Ekaterina Novoseltseva : Making Disruptive Changes Through Digital Marketing

Over the last decade, the marketing industry has experienced drastic changes in its competitive landscape. Despite the prevailing industry paradigm, market-orientation and leveraging of trends emerge as the key differentiation between growth and failure in service industries. In that context, the role of trends is thought to be pivotal in the market orientation strategy and in the quest for corporate growth and profitability. This is where Experiential Digital Marketing practices excel as a strategy that focuses on the consumer experiencing a brand.

Ekaterina Novoseltseva, CMO at Apiumhub, represents one such successful businesswoman whose marketing strategies are geared toward immersing customers within the product by engaging them in as many ways as possible.

Below Candid Conversation with Business Iconic Magazine and  Ekaterina :

1. Kindly brief us about your professional journey and what kind of ethics, principles and manner of working you observe while managing the business operations?

After I got my Digital Marketing Master in EADA Business School, I started to work in a digital marketing company – Mubiquo, where I was responsible for the EMEA markets and clients like Nestle, Tous, Mango, DKV, Gucci, Burberry, Valentino, Hublot, Adidas and many others. Right now, I am a CMO of a fast growing web and mobile app development company – Apiumhub. We have done projects for fast growing startups like Privalia, Typeform, Carnovo as well as international companies like Nestle, Grifols, Adidas, Axa, Tous and many others. Last year I became a CMO of Apium Academy, where Apiumhub developers give programming courses. And I was honoured to become an organizer of an annual software architecture summit in Barcelona – GSAS, which reunites software architecture Gurus from all around the world. Among speakers you may find Sandro Mancuso, Ian Gorton, George Fairbanks, Mark Richards, David Farley, Len Bass, Peter Eeles, Michael Feathers and many others.

In addition to the marketing courses I teach at EADA, I am a Professor at ESERP business school. And this year we have launched our very first product VYou – customer identity and access management solution.

I believe that Soft Skills are as important as Hard skills. I do believe in different personalities and in Apiumhub we always give 16 personality test for new members to know more about them and to see where they would be more effective and what is their working style. What I value the most in my team members: responsibility, proactivity, transparency. I also believe that company values make a difference and align everyone to move forward our common goal. For example, in Apiumhub we have 4 values:

· Never stop growing We come from different backgrounds, with experience in different fields. We learn from each other and care about our professional growth. Every day, we grow our knowledge. We always want to learn more, we never stop growing.

· Go for it Everything we do has a purpose. We measure our results, we need to know if we’re in the right direction. All our actions are linked to a goal. We don’t just work to work, we go for it.

· Growing family We know that alone, we won’t go far. We respect and appreciate our people. We welcome with open arms new members joining our team. No matter the number, we are a growing family.

· Make it yours We are honest, transparent and proactive. We believe in the power of communication, may it be with the team or with the client. We have the sense of responsibility, we make it ours.

Every Friday we have internal meeting where we share our weekly updates and where we also discuss the areas of improvements.

Right now we are growing very fast, we receive new projects on a daily basis from different countries and every week we have new team members but our idea is keep this “family” vibe and create a safe place for growth.

2. Could you please share your noted milestones, accomplishments throughout your journey so far along with company highlights and achievements under your leadership.

I am a CMO of Apiumhub and it is weird to say that about myself, but this is true, everything we have right now is due to my marketing strategy. Of course it is a merit of the whole team to be where we are now as every member puts his or her unique touch in everything we do and plays a crucial role in company’s growth, but if I should highlight my achievement, clients like AXA, Privalia, Mango, Carnovo, Cornerjob, ManoMano, Synergie and many others started to work with us because of our brand awareness, SEO strategy and brand reputation.

Also, I was responsible for organizing a Global Software Architecture Summit last year and bring leading hands-on software architects as well as famous software architecture book authors to Barcelona. This event made a difference in the software architecture community in Barcelona and received a very positive feedback. Also, in Apium Academy we gave software development courses to such famous and successful companies as Oracle, Talent Clue, Wallapop, Allianz, EY, Mango, Opentrends, Adevinta, Ubeeqo, Voxel Group, Roche, Rakuten, Seat, Bancolombia and many others. I regularly collaborate with renown software architects from USA, Belgium, Germany, UK and Austria and we organize hands-on workshops in our Academy.

I should say that right now it is difficult to find someone here in Spain who is into software who would say that he or she doesn’t know Apiumhub, more over the feedback and reviews that we receive a very positive. Good indicators are: constant referrals and motivational letters that we receive every single day.

Well, let’s continue with some other achievements. I also take active part in organizing events and creating collaborative content for software developers around the world and this year I was nominated to become a CORE in Dzone – the world’s largest online communities and leading publisher of knowledge resources for software developers. Every day, hundreds of thousands of developers come to DZone.com to read about the latest technology trends and learn about new technologies, methodologies, and best practices through shared

knowledge. My articles were featured there on the HOME page and they send me a Recognition Certificate where they said the following: “Dzone recognizers Ekaterina Novoseltseva’s value and contribution in empowering developers and tech professionals worldwide, in being part of the community and making a positive change through technology”.

Last year I gave birth to my daughter and it was something new for me, in the beginning to was challenging to be a good mother and a successful working woman, but I should say that I made it possible to have a healthy work-life balance. I continue with my marketing career in the software world and I keep working and giving online and offline classes in EADA and ESERP.

Right now we are working on a very ambitious project: VYou! And very soon you will forget what passwords are, we are aiming at implementing this tool in every online platform and have a unique access point.

3. Please tell us about the business model you follow and the services you provide that makes the brand unique in the mid of cut throat competition.

Let me show you our Canvas Business Model:

We are a software hub of proactive high quality specialists in software architecture, DevOps and software development. We cover the whole technical cycle of digital product development. We solve complex problems with our high quality solutions. We build powerful and scalable digital products. We put pragmatism and problem solving in the center of every project we work on.

We constantly deliver value by creating seamless digital experiences, continuously evolving technology for our customers, enabling an adaptive mindset to meet their business goals. Our mission is to build sustainable long-term relationships with our clients.

We are known for software architecture, service that very few companies give here in Europe, however it is very critical for building a scalable platform ( just like in construction, you need an architect to have a quality house ). We define and implement the architecture that best fits digital product. Every case is different, there are no silver bullets here. We believe that Software Architecture is the foundation of any project. Choosing a good architecture guarantees a great

adaptability to future changes, provides agility to the platform’s development and helps obtain an optimal performance.

A good software architecture offers the technical solutions needed to ensure your success, thinking about risks, time to market, costs and adaptability.

We at Apiumhub help you analyze your project’s technical needs. As a result, we find your application’s requirements and critical points, and we define and implement the most suitable architecture for your project.

4. Please share the most memorable and remarkable moment of your life.

So difficult to choose just one

I am a very goal-oriented person and when I achieve my goals, I need appreciation and last year I was “The best team player of the Quarter” two quarters in a row! These nominations are the highest motivation for me, that’s what pushes me forward.

Also, when people had doubts about the success of GSAS in Barcelona and at the end people were telling me that this event exceeded all their expectations made me extremely happy.

As for the personal life, of course they day when my baby Rochelle was bord, the fairytale wedding day and every time I visit new country!

5. Where do you see yourself and the company in future? Or, what is your goal to mark the uniqueness in future?

I will be focusing on going international and creating a senior team to work on an ambitious projects and changing the world to be a better place to live. This month I am also starting to write my very first book, well, very soon you will know more about it, but for now let’s keep it secret J

And “never stop growing” every year we find new opportunities and my idea is to create something impactful every single year.

6. Advise for the budding women in tech who are trying to embark in the same field.

The issue that I found when we are hiring software developers and when I was organizing a Global Software Architecture Summit is to find woman who would be interested in giving a talk or doing a tech interview. The main problem – they don’t believe in themselves. So, my advise is to believe in yourself and move forward, never stop growing and don’t look at the gender, we have seen that women can be and are great at software. In Apiumhub we search for talents and it doesn’t matter what gender you have, where are you from or what religion you have, if you are good at software and if you are willing to constantly learn and grow, then you shouldn’t have any doubts to apply to our open vacancies.

7. What is the one thing that is acting as your motivational tool? Or, who is your role model and how the person inspires and motivates you?

For me the biggest motivation is the result and recognition. The person who inspires me is my husband who is an entrepreneur and visionary and we complement each other. He shows me a big picture and sets the direction and I do the strategy and perfection. I should say we are a great team!