On Famasi Africa and becoming more than a writer

26 Dec, 2022

I can't remember how my Famasi journey began but I'm pretty sure it was something like this:

Faruq spoke to me about the idea > added me to Slack > we kickstarted the road to February 9 project, which was our launch date > started posting on socials > wrote launch copy > and the rest is history.

But there were two things I didn't know at the time:

1. Working in-house, especially as the main content person, is a world apart from my freelancing days. I went from "Hey [client name], I've shared the google doc via email but sending it here so you won't miss it" to discussing how "Famasi is new, so we have to create awareness and promote our benefits…"

2. Marketing in the healthcare industry is challenging and doing it in Nigeria is probably the hardest. People rightly have ill feelings towards healthcare, so multiply how hard you think it is to gain trust for a new product by 100.

Listen…

I wrote 960 quizzes for Proprofs, 1000+ copy for 91 Shopify stores, website copy for a greedy content marketing agency in Nottingham that's still owing me, and 150 landing page copy for Shopify's Hatchful and Burst projects. I managed a team of ~30 in 2020 — copywriters, developers, designers, and product researchers.

But this was different.

I soon realised that my job was now to fuel the entire business through content. The biggest problem? Healthcare is a complex industry; the regulators don't want competition, so you can't promote your advantage. It was like a newly promoted championship team facing Manchester City in their first Premier League game. Or imagine Arya facing the Hound in GOT.

Famasi wasn't just a new business; the business model and services were — and to some extent still — fresh in Nigeria. Even after a year, we sometimes have to educate potential customers on why personalising their order with a Care Specialist is to their advantage.

This complexity meant one thing:

That content and community building are our major growth channels. I started asking questions to easily transition from being the writer I was to the marketer Famasi Africa needed because building a community, for example, required a different skill set.

Here's what I found after months of trial and error:

1. See the big picture  and  ask questions: Questions are always a good starting point. They give you the right context about a situation, which then informs your approach. I had Faruq answering most of my questions  —  his content background made it smooth to quickly shape up what Famasi content should look like across touchpoints. And there was Dee simplifying the healthcare industry. For example, even though nobody in Nigeria does what we do, we can't say we're the best at care coordination and personalised care. Our testimonials are doing it for us but I'm sometimes jealous of other industries. The right questions helped me map our channels and develop our content structure in phases.

2. Be action-biased and result-oriented: Faruq preaches being action-biased, while Dee's popular slang is to be result-oriented, not activity-focused. More than solving a problem, defining the how and when is essential. Because it's easy to list activities at the end of the week without solving a business need. Okay, you wrote a blog. What has the blog done? Has it been distributed? The most significant difference between freelancing and working in-house is involvement — half the time, clients leave blog posts on their website without distributing them elsewhere. And this includes some "content marketing agencies", too. You spent hours designing in Figma but your screens don't solve a problem Famasi customers are having. You'll get "well done" because Dee is nice, but that's not what we're being paid to do.

3. Be reliable: At first, Faruq and I were the "content department" but now, he can sleep well at night knowing content isn't a problem. This is only possible because I did stuff without waiting for him. It's like that relationship with your parents — they're worried you can't fend for yourself until you start paying their bills. If you want higher heads to trust your judgments, you must show you're reliable. Show, don't tell (or expect) and you'll be able to run experiments. Constant disappointments with an inflated ego will only hurt one's career growth.

4. Don't repeat the same mistakes: Nobody loves sounding like a broken record. Even in the freelance world, the best know they're to document client preferences to avoid repeating mistakes. It may be cool in the first 1–3 months, but even your co-workers will start questioning where your head is the longer it continues. Sometimes it's cute to argue that the business should be understanding but the quickest way to spoil a team is by condoning incompetence.

5. Know when it's no longer your work: This is for creatives especially and it's one thing I had to re-learn. However, it extends to other fields too. Feedback is part of the job and before pushing back constructive feedback, ask whether putting out poor work is the reflection you want for yourself. Let's leave the business side of things now. On a personal level, what would you benefit from associating your name with poor output? If there's any benefit, please let me know.

I've learnt a lot since embarking on this journey — done influencer marketing, content design, and partnerships. But after 4 years of freelance work, I've had to (re)learn how to collaborate with other teams, carry everyone in mine along, and make plans that ensure all teams are telling the same Famasi story.

For example, our Twitter and WhatsApp are handled by different people but here's a customer who feels the same level of concern on both channels.

It's been a whole new journey and I can't wait for what's next. Hopefully, that'll include you getting a Famasi care plan for yourself and your loved ones.

nO pReSsUrE 🙃

#personal