Niamh Erin – Womenize! – Inspiring Stories
Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational individuals from games and tech. For this edition, we collaborated with Niamh Erin, Event & Influencer Marketing Executive at Pyrocynical. She speaks how her background in creative writing and performing arts has shaped her confident communication style, strategic creativity, and empathetic leadership in the events and influencer marketing industry. Read more about Niamh here:
Hi Niamh! How has your background in creative writing and performing arts influenced your approach to storytelling and engagement in your role as an Event & Influencer Marketing Executive?
I believe that having a background in performing arts is a pathway to building learned confidence in all areas of life. I have been able to apply this confidence into my communication style within the events and influencer management industry. This confidence has enabled me to never question myself when I need to ask direct questions, for example when a creator is deserving of a higher budget for a campaign due to the amount of expected deliverables, or when a creator requires more dedicated security at a meet and greet overseas. As women, in an over saturated industry field, it can be tempting to make ourselves smaller in order to be more agreeable. However, you do not get the things that you do not ask for. In a creator management role, it’s my responsibility to advocate for the creators I represent and confident communication is a tool that allows me to do just that.
In 2022, I graduated from university with a high honours degree in Creative Writing with a professional placement year in Marketing & PR. Creative writing is a skillset which I also believe can develop elevated communication skills. For example, having a developed understanding on how to effectively convey a brand voice enables me to communicate these visions and goals verbally to a creator and extended team, which I can then effectively communicate to consumers. I think the ability to write creatively seamlessly flows into campaign executions, in person creator events, product launches and so much more. Creativity and business definitely go hand in hand. I performed a poem and held a Q&A on this theme at a Tedx talk whilst at university.
Working with a prominent content creator like Pyrocynical requires both creativity and strategy. How do you balance the two to ensure successful collaborations and campaigns?
It certainly is about finding an established balance, however that balance may look different each week depending on the creator’s schedule so it’s also important to remain flexible and adaptable at all times. It’s always important to listen to both the brand and creator, and their visions for a campaign or collaboration. It is vital to then create a step by step game plan of how this can be achieved. I often ask the creator if they’re happy with the required deliverables for the agreed price. I find out what their schedule looks like around the selected timeframes to deliver segments of a campaign. It’s necessary to work with both creator and brand to ensure all involved parties are happy and have had their needs met. The creativity within a campaign or collaboration can be implemented through the creator’s brand voice. All creator’s have a niche. There’s a reason why their fans dedicate time to watch their content. It adds something to their life, and that’s priceless. The fans feel connected to a creator. Therefore, implementing creativity into a campaign is ensuring the creator executes the deliverables in a way that matches their niche and style. This will boost sales because the consumer audience (the fans) feel that the campaign is genuine. This is what drives interest, This interest is what drives downloads and sales. The strategic element is mapping this plan out, and executing it timely and effectively.
Your career journey has taken you from internships to a leadership role. What key lessons did you learn along the way, and what advice would you give to those starting out in marketing or content creation?
Every experience I have had so far has been so valuable to me, and I’m yet to have more. I’ve learnt so much. I wouldn’t have learnt anything about implementing and designing a brand voice if I hadn’t taken an unpaid internship when I was nineteen. This is still a skill I implement at least weekly within a management role. I think it’s super important to maintain flexibility and adaptability as the industry of content creation is ever changing and continuously growing. There will always be a hot new trend, or a new style of content that brands jump at. Sometimes event schedules have to be adapted and adhered to on the spot when queues of fans are non stop. These unpredictable challenges are what makes this industry so exciting.
The advice I would give as someone who is hopefully just starting their journey inside this weird and wonderful field of work, is to stay open minded, focused and dedicated. Listen to your team and creators, don’t just listen in order to respond, but really listen to what they are asking of you. Advocate for your creators to ensure they are happy. Content creation can be an exhausting, high stress and demanding job. Beyond the screens, the creator’s are also humans that need rest but I think that’s so easily forgotten when people just see millions of subscribers on a page and continuous content. Their industry may be super but that doesn’t make them super human.
Lastly, allow yourself to enjoy the rewards. When a big campaign goes perfectly, be proud of yourself for facilitating that. When an event runs smoothly and you see how happy all of the fans are when they meet a creator that they love so much, feel proud of yourself for facilitating that. I certainly always do.
I’m also thrilled to share that I’ll be starting a new role as a Talent Manager at Mode in Australia. Mode represents some of the most influential names in gaming and is truly redefining what talent management looks like in this space. It’s an honour to join a team that’s making such a powerful impact and I’m incredibly excited for what’s ahead.