Who are you?
My name is Bas van Steekelenburg, I’m 32 years old, and recently moved to Voorburg (NL) together with my partner. I was raised in the beautiful Westland, a region famous for its greenhouses. I’ve worked at various agencies which are specialised in content marketing, media and performance marketing. Before joining Customs Support I worked at a consulting firm in the role as digital marketing consultant.
What does a Digital Marketer do at Customs Support?
As a digital marketer my main goal is bringing in more potential clients via digital channels such as the website and social channels. This means I develop, execute, evaluate and optimise campaigns. These campaigns are primarily focused on digital channels, such as the website, LinkedIn & Google.
In my role as digital marketer I am constantly analysing and evaluating data. We sell a service that only appeals to a very specific group of entrepreneurs with a very specific problem; only by collecting and analysing the right data we know if we’re making progress in realising more leads.
How does a typical day look like?
Each day I want to get better campaign results; this starts with having access to the right information. Each morning I analyse in an interface how campaigns are performing. If there is an opportunity, I optimise the outcomes by shifting budgets from a lower performing campaign to a higher performing (e.g. which realises more leads for a certain price).
When there are things which stand-out in the data, I decide if this requires a more thorough investigation (we marketers call this a “deep-dive”… we love our jargon). For such an analysis I would go into systems such Google Analytics & Google Ads and search for potential explanations.
Other topics which I am involved in are the creation of content (together with the experts), optimisation of the user experience and findability of the website, and integration of the digital presence from acquired companies.
What do you like most about your job?
I only recently started at Customs Support, so you should ask me in a year! ? However, I can certainly say I enjoy the variety each day brings and the ability to take full ownership of new initiatives.
What I greatly enjoy about digital marketing is that you can almost directly see results of campaigns. Campaign outcomes are a reflection of your decisions, and thus you also have the ability to steer towards better outcomes.
Getting better outcomes is challenging; there are a lot of pre-requisites before a campaign starts paying off. In this process of optimising campaigns you constantly evaluate and test different initiatives. When – after all the effort – you finally see the results increase, I do feel a certain satisfaction.
What is your biggest challenge?
Improving the quality of leads is very complicated. There are no shortcuts; It is a process of setting the right conditions to constantly learn from our initiatives and carefully interpret data.
Another challenge is setting the right priorities. There is always so much going on at Customs Support that I need to keep my eye on the ball and constantly look at what I am doing, why I am doing it, and what contributes to the end goal.
What do you do when you are not in the office?
Travelling is one of my biggest passions. It is even how I met my wife from Mexico. I was strongly advised to not fall in love, because it would be impractical and complicated…Off course I wasn’t listening; we even got married last year!
Other activities I like are going to the gym in the wintertime and outdoor activities like running in the summertime. I also love hiking, but the Netherlands is definitely the wrong country for that. Way too flat!
I like everything about football; watching the game, but maybe even more the passion of the fans. Going to stadiums is a thrilling experience; last year I went to Argentina and the Maracana in Rio. If you are passionate about football, these stadiums should certainly be on your bucket-list.
If I’m not with my wife & friends, exercising, or watching football, you might find me on my vintage 1984 BMW Scrambler motorcycle. My dad has built the scrambler in his man-cave (@de Keef).
Why Customs Support?
Friends, family, my new colleagues, they all want to know why I choose specifically Customs Support!
Let me elaborate on that. First, I believe showing value via digital channels in the B2B context is highly challenging. As a marketeer in customs I need to understand potential clients, their problems and how our people bring value to clients. Their know-how needs to be reflected in content that informs potential clients with the right information and persuade them to get in touch with us. Thus, this complexity is the intellectual challenge I was looking for. Second, the ambition of Customs Support to become the leading neutral customs broker in Europe gives on an individual level lots of opportunities. We can take on new initiatives, take responsibility for our own decisions and shape our own activities.
Third, having grown up close to Rotterdam, I enjoy seeing the dynamics of the harbor and global trade.
Last, working in Rotterdam was an excellent opportunity to convince my colleagues the best football club comes from ‘020’. Their reactions so far are hilarious, characteristic for the city of Rotterdam. According to them the best thing in Amsterdam ‘is the train to Rotterdam’…
Are you interested in a career at Customs Support? Take a look at our Careers page!
