Join Digital Marketing Foundation MasterClass worth Rs 1999 FREE

An Interview With Sumit Gupta, Digital Marketing Expert

Interview blog banner sumit gupta

Sumit gupta Sumit Gupta is a digital marketing expert and social media specialist. He has over 8 years experience in the digital marketing niche. Sumit started his digital marketing career with a US-based marketing agency referred to as “Tangence Solutions”. Later on, he worked with other digital organizations like IndiaMART, Careesma, HCL Infosystems, BCC Research (part of ELI Research).  Sumit’s twitter handle attracts over 30,000 followers.

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

Sumit: I had an opportunity to work in the US based company when I graduated from college in 2005. I worked with the internet marketing team of the company.  That’s how I started by career in digital marketing. I focused more on SEO and internet marketing. Later on, I ventured into SEM and other forms of digital marketing.

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?

Sumit: Conventional  marketing is something which companies are doing and will be doing as still people read news paper, see Bill boards, watch TV, listens Radio, etc. But nobody knows the future. Being a digital guy I can easily emphasize on the advantage of digital marketing over Conventional marketing and here is my take on this.

Biggest advantage of Digital Marketing is ROI calculation which is not very easy in conventional marketing tactics. Other major benefit is, you can resume or stop any of your digital activity in just one click. These 2 things are something which are very important from marketing budget point of view. You have better control on your spending, you can focus on the activity which are deriving results and stop which are not performing well. Even you can track Real time results which are not possible in other form of marketing. Study says, people are spending more time on internet so it makes sense to make your product visible to then and there only. Newspapers have been replaced by e-Newpapers, e-commerce is also growing so these are the some indicators which clearly indicates the boom of internet. Using digital marketing we can encourage our prospects and clients to take real time action, visit our online portal, explore our products and services, rate them, share them, buy them and share feedback which is visible to our core market. As a result it doesn’t take long for good advertising to enhance the prospects of your business. Few years back this all was not possible as we are not having such useful platforms. New things like Programmatic buying are the evidence of bright future of digital marketing.

Conventional marketing is what most companies are doing and will continue to do so long as people still read newspapers, see Bill boards, watch TV, listen to the Radio, etc. But nobody knows the future. Being a digital guy, I can easily emphasize on the advantage of digital marketing over Conventional marketing and here is my take on this.

  • The biggest advantage of Digital Marketing is ROI calculation which is not very easy in conventional marketing tactics.
  • You can resume or stop any of your digital activity in just one click when you engage in Conventional marketing.
  • In Conventional marketing, you have better control on your spending. You can focus on the activity which are deriving results and stop others that are not performing well. You can even track real time results which is not possible in other form of digital marketing.
  • Recent studies show that people are spending more time on internet. Hence, it makes sense to make your product visible to them there and then. Newspapers have been replaced by e-Newspapers; e-commerce is also growing.   These are some indicators which clearly indicate the boom of internet.
  • Using digital marketing we can encourage our prospects and clients to take real time action, visit our online portal, explore our products and services, rate them, share them, buy them and share feedback. As a result it doesn’t take long for good advertising to enhance the prospects of your business. Few years back all of these were not possible.
Share about your 3 favorite Digital Marketing case studies. What did you like most about them?

Sumit: Actually there are more than 3, and I would say lots of marketers are giving their time to create and execute some fabulous campaign. This era is all about “Storytelling.” So, everybody is working on campaign which has some meaning rather than just pushing the product or service. Still here are my couples of favorite campaigns which just keep buzzing in my head me all the time.

  • Volvo Trucks the Epic Split: the way brand used Video properties, especially YouTube. From this campaign, brand communicated their truck’s key qualities very easily. Video on YT got more than 76 M views which is amazing.
  • Google Chrome – “Dear Sophie”: This was based on a real story and I love the way how brand added so much emotion in the film. Releasing the same on Father’s Day was the best possible connect to the ad and the target audience.
According to you, what are the top 3 mistakes committed by organizations today in leveraging Digital Marketing?

Sumit: 

  • Lack of Integration: If you are doing something online, you should have same thing offline and vice-a-versa. All digital communication should be properly integrated with all the offline communication to get the best outcome of any campaign.
  • Expecting overnight Success: Best example is Social Media. Brands are investing a lot of money in social media because their competitors are doing same and by so doing they expect direct sales from this channel. Brands should understand that social media is not for direct selling.
  • Ignoring Content marketing: Very old saying – “Content is King” and yes you need to admit this. This is something which support your maximum digital marketing activities like SEO, Social, Email etc. Focus on this as your most of the things depends in content.
Between Agency and In-house, which approach would you recommend for maximum value of Digital Marketing? Why?

Sumit: It depends  on how you look at it! Both have their own value. If you manage a  large company that also has good  B2C domain, I would say having one or multiple Agencies would be the best option as you will generate ideas from multiple teams and will not miss anything which is latest and trending. However, for the smaller companies, In-house team would be the right choice as you need to monitor closely what you spend and how you spend. B2C and B2B worlds are different so you need to choose wisely.

Which are your 3 favorite Digital Marketing Tools?

Sumit: 

  • Comscore (to check traffic of other websites)
  • Google Analytics (analyze anything)
  • Hubspot (your one stop in-bound marketing tool)
Why do you think it’s important for entrepreneurs, marketing professionals and students to learn Digital Marketing today?

Sumit: 

  • For Entrepreneurs: Endless business options which can be integrated with Internet and digital marketing can be leveraged easily.
  • For Professionals: Endless Job options in domestic and International Market
  • For Students: Can be entered with limited experience and knowledge and can learn fast and make a great career in future.
What are the top 3-5 skills you look for when hiring a candidate for Digital Marketing profile?

Sumit: 

  • Tech Savvy – Earlier the job was frequently about managing the advertising company. But now person need to understand technology. What do some of these technologies look like? Free Tools (ex. Hootsuite, Tweetdeck etc)/ Platforms (ex. Hubspot, Zoho etc)
  • Data Analysis – Person should be able to analysis the data as this is very crucial when it comes to analytics and post campaign review.
  • SEO Expert – this is something which is a must for digital person.
  • Knowledge of Email Marketing
What is your advice for newbies, who are looking at building a career in Digital Marketing industry?

Sumit: 

There is a plethora of information about digital marketing on Internet so use that. Subscribe for some good website feeds, email alerts, marketing blog etc. First focus on one thing, get expertise and then move to second thing.

Never stop reading as this is very dynamic domain and daily you have something new and you never know what get missed any point of time.

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?

Sumit: Reading, Reading and more reading. Google news (specific categories with email alerts), SEW (searchenginewatch), Markteingprofs, Social Media Examiner, Mashable, Techcrunch, are the few of the website/portals which I visit daily. Jeff Bullas, Guy Kawasaki, Matt Cutts, Chris Brogan, Danny Sullivan are the bloggers which I like the most.

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

Sumit: 

  • Chris Brogan (chrisbrogan.com) – He is the one who we can call as a “True Blogger” and a marketing leader.
  • Lewis Howes (lewishowes.com) – Self made millionaire, Social Media expert and knows how to use social media to get something big.
  • Neil Patel (neilpatel.com)
How do you see Digital Media evolving in future? What are the top 3 trends do you foresee for 2016?

Sumit: 

  • Mobile will lead for sure. Study and data clearly shows that, use of the mobile internet is growing drastically so future would be mobile. Usage of Big screen mobile and tablets will replace most of the laptop screens.
  • Programmatic Buying – Automation! Efficiency and more value in media buying.
  • Data – BIG DATA. Money will be spent after a deep data analysis. You can’t close your eyes while spending on digital media.
Would you like to share few words about the work we are doing at Digital Vidya?

Sumit: 

I would like to congratulate the entire DV team for playing an important role in educating people in the country and that too in very specific field – Digital Marketing. You guys are doing great, producing great talents which will lead big brands in future. My best wishes are with DV team for their all the efforts.

Are you inspired by the opportunity of Digital Marketing? Start your journey by attending our upcoming orientation session on Digital Marketing for Career & Business Growth. It’s online and Free :).

Avatar of jasleen kaur
Jasleen Kaur
[Sr. Associate - Content Marketing] A content passionate, Jasleen handles content writing & marketing activities. Also, she leads Digital Marketing Internship Program. She is in the content writing and marketing fraternity for 10+ years now & is proficient in writing content for blogs, articles, books, brochures and social media. She embraces practical knowledge of WordPress CMS.

2 thoughts on “An Interview With Sumit Gupta, Digital Marketing Expert”

  1. Thanks Sumit for your contribution to our community through this interview. Really happy to know your feedback about the work we are doing in spreading digital (marketing) vidya :).

Leave a Reply to Jasleen Kaur Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

In-Demand Courses

4-7 months Instructor Led Live Online Training
Starts March 30, 31, 1, 2, 2024
  • Covers all Digital Marketing Techniques

4 months Online
New Batch Dates are not Open
  • Digital Media Mastery (with Paid Media Expertise)
Digital Marketing Webinars
Mar 30
Upcoming
Raj Sharma, Digital Vidya Team 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (IST)
Apr 28
Completed
Marketing Leaders from Paytm Insider, Cognizant and Digital Vidya 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM (IST)
Mar 24
Completed
Marketing Leaders from Merkle Sokrati, 3M, Uber India and VIP Industries Limited 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM (IST)

Discuss With A Career Advisor

Not Sure, What to learn and how it will help you?

Call Us Live Chat Free MasterClass
Scroll to Top