In the Champ life series this time, we have Mana Ionescu with us. She is a digital marketer and the president of Lightspan Digital. She loves talking about digital marketing myths and teaching innovative marketing. She shares her vast knowledge at Kellogg Executive Education Faculty. Mana was awarded “Chicago women making history” an outstanding entrepreneur award by the city of Chicago’s treasure office.
Apart from her company and being a digital geek, Mana is passionate about underwater conversation and adores the sea a lot. Also, she is a volunteer diver at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium.
It’s almost 14 years since Mana sowed the seeds of her digital marketing career. She is one of those digital marketers who loves to bring new creative ideas to the table. She started as a vlogger, and now she is dubbed as the marketing scientist for her focus on digital marketing.
When it comes to learning some complex things about digital marketing, you couldn’t ask for a better resource than Mana Ionescu. Social Champ is glad to invite Mana Ionescu for an interview.
Let’s see what she has to say about digital marketing.
Muneeb: It’s been great to have you on our Champs series. Please share some highlights of your career with our readers.
Mana: I was fortunate to have a career in both corporate digital marketing and with my agency. Having an agency introduced me to so many different businesses with such interesting stories and leadership styles. And I couldn’t have had that experience had I not started my own business.
Muneeb: When did you discover the digital marketing world? And what made you choose it as your career?
Mana: This will reveal my age, hahaha. I can say my entire career was in digital marketing. I’ve always chased the following hot technologies and ways to grow businesses. And I continue to operate in the same way.
Muneeb: As you’re a Founder at Lightspan Digital. What’s the inspiration behind it? What challenges did you face initially, and how did you tackle them?
Mana: I’ve always been a curious person, and my corporate career was not satisfying that curiosity. I started dabbling in social media and discovered there was a method to having success. I documented the technique and saw a business opportunity, so I made the leap and started my digital marketing agency. When you begin, finding customers is always the biggest challenge, but I networked, produced content, expanded my expertise, and little by little, the client base grew.
Muneeb: Being an experienced Digital Marketing Expert, what would be your advice for businesses?
Mana: Effective digital marketing requires discipline and boldness. It’s not cheap, and it’s not easy. Once you accept that there’s no easy magical solution, it’s easier to commit to doing the work with the proper level of investment.
Muneeb: And can you share some critical points for newbies who want to become Digital Marketers? Can you recommend some resources to them?
Mana: I recommend learning analytics. Start with some google analytics courses and learn how to interpret data and read stories in data. Everything will be more accessible after that.
Muneeb: How necessary are marketing automation tools for every business owner? What would you like to say about Social Champ?
Mana: I have a philosophy of moderation when it comes to automation tools. It’s effortless to let the tool determine your strategy instead of choosing the technology to serve your goals best. But automating your content publishing is very important – it will allow you to be thoughtful as you plan your content schedule. And tools like SocialChamp let you see your content calendar and have the much-desired feature of Instagram post scheduling. And having a tool like that also adds a level of accountability. It doesn’t feel great when you look at the content calendar, and it’s empty. It encourages you to create and share more content than if you go about it on the fly.
Muneeb: Who has inspired you in both personal and professional lives?
Mana: I’ve had many supporters along the way, and they each taught me impactful lessons. If I were to meet anyone, though, I would have loved to interview Mohamad Ali.
Muneeb: What are your hobbies? Do you like playing games, watching movies or anything else?
Mana: I love weight lifting and SCUBA diving.
Rapid Fire Round
| Muneeb | Mana |
|---|---|
| Facebook or Twitter? | |
| Tea or Coffee? | Coffee |
| Speaker or Trainer? | Speaker |
| Traveling or Games? | Traveling |
| Social Media or Social Networking? | Social Networking |
Muneeb: Lastly, who do you think we should interview next? You can nominate your friends or your idols who have notable contributions to the Community!
Mana: Sure, here you go: Parissa Behnia
Social Champ is genuinely thankful to Mana Ionescu for taking the time and sharing her secrets with the champ community. We are sure that our followers loved hearing from you!
