Honestly I get a lot of emails today, but this one completely pissed me off to the core. No one calls me a zero. I dont know if people like to be called zero- its their preference.  But I mind  it, especially when this particular marketeer has been sending me emails left right and centre from so many days.

This is our “classic” case of personalization going bad. I would not know how many unsubscription the marketeer would have fetched on this but from a consumer’s point of view when he/ she is being targeted from all directions to get its attention( positive attention). When they are use to of getting email communication super personalized and super individualized, this would definitely surprise them.

Email is a critical medium and has worked wonders for a lot of business. But then today when there are so many people who are on this medium relevancy and addressing the recipient  becomes all the more important.

Companies are increasingly turning to digital media marketing for marketing their brands as it is cost-effective and has maximum reach, since people spend a lot of time online. EFYTimes spoke exclusively to Manjunatha Kutarahalli, co-founder and CEO, Kenscio Digital Marketing Pvt Ltd about the scope and future of digital marketing.

What is the main difference between digital media marketing and social media marketing?

Digital media marketing is marketing using a broad set of digital media, which also includes social media. Digital Media marketing encompasses all digital media like websites, search engine optimisation (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), video advertising, viral marketing, e-mail marketing and social media marketing.

How much have businesses started considering the seriousness and importance of social/ digital media marketing?

Businesses have understood the consumer behaviour for a long time and are using those channels where consumers are spending time, whether at home, or out of home or the places they are in or the newspapers, magazine they read, etc. As Consumer behavior and time is being spent more and more online, businesses are soon realising this and using the digital mediums (website visits, searches, e-mail, social, etc.) to reach, influence and engage with them. While in the West most of the people are online, businesses are spending more of their marketing budgets online, Indian business trend will soon follow the footsteps of Western businesses as Indian consumers are going online.

How and when was Kenscio Digital Pvt Ltd rolled out? Why the name Kenscio?

Kenscio started its roots as Sprinklr India in mid of 2009 and got its present name as Kenscio in mid of 2010, when it became a full-fledged company focusing on marketing solutions and services using digital direct mediums. It was founded by enterprising hard core experienced global digital media experts from e-mail and social background.
Ken means an expert or a guide and Scio is for social and e-mail. Hence, Kenscio was formed to assist marketers in reaching out to their customers through digital direct mediums of e-mail and social with the expert knowledge and solutions from Kenscio.

Everyone is online these days. How do you filter the right target audience? What is the most challenging task in your business?

People are getting online and spending much of the time online. Hence, businesses are trying to utilise the online medium in reaching out to them. Kenscio is focused on serving emerging high growth Internet based companies and large enterprises, which have successful digital marketing channels. The most challenging campaign for us is to get the marketers to send their campaigns to the right customer segments and measure the success by analytics beyond opens and clicks.

What is the importance of digital media marketing for SMBs? How can they leverage its benefits without spending too much?

Digital Marketing offers the most cost effective medium for SMBs, who don’t have big marketing budgets. Moreover, the digital media is directly measurable. From building a website, optimising it for Search engines, collecting the footprints of the visitors, communicating with the visitors, branding on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, YouTube and articles, case studies on blogs etc are very cost effective.
Platforms like Facebook, Twitter allow companies to set up their own marketing pages. Do you see it as diluting the effects of the medium or is it viewed as an emerging trend for the industry?
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and YouTube have more than several hundred online audiences and people spend considerable time on these mediums. Hence, companies are setting up their marketing pages on these social networking sites to get the audience that are hooked to these networks and build brand engagement, recall and sales. Facebook commerce is already happening now and now companies may not need a website as they can do everything on the Facebook itself from building a microsite, getting visitors and selling stuff. This makes the SMBs to get to market quickly without spending too much.

Can you share your clients and popular campaigns that received overwhelming response?

All of our client campaigns are receiving better responses through our expert advises and better targeting. One campaign can perform better than the other campaign of the same client, as the offer is better or timelier. Hence, it is very difficult to classify in general. One of our clients, Rupeemail recently launched the first newsletter which received an overwhelming response, with a CTR (Click-through rate, a measure of clicks to opens as a percentage) in excess of 200 per cent which is phenomenal for any campaign.

Original article at efytimes.com

For SMEs in India and abroad looking to make their mark online and connect to millions of potential customers, the Internet represents a golden opportunity. Developing a web presence is a natural extension for any business. However, Saurav Patnaik, Co-Founder and VP Marketing, Kenscio Digital Marketing Private Limited, an internet marketing company tells ITBizFocus.com that building a website is not enough and that small companies need good

(SEO) strategy in place to ensure that their websites generate a high quality traffic that can be converted into paying customers.

Why is email marketing important? How does it help a business generate revenue?

Emails help the businesses to reach the audience directly. It is measurable, economical and can be done faster compared to other traditional ways of doing marketing. Now, going back to the basics, to earn revenue, these businesses need to understand who are the people which are interested in buying proposition, what time can they be contacted, whether or not they qualify to buy your product and how are they willing to make a purchase. All this information can be captured analyzed and acted upon using emails… Once you know all this, businesses will be able to send individualized, relevant communications to generate revenue.

How important is branding to SMEs and startups? Is small business branding efforts wasted in direct marketing and sales?

It is very important for an SME or, a startup as it becomes all the more important for them to be in the minds of their customers and take communication to a much higher level (super personalized and individualized). So that their customers know that these companies really care and understand the needs.

What are your thoughts on small businesses relying on SEO?  How important it is for them to outsource their email marketing and social media marketing to specialists?

Search Marketing does help to get traffic on your website, however in the long run we need to engage them in the meaningful conversions. Thus, relying on SEO only will actually result in footfalls but to get these conversations you need emails and social media.

What are some emerging marketing opportunities in social media advertising? Could you kindly elaborate?

To be able to start the conversations over social media, businesses will need to provide clear call for actions….It need not necessarily be a Like or a follow on Facebook and Twitter respectively, it can also be an invitation to join the CEO for breakfast. I see an opportunity for Advertisements on Fan pages, cross promotional tweets, Email campaigns and lot more. The market in the US has already started doing such Social Advertising campaigns; you can see players like Daily Candy doing it over Facebook.

What advice would you give entrepreneurs looking to use email marketing and also to small business owners who are just starting on the Internet?

My only advice is that focus on your audience, be relevant (talk about your customers, not what you sell) and be aware of where your target audience is over internet to know which tool to use.

Original article posted at itbizfocus.com

Digital Direct Marketing has emerged to become among the more cost-effective, efficient, real-time marketing channels, challenging the traditional methods of customer contact. Marketers are increasingly demanding e-execution capabilities within their marketing toolkit as this medium provides them a direct, personal, interactive and measurable customer communication capability. Digital marketers are slowly waking up to the fact that more than 50% of the online population in India is spending time on emails compared to 18% – 25% , who spend their time searching for information, and companies and brands would be able to reach out effectively to a significant percentage of their customers through this channel.

Founded in June 2009, Kenscio (earlier known as Sprinklr India), identified the opportunity and built a niche focus in the fast growing market for Digital Direct Marketing. From go to market strategy to acquisition to engagement, Kenscio’s solution spectrum covers the entire customer life cycle spectrum from a DDM perspective and its service portfolio includes email marketing products and services. The name Kenscio is derived from Ken and Social graph of consumers, Ken means understanding and knowledge and Kenscio stands for the strength of understanding the social graph of the audience of their clients.

We at YourStory.in, caught up with Saurav Patnaik, Co-Founder & VP, Marketing, a digital marketing expert who has handled mandates for some of India’ s most reputed brands like Hero Honda, Coca cola, India Today, CII, Virgin Mobile, Nestle and many more. Saurav talks about the Digital marketing space in India today, how startups can utilize it effectively and how it continues to serve a significant purpose. Read on for more!

There are many companies in the digital marketing space. What makes Kenscio different?
Yes there are a lot of companies in this space; so when we started the organization we had a clear focus on why we wanted to do this.  India has been very mass media heavy and as the competition of the brands increased, the need of one on one communication was becoming a true challenge. We believe that in today’s world when a user has already realized the power he possesses, it is important that brands also get assistance to address them. Kenscio focuses on that particular piece of one on one communication and specializes in it. We believe that the only way we can be successful is if our clients are successful- our relationship managers are called Client Success managers. This kind of commitment and specialization makes us stand apart. Kenscio’s client portfolio has grown by 10 times and its email volume by 15 times to 100 million plus emails every month. This commitment has also helped us win the Top 100 Red Herring Asia award

Being one of the first few companies in this space, what are the challenges you faced?
As I had mentioned earlier that India is mass media heavy, we had to face a lot of challenges, as we wanted to change the status quo. Every marketer was interested in only looking at trying to get in touch with as many people as possible and not considering identifying their buzz epicenters or people who have the affinity to consume their communication. Today, a lot of our clients who have kept their patience are enjoying much larger businesses that they could only dream of via their existing customer base. In order to reach this, we worked really hard to educate and assist enterprises at all levels to understand how communication affinity works and how it can be used in marketing- basically focusing on profit making rather than chasing an undefined growth.

What is your business model?
Ours is an agency model where we assist the clients to achieve success in their digital direct marketing initiative and we charge them for consulting and services.

What is your marketing strategy? What is the size of the market you are targeting and how do you think the market will pan out in the near future?
As we call our strategy team as Client Success Team, it is very clear that we want more successful clients and grow with them. The total market size is around Rs 250 Crores as of now and we wish to cater to all the clients and prospective clients who share our belief of empowering their customers and being a part of their success. The market is going to see a vast expansion as the number of end users is only going to increase.  However, there is going to be a big dearth of specialized work force, so there are a lot of opportunities for the youth to grow fast in their marketing career if they choose digital marketing as a specialization.

Any specific trends you’ve noticed in the digital marketing space?
The marketer is much more mature today; and to a great extent has the clarity in terms of the business objectives he has to meet via the digital medium. Clients are asking for higher levels of professional services and are ready to invest in intelligence rather than just shooting emails. They want to marry the backend data with consumer insight to have more impactful communication. Today, they are asking how they can focus on Revenue per user to understand and utilize it for cross promotion and up-selling.

What advice/tips would you give to startups looking to market via digital media?
This medium is just like any other medium; it is just that the end user is very mature and you must respect it. It is not always about what you have to say or sell but its more about why they should believe you and trust you. You figure that out, a big part of the battle is taken care of.

Future plans.
We have recently announced expansion of our operations in the country with larger facilities in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.  These bigger facilities will meet the increasing customer demand and support the rapidly evolving market in India. Indeed, the market has identified Kenscio as a leader in strategy, consulting and professional services in this particular niche. Soon we are planning to expand in Australia as well.
As a part of this expansion plan, Mr. Hemal Patel, Director, Data Services has joined its Mumbai operations. With our stronger presence and expanding teams, we are dedicated to get the best talent on board in terms of strategists, retailists etc, to provide support to customers across India.
We have taken a very close look at the Indian economy and the marketing industry and we foresee a great need of a database marketing product which will suit this kind of quo.

Original article posted at yourstory.in

We are living in very uncertain times. The current economic climate is not one that marketers look forward to, considering most customers are quick to tighten their marketing budgets in a wavering economy. The last time we went through a tough economy, one of the first things that most business owners and marketers did was to cut marketing budgets. Resist the temptation! The biggest learning most CMOs would have had from the recession of 2009 is that companies which continued to invest in marketing effectively, survived and a few in fact grew. The key is that you invest in the right tools.

The digital medium is increasingly emerging as a popular tool, more so during tough times, thanks to a more tangible measurement metrics and higher accountability of results. Add to this, the rapid adoption of the internet extending to Tier II and Tier III cities in India as well, the digital medium is emerging to become one that marketers cannot afford to ignore any longer. India today is the third biggest internet market in terms of users, with over a 100 million internet user base. The time an average Indian spends online today is now on par with TV viewing time at 16 hours in a week. Information is now being democratised on the web, search is now a daily activity and email is part of the connective tissue, through which companies can collaborate with and engage their customers better.

Advertising cutbacks hence is not affecting targeted marketing channels such as email marketing and other direct digital marketing channels such as mobile advertising. Marketers are building their customer lists, improving customer analysis and focusing on direct digital marketing (DDM) as a more intelligent and serious aspect of the overall marketing efforts. In turbulent times, it makes more financial sense than ever for companies to focus on marketing to their own customers and prospects. Marketers increasingly want to segment their audience and tie in their email activity with web analytics in an attempt to make communications as relevant as possible to the receiver.

The popularity of DDM is growing more than ever in India because it allows marketers to connect directly with their customers. By targeting specific demographics and studying the habits of your consumers, organizations can open a direct window into the needs of the market. In addition, by contacting each individual customer, marketers have a much greater opportunity to engage them in a discussion about what they require and how a specific product or service could help them do that.

The more closely you are able to follow the preferences of different groups of your customers within the target market, the better you will be able to convince them that you have a solution for them. Compared to traditional mass advertising efforts, email marketing also provides a shorter and easier path to ensure return on investment (ROI) which is everything in the current economic scenario. The marketer can measure the response at every step, including testing which message is more effective.

Below are a few key essentials to ensure your direct digital marketing campaign delivers good results:

List and contact management: The first step is to create or ensure a hygienic and relevant list of customers whom you can address. Segmentation is critical in email performance and some platforms can segment customers based on ‘who they are’ or ‘what they do’, etc.

Create a good message: Good and relevant content is key to how effective your DDM campaign is. So, this is an area that you need to focus on and get right. Message creation may be done via templates, the ability to rapidly create campaigns by copying and editing previous messages can be a time saver.

Deliverability: A great message and a quality list though do not necessarily deliver great results. To engage, marketers must get their emails and messages into prospective’s inboxes and ensure deliverability rate is no lesser than 90%.
Auto responders known as triggers are marketing sequences designed to build relations with the customer. You can not only include sign up forms but also behavioural responses such as a click or download.

Web landing page generation: Create a HTML code that allows customers to subscribe to your email list. High end platforms enable marketers create forms and landing pages as destination for email recipients.

Reporting and analytics: One of the most valuable aspects of DDM is its measurability. Measures such as list size, open rate, link rate, unsubscribe rate, spam complaints and rejection rate are a must.

CRM integration: It is a good idea for DDM to be directly integrated with sales CRM data so that a sales executive can map a prospective customer’s email activity.

Most importantly, DDM allows for you to integrate it with other marketing efforts, whether it is mobile or other on-the-ground promotional initiatives. So, here’s wishing you are able to engage your customers better in 2012.

Read original article at financialexpress.com

Spike in search for "Holi"

As we can clearly see that, there is an obvious spike in the search for “Holi” across India. So the first question is that are you putting Holi in your subject lines, if not you could- attracts more clicks and opens in this week.

The next thing is that who all it will work for?

The top spike is seen in Bihar Jamshedpur and Patna

Rajasthan-Jaipur and Udaipur come second

Gurgaon shows a great volume of searches

Gurgaon comes third and follows the rest of the northern states like Delhi, UP, Punjab, and States like Gujarat, Assam, Madhya Pradesh. Surprisingly the other states did not seem to have much traction about the festival- well none of them are actively looking for the things that they would want to do or, looking at things related to Holi. There could be multiple reasons for it- this time Holi is coming on a weekday being one of it, or, it comes right in the middle of the exam season for them.

Well beside all the factors and after analyzing the results with last year people are eagerly waiting for Holi messages in their mail boxes and Facebook walls. However, this year as there are more smart marketers the empowered consumer is looking beyond elementary propositioning- So dont just write Holi Celebrations or, XY% off on Holi or, any such vague lines. Discuss it with your Client Success Manager or , just tell them what you want to sell or, what inventory is in excess this season .

For other marketers who are serious about their business but yet not with us- There is no excuse for missing an opportunity or, a bad job.

Things to consider:

• What is a number of audience that fall in the category of states mentioned above?
• Are they male or, female?
• What are the cultural factors that affect their decisions?
• What do you want them to feel reading you subject line?
• And last but the most importantly why your Holi message?

So go ahead and make some killers sales this festive season .