A communications specialist with an experience in business management and research.
For the past few years, I’ve been helping client companies align their communication goals with the audience.
My passion is to envision a better way of living. It inspires me to connect with people and build for people. It is the call to action that takes me on a journey to the unknown to explore creative ideas and test concepts.
To do that, I apply 3 core values in my work that have the power to create a safe environment for growth.
Empathy
Emapthy fuels connection. Sympathy drives disconnection.
Brené Brown
During interviews, I often ask people to tell me about negative experiences they’ve had while using a service provider or a product to understand how that affected them and what we can do better to increase their satisfaction.
And at that moment when they are being vulnerable with me, I know I need to make the choice of being vulnerable myself. To listen and show them that they are understood by connecting to a part of myself that understands how they may have felt after the unfortunate experience.
What if I fail to empathize with them? The cost is high. I’m at risk of losing their trust while they become closed-off and defensive to disengage from the conversation. Empathy is being vulnerable and connecting to others’ experiences.
Authenticity
Authenticity may mean many different things to different people. It is a concept that is often hard to explain.
More, authenticity and empathy are often interconnected. It is impossible to be empathetic with another person without being honest with ourselves first.
Though, I think to be authentic is to be present to myself while listening to others. And it doesn’t necessarily mean that I communicate that knowledge and experience. After all, I want to create a safe environment for the other person. In that case, it is enough to pay attention to me to honour it.
As an example during interviews, I think of authenticity as being able to understand another’s perspective, experiences, and emotions while noticing how that makes me think, feel, and do.
Although, I know it may not always be appropriate to self-disclose during the conversation, sometimes it is useful to mirror back how I might feel in a similar situation. Saying things like ‘that must have been a very frustrating experience’ during a conversation allows the person to confirm if I understand them correctly or correct me by clarifying how they feel.
That helps the interviewee to reflect on their own emotions and gives me just the right level of nuance that I need to understand them better. It is also a probing question that gives me a level of confidence and accuracy in my understanding of their situation.
Unconditional Positive Regard
That is by means the hardest step to take. And it is absolutely necessary where growth, whether personal or on a business level, happens. There is no faster killer of creativity and self-expression than judgment. That critical part of the self that wants the best for us and for the business, to keep us safe, and so it is afraid of every little change. And it starts to critique how this may not work, how we will get into trouble, and how stupid the idea may be.
Even when we know we disagree, the hardest thing is to stay present and listen.
Practice makes perfect. So, I practice every day being mindful of the conversation and listening openly. And I notice people share a lot more when I LISTEN.
What do I ACTUALLY do?
The day-to-day steps that make big ideas come true.
Design Thinking
Positive growth.
Define
Through desk research, interviews, card sorting sessions, and content and competitor analysis, I get a better grasp of the business strategy that drives value for the customer.
Additionally, I look at the brand management and current practices to propose solutions that are aligned with the identity of the organization.
Then, I ran surveys and interviews to understand the target audience.
What are their pain points? How do they make a decision? What content needs do they have at different times of their journey?
Ideate
Based on insights from the client and customer research, I come up with ideas for content formats that will help us reach the objectives of the client.
The insights are used for the creation of content that is both aligned with the brand and speaks to the customers.
Test
Whether we create a blog, post a story on social media, or create a video with background music, there are various creative elements that influence how the content and brand are perceived by the customer.
So, we test those elements to learn how we can achieve better results for our objectives.
Over time, that knowledge is incredibly powerful to consistently create content that is enjoyed by the audience and aligned with the goals of the company.
Implement
A distribution plan that takes into consideration the content and channel preferences of the target audience is implemented. The goal is to tell a consistent story across different platforms where the brand is present and active. In return, customers are able to recognize the brand value and differentiate it from others.
The plan also involves measuring the progress of the campaigns by using KPIs and metrics.
Experience & Education
I graduated with MA in Content and Media Strategy. During my school year, I’ve had the opportunity to work on building a content and media strategy for a few clients in the event and adventure travel industries.
Design thinking is a framework that can be applied to improve the value of products and services brought to customers of any organization in any industry. Essentially, it is a problem-solving framework.
While developing a strategy based on the design framework, I’ve gained a broad range of skills from collaboration and facilitation to operationalizing surveys and interviews as well as implementing business and marketing strategies.
Additionally, I’ve always sought international exposure from an early age.
By chance, I happened to be familiar with the origins of Erasmus von Rotterdam and I fully identified with his ideals. So, recently I completed my master’s in his beautiful country.
In brief: Who Am I?
I am a… humanist, a big idea person, a writer and communicator, a researcher, and a French speaker.
Areas of expertise: brand and business management, strategy, communications, research, event planning and organization, and media production.
I am passionate about self-expression, creativity, research, problem-solving, strategy, ideas, foreign cultures, and equality.
Aspiration: to convey my words with clarity and impact.
In my free time… I play the piano, sing, hike, cycle, read books, and meditate.
Nikoleta Petrova
Hello! I am a communications specialist living near Sofia, Bulgaria. When I am not on the web, you can find me planning my next masterpiece.