Joan Molloy grew up in Sydney, having emigrated from Ireland with her family. With her mother working in the travel industry, Joan too caught the tourism bug and straight from school started working for Qantas.

Wanting to expand her horizons, Joan relocated to the USA, working and living in Los Angeles for a couple of years and then Manhattan, New York for 10 years, and it was here that she began to Shine. Joan held Senior Vice-President marketing roles with global travel brands Trafalgar, AAT Kings Australia and Insight Vacations and was voted in the Top 100 Businesswomen in North America.

In 2003, Joan returned to Australia and took on the ownership of dtb! Advertising, one of the Sunshine Coast’s leading advertising agencies with her brother.

Joan, tell us about dtb! Advertising and the sort of work you do?

Established in 1991 dtb! partners clients to attract more customers, more often through creative marketing solutions that include: marketing, brand and campaign strategies; graphic design; website design and build; media planning and buying; traditional, digital and social media activation; content creation; public relations, event planning and management and more. In short, we do whatever is needed to get our clients to where they need to be. Let’s get down to business!

What made you make the change from corporate to setting up your own business?

I’ve always been a passionate people person who needs to work in a fast paced, fun environment surrounded by equally passionate and smart people. Owning a creative marketing agency, working across diverse industries, clients and projects, is the perfect place for me to partner people and help them make their dreams come true. Plus, I got to move from the Big Apple to the beautiful Sunshine Coast!

Tell us your top marketing tip?

Respect your audience’s time and intelligence – speak their language, show you understand their pain points, highlight the value and solutions of your product or service to minimise their pain.

How important is marketing to a business and should all businesses have a digital strategy?

A digital strategy – beginning with a content rich, easy to navigate and find, mobile friendly website, supported with SEO and Google Ads – should be a businesses marketing priority. Your digital presence is your businesses best salesperson, that never stops working, helping you reach more customers through targeted and measurable activities, which gives you a greater return on your investment. It needs to support other marketing channels and complement your total marketing matrix.

And what’s next on the horizon for Joan Molloy?

dtb! continues to work on increasing our Queensland footprint. We were Tourism and Events Queensland’s Sales Marketing Agency for several years which gave us great opportunities to work across most regional areas of Queensland partnering a number of amazing tourism operators and organisations.
Recently, dtb! was selected as one of only 12 accredited suppliers by Local Buy for the provision of advertising and media services to local government areas across Queensland.  Local Buy is a procurement company owned by the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ), to help Queensland’s 77 regional councils reduce the risk, time and costs associated with the procurement of important products and services.

Our new Local Buy accreditation will allow us to extend our creative marketing, advertising, design and digital services offering to all local Queensland government areas, providing opportunities for us to further develop and recruit key talent and skills within our business. This is very exciting for us and gives us all greater opportunities to truly shine brighter.

Favourite place that you have visited?

I have a few, but love Hawaii – from my airline days and monthly trips, the aloha spirit, tropical landscapes, amazing shopping, and sunset cocktails. I am an annual visitor with my girlfriends.

Coast or City?

Coast for its clear skies and clearer thinking which our clients, wherever they’re located, truly benefit from.

How do you relax?

With family and friends enjoying the Sunshine Coast’s delicious array of fresh produce whilst sipping on a sparkling, chilled glass of bubbles – does it get any better!

To find out more about Joan & dtb! Advertising head to:

Website
https://dtb.com.au/

Facebook
@dtbqld