With a portfolio of clients such as Mercedes-Benz, L’Oreal, P&G and other high-profile companies, Butterfly Media Group is one of the top communication agencies in Romania.
Meet Stefania Stroe, founder and general manager: Stefania’s work includes a series of online projects that mainly target women, the most notable being the development of TheDigitalGlamour.com.
• Tell us about yourself
I have 11 years of experience in the advertising field with a deep understanding of sales strategies, marketing and business development. I find it very appealing to dedicate myself to the digital side of communication, such as digital marketing, integrated communication and online research to name a few.
• What does your company provide? How does it work?
I lead an integrated communications agency focusing on digital media. We specialize on brands that target women, because I believe that women are the key decision-makers and a more powerful consumer force than ever before.
Therefore, our work aims to reach and fulfill women’s needs properly in order to build up a brand’s identity and it’s target audience.
• How did you come to the idea behind Butterfly? What did you do before starting your project?
I have a degree in Economic studies and have worked with a broad portfolio of blue-chip clients such as Reckitt Benckiser, Sanofi-Aventis, RBS, Citibank, Mercedes-Benz, P&G, Microsoft (and other high-profile companies). Over the years I have developed the required persuasion, leadership and business development skills to successfully take on creative communication campaigns.
Our goal is to make complex information more accessible and compelling to target audiences by choosing the most effective channels and delivering tangible business results.
• Could you tell us the meaning of your motto: “We work like caterpillars and shine like butterflies”
The motto encompasses our vision with regards to how we work and what we deliver.
In order to achieve our full potential and reach tangible results, like a caterpillar eventually evolving into a butterfly, we work together and constantly improve ourselves in order to succeed in the fast-paced environment of the advertising industry.
Furthermore, by combining our energetic, high-spirited demeanor, multitude of skills and creativity, we always deliver quality results and that is what makes us shine like butterflies.
• How do you describe yourself as an entrepreneur?
I do what any dedicated entrepreneur would do: I split my day between business meetings, pitches and events. Although it seems quite casual, I try to keep up to date with the latest trends in social media and the industry; as such, I spend many hours online studying the market and keep myself in high spirits all the time.
• Can you tell us how your vision has shaped your business?
The vision was born from the idea of specializing our services towards the female audience. TheDigitalGlamour.com serves as a community for content creators such as bloggers, vloggers and publishers that target mainly women; it also serves as a hub where they can network and connect with people working in the same domain.
• How do you differentiate yourself from the competition?
Our most valuable differentiator is definitely TheDigitalGlamour.com, which has the goal to offer information and audience reports from the most important blogs and websites from the EU, US and Australia. It allows us to deliver quick and efficient online communication solutions for the brands with female audiences. Our project was also selected amongst the semi-finalists of the 2014 Founder Games on an international competition for online start-ups, Webit Congress.
• What has been the biggest challenge yet for your company?
I consider the launch of TheDigitalGlamour.com our biggest challenge so far. After identifying the need for such a platform, we sketched the main ideas concerning the purpose and the objectives we would try to meet. When we got green light, our platform started drawing various bloggers and publishers’s attention. We’ve been constantly working on improving this space for content creators ever since, so that we could offer them the experience they’re looking for.
• In your opinion, what was the most rewarding thing about starting your company?
The most rewarding thing for me was being able to build my own vision from scratch, watch it grow while puting all my time, effort, dedication and resources into growing a successful business over time.
• What are your plans for the near future for your company?
Our plans include expanding our platform to 5 countries in Europe that have already matured in the blogging and vlogging market: UK, France, Spain, Italy and Germany.
• What advice could you give to any entrepreneur starting a business?
I would recommend following these steps:
1. Take a break once in a while and let your creativity run free when you gather ideas for your business plan.
2. Believe in yourself and your skills, challenge yourself to expand your horizons and always try to outdo yourself.
3. Take some risks and go for it. If you don’t take risks, you’ll never know your full potential.
