We recently connected with Sigurdur Svansson and have shared our conversation below.

Sigurdur, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?

In the past year, we have seen a large shift in the world of digital marketing. As the internet has become more crowded and competitive, the focus has shifted from “me” to “we”. Meaning businesses are no longer using their own success to fuel their sales, rather they are focusing on how they can position themselves to show the consumer benefits.

Think about it this way: when you’re scrolling through your Instagram feed or Tiktok timeline, what types of content stop you in your tracks? Chances are, it’s not a post from a business talking about itself. Rather, It’s probably something fun or interesting that a friend, family member, or influencer that you follow shared. So how can businesses tap into this? Here are two ways: user-generated content and value-driven content.

User Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) is exactly what it sounds like: content that is created by users, instead of businesses. This could be anything from a review of your product or service to a social media post about your brand. UGC is incredibly valuable because it provides potential customers with an unbiased look at your business.

There are many types of UGC content that can be created through non-partnership, and partnership: Partnerships are where businesses will pay influencers to create UGC content that can be used for the brand and the influencer to promote. Before partnering up with an influencer, it is important to choose one who truly enjoys your product or service, so they can show authentic value to their audience base. This approach has the same potential as organic when it comes to reach and engagement, along with the extra benefits like being able to control the content creation. As well as being able to reuse the content for your own social media accounts… while most importantly, making your accounts more personal with the face of an influencer.

The beauty of non-partnership UGC is that it’s a win-win for both businesses and consumers. Consumers get to see real-life examples of how a product or service is being used, while businesses get a free opportunity to increase their exposure and get their product or service in front of their key audience.

We have seen UGC skyrocket in popularity in the last year due to the rise of short-form video, where creators will share their opinion on products and services. It has become a huge resource for consumers who want a raw review of a product. “A significant 70% of consumers will consider UGC reviews or ratings before making a purchasing decision”. This isn’t surprising, as we have always relied on trusting word of mouth when it comes to purchasing decisions, the digital world has just made it easier to share.

Value Driven Content
Another trend that is always gaining more popularity in digital marketing is value-driven content marketing, also known as just content marketing or inbound marketing. This type of content is designed to provide consumers with something of value (teach / help), rather than trying to sell them something outright. Value-driven content is not a straightforward path to increase sales, it’s rather the end goal that we have to think of when implementing this strategy. The goal with value-driven content is to establish yourself as a trusted resource in your industry so that when people are ready to buy, they think of your business first.

For example, let’s say you own a pet store. A traditional marketing campaign might focus on an offer like “Dog food for sale” But a value-driven content campaign might provide dog owners with tips on how to potty train their puppy or what type of dog food is best for different breeds.

By aligning your marketing activities with the needs and wants of your target audience, you can create loyalty and find evangelists who will help grow your business.

There are several key benefits that make it an essential part of any business’s growth strategy:
Increased Customer Loyalty: When you focus on providing value to your customers, they become more loyal and engaged with your brand. This loyalty leads to higher customer retention rates and repeat business down the road.
Improved Customer Acquisition Costs: It costs five times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to keep an existing one. Therefore, by focusing on creating value for your current customers, you can decrease acquisition costs while also growing your customer base through word-of-mouth referrals.

Improved Customer Lifetime Value: Customers who have a positive experience with your brand are more likely to remain loyal throughout their lifetime. This loyalty leads to increased revenue and profit margins over time.
Value driven marketing comes in many different forms: it can be in a video format, blog post, social media post, gamifying your campaigns, etc. At SAHARA, we saw an excellent opportunity to “gamify” our Digital Marketing Festival campaign. We created a spin the wheel game to give away prizes and tickets to users. By making it an engaging and valuable experience, we were able to double the click through rate, and decrease the cost per click by half from our static ads. Overall, the campaign was extremely successful, and we were able to actually save money from the advertisement, while also generating more ticket sales than the previous year.

In today’s noisy and crowded digital landscape, businesses need to stand out and focus on creating content that provides value to users. That means producing user-generated content or value-driven content instead of focusing only on traditional marketing messages.

By mixing these types of content and applying them where they are most relevant, you’ll not only better connect with potential customers but also position yourself as a trusted resource in your industry that will hopefully lead to more sales. If you’re not already on board with this new way of doing things, now is the time to jump on board and reap the rewards.

Sigurdur, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have always been fascinated by content creation, taking photos, and documenting ever since I can remember. If I had to guess, I would say I got it from my mom since she was the one always responsible for taking pictures. Due to my interest in photography, I was always asked to be responsible for taking photos at parties and events.

Once I started University, I already had experience with content creation, so in my first year, I was asked to be the official photographer for the Department of Business Administration, where I photographed all their events and shared them on their official website (at this time there was no Facebook). In my second year, I was elected to the student council in the Department of Business as a PR & Event Manager where I got the chance to plan all of the events, both internal and also so-called networking events where students had the chance to visit and meet some of the largest companies in Iceland.

As I planned and participated in all of these events, my network and connections grew immensely and allowed me the opportunity to pick up side projects for concerts and social media promotions. In my third year at University, I was well known for my talent and passion, so when a role opened up at Red Bull Iceland for a Student Manager position, I was recommended for it. This was a big opportunity for me to work with a leading international brand so, at that time, I decided to use the opportunity to learn from industry experts and use this experience to kick start my career in marketing. Over the course of the time I was working for Red Bull I was doing everything from social media, and content creation, to event management, and more. To gain more experience I also got the opportunity to take on an internship for 3 months at the Red Bull HQ in Fuschl, Austria where I got the chance to work on a wide range of international projects.

I held multiple roles within Red Bull throughout my time with them, but that was always more of a part-time job. Alongside my various jobs at Red Bull, I worked full-time at Iceland Telecom (Síminn). This was more of a corporate job in which I held positions in sales and customer service. I had started out as a representative along with my studies at the university, but at 24 years old I got promoted to Sales Manager and co-led a department of 35 employees. This really helped to gain an understanding of how to work with teams and be customer-centric. I stayed at Iceland Telecom for 8 years, where I held various positions that gave me the opportunity to understand how to work with teams, be customer-centric and also understand how marketing, sales, and service work to gather.

I stayed at Iceland Telecom for 8 years, and during that time I got the opportunity to get a deeper insight into how to work with teams, be customer-centric, marketing, sales, and service work among other invaluable experiences.

In July 2016, David Luther contacted me and asked if I was interested in founding SAHARA with him. One and a half months later we started working on our first projects and officially launched the business in September 2016. We had been friends for a while and he had seen my growth and potential in my current role and believed we could create something special with SAHARA. SAHARA started out as a social media agency focusing mainly on social media management. At that time, social media management and paid media were the main focus for many companies, but it was in a way a new concept for many Icelandic companies. So at first most of the conversations we had with potential clients were to explain what this new concept was, how it was working for other markets, and why they should start implementing social media and paid media in their marketing approach.

We started doing smart content creation like Facebook Live, behind-the-scenes footage from some of the largest concerts in Iceland and events, and social media takeovers. This set the foundation for SAHARA and the company began growing quickly. In 2018, SAHARA and Silent (a production company founded in 2009) merged to form a full-stack digital marketing agency under the name SAHARA, which has since successfully represented local and global clients and brands.

After the merger, the SAHARA team grew and earned many recognitions such as Great Place to Work May 2021-May 2022, Best Icelandic Brand 2020, Top Digital Marketing Companies in Europe 2020, as well as nominations for the Global Digital Excellence Awards 2020 and ended as 1 of the top 4, and got recognized as an excellent eCommerce agency for the year 2021 and as one of the Top 10 global Agencies in eCommerce.

Needless to say, SAHARA was ready to go international. With the occurrence of Covid-19 making remote work an option, it became clear that global expansion would be extremely value-adding to help us achieve our goals. Thus the seed for the Orlando office was planted. In 2022, that dream came true and I moved my family to Orlando to begin building the SAHARA global team.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I reflect on my journey so far, there’s one experience that stands out as a testament to my resilience. When we first set up our Orlando office and started the process of establishing a business in the US, we encountered unexpected challenges that required a significant investment of time and resources. But I was determined to see it through and persisted through the difficulties.

Since then, we’ve faced a number of obstacles as we’ve grown SAHARA, but each one has presented an opportunity to learn and improve. One particular challenge was scaling up quickly after a merger and ensuring we were hiring the right people to support our growth. It wasn’t always easy, but we approached each challenge as a chance to improve our infrastructure, hiring process, and operations.

Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, we continued to adapt and innovate to stay ahead of the game in digital marketing. As the leader of an agency that prides itself on understanding and adapting to social media and digital marketing strategies, there’s never a dull moment. But I embrace these challenges as opportunities to learn and grow, and I’m proud of the resilience we’ve demonstrated as a team

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

SAHARA’s reputation in the market is built on a combination of factors that differentiate us from our competitors. While we offer a wide range of services such as digital campaigns, web design, content creation, paid media, and other digital advertising needs, what sets us apart is our unwavering commitment to client service. Despite our growth aspirations, we have always stayed true to our roots and maintained close relationships with our clients. Our systems and processes are designed to keep us ahead of the game while ensuring that our clients receive exceptional service.

One aspect of our brand that I’m particularly proud of is our team and the outstanding work they produce. It’s this work that has earned us nominations and recognition as a company. Equally important to me is the well-being of our team members. That’s why we’ve taken steps to ensure that SAHARA is a Certified Great Place To Work and that our team members continue to enjoy being part of our team.

In addition to our focus on delivering excellent client service and fostering a great work environment, SAHARA is committed to making a positive impact on the world. We are proud to have pledged our support to four of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. Specifically, we believe in the importance of quality education, good health and well-being, gender equality, and climate action, and are dedicated to playing our part in achieving these goals by 2030.

Our commitment to client service, team well-being, and social responsibility is fundamental to our reputation in the market. Providing exceptional client service and building strong relationships with our clients has been a cornerstone of our success. By maintaining these values as we continue to grow, we build trust and credibility with our clients, which in turn enhances our reputation in the market.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.saharaagency.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siggisvans/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sigurdursvansson/