple of them together, worked on the speakers and agenda as a sample.
He is a clever guy with great connections. Has a great ability to see things differently and approach “problems” from a different angle. I love that, often great to have somebody that is jing to your jang.
Sam Noble – Koozai
Bas first met Sam Noble after a conference in London. At that time the company she works for was re-branding and she reached out to the community. She instantly showed to be a very intelligent woman who not only had a lot of knowledge, she had the right attitude as well. This lead to first having Sam write for State of Search, which became State of Digital, and later adding her to the editorial team. Since the second half of 2014 she is now co-chief editor on the website. At the same time she is Marketing Director at Koozai, a Digital Marketing company in Southampton, England. For this company I provided some internal training and consultancy.
Here’s Sam’s story:
“I started my career in travel right back in 2001 when I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I got into the industry back in 2006. After a few years of trying out different roles working for a large tour operator in the UK, I settled in an offline marketing role where my passion for marketing really started. I then joined a financial services company in the secured loans sector running their PPC campaigns on Google before joining Koozai in 2007. Koozai is a digital marketing agency offering all things digital including SEO, PPC and Content Marketing.
My role at Koozai is Marketing Director where my responsibility is looking after the top level strategy for the business, our team and our clients as well as managing the overall marketing for Koozai. I have been doing the role of Marketing Director since 2011.
We work with our clients to work out what their digital marketing problems are and the goals they are working towards. Based on this, we work to understand their audience before tailoring our services to suit what they really need and what will work for them. Clients come to us with various goals including increasing online traffic, sales and conversions, enhancing brand awareness, launching new products/services or getting rankings back after a Google update!
The best part of my job is definitely the people I work with. I love learning and we have a great team of people at Koozai who I learn from every day. It would not be the job it is without the people I work with.”
Working with Bas
I met Bas back in 2010 at an SMX London event. We got talking at the networking drinks after the conference and then I joined State of Digital (State of Search as it was known back then) as one of the blogging team. About a year or so into that, Bas approached me about joining the Editorial Team for State of Digital and of course, I said yes! We have worked together ever since and I am now working alongside Bas running State of Digital with him as ‘Co-Chief’ ☺.
When Bas came into the office to do some training with us at Koozai, he had a very unique approach that I haven’t seen with other trainers in the past. Bas spent time getting to know the different teams and really understand how we work as an agency. He listened to what everyone had to say and then gave us some very constructive feedback on areas we could improve on. Bas has a lot of experience when it comes to working with lots of different businesses and brands so he can really take the outsider role and look at what is done with a different pair of eyes.
Bas spent time with everyone in the team working on different subjects and topics and what we originally planned out for the day actually changed and evolved as he spoke to more people in the company. I think that is one of the best things about working with Bas; he adapts to the surroundings and isn’t scripted. He will change what he is saying or doing depending on how the day is panning out. He doesn’t have a one-size fit all approach.
Mieke Weismann – Viacom
In the past, Bas helped Viacom several times. First a training session for those working for Comedy Central and more recently helping MTV and Comedy Central people on their SEO and Social. Bas most recently worked with Mieke Weismann on this. Mieke is a smart young lady who knows exactly what she wants and needs, something Bas highly appreciates in a person.
Here’s Mieke’s story:
I have been online since the 90s and actually created my first website in WordPerfect. I consequently specialized in new media and digital culture while in college. Since 2006 I have had different roles within the online communication field; from setting up an online CRM team, to web editor at Greenpeace Netherlands, community manager for AirFrance KLM and now Social Media & Engagement Manager at Viacom. You can say I have had all titles that existed in online marketing over the past few years.
The best thing about my profession is that it keeps developing. In 2006 I wrote my Master thesis about MySpace, in 2008 I helped Greenpeace Netherlands take their first steps on the Dutch Social Network platform Hyves and for Viacom I am currently looking it which online platforms are most important to both 
us and especially to our audience.
Everything is constantly shifting, not just what social media channels our fans use, but also how and where and on what they are using it for. If you want to remain relevant, you have to develop all the time, watch what is happening where and how this is relevant to your brand and job. It’s a challenge that never stops and one I enjoy a lot.
Working with Bas
When setting up several B2B Communities for AirFrance KLM we ran into the problem where we really didn’t know how we could ensure our communities could be found. I therefore ended up taking an Introduction to SEO course, given by Bas. To help move the client ahead and to get the rest of the team aligned with our new insights, we hired Bas to come in several times to talk to us about our existing websites and how we could improve them. Bas’ recommendations on both an editorial and a technical level made a big impact on our results. Once I started working at Viacom the SEO issue returned, and Bas’ name popped up again. Since Viacom also had good experiences with him it made sense to start talking to Bas again on a regular basis about the issues we run into when it comes to findability, understanding our audience and social.
Both during my time with AirFrance KLM as well as now at Viacom I find it very helpful talking to Bas about online marketing and communication, where things are heading and what we should be doing. Talking to Bas always helps me find new tools, but especially also works as a strong reminder me I am headed in the right direction. Whereas I work on my ‘gut-feeling’ a lot, Bas hands me the information and tools I need to get people facing the right direction.