London, September 11th, 2019

Based in London, JBi Digital is an award-winning digital experience agency specialising in creative and technical solutions. JBi build distinctive and effective applications and campaigns for global brands including Rolls Royce, Channel 4 and ITV, as well as charities and clients in the public sector.

Oscar Huglin is an Account Manager at JBi and among his many responsibilities he manages the agency’s blog and social media output. In an interview with TIA, he described the importance of Thought Leadership for JBi, while giving an inside look on the functioning of the blog.

How would you describe the concept of Thought Leadership and its importance?

It is becoming increasingly important that digital agencies demonstrate insight and expertise in their field. The exponential growth of social media means that it is easier than ever to reach vast audiences without the need of a costly marketing strategy. By the same token, however, the universally accessible nature of social media means that, without a clear strategy, your voice can very easily be lost in the crowd.

Thought Leadership has, in this way, become a real buzzword in our industry, as agencies large and small put more and more emphasis on cultivating an impactful voice. Agencies that develop and maintain an engaging and insightful voice will see tangible benefits across their business.

What are your main responsibilities at JBi and how do you organize your work?

I have a wide range of responsibilities at JBi, including project and account management, but most relevant to this interview is my role in JBi’s marketing and content management. It is my responsibility to manage our blog and social media output, which also happens to be the part of my job that I enjoy most, so I can’t really complain!

Since the turn of the year we have posted a new blog every other Tuesday, and our social media following has improved dramatically. We still have a long way to go, though; building a strong digital presence is a long-term project which requires patience and careful planning. Personally, I organize myself using a private Trello board, which helps me to keep track of my active and queued tasks. Give it a go – I highly recommend it!

JBi is really active with its blog. How do you decide what kind of content to publish?

At the beginning of every month we have an editorial meeting, during which we discuss ideas for new content and create a schedule for the next month’s content. By setting clear deadlines and building them into our plans for the month we can ensure that, as an agency, we commit to a consistent content output schedule.

This is vital to maintaining a strong voice and expanding our audience. We take a collaborative approach when deciding upon blog topics, opening the floor up to everybody at the agency to offer ideas and suggestions. Aside from the obvious numbers advantage (more voices tend to equal more ideas!), running the blog in this way means that we are able to explore a diverse range of topics and interests, with inputs from our technical specialists, our design team and even our directors!

How do you make your content stand out with so many sources and competitors talking on the same subjects?

One of our main priorities when producing new content is to write with a strong, journalistic voice. We want to do much more than simply comment on trends and news; we want to give our take, make an argument and start a conversation. That is at the heart of every piece of content that we post.

We also strive to offer content from all areas of the JBi team. One blog might be a critique of the latest controversial rebranding written by one of our designers, then the next could be an evaluation of the latest Drupal update by a member of the technical team, or a review of Instagram’s new stories feature from the marketing team. In this way, we offer insights and opinions from a range of industry experts on a regular basis. All of the above, we feel, sets our content apart. Have a read and see what you think!

What do you like most / least about your role?

I love the whole process of producing content. From deciding upon a topic, to drafting and writing it – or helping the author to write it – to editing and posting the final piece.

It feels like a very journalistic process, which I truly enjoy. Writing has always been a favorite hobby of mine and it’s great to be able to bring that into my work at JBi. It sounds cheesy, but I honestly don’t have an answer for what I “like least” about my role at JBi. I have a great team around me, I feel challenged and I get to write and exercise my creativity regularly!

What are your current challenges?

While Thought Leadership is very important to us, the reality is that it is not a business priority. Writing a blog will never take precedence over a client deadline, for example. One of my key responsibilities, then, is to ensure that we stay on top of our content output despite this, which can be very difficult!

What’s an interesting trend that you’ve observed in the industry?

I recently wrote a blog about the growing importance of inclusivity in web design, which is a topic that I loved researching and writing about. It’s brilliant to see the industry progressing so quickly on important issues like inclusivity – let’s hope it continues!

Are there any publications or blogs that you follow?

One of my favorites is the eConsultancy Pulse newsletter, which is an excellent example of strong content marketing and effective Thought Leadership. The team at eConsultancy make excellent use of their newsletter, sending out an engaging and interesting overview of their recent blogs, key insights and favorite news stories. We have set eConsultancy as an internal benchmark for our own content marketing.

Thanks Oscar!

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Account ManagementAccount ManagerContent ManagementThought leadership