In addition to being the Marketing Director & Founding Member of WS Group, a specialist mobile web and content development company, Kavita Jhunjhunwala also heads Pi Social Media- a 360 degree social media & digital marketing agency with the parent umbrella of WS. As a passionate digital marketer, Kavita also curates and owns one of the largest digital tech events in the country, Click Asia Summit, which will take place later this year.
Kavita started before the word ‘start-up’ was invented, literally in a garage office with limited Internet connectivity. She has over 15 years of tech experience and 200+ clients ranging from start-ups to enterprises and a multi-talented and multi-locational team of 300 avid professionals. Kavita is a digital nomad, passionate about social, design and driven by client satisfaction and of course awesome content!
Digital Vidya: How did you get into Digital Marketing?
Kavita: I dabbled in quite a few things, from accounting to grassroots level sales and marketing, before I decided to be an entrepreneur. My regular jobs helped me gain a diverse skill-set, including people management, client management and consultancy services, and entrepreneurship just seemed like the next natural evolution.
The ability to recognize trends, service clients, constantly innovate and help organizations with real time social media management and 360 degree digital marketing services are the biggest perks of my profession. It was hearing digital marketers at global events speak about the magic of digital that got me interested in digital marketing as a niche.
Digital Vidya: Why do you think it’s important for entrepreneurs, marketing professionals and students to learn Digital Marketing today?
Kavita: Your books are digital, your music is digital, your funny cat videos are digital, and your branding is digital as well and you connect with most of your circle, digitally. You don’t learn digital any more, you live it.
If you want to have a career in digital, it’s good to learn about the behind-the-scenes tools and processes. Many people find digital marketing especially social media very glamorous. However, it’s just a lot of hard work like any other profession and luckily you can now learn about it formally rather than the DIY mode in which the industry started.
Digital Vidya: According to you, what are the top mistakes committed by organizations today in leveraging Digital Marketing?
Kavita: Here are the top mistakes committed by organizations today in leveraging Digital Marketing:
- The me-too syndrome– Regurgitating ideas and following the leader, after 500 people have already done so. Also, my son’s-friend-said-so social media tips by the top management are the worst box that you can put social media/digital marketing planners in.
- Relying on a One-Size-Fits-All Marketing Experience– Being relevant counts! Creating the right buyer persona, segmentation and differentiation will always be in vogue especially in an age when customer service is classified as the holy grail of marketing.
- Ignoring an omni-channel strategy– Today’s multi-tasking, hyper connected audience hops from one device to another in seconds. To reach out and connect, you need to offer real-time services and a seamless experience. There is no room for second guessing here.
- Choosing a “vendor” instead of a “partner”- Buying digital media like furniture is shortchanging your organization. Look for ‘thought-compliance” rather than “price competitiveness” as key influence in choosing your agency.
Digital Vidya: You led ‘Social and Search In 2015′ Webinar for Digital Vidya’s community. How was your experience in leading the Webinar?
Kavita: To be honest, I am new to webinars. In fact, I have a small fear of speaking in public, which people find hard to believe knowing how much I talk generally. DV’s excellent work in the space of pioneering digital media learning is well known to us since they started so it was like being with friends. Excellent experience, hope I managed to convey some valuable key points and the interactions were also very good. Hope to be invited back soon!
Digital Vidya: Please share top 5-7 takeaways from the Webinar you would like to share with our community.
Kavita: Some of the takeaways are:
- Brush up your visual vocabularies to leverage both desktop, mobile video advertising benefits this year.
- Make sure you leverage the key trends of 2015 – video, imagery, mobile, messaging.
- Interactive videos and marketing automation is all set to make videos smarter in 2015.
- Building relationships will boost rankings. Think collaboration & user generated content!
- Your social network will soon be your wallet. Focus on short term deals, fleeting trends, time sensitive offers along with a compelling CTA.
Digital Vidya: Do you have any suggestions for us to further increase the value of our Digital Marketing Webinars for our community?
Kavita: It would help to get acquainted with the attendee profiles ahead in order to better cater to their specific requirements and interests. A post webinar live chat or a social media group can be created to resolve questions that arise in the later phase.
Digital Vidya: Would you like to share few words about the work we are doing at Digital Vidya?
Kavita:
Digital Vidya’s initiative is commendable. It is a great platform for trainers to connect and offer a valuable experience as well as for start-ups and standalone marketers to benefit from the workshops. They are a great case study of entrepreneurship and passion.
