IN A NUTSHELL
Currently based in Washington state, I have lived and worked across the world in hospitality, publishing, professional services, logistics, advertising and higher education. Right now I work as director of marketing and communications for Seattle University’s Albers School of Business and Economics.
In my spare time I grow dahlias and garlic in my garden on Kitsap Peninsula, across the water from Seattle.
ASK ME ABOUT
Media strategy and planning
Targeting is an important cornerstone of every marketing strategy. Technology continues to improve marketers’ capabilities to serve audiences with relevant and timely messaging that is welcomed, not abhorred. What’s magical is the number of recipes you can come up with combining demographics, psychographics and other attributes to fine-tune targeting and choose the appropriate media.
Search engine optimization
I cut my teeth on SEO serving agency clients in challenging categories like e-cigarettes. As AI moves into Google’s space, how a site is structured, how it appears in search engines and large user generated sites such as Reddit, are changing the dynamics of how a brand competes in the marketplace. Good content will always win the day. See next section.
Content
That old chestnut ‘content is king’ has never proven truer. Every brand now is arguably a content studio. In addition to text, imagery and video, podcasts are adding an enriching dimension to how audiences are consuming content and doing product or service research. The challenge for marketers is how to repurpose and resuscitate content, both for cost efficiencies and to keep a content-hungry audience fed.
Branding
There’s only so much brands can invest in search and advertising to grab people’s attention and retain their loyalty. Smart brands know investing in branding is essential to build recognition and recall, two elements that, in time, aid in building organic traffic and lowering paid media costs.
Editorial
As a former journalist, I have written for media outlets such as Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, Canada’s Globe and Mail and regional publication Campaign Asia. I’ve often joked that I crossed over to the Dark Side of marketing but it has taught me how to pitch to journalists effectively and improve my own writing.
Working with global teams
I headed up a global marketing team for an international market research firm with 60+ locations across the world. This has exposed me to various countries and cultures, and I learned a lot about how to work successfully with different people. One lesson: We have more in common with each other and finding that commonality is key to building trust.
TESTIMONIALS
“I had the opportunity to work for Alicia as the media relations intern at the Albers School. Alicia with her wealth of knowledge, in marketing and journalism, taught me so much in such a short period of time. I can surely say without a doubt—I would not have gotten the employment opportunity I did after graduation without her tutelage and mentorship.”
ANTHONNY RUIZ
SEO/social media at the mccarthy companies
“Her biggest single achievement was the rebranding of 44 market research companies into a single identity—Synovate. This was accomplished in just six months and the result was a spectacular success—not just in terms of external branding but as a core component of the company’s DNA and culture. The exercise is even featured in Kotler’s book as a B2B case study.”
ADRIAN CHEDORE
former ceo, synovate
“Alicia proved a highly competent media editor, reporting on a daily basis as well as commissioning and editing several pages of a weekly media news and features section. Her stories and pages became required reading among the advertising and marketing community of Hong Kong. Most importantly, she cared about her work.”
andrew lynch, former editor-in-chief, hongkong standard
GET IN TOUCH
CONTACT ALICIA KAN
Marketer | SEO | Content | Branding | Media