The 10 Most Effective Integrated Marketing Solution Providers 2018

www.insightssuccess.in October 2018

THE

Most

EFFECTIVE INTEGRATED MARKETING SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2 0 1 8

Abhishek Sharma Chairman

AKKADO

Creating Multidimensional Brands with the Perfect Blend of an Array of Marketing Services

Editorial

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igital technology is gradually affecting the way how brands and ad agencies are approaching their campaigns in India. Data state that this technology has deďŹ nitely had a major impact on how the advertisement expenditure has been distributed. Also, it is expected that expenditures on digital technology will reach to around Rs 19000 crore in the years to come, which is the same size of the current print ad industry.

Digital Technology Changing the Face of Marketing in India

The new tech-savvy generation brings an easygoing relationship with technology and latest terminology along with them. On the other hand, veterans are inspired and well aware about the amount of technology available, but are slow at adopting them. Moreover, cutting-edge technologies like AI are increasingly making their way into the marketing vertical. Even though AI is still in its nascent stages, we can expect a future involving AI in marketing activities.

Moreover, the audience these days is very watchful about the content being introduced, and how they are marketed.

They are very vocal and don’t shy away from expressing their views on certain stereotypical social portrayals like gender biasness and identity. Also, not only major players and investors, but also local digital media content creators are teaming up with big brands to participate in digital marketing. Social media advertising has also picked up the pace and has increasingly become accessible and affordable. With technology gradually evolving, and latest procedures being introduced in businesses each passing day, we may witness digital technology introducing a new wave of marketing in India in the times to come.

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Senior Editor Shraddha Deshpande Managing Editor Rajarshi Chatterjee Executive Editor Ananda Kamal Das Contributor Anmol Preet Singh Art & Design Director Amol Kamble Co-designer Poonam Mahajan Picture Editor Alex Noel Art Editor Mayur Koli Visualiser Asha Bange Business Development Manager Akansha Garewal Marketing Manager Dhruv Apte Business Development Executives Divya Shah, Vaishnavi Salunke, Sarika Kawade Research Analyst David Circulation Manager Vivek Bangade Database Management Prashant Chevale Technology Consultant Swapnil Patil sales@insightssuccess.com

October, 2018 Corporate Ofď€ ces: Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd. Off. No. 513 & 510, 5th Flr., Rainbow Plaza, Shivar Chowk, Pimple Saudagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411017 Phone - India: +91 7410079881/ 82/ 83/ 84/ 85 Email: info@insightssuccess.in For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.in

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COVER STORY

CXO STANDPOINT 30

Expert’s Viewpoint Role of Content in Social Media Marketing

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Akkado

Creating Multidimensional Brands with the Perfect Blend of an Array of Marketing Services

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Veteran’s Insights The Upswing of Social Selling & How Content is Responsible for its Ascension

INTERVIEW WITH INSIGHTS SUCCESS 16

The Tribal Box A Haven for Innovation, Creation, and Collaboration

sunSTRATEGIC Changing the way a Company Innovates

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40

ARTICLES

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Automation Portfolio

Tech-Talk

AI and Machine Learning Harbingers of Revolutionary Changes in Marketing

Virtual Reality: A Game Changer in Marketing Solutions

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eConcero

NeoNiche

Empowering Brands to Respond to the Rapidly Changing Market Needs

Promises Better Business through Innovative Marketing Services

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UCID Creating Ideas that Cultivate Brands

CONTENTS

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Zensciences

In Just 3 Years, This Digital Marketing Boutique Is Already Crafting Better Stories For Fortune Companies And Startups

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INTEGRATED MARKETING SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2018

The Principal Marketing Solution Providers in India

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he Indian marketing industry is embracing technological innovations with the objective of providing exceptional customer service and to stand tall among its competitors in the market. The leading marketing solution providers of the country are employing innovative methods and research oriented procedures to make a mark in this highly competitive industry. These companies are providing out-of-the-box marketing solutions to their clients and aim at total customer satisfaction. They are adopting modern technologies like AI, VR, IoT, and more coupled with advanced maneuvers to provide a lasting customer experience.

“The 10 Most Effective Integrated Marketing Solution Providers 2018” highlights the paramount marketing solution providers in the industry. The magazine comes up with some of the prominent service providers who have made a mark in the industry with their outstanding services.

In the Cover, we have Akkado which provides one-stop solution for all marketing needs. This issue also includes eConcero Consulting, which provides full-range of integrated market research, and digital marketing solutions. Neo Niche provides tailor-made experimental marketing solution for clients with complete range of marketing services. UCID is a through the line advertising agency, marketing consultant, and strategic content provider that offers creative communication solutions for every need. Zensciences is a boutique marketing consulting firm providing services and solutions at the intersection of strategy, design, storytelling, and digital.

It also includes enlightening articles by Ashish Dalia, Owner and CEO of I Knowledge Factory Pvt. Ltd., and Nikhil Agarwal, Co-founder of Brandwitty. We have also added scintillating interviews with Ms. Sanghamitra Khatu, Director of Tribal Box Media Pvt. Ltd., and with Sherina Kapany, Founder of sunSTRATEGIC. So, flip through the pages for more information on these leading organizations!

Abhishek Sharma Chairman Akkado

COVER STORY

AKKADO “ Creating Multidimensional Brands with the Perfect Blend of an Array of Marketing Services

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he Indian marketing industry is constantly evolving with time. The leading companies of this industry are adopting innovative means and cutting-edge strategies to stay ahead of its competition. These companies are following client-friendly policies and consider client satisfaction as one of their prime objectives. One such trailblazer of the marketing industry is Akkado, which specializes in the tactical generation and delivery of integrated marketing strategies in order to driving consumer behavior in a favorable direction.

The Inception of Akkado

Akkado’s Chairman, Abhishek Sharma was fascinated about story books when he was young. He was influenced by how each and every chapter would connect all instances and stitch them together perfectly to bring the essence and emotions of the story.

“When I planned to start my own company, I wanted to apply the same concept; Many experiential instances and aspects coming together to bring alive the story of the brand”, says Abhishek.

Abhishek feels that a team should be a combination of the

We use an integrated approach to arrive at a holistic result

we need to become the bridge between the two by devising strategies and experiences in 360 degree manner” says Abhishek.

About the Leader Abhishek wasn’t born with a silver spoon. His life journey is nothing short of hard work & dedication. The core values and morals he has grown up with are the motivating factors that keep him going. He is a man with a mission to make it large in life and create an ecosystem that changes the perspective of the world.

“ We drive consumer behavior towards a favorable direction

youthful extravagance and the experience of the veterans. This perfect blend gives multi perspective insights about the industry and helps in planning entire strategy and concept. “If we keep our employees motivated, then the industry will grow automatically. This is the best mantra I follow”, he says.

He adds that as one enters the industry, they get exposed to numerous ideologies and patterns that would influence to follow them. But if they need to create their own identity and leave a mark they need to become a trend setter and make their own rules.

“The simple and basic rule is to connect the client’s ideology with the aspirations and interest of the consumers. With the panoramic view

Abhishek’s journey started with working at the age of 18 in an export house 14 hours a day to working with his father after that. Churning out work every day in a small constrained room did not make him lose focus but only motivated him give his best in all aspects. An all-rounder with the magnitude of his dreams reaching for the sky inspired him to break the shackles and take his leap. The onus was on him to make it big in life and fulfil all his dreams. An eye to pick up the right talent for the job is one of his key strengths.

With no prior work experience, he entered an industry and started creating unforgettable experiences for his clients and consumers all around the world. It was like a phoenix rising from the ashes to reach for the heights.

He wanted to explore many aspects that help the brand & the client to grow. He aimed at providing a 360 degree solution for the clients that gives them a panoramic view of their brand. Along with focusing on merchandising, events & activations, he introduced loyalty & engagement department that widened the horizon and gave a perspective to the client to ring fence its customers. Having an in-house travel company to manage

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Our objective is to fuel favorable engagement the travel logistics is like having speciality that would made Akkado stand out from the rest. His way of thinking after understanding the new trends and social swag bags of the industry inspired him to introduce audio & visual segment that would help in translating the idea into a visual spectacle. While there have been more successes but there have been failures too that he has tasted which have made him what he is today. Far sightedness, the strength to let go off failures by learning a lesson from them and a strong hold over his work have made Abhishek what he is today.

He remembers and follows his values and morals imbibed in his childhood, those have laid the perfect foundation on which Akkado stands strong today and plans to expand. Every employee in the company is personally and professionally taken care by Abhishek himself. He believes that the

employees who are working in Akkado has banked on him for their career growth. It’s a big responsibility which makes him happy and helps him in creating an ambience for the employees to grow. His vision is to introduce best HR initiatives, financial solutions helping the employees grow personally & professionally. He now handles an ever growing team of experts that includes some of the best names of the industry who are happy to be a part of a larger dream.

Providing a Lasting Customer Experience Akkado is a perfect blend of numerous features that come together to perfectly narrate the story of the brand (client) that reaches the desired customers. Using their tools, the company creates an experiential journey for the client that benefits him and the brand.

The company implements a variety of tools including: Ÿ

Events, Activations & Exhibitions

Ÿ

Loyalty & CRM

Ÿ

Merchandising & Gifts

Ÿ

Audio Visual & Creative Solutions

Ÿ

MICE

Ÿ

Technology & Online solutions

With multiple office India and abroad, the company has over 50 active clients, all blue chip/fortune 500 companies. They have built a strong relationship with their clients and have created mesmerizing experiences for them. Few of their clients include ICICI Lombard General Insurance, Bharti Airtel, Honda, NSDC Skill India, Mercedes Benz India, Pepsi Co,

Vodafone, IFFCO TOKIO, SleepWell, Oreedoo Myanmar, TATA Sky among others.

Customer is the king and Employees are beyond that Akkado firmly believes that the customer is the king and that if an organization believes in this ideology then there will never be a challenge in any aspect of business. They believe in keeping the customers and the employees close to the heart.

Akkado’s vision is to make pin to plane and create a marketplace for talent professionals to pursue their dreams.

Staying Ahead of the Competition Akkado believes in evolving with the constantly changing Indian marketing industry. They aim at utilizing social media as an integral tool to achieve a competitive advantage over their competitors. They believe that smartphones can play a crucial role in marketing strategies and feel that companies and event organizers should start embracing this technology.

The company feels that the future will be all about technological advancements. New ways in which the technology can make a brand grow, reach masses and create high impactful experiences. Akkado has an in house expertise in technology understanding & development. The team is completely updated on new technologies that have surfaced nationally and internationally.

Awards and Certifications Akkado has achieved numerous awards and accolades throughout its illustrious journey. It is an ISO certified company (ISO Certification:

9001:2008). It is also a prestigious platinum member of EEMA. (Event and Entertainment Management Association)

“

The company has also won BAM Awards 2018 ‘GOLD’ for ·

Conceptualization and Execution of Airtel Leadership Conclave

·

Excellence in Event Management Service – NIZAMS, ICICI Lombard

A Client-Centric Service Provider The company aims to deliver the best

We identify pain points and offer and execute productive solutions

of experiences to the clients which help them further reach out to their target audience. Being an integrated marketing agency, they offer a host of services to their clients and curate larger than experiences for their customers.

Through events & activations, they study and generate ideas and concepts that instantly catch the eye of their clients’ audience. With their merchandize department at work, Akkado offers their clients with customizable and personalized gift options that help them allure more and more audience and also keep the existing ones loyal. The In house creative team has unadulterated mind set helping in creating visually spectacle designs that mesmerizes the client.

The loyalty team strategizes, plans, and delivers the best of loyalty and CRM concepts to their clients and helps reach out to the masses as well as the existing customers. They also provide their clients with exciting

opportunities to get the maximum business by enrolling in the maximum number of customers/audience.

The company’s travel and audio visual expertise go hand in hand as they provide their clients with everlasting memories from their tour & travel experiences that the company stitches personally for them. The audio visual department also curates the best short films ideas and produces state of the art short films.

Future Plans Akkado plans to create their own intellectual property that would showcase their work to the masses. A property that would help penetrate the client with ease as their reputation would have preceded them. The company says “The work has already begun. The respective teams are on it doing the R&D”.

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Company Name

Management

Brief

Akkado akkado.in

Abhishek Sharma Chairman

Akkado provides one-stop solution for all marketing needs.

Boring Brands Pvt. Ltd boringbrands.com

Anshul Sushil Founder & CEO

Boring Brands provides digital advertising, social media, brand design & identity, public relations to brands who are looking for new age communication ideas for growth.

Dentsu Aegis Network dentsuaegisnetwork.in

Ashish Bhasin Chairman & CEO

Dentsu Aegis Network provides innovative branding solutions through its best-in-class expertise and capabilities in media, digital, and creative communications services.

eConcero Consulting econcero.com

Nandita Kanwar Founder and Director

eConcero helps in customer strategy, offering full-range of integrated market research, and digital marketing solutions to power brands.

FrogIdeas frogideas.com

Jatin Modi CEO

FrogIdeas is a digital marketing agency that provides social media marketing, online reputation management, website design, and development services.

InnoServ Digital innoservdigital.com

Nimil Tiwari Co-founder & Director

InnoServ Digital expertises in formulating digital strategies for B2B and B2C market exclusively.

Surojit Nath Founder & Director

Mind & Matter is a full serviced advertising and marketing agency providing traditional advertising and digital marketing solutions.

Prateek Kumar MD and CEO

NeoNiche design and deliver tailor-made experimental marketing solution for clients with complete range of marketing services.

Mind & Matter mindandmatter.in

NeoNiche Integrated Solutions Pvt Ltd. neoniche.com

Nilesh Talreja

UCID ucid.co.in

Founding Partner

Nimisha Bhavsar Founding Partner

Lavina Amarnani Working Partner

UCID is a through the line advertising agency, marketing consultants, and strategic content providers based in Mumbai that offers creative communication solutions for every need.

Supriya Jain

Zensciences zensciences.com

Co-founder and Chief Storyteller

Rahul Koul Co-founder and Chief Strategist

Rohit Kumar Co-founder and Chief Brandsmith

Zensciences is a boutique marketing consulting ďŹ rm providing services and solutions at the intersection of strategy, design, storytelling and digital.

The Tribal Box Interview With Insights success

A Haven for Innovation, Creation, and Collaboration

The Tribal Box, founded in 2018, is a Digital Media company that brings to the audience a panorama of stories from all across the country. It is a treasure chest of stories that inspire, connect, and motivate the audience in the journey towards building a better, vibrant world. Headquartered in Bangalore, and other office in Mumbai, they create, distribute, and manage various media content for digital and social media platforms.

In an interview with Insights Success, Ms. Sanghamitra Khatu, Director of Tribal Box Media Pvt. Ltd., provided some enlightening and perceptive answers about the company, its journey, and its future plans and other endeavors. ·

Please tell us about your Company. What are the different types of Marketing solutions/services/products that your company offers?

The Tribal Box Media Pvt Ltd. is a platform for the younger generation to showcase their unique journey and share their story and aspirations with people. The idea is to bring to focus the positive, inspiring efforts of the individual.

At The Tribal Box, we don’t stop at just telling a story; we help and support our protagonists in their journey of life. The idea stems from the fact that we value every person and believe that every dream is important. There are a lot of dreamers in our society but there are very few people who believe in these dreams and support people to achieve their dreams. We help ‘switch on’ the dream button in your life by telling inspiring stories that connect and resonate with the audience. We also provide support in terms of publicity, mentorship and money to help people make and stick to their life changing decisions.

We are also launching our crowd funding platform to enable our consumers to play an active role in the lives of our protagonists who need support in realizing their dreams.

Apart from this, we are talking to Marketing heads of companies and pitching our stories as a marketing tool for helping brands resonate better with their target audience. Take note that we have the most active network of influencers with substance (musicians, designers, travelers, and sports personnel). These are real people who can influence the audiences to buy or use the product. The brand’s message can be demonstrated by a story telling format through the life of the protagonists.

Also, this way the brand plays an important role in changing society and impacting young minds.

Some of our services/solutions are: 1.

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Brand Integration and the protagonists being the face of the brand OCTOBER 2018

Interview With Insights Success

Ms. Sanghamitra Khatu Director

2.

3.

4.

Ground connect events along with our protagonists Idea sharing and co-creation platform to collaborate to create something- be it music, product, etc Any other crowd sourcing requirement that a company may have. For example, product ideas, consumer feedback etc

· Please enlighten us about yourself and how you are dealing with current problems related to the Marketing industry.

The Tribal Box took seed when I met young incredible people with beautiful stories to tell. I realized there is more OCTOBER 2018

to the younger generation of our country than meets the eye and unfortunately their timelines didn’t do justice to it. The core thought was to be a game changer in the society. So we started telling stories of incredible people around the block, and the rest is history.

The marketing industry today is struggling to create engaging content to connect with the consumers. The attention span of the consumer is short but having said that only short form content works is also a myth. Netflix’s long form content success story is a prime example to break that myth. When there is good content it always resonates but only a brand or a product spiel is not working in today’s

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world and hence brands are experimenting with various types of content to garner reach and impact for their brands.

We provide content creation solutions to companies to help connect with the consumers. Large reach numbers are easily achievable and is directly proportionate to the money spent. But engagement is the key factor; overall reach figures have no meaning unless there is real engagement and that will only happen when brands start playing an important role in the lives of the consumers. For example, today the fashion industry is being more inclusive of people. Body positive and going makeup less is being talked about and practiced. LFW too has changed its positioning over the years. ·

What is your take on the current scenario of ‘Marketing Industry’? What steps are you taking to make it better?

The Marketing industry is exciting today and digital is the way forward and companies are slowly changing strategies to attract consumers to their platform and transact with them regularly.

Today even the IT industry is using video content as a tool to create impact in their big pitch presentations.

Bangalore IT companies are actually creating fiction content to explain their products and its features to its corporate clients.

CSR, which is the focus of every organization today and in some companies it has become the companies’ main marketing spiel, is also spending money to create impactful videos to demonstrate the change they have created in the society.

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Every company is trying to do its best to grab the consumer’s attention and is doing something to change their lives for the better. Isn’t that just amazing?

We are increasing our reach across India, scouting more stories and sharing them with our client companies, and helping them reach out to the consumers easily and quickly.

We are in the digital space, story telling is our forte and so, we are assisting our clients to create impact and reach out to consumers easily and quickly. We are an end-to-end solution provider.

OOT platforms are all means to an end and you can’t live without them. We simply keep upgrading technology; there is no choice about that.

·

·

What traits or qualities does an organization need to have to excel in this highly competitive world?

·

Where is your company heading?

What competitive advantages is your company providing to your clients in this contentious world?

We are heading to create the largest network of substantial people in India and that is our competitive advantage.

Influential Marketing will be the highlight in the near future.

What were the problems you faced at an initial stage and how did you overcome them?

A company just needs to be true to its core values and our entire being itself is about reaching out to people and helping them follow their dreams.

As any startup, we did face all the issue that everyone else faces - resources, money, infrastructure - all of it. We have worked hard, put our soul in it, slept less, worked on shoe string budgets, etc.

·

·

Which strategies do you follow to remain competitive with continuously evolving technologies and trends? How are you preparing yourself to become unique?

We are unique because we tell stories of inspiring people and engage with them regularly. You need to watch a few of our stories to understand this.

On the backend we are working on creating mentors for a few of our protagonists, creating partnerships to help them with financial assistance, creating work opportunities and platforms for them to share their talent/story. Like they say, there is a lot happening behind the scenes.

Technology is a given in our industry.

The best equipments, best editing soft wares, servers and great machines,

Kindly share your views on the future of ‘Marketing Industry’.

Tell us something about your upcoming products/services/plans.

The future of marketing is in creating unique brand propositions and using real people to demonstrate this. The Tribal Box can be the enabler to help connect brands/products with the consumers. ·

What is your advice to the young entrepreneurs in the Marketing industry?

Create affordable products and services that can resolve a social issue and you will see a massive market opportunity.

Dream big and it’s possible to achieve anything you wish to irrespective of our past and present. Only you decide your future and in turn the future of the society and our country.

OCTOBER 2018

INTERVIEW WITH INSIGHTS SUCCESS

sunSTRATEGIC 20

Changing the way a Company Innovates

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stablished in 2014, and headquartered in Mumbai, sunSTRATEGIC brings rich content that is thought-provoking.

With constantly researching and abreast with knowledgeable about trends, the company is supporting their clients.

In an interview with Insights Success, Sherina Kapany, Founder of sunSTRATEGIC, provided some enlightening and perceptive answers about the company, its journey, and its future plans and other endeavors.

OCTOBER 2018

Sherina Kapany Founder

OCTOBER 2018

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l

Please tell us about your Company. What are the different types of Marketing solutions/services/products that your company offers?

value of good staff and training your staff. l

With the desire to merge technology, marketing and creativity, sunSTRATEGIC was conceived in 2014.

Following trend reports, industry news, tracking consumer behavior, using tools, are essential. Our original content is our USP. I try to disconnect content from the product I am branding. I can literally put a picture of a chicken and pink candy-floss together to sell a piece of real estate. Can you imagine the correlation? But when you see it, it adds up brilliantly. I think shameless push of a product is a huge turn off. Your audience is smarter than you think.

Serving Fortune 500 and blue-chip companies, we are one of the few digital marketing agencies in India with a focus on Content Marketing Strategy and Design Thinking - a model still new to Indian agencies.

At sunSTRATEGIC, we aim to enhance and strengthen your brand - no amateur feat! We provide our clients with Trending Content for Websites and Storytelling Devices, Traffic Building through Blogs and News Articles, PR, Social Media Marketing, Social Listening, Community Management, BTL, Gaming App Development, User Experience Design, and much more, while testing the waters in virtual reality norms. l

l

Please enlighten us about yourself and how you are dealing with current problems related to the Marketing industry.

What is your take on the current scenario of ‘Digital Marketing Industry’? What steps are you taking to make it better?

We look to become a studio producing original content in India in multiple languages for multiple intents through our capabilities.

We are expecting to expand into AR/VR, gaming and infilm branding. We have also developed the first-of-its-kind content and lead generation app and we have opened talks with potential investors. l

l

What traits or qualities does an organization need to have to excel in this highly competitive world?

Organizations must focus on developing an identity and exhibiting flexibility. Also, I cannot preach enough on the

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What competitive advantages is your company providing to your clients in this contentious world?

Since the digital revolution, PR has been forced to adapt to the boundless scope of digital media. The need for unique content engenders gravity to strategy-focused digital PR, and towards marketing partners such as sunSTRATEGIC, which specialize in combining traditional PR with Content Marketing, Digital Outreach, Social Media and Search.

The industry now has a firm grip on the market and is growing rapidly. The need for creating a strong online presence has given rise to competition which makes work fun. To increase the pace of the digital marketing wagon, I consider and give a suitable platform to the young and upcoming talents. l

Where is your company heading? Tell us something about your upcoming products/services/plans.

We have ambitious plans. Besides increasing staff strength, we are looking to expand our services in Digital PR, and tapping into new content marketing platforms.

We are looking to create content for hospitality markets for Pay per View Model, while we have already worked in Fashion, BFSI, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, real estate and others.

I left India when I was 17. I studied and worked in USA for 13 years in technology and marketing. I worked with A grade corporates in the US, Australia and Europe. I decided to come back to India because I did not believe that getting a green card and settling in a high paying job really was the end goal of my existence. So a new country, a new venture and an adventure was what I sought. I dealt with problems by focusing only on qualitative content, not being gimmicky and welcoming negative feedback in my stride. l

Which strategies do you follow to remain competitive with continuously evolving technologies and trends?

How are you preparing yourself to become unique?

What were the problems you faced at an initial stage and how did you overcome them?

The biggest hurdle we faced was giving out strategies for free because clients wanted that but we decided to stop doing it early on. Clients who didn’t pay us on time, we let OCTOBER 2018

go off. And resources which were not reliable, we fired.

When I started, my time was split between sales, execution, HR issues, and payment collection. It was a huge learning curve especially since I had never worked in India. It made me work harder to get “good and meaningful” business and taught me to deep-define our company values. l

Kindly share your views on the future of ‘Digital Marketing Industry’.

The industry is poised to be even bigger than what it is today, growing at a staggering pace.

Mobile devices, personalization technologies, and the Internet of Things are going to be the biggest trends impacting marketing organizations by 2020, besides Big Data and Augmented Reality.

More and more companies/brands are shifting their preferences and budgets towards digital marketing over offline marketing avenues.

Besides a huge demand for video content, there is bound to be much greater focus on long-form content for better engagement metrics.

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What is your advice to the young entrepreneurs in the Digital Marketing industry?

Always keep your emotions at home! You are here for business, it’s not personal.

OCTOBER 2018

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Virtual Real y A Game Changer in Marketing Solutions

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OCTOBER 2018

Tech-Talk

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ith the advent of cutting-edge innovations like virtual reality (VR), the marketing industry is thriving by leaps and bounds. A company can capture the interest of younger consumers and move ahead of competitors by being an early adopter of VR in their marketing. Also, they don’t have to spend a lot of money doing it.

Our everyday life has been greatly impacted by technology; in fact, for many of us it is hard to imagine what it was like with no technology at all. With each passing day, more innovations are making their way into our everyday lives. So far, they have dramatically changed our ways of doing things. They have made our lives easier, our daily routines more convenient and less time consuming, and education and entertainment accessible 24/7 with engaging and astonishing content.

VR as an Essential Ingredient Technologies such as AR and VR have already made their presence felt, but have been used mostly for gaming and entertainment.

However, they deďŹ nitely have much more to offer and can play a very important part in the marketing industry. Currently, around 90 million people use VR in the world, and the number is gradually increasing. This suggests that in the days to come, it will almost double, while the number of AR users may reach 1 billion by 2020.

Although VR may turn out to be an expensive technology for tech enthusiasts and average persons, its demand is still growing in the market. Nowadays, one doesn't have to purchase expensive VR equipment to experience it for them. Leading tech giants are trying to outrun their competitors and are providing enhanced VR experience to anyone who owns a smartphone.

OCTOBER 2018

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In fact, smartphone users today can experience what VR is all about by going through 360-degree videos on social networking websites. Hence, these days it doesn’t cost a fortune to obtain a VR experience.

Importance of VR for Companies In this modern era, the tastes and needs of the consumers are increasingly becoming more and more sophisticated.

The youth of today have very short attention spans. They are tech-savvy and are always engaged in their phones and gadgets. It is very difficult to please and to keep engaged. It is very important for brands and companies to focus on the youth market. They must work hard to hold the attention of the millennials and should be extra cautious about grabbing the attention of the customers. A product should be marketed uniquely to the millenials with the objective of making an unforgettable excitement and impression on them.

Although VR is relatively a new technology, it has still been able to create an innovative experience and impress majority of the customers. Major brands are increasingly adopting VR technologies to their advantage and are also performing very well. Some of the renowned brands like McDonald’s, Volvo, Marriott and others have already started implementing VR to attract and interact with the audience.

VR Enhancing Marketing Procedures Organizations can enhance their marketing techniques and procedures by implementing VR. They can implement a variety of strategies including: Creation of 360-degree Videos It is a known fact that the easiest way for a business to implement VR technology is to incorporate it in videos.

With the use of computers, tablets, and mobile phones, companies can provide in-depth experiences with interactive and impactful videos. VR can assist in creating interactive content which can be used for educational purposes, virtual trips, and product demonstration.

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VR Application Development With the help of a VR app, a company can produce branded content which can help them to perform innovatively and stand out among the competitors. Various industries including automotive, fashion, healthcare, and so on are using VR to assist clients with better decision making along with providing them a fun and interactive experience.

Efficient Utilization of VR Headsets Many leading food chains and restaurants are creating their customized DIY headsets to provide ultimate satisfaction to their customers. Companies can provide their customers headsets with branded VR content on a regular basis, which can help them in increasing customer loyalty and keep them coming back for more.

Engaging VR Games Companies can use VR technology in developing games which will allow the users to earn bonuses like coupons, discounts, points, and more. VR apps appropriate for a brand can contribute a lot to create brand awareness and engagement.

Creating Real-Life Teleportation Experience Many companies have taken it to the next level by combining VR and 4D technologies. Using VR technologies customers can be provided real-life experiences like wind, aroma, vibrations, and many other sensations which would help in putting them in a buying mindset. This technology helps creating such an ambience that the customer feels that he has been transported to another place altogether.

With an early adoption of VR technology, organizations can hit the jackpot and make their mark with an impressive promotional campaign. VR is capable enough to become a major component of many businesses. Combining marketing with VR can work wonders; it can be a powerful force when combined. Customers can experience destinations, products, and services like never before thanks to the incorporation of VR in marketing. With these technologies available, the marketing industry can proceed steadily towards a future of endless possibilities.

OCTOBER 2018

Empowering Brands to Respond to the Rapidly Changing Market Needs

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igital marketing is growing rapidly and is expected to grow 40% annually. Studies indicate that the number of consumers who shop online in India has crossed 100 million by mid-2018. Major marketing giants are implementing modern technologies and driving innovations to provide exceptional service to their clients and excel among competitors.

One such emerging, upbeat market research and internet marketing agency is eConcero. They focus on using deep dive market research and online marketing expertise to optimize a brand’s growth.

To achieve sustainable growth in today’s dynamic marketplace, with the inception of digital invasion and internet penetration, customers are exposed to infinite choices. The company believes to maximize results of a brand growth leveraging their 5 C customer centric model/solutions – Customer Discovery, Customer Acquisition, Customer Engagement, Customer Retention and Customer Experience. eConcero works with B2B and B2C clients and are industry agonistic. While they have clientele across Geographies, the nexus of their focus remain: PAN India, North America, and Africa.

Staying Ahead of the Competition The company’s core foundation is

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research, insights, data and analytics.

Their marketing solutions are built on this strong foundation, which helps brands maximize their ROI. They are a data driven marketing agency and thus integrated solution provider.

The agency is industry agonistic. They deliver ROI driven campaigns to clientele ranging from Consumer, retail, Fashion through Political, Web series & movies. That’s a perfect example of being agonistic data insights & digital marketing offering is very unique and niche and the agency is able to retain, add and keep their clientele happy with the objective results. eConcero has been able to work along predictability analytics and use its findings to predict sales . This will lead to an ongoing AI integration over a period of time, which will enhance the marketing team to focus on generating high quality leads. And what's more the team is also incorporating AR&VR to one of their national jewellery client, which will be a significant breakthrough for both the client and them.

On Digital Marketing front, the agency is able to achieve high impact results dealing with turnkey solutions which involve, marketing automation, retargeting, and managing paid media for complex high end campaigns.

The integrated services are leveraged in varied space including political, movies

& web serieses apart from Consumer, retail domains. eConcero’s strategies have always been focused on ROI, they are confident to set campaigns and deliver outcomes favoring lead generation, conversions, sales and lesser CPA. About the Founder The Founder and Director of eConcero is Nandita Kanwar. She has worked over a decade with TNS, Kantar which is one of the world’s leading research & Insights group. She has also worked in financial and health care domains with Citibank and CDR group of hospitals in a marketing role.

Passionate about her vision to build an agency which empowers brands and help them stay ahead, evolve and grow, Her goal is to service 100 companies/SMEs /start-ups until 2020 yielding a minimum 2x growth via the market validation and digital marketing scope. She is always known to be a task master with a people first attitude!

Motivated and Expert Workforce eConcero consists of a great blend of thinkers, doers, and innovators. Their core team has been working diligently to align their vision. Param leads India operations seamlessly. A versatile player and brings in best from IT, recruitment and ITES operations on board. The company recently recruited Shiv Akumala in capacity of Global marketing director, from North OCTOBER 2018

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Nandita Kanwar Founder and Director

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We represent modern India globally

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America who will bring in a global perspective operating from the US office. Ganga Boddu from UK leads technology infrastructure and is a solutions architect, closely working with the team on technology. Senior consultants like Sandhya, Rajender and Ravi have always been the SMEs for research & analytics. Sailesh Patnaik leads in capacity of Digital marketing head. Kiran MVS, mentor to the founder and Krishna Gandhi in advisory for agency have always contributed in shaping the foundation of the agency. With a versatile, intellectual, and highly energized team, the company is confident about making a high impact in the digital world. The team resonates with the vision to empower brands.

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Embracing Innovations The company states that digital advertising continues to disrupt in spite of challenges of data security, protection, bots, and Ad frauds. They also assert that voice search, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices are providing new ways to distribute content and reach consumers.

Facebook and Google, which now account for around 70% of the total digital ad market today (per MAGNA), rolled out better technologies to enable OCTOBER 2018

marketers to personalize their ads. The team constantly updates, implements and aligns to dynamic changes which have impact on the digital world.

Their upcoming launches and collaborations will take the agency to a new level of competency as they will be embracing faster & cost efficient ways of managing data and campaigns.

The company is gearing up to adapt to the future in all key areas.

The agency will soon be incorporating Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence in the marketing world for mid-sized brands.

Providing Competitive Services The company helps businesses discover, identify, understand, acquire, and retain right customers. They are a data driven marketing and research agency. eConcero helps brands make smart and reliable decisions based on facts, insights, and data.

Some of their solutions include KYC, (Know Your Competition), bootstrap 361 (market validation services), e-commerce solutions (digital marketing), BrandUp (Branding Campaigns), Express Downloads (mobile apps campaigns). The core to

all these services is strong data science and analytics capabilities. eConcero strongly believes that marketing without data is like driving with one’s eyes closed. Hence their research, insights, and digital marketing solutions are integrated. The ultimate goal for us as marketers is to put data to use in shaping the customer journey.

Our endeavor is to empower brands to deliver a relevant offer to the right customer at the perfect moment, while also reducing the cost of each sale due to this highly-targeted efficiency.

Future Endeavors The company states, “Digital marketing is the future, and we are future ready.” eConcero is aligning to meet the global needs of online marketing. eConcero believes in reducing cost of acquisition for their clients over a period of time, be able to make accurate forecasting of leads and generate Sales. Their unique data driven marketing approach speaks objectively for their results. They are looking forward to the launch of their (IP) advertising and engagement platform in India this November. The company will be opening their US office by October-end of this year.

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Role of Content in Social Media

Nikhil Agarwal Co-founder

Marketing I n the present scenario, there is no doubt about the fact that “Content is king” of marketing. Be it in digital or real life, content has the ability to sell any product or service efficiently online as well as offline.

Today, typically every person’s action is based on the content, which he/she has previously consumed. Thus, be it a brand or an individual, everyone recognizes you based on the stories that you have created over the period of time.

Gone are the days when people used to visit cinema halls to consume content and then discussed about it in their social circles. Now in the digital era, watching web series and talking about them on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp etc., has become a trend since everyone is digitally connected. In fact, social media is seen very trustworthy today and this makes it an authentic platform to market one's product or services. This is true to the extent that if a user sees an ad on social media, he/she tends to consider the brand very seriously.

In this digital era, users need multiple touch points to become your customers. For example, if someone is looking to buy shoes online, he/she will do a Google search and visit various websites. And as soon as one leaves the websites, the ad starts following him/her on different sites that they browse or on social media channels that ultimately increase the brand recall value. This leads into users becoming customers. Here the ads that follow you generally project different reasons as to why you should buy any product.

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About the Author Nikhil Agarwal is the Co-founder of Brandwitty. He started his entrepreneurial journey by Co-founding Brandwitty, which is Mumbai's fastest growing Digital Marketing Agency with diverse portfolio. Known for his sharp business acumen and an eye for detail, Nikhil has led Brandwitty from one milestone to another and today the organization is recognized as one of the most respected and trusted Digital Marketing agencies in the India. Besides his operational roles, Nikhil is passionate about entrepreneurship & innovation and is well regarded for his understanding and views of the same.

OCTOBER 2018

Expert's Viewpoint

This brings us to the point that social media marketing is all about convincing users through engagement, relatable and emotional content. On social media, as a marketer you should always have that content which makes the users react on it.

It is seen that content plays a crucial role in achieving business and social media objectives such as brand recognition, thought leadership, audience engagement and lead generation. Further, effective content always helps you to build long-term relationship with your audience and ultimately helps in increasing the revenue for your organization. Further, it also helps in creating brand awareness.

their message across the people who sometimes might not be interested in buying the product. This could turn out to be dangerous as you are showing content to non-relevant audience who may become negative about your product or services and post negative comments on the social media platform. Thus, the businesses should ensure that their content is impressive and is relevant to their audience’s interest, goals and pain points. Not only a well-planned content is able to build trust and relationship with the user but it also helps you to support your business growth. Thus, the key to achieve your social marketing goal is strong content strategy, which helps in achieving your organizational goals.

The need for online reputation and content management

Here, one thing is to be remembered that you should always position your brand in a neutral way on social media.

Given that, the products or services can be promoted using different content style on social media. Currently, video is the highest consumed content format in digital media.

Hence, present-day marketers should focus on creating video content, which is relatable to the target audience as well as reflects the unique perspective of your brand and is in line with the needs of your organization.

Relevant content for the target audience on social media is crucial Businesses generally create content for promotions and selling their products and through this, they attempt to get OCTOBER 2018

In addition to strong content strategy, companies also need to invest in maintaining online reputation as people get easily influenced after reading a review from a friend or family. For example, these days, people definitely read reviews of movies, restaurants, product or services before deciding to opt for it. Thus, content on social media influences people’s decisions to a very great extent. In such a scenario, responding to positive feedback as well as complaints is very important for the marketers as people feel acknowledged and this helps to create goodwill for your business. Thus, all said and done, delivering right content to right target audience can only give you success.

What more? Only good content can help you to create a good position for your brand in the social media domain.

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Promises Better Business through Innovative Marketing Services

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n effective experimental marketing campaign is a careful blend of creativity, technology, and people. By bringing a diverse range of services under one umbrella, NeoNiche Integrated Solutions Pvt Ltd crafts seamless and flawless experiences for the clients.

The company was started with the sole purpose of bridging the gap between traditional ad agencies and event management companies, and act as a one-stop shop that serves every single need of a marketer.

NeoNiche is dedicated to strengthen the relationship between brands and the people. It offers a complete range of marketing services that deliver client clutter-busting experiences. With over decades of domain expertise and strategic global alliances, the company is offering marketing services across various platforms through digital initiatives, contact programs, activation plans, events, and exhibition.

An Enthusiastic and Passionate Entrepreneur Driven by passion, versatility, adaptability, Prateek Kumar is the Managing Director and CEO of NeoNiche. He started his

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entrepreneurial journey by founding NeoNiche in the year 2011. Since childhood days, he has been passionate about entrepreneurship. With his sharp business acumen, Prateek has led NeoNiche from one milestone to another and today the organization is recognized as one of the most innovative enterprises in the country.

Besides his operational roles, Prateek is passionate about entrepreneurship & innovation. After starting his career in hospitality and hotel management, he actively participated in the growth stories of several start-up event agencies. This gave him tremendous on-ground exposure and hands-on learning.

His greatest strength is the ability to pick the right person for the right job and create self-sustaining and profitable ventures and then stepping aside to let the new leaders take the baton. He is also recognized as a domain expert who has a flair for business media and writes on subjects like brands, marketing, technology, and start-ups From a cocoon to a butterfly ready to spread the cheer, both Prateek and NeoNiche continue to spread their wings and make the experiential marketing world “little more vivid, a little more vibrant”

Idea, Innovation, and Insights: The Pillars of Services With the objective to create remarkable customer experience, the company designs and delivers tailor-made experimental marketing solution for their clients with the complete range of marketing services. The company caters to more than five hundred clients and has over eight thousand success stories since its inception. It has emerged as the premier marketing partner and the first business of its kind across the country. Idea-driven, innovation-focused, and insightful are the core qualities of the company and have become the DNA and driving force of the organization. NeoNiche promotes brands through events, integrated marketing services, road shows, exhibitions, conferences, digital marketing, customer contact programs, and social media. It is the only marketing partner/extension which offers the single window to the clients.

Professional Team Ensuring Lasting Experiences NeoNiche introduced a very extensive management trainee program. It brings seasoned talent from the trenches and that resulted in a beautiful integration of strategy backed by execution. From

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Prateek Kumar MD and CEO

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the very beginning, the company has focused on performance management systems as part of the business. This has helped the organization to track progress, reward employees, introduce timely corrective measures, and inculcate a good brand image. The company leads the change from the front by being among the first ones in the industry to develop a system that paid all its stakeholders on a time.

Surveys, polls, regular feedback, teambuilding exercises, action-planning sessions have helped NeoNiche deliver value to clients.

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NeoNiche focuses on technology to amplify brand experiences. It is aims at artificial intelligence, machine learning, and virtual reality for better customer experiences. The company’s strategic tie-ups in tier 2, 3 cities, villages, and at the global level have enabled them to widen their reach and offer better services to clients. The company rolled out a very robust performance management system which is first of its kind in the industry to manage performance at all levels.

The company’s professional team delivers world class marketing services to clients.

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We are creating an environment of trust, harmony, and excellence which will lead to constant innovation for our clients Value-Based Organization NeoNiche is based on the foundation of customer excellence and people practices. The company brings the culture of “respect” and “trust” with value-based policies for their people like “Recharge Breaks” and “Peer to Peer Spot Recognition Program”. The company has inducted initiatives like B2B Loyalty programs, Quarterly Customer Confidence survey, and introducing the element of “Technology” like AR/VR in creating experiences for their clients.

outlook for the future, the company is dedicated to design Innovative marketing services. The company’s vision is to cross the 100 crores revenue in coming years. With expertise in this sector, it will continue to deliver challenging services.

Moving forward with a three year plan under vision 2020 cascade, the organization has carved annual goals and imperatives to become the most respected experiential marketing company in terms of people practices, customer excellence, and revenues in India.

A Look into Future The Indian marketing scenario is undergoing a phenomenal change over the last few years. It will continue to affect the economy of the country which will led to high standard of living, high per capita income with economic development.

Progressing forward with a positive

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Ashish Dalia CEO and Chief Business Strategist I Knowledge Factory Pvt. Ltd.

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OCTOBER 2018

Veteran's Insights

The Upswing of Social Selling & How Content is Responsible for its Ascension

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s someone who has seen the inception of the then neoteric phenomenon called ‘social media’ and seen it branch out into spheres other than just informal schmoozing, I often find myself asking “is there anything that I’m missing?” It’s interesting to have witnessed the evolution of social media up close, use it, understand it, embrace it, and most importantly, wield it to help our clients achieve their branding and marketing goals.

While the elephantine potentiality of social media was realized by marketers long time ago, it has, however, always been eulogized in terms of the profitability and empowerment it offers to the buyers but the spotlight hasn’t quite been trained on how it has changed the rules (for good) for people who are the important cogs of the business machine - the salespeople.

Enter social selling - a buzzword that you might have caught in a blog post, or heard someone toss it in one of those social media strategy sessions. To put it simply, social selling is using the power of social media to conquer hearts and sales by means of thoughtful content unlike social media marketing, which is primarily concerned with pushing out content to targeted audiences.

As remarked by marketing guru Andrew Davis, “Content builds relationships.

Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue”; the whole idea of social selling is nothing but this. Whether you are selling online or in person, you know that no matter how well put together your sales pitch is - if your approach is just to target the wallet of your customer, you have nipped your buyer’s interest in the bud even before he could begin the journey!

Social selling is about devising and executing content that is rooted in authenticity and motivated by the desire to answer the questions of prospects as opposed to doling out pushy and invasive messages. It also involves participating in conversations that prospects are prone to engage in order to OCTOBER 2018

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forge a bond built on interest.

Here are some statistics worth poring over 1. About 65 % of buyers say that they based their purchasing decision on the vendor’s content.

-B2B Buyer Landscape, Demand Gen 2. Nearly 82% of buyers viewed between 5-8 pieces of content from a winning vendor. - HubSpot 3. Nearly 97% of buyers prefer prescriptive content. - Content Preferences Survey Report, Demand Gen What these insightful nuggets tell us that content is supremely consequential to social selling strategies. The efficacy of the strategy solely depends upon the content’s relevance, value, and tone.

Buyers are most likely to engage with content that provides them with the requisite information pertaining to their business needs as well as shepherds them through one stage of the buyer’s journey to the next.

So how is content actually helping social selling? What are the formats that the sales reps are using to converse with prospects? Before I plumb the depths of these questions, let me tell you how social selling above everything else favors a personal touch and how the strategies almost always begin with the sales reps actively joining the conversational currents within their industries.

your prospect through valuable information without the obvious sales overtones. For over a decade now, IKF has been helping clients identify and nurture leads by utilization of social media and although social selling has only now emerged on the horizon, we have been doing it, unbeknownst to us, from quite some time. So, if there’s one particular platform I was to point out that lends itself as a legitimate playing field for social selling, it has to be LinkedIn. Thanks to the many bells and whistles the professional networking giant keeps adding, it now possesses all those attributes that are conducive to fruitful social selling activities. And when it comes to content formats, there’s more than you can shake a stick at. If you just want to start a conversation with your connections or public, you have ‘share an update’ or if you want to talk to detail about your product/services, you go for ‘article’ which are indexed by search engines so that you become discoverable to your prospects through the content.

In addition to this, formats like blogs cleverly leavened with answers that your prospects might seek about your product/service, webinars, E-books, how-to guides, and explainer videos also hugely help with social selling.

Before concluding, I’d like to stress the importance of how supplementing content creation with content curation helps keep things fresh, grow sales pipeline, and establish thought leadership. It’s for these reasons that content has been long touted as the king of the world wide web.

About the Author Ashish Dalia is the CEO and Chief Business Strategist of I Knowledge Factory Pvt. Ltd. (IKF). He has passionately nurtured the company to become a leading name in Digital Marketing Services in Pune City & beyond.

Digital Branding, Social Media Marketing, Website Design and Development – this is what Ashish has been living and breathing for the past 18 years.

He has served over 850+ clients locally & globally, across various verticals such as healthcare, manufacturing, education, real estate, retail, FMCG, as well as government organizations.

It goes without saying that the content you create must spark the interest of

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OCTOBER 2018

AI

Machine & Learning

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he modern business industry is data driven. The entire world is dependent on digital technology for information, education, entertainment, and even conducting major business activities.

In fact, the marketing industry has also been greatly impacted by this happening technology. For any organization acquiring new clients and maintaining the existing ones is of top priority. To stay ahead of the competition, brands have to continuously research and come up with innovative procedures. At times, it is very difficult for companies to predict what type of content can grab the attention of the customer.

Many companies try to draw attention

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Harbingers of Revolutionary Changes in Marketing

of the customers via mass emails which provide their own convenient communication services. But, creating and delivering customized content can have a strong impact on customers.

Personalized emails can also attract more customers for companies and in turn increase sales. But, unfortunately, majority of marketers don’t use this approach. If thought carefully, many businesses are losing a considerable number of potential customers because of not personalizing their content.

AI emerging as a Major Part of our Daily Lives Machine learning and AI can be combined to produce data which is

powerful. In our daily lives, we are coming across this technology in many different ways. When we tag a friend on popular social networking websites, the platform gives us suggestions about the tag in our future posts. Similarly, when we watch programs on online video streaming websites, they offer us suggestions based on our viewing preferences.

Also, when we are shopping online, many ads pop-up on the side screen which are based on our past buying behavior. All the aforementioned activities take place thanks to AI. Machine Learning – An Efficient Marketing Tool Machine learning can not only OCTOBER 2018

Automation Portfolio

enhance our daily life experiences, but it can also assist marketers to understand the customers using the vast amount of data available.

Companies can use more amount of data and advanced analytics to understand what every single person is searching, reading, or writing about. Also, the huge amount of public data can be aggregated and converted into context so that they can understand the buyers and initiate meaningful and productive conversations.

Machine learning algorithms are taking marketing to the next level.

They are opening new windows for companies to gain various insights about customer behaviors and the various courses of action that they may take. This technology is making content marketing even more sophisticated and raising the bar in terms of delivering the right content at the right time.

Creating Virtual Clones of the Best Salesperson Traditionally, salespersons took years to discover their target audience; but, now due to AI this can be done in a jiffy. Now marketers can hyperpersonalize their content so that the audience gets more engaged, more prospective buyers turn into actual buyers, and there is more sales conversions.

People acting on this information can gain an edge over their competitors.

Artificial intelligence can assist marketers to transition from general conversations to individualized ones.

OCTOBER 2018

Companies can utilize prospect data to understand how customers can be appealed on a more personal level.

They should implement innovative strategies and learn how to effectively utilize the information available at hand. Companies can create stronger relationships with existing and prospective clients by creating strategies about how to properly communicate with audience in customized ways. Communicating with the client at the right time and with the right content can act as a game changer.

It is known fact that customer expectations will keep growing with time, and this will pose a challenge and great opportunity to companies.

AI and machine learning can bring in relevance at scale when it comes to advertising. They can assist in fully realizing client personalization. These technologies are reinventing the existing products and are providing new and lasting user experiences.

With time, customer expectations have grown; as a result, companies have the opportunity to amp up and provide more personalized marketing experiences to the customers.

Moreover, integrating these technologies in the marketing procedure leads to new customer interactions and makes them simpler and instantaneous.

impressive promotional content to grab the targeted audience’s attention.

These technologies can assist companies to maintain a record of all the signals that they have at the customer level. It will assist them in assessing various things like the consumer’s color and tone preferences, their purchase history and contextual relevance.

Towards an Exciting Future of Endless Possibilities Companies can utilize machine learning for various opportunities even beyond media targeting. Leading brands are using well-known opensource machine learning platforms to predict when and how shoppers select products at a shop. Many leading brands are also using these technologies to reinvent consumer engagement with their products using smartphones and tablets. These companies are making practical applications of AI and machine learning to introduce innovative marketing procedures and services.

These technologies are already solving many marketing-related problems that companies face. In the days to come, we can expect many innovative and out-of-the-box solutions in the field of marketing. We can hope for many marketing and advertising solutions which we haven’t thought of yet.

Efficient Marketing Strategies using AI Using AI, companies can make more relevant campaigns and customer interactions. They can make relevant end-to-end conversations and create

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Creating Ideas that Cultivate Brands

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arketing is making the shift from push to a pull strategy, to a point where Push advertising has becoming repelling. Consumers today want to be more in control of the information they receive and when they receive it, are more willing to consume paid branded content rather than being interrupted between their favorite shows, sporting events, and other programs. Today, buyers have access to a broad array of online resources and can conduct their own research about products and services.

Empowering them to make the right decisions is the marketer’s challenge and an agency’s skill.

One such company providing integrated and path-breaking marketing solutions is UCID. It is ever-hungry, ever-restless, and constantly keeps on challenging themselves and those around. The company’s craft is to do whatever it takes with whatever their clients have, to turn their challenges into opportunities.

The company’s journey, since their inception, has been 8 years of challenges and rising through the ranks. They have provided successful communication and branding solutions to more than 100 clients and engaged tens of thousands of customers with their brands. Unconventional Ideas is

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their guarantee – UCID is all about the ideas. The big ones, the smart ones, the ones that fit the bill and the ones that provoke and soar!

Insightful Leadership UCID was started by two minds with diverse expertise one with a mastery on brand planning and strategy and other with a passion for creativity and art. Nilesh Talreja plays varied roles of a brand consultant, communication architect, and creativity engineer. He believes in learning and staying ahead of the curve to be able to give the clients new age relevant marketing solutions that work in today’s day and age. Happiness is his fuel and it reflects in the Agencies work.

Nimisha Bhavsar is a people’s person. Designing is something the really excites her. Graphic designer by profession, traveler by soul, and hippie by nature, fun and creativity is her true calling. On the way Lavina Amarnani joined hands to form the third strong pillar of UCID. Been a game-changer with several retail chains, Lavina is a bundle of happy creative vibes with ace executable brand boost ideas up her sleeves.

Dedicated and Expert Workforce UCID’s true strength is their team of sharp minds with a spirit to serve the

clients with a smile. Responsiveness is what differentiates them from other agencies. Having started small and nimble the company promises their clients creative solutions with quick turnaround time. “We have a culture of knowledge sharing, where topics of interest are divided among the team and individuals share their learning with the team for everyone’s growth” they say. Team UCID has also been blessed with a network of highly inspiring and knowledgeable individuals who join them for a Saturday session of knowledge sharing and dining. Mastering UI UX and setting matrices for online campaigns- are their current topics of interest.

Providing Effective Marketing Solutions The company asserts, “Holistic thinking is the key”. They feel that an integrated marketing solution, in its true sense, is about creating pathbreaking solutions that have the potential to take a brand to the next level! Right from identifying the problem to devising creative solutions, UCID takes care of various branding needs with utmost enthusiasm. UCID has this knack of getting their clients an unfair share of attention. The company believes in being partners in growth. Also, they are true to their values.

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Nilesh Talreja, Founding Partner Nimisha Bhavsar, Founding Partner Lavina Amarnani, Working Partner

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UCID is all about providing what the brand needs against the usual- what they can offer. They don’t suggest their clients a hoarding when they need a hashtag. They won’t suggest the client a print ad when they need a web game. Most importantly, they don’t speak in jargons. In order for the client to be heard, they give them the loudest and the clearest voice in the market.

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We exist to create communication that appeals, is unique, and quirky

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Partnering their clients’ Growth – The Prime Motive of UCID After delivering thousands of campaigns for 100+ clients and having reinforced brands with strategic solutions, UCID continues to offer end-to-end solutions for their clients, cutting across mediums. Right from branding, packaging design, to highly focused online campaigns, the company continues to serve their clients’ present and latent needs with utmost care and commitment. They have tied up with capable partners to offer the clients solutions like engagement automation toolswebengage, testing the response to websites, and creatives with tools like eyequant.

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Opinions about the Future The company feels that the future of marketing is taking brands closer to its customers. “Be it the causes that they undertake to create communication that is educative, inspiring, and entertaining for its audience, the need is to connect on a more personal context,” is what they believe in.

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IN JUST 3 YEARS, THIS DIGITAL MARKETING BOUTIQUE IS ALREADY CRAFTING BETTER STORIES FOR FORTUNE COMPANIES AND STARTUPS

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usinesses are marching ahead at a fast pace these days. And companies are employing innovative actions and are embracing cutting-edge technologies to make their presence felt. They aim at staying ahead of the competition and making their mark in this highly competitive world. Also, these companies are implementing client-friendly procedures for overall satisfaction of the customers.

Zensciences is a leading boutique digital marketing consulting firm helping organizations answer one of the most basic and relevant questions –how to tell their story more effectively and how to engage & grow?

Based out of Bangalore, they are working with B2C & B2B Fortune 100 companies and startup’s spread across APAC, Middle East, Europe, and North American region to build their brand, influence, and revenue.

Shaping the digital marketing opportunity Zensciences was started in 2015 by 3 friends and colleagues (Supriya Jain, Rahul Koul and Rohit Kumar MS)– at that time working for the technology behemoth Wipro Limited. They saw a gap in the traditional agency and consulting models prevalent, wherein the traditional partners look at

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engagements in silos. Coupled with the fact that most of the traditional agencies were not comfortable with technology and digital- made this segment ripe for innovation and change.

Zensciences combines the creative best (of traditional agencies) with a deep appreciation of business issues (consulting) to deliver new age digital marketing solutions. This intersection of services helps Zen, to focus on providing solutions which are aligned to business outcomes.

Opinions about the Current Business Scenario The company feels that the speed of business today and the pace at which marketing must evolve to stay ahead of the time is unprecedented. They came face to face with this fact very early on in their journey. Working with one of their first clients, Zensciences had to scale and optimize marketing strategy for that client, to grow from 4 to 2000+ employees in just a matter of 6 months.

“Today, everyone is talking about speed, but very few understand what it really means. And once you add the power of one into the mix, the odds of success drastically shift along the lower end of the scale. Understanding this reality is our secret sauce,” the

company asserts. The company creates to adapt and scale, taking ‘one to millions’. And yet, treat every customer as ‘one’. At the intersection of technology, creativity, and business, the company creates the inflection point for marketing to deliver exceptional experiences and valuable outcomes.

Major Services Provided Zensciences provides a wide range of services to the clients. Some of their key offerings include: · Strategy & Consulting (business and marketing goal alignment, market research and analysis, got-to-market strategy roadmaps, pricing, service design) · Digital Marketing (digital strategy, analytics, search, social media strategy and management, product/service launch) · Content & Storytelling (brand story conceptualization, content marketing strategy and execution, thought leadership marketing, leadership branding) · Brand Building (brand positioning, brand architecture and naming, visual systems, video creation) Facing Competition with Innovative Strategies The company asserts, “Strategies that OCTOBER 2018

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A UX BRAINSTORMING SESSION IN PROGRESS AT THE ZEN STUDIO

define and shape all our engagements are crafted to deliver predictable and measurable results”. By finding the right balance between short-term growth and long-term objectives, Zensciences helps their clients align, streamline, and execute marketing strategy to drive business.

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Finding the right cultural fit has been their priority ever since the day they started. They add, “And when you are working with a small team, cultural fit is as important as talent”.

Expert Workforce The company takes pride in the teams they have. People play a key role in building any business. And they are in the business of building businesses.

For them, their people are even more important. Be it design, content, analytics, or consulting, the quality of hire and retention are critical elements that define Zensciences.

Noteworthy Accomplishments Zensciences has accomplished many landmarks on their glorious journey.

They have assisted in brand story conceptualization and have helped 60+ clients across industries build unique and memorable stories that appeal to OCTOBER 2018

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and stick with their target audience and resonate across channels.

In terms of noteworthy achievements · Helped a $500 Million, Engineering & Technology leader through the process of its IPO listing. This included building a differentiated positioning for the brand and executing the same across communication channels like the website and digital media. · For a Fortune 25 retail giant, Zen runs all digital engagement and is helping build the employer brand proposition. · Helped a Fortune 500, hospitality chain to build its B2B digital presence across APAC. · Helped a leading HR SaaS platform reposition itself in the market, Zen reworked its positioning, identity, digital presence, website and the platform UX/UI to help the client differentiate. · Helped a leading Fintech startup reduce its cost of digital acquisition by ~50%. This was achieved through focus on storytelling and optimizing digital campaigns. · For a leading Fintech startup,

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INTEGRATED MARKETING SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2018

We help businesses grow their business helped in positioning them for a crowdfunding Indiegogo campaign. Worked on the UX/UI, positioning and branding of the product and associated technologies.

Towards an Exciting and Bright Future The company continues to build on the success of last 3 years with a singular focus to make their clients successful.

They understand that they need to evolve in order to help the clients evolve. Redefining marketing for the customer-centric world is one of Zensciences’ top priorities.

The company is currently investing in augmented and virtual reality solutions to help their clients enable high-touch, convergent experiences that are human and insightful. Plans for developing marketing technology are also in the pipeline. Moreover, the company has already developed some algorithms to better contextualize their social media and search strategies. “Interesting times are ahead of us and we are excited to explore new territories,” they add.

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