An Interview With Prabhjyot Singh, Founder & CEO, Living Gifts

How did you get into Digital Marketing? What interested you in learning Digital Marketing?

Prabhjyot: I have started working in Digital Marketing since initial days of my career and I must say that it was very interesting initially to reach out to masses using digital marketing campaigns. Also, generating more and more business for the organizations using Digital Marketing, as marketing channel was very interesting.

According to you, what are the advantages of conventional marketing over Digital Marketing? Do you think that Digital Marketing is a threat to the future of conventional marketing?

Prabhjyot: There are few advantages of conventional marketing over Digital Marketing. One of them is that you can reach masses because everyone is not available online especially in the developing countries where Internet and smartphones are still penetrating in the Tier2 and small cities.

But, with the increase in smartphones and Internet, digital marketing would definitely increase the marketing share in the company’s budget. With an increase in technology, you can monitor your digital marketing campaigns on real-time basis. Also, it is possible to calculate the exact ROI from digital marketing campaigns, which is little bit difficult in case of conventional marketing.

Thus, digital marketing would definitely have larger marketing budgets in comparison to the conventional marketing in the near future.

According to you, what are the top 3 mistakes committed by organizations today in leveraging Digital Marketing?

Prabhjyot: 

• Less Focus on Content marketing: Most of the companies want to call themselves as digital marketing savvy and want to maintain their blogs and articles but they want to call themselves at the cost of peanuts.

Why Content Is King? I have recently published one post on LinkedIn where I have explained in detail that why content is (still) the king. With latest updates in Google’s search algorithm like Penguin and Manual penalties, Google annihilate these old techniques 1-by-1. 

We have now again come back to content marketing and social media being part of your overall search marketing strategy. Link building is now link earning that has been described, as “you need to climb an evolution ladder than link building.” As SEO has evolved into a different animal, so there is a definite need of link building, which must evolve itself.

Overall, it’s the same strategy but using it with different tactics. For example, it is still important to know where your competitor’s backlinks are coming from. The only thing that has been changed is the strategy to get the links from the same sources.

• Lack of Innovation: Most of the companies in the industry are just running rat race. Companies started feeling that why to re-invent the wheel. If they find that some company has done one activity and it has got results for that company then everybody will try to implement the same thing.

But innovation is the key to success, you always have to be innovative in your approach to engage the customers and make them advocates for your product.

• Lack Of Data-Driven Approach: These days there are many digital marketing companies, which works on performance driven marketing campaigns. In a quest to achieve the monthly targets most of the marketing executives just hire these companies, show the numbers to the management and sit relaxed.

Marketing managers should always follow the data-driven approach. Fortunately, it is easier in Digital Marketing than in conventional marketing. You can eventually calculate the results of each campaign minutely. Thus, drilling the data received from the executives and managing the campaigns effectively should be the focus point for managers.

Between Agency and In-house, which approach would you recommend for maximum value of Digital Marketing? Why?

Prabhjyot: Well, it depends upon the company size, scalability and the nature of the business you are operating in. Most of the digital marketers feel that managing teams in-house is easier and beneficial to get the results.

I have a different approach of seeing things over here. There are Digital Agencies in the market, which are specialized in their area of operation. They have experienced professionals who have wide industry experience as well.

If you are a startup and have limited budget available with you then instead of hiring them in-house you should outsource.

Also, there are few functional areas, which you have to monitor every hour, which might get tedious if you have outsourced that to Digital agency.

Thus, maximizing the value of Digital marketing entirely depends upon your company size, you scalability plan, and your nature of business.

Which are your 3 favorite Digital Marketing Tools?

Prabhjyot: If you are managing so many things and have to manage the digital marketing activities along with the other activities then you have to make sure that whatever tool you use should give you every detail in the simplest way.

I personally use:

1. Google Analytics – It helps in monitoring events, campaigns, ROI’s, daily analysis.
2. MOZ Analytics – It helps is finding the errors in my website and keeping my website basic hygiene.
3. SEM Rush

Why do you think it’s important for entrepreneurs, marketing professionals and students to learn Digital Marketing today?

Prabhjyot: 

• For Entrepreneurs: It is very important to learn digital marketing for the entrepreneurs. As explained in the above answers, it is much easier to do the performance mapping in Digital Marketing than in conventional marketing. Also, if you know the stuff then it is pretty easier for you to monitor stuff using few tools.
• For Professionals: It is equally important for the professional to learn the Digital Marketing from the professional coaching institutes. This will not only help you in doing digital marketing but also help you understand your customers well.

Digital marketing is not only for selling something. It is also used to engage your customers, to educate the potential customers about your products, to market yourself as well.

• For Students: With the penetration of Internet and smartphones in Tier2 and small towns, the audience size has become very huge. And the beauty of this audience set is that it is tangible data.

And due to this, there is a considerable demand for the Digital Marketers. Thus, it is advisable for the students to learn about Digital Marketing and try implementing the basics while studying it.

What are the top 3-5 skills you look for when hiring a candidate for Digital Marketing profile?

Prabhjyot: Well, to look for the Digital marketing profile I always see the following points:

1. Since digital marketing has been evolving on a daily basis thus professional should have good reading habit.
2. Google plays an important role in the organic growth of the company thus, it is equally important for the professionals to know what exactly Google has been doing.
3. Since content is (still) the king thus, a person should be good in written skills.
4. You might have to manage multiple digital agencies along with in-house teams. Thus, to manage them effectively you should be aware of the marketing tools like Analytics, Adwords, MOZ, etc.

What is your advice for newbies, who are looking at building a career in Digital Marketing industry?

Prabhjyot: My advice to the newbies who are looking to make a career in Digital Marketing is to clear your basics while learning the Digital Marketing. Develop your analytics skills, become experts in reports & numbers, and read more about the day-to-day trends, enhancements happening in the industry.

How do you stay updated on the latest trends in Digital Marketing? Which are the Digital Marketing resources (i.e. blogs/websites/apps) you visit regularly?

Prabhjyot: I stay updated by reading blogs and articles in the following websites:

1. MOZ
2. Search Engine Land
3. Community & Updates in Google Analytics
4. Word Stream Blog

Share the names of 3 people you respect when it comes to Digital Marketing.

Prabhjyot: I follow following:

1. Rand Fishkin
2. John Rampton
3. Matt Cutts

How do you see Digital Media evolving in future? What are the top 3 trends do you foresee for 2016?

Prabhjyot: Digital marketing has evolved exponentially in the past few years and it has a great future as well. Digital marketing will surely capture more pocket share when it comes to marketing budget. With the evolution of Internet and mobile phones in the small cities, I see following trends:

1. 70% traffic from mobiles is expected to touch in 2016.
2. There would be 150% growth in mobile apps.
3. More focus on user engagement.