With more than a decade of experience in the motorcycle industry, Thalassa van Beek is the founder of Motorcycle Marketing and a keen bike rider herself.

Having worked with several major clients including Yamaha Motor Europe, Touratech, PETRONAS Motorsports and Peak Design, Thalassa has a broad digital skillset, with specialist knowledge in social media, content and marketing trends in the motorcycle industry.

Her role as the leader of Motorcycle Marketing now also includes sales, business development, client liaison and management of a group of marketers and content creators.

Explaining what prompted her to establish Motorcycle Marketing, bringing together some of the best freelance marketing talent in Europe, Thalassa explains, “There were several reasons for doing that, all of which are practical. There was more work than can be handled by one person and I could see that our clients needed a lot more than just social media marketing, which is my specialty.”

“It made sense to offer more so I brought together a group of marketing experts from the motorcycle industry to do that. Together we can offer a wide range of services to companies in the motorcycle world, including content marketing, copy writing, audiovisual production, SEM, SEO and influencer marketing.”

“In addition to that, after seven years of previously freelancing on my own I liked the idea of working more with other people, having more people around me to talk motorbikes and marketing with. I really like to see other people being successful, so with Motorcycle Marketing I can help other marketers who are motorcycle riders to be successful at what they do.”

Something of a Yamaha addict, Thalassa admits to having five bikes from the Japanese manufacturer in her garage – a Ténéré 700, a YZF-R6, a WR 250F, an XT 660R and an XMax 250. She has been totally in love with bikes ever since she was just 17.

Riding as much as she can and traveling to bike events across Europe, it’s vital for Thalassa to counter-balance hard work with spending several hours on two wheels each week.

She has found a way to work effectively as a marketer and agency leader whilst on the road and says, “There are a few key elements to being able to work like this. It’s important to have self-discipline. It would be a dream to go out and ride all day, every day, but of course you wouldn’t get any work done like that!”

“So I make sure that I stay on top of my work when I’m on the road and if that means less riding during the day then that’s how it is. Recently on a riding trip to Tenerife I started working at 6 or 7 each morning until 2 in the afternoon, before going riding for a few hours. Then I finished my work off in the evening. That worked very well.”

“It’s also crucial to have the correct equipment, with the right laptop, a good phone, everything synchronised. All my work is secured safely in the cloud and it is easily accessible, from wherever I am. I also have a very lightweight laptop stand, along with my wireless keyboard and mouse so that I can be comfortably set up when I’m working remotely.”

“I make sure I have the discipline that I continue to stay 100% reliable for my clients, that if I tell them things are going to get done, they always get done.”

In terms of coordinating the delivery of work for clients and managing the rest of the Motorcycle Marketing team who are spread out across various European locations, Thalassa has specifically defined processes to ensure consistently strong results.

“I work with to-do lists in Trello and they are my bible,” she states. “That’s how I stay focussed and organised, making sure that nothing is missed. I read a lot of books and listen to a lot of podcasts about productivity and organisation and I feel that I have a system that really works well for me. It is based on the Getting Things Done method, with different lists for different things and that works very efficiently for me.”

Thalassa and her Motorcycle Marketing colleagues firmly believe that travelling and adventure riding adds value to the output delivered for the brands the agency works with.

“Being able to ride frequently and travel often inspires me and really keeps me excited about being a motorcycle rider, which I think really shows when I am writing and creating content for our clients,” she comments.

“It also means I’m part of the motorbike scene in general as well as part of specific scenes. I go to different types of events and I speak to bikers from various countries. Because of that I have a lot of on-the-ground knowledge which really comes in handy. Being at events really helps with growing the network and means that I can connect clients and other people in my network with each other and that’s pretty cool. As a rider I’m also a potential customer of my clients so I truly understand what they are looking for.”

If you’d like Thalassa and the Motorcycle Marketing team to work with your brand, contact us to set up an initial consultation. You can also follow Thalassa’s riding adventures on the @NoHighways Instagram account.