Dr. Vijay Prakash Anand is a seasoned academician in the area of Marketing. In the Marketing area, he is known as ‘Marketing By Vijay’TM.
Interestingly, he has been ranked as India’s No.1 ‘Marketing by Vijay’ fame YouTuber-Professor with 2M views
He has written two books, edited one news magazine and three newsletters. He has also published many papers in journals of national and international repute.
He is currently working as a faculty member in the area of Marketing at Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow and is also a Visiting Faculty to IIM Ranchi. He has taught at leading B-Schools in India like IIM Ranchi, Symbiosis, Pune, Bharti Vidyapeeth, Pune, Pune University MBA Department as a visiting faculty member and in EMPI Business School, New Delhi, NIILM Centre for Management Studies, New Delhi and IES Management College, Mumbai University, Mumbai as a full time faculty member.
What is the importance of Digital Marketing in the Arena of Marketing?
Prof. Vijay: Being a Professor in the area of Marketing, I see a paradigm shift in the area of Marketing. The world is changing and so is marketing. This is the digital era. This is the era of Tesla, Uber, Ola, Airbnb, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Google and so on. With more than 4.7 billion mobile phones and internet access to 3.7 billion people around the world, technology is making a huge impact on the businesses.
In turn, the world of Marketing is also changing. Because the customers are changing. They are not the same. Now they have all the information at their fingertip, due to smartphones and internet connectivity. This has led the marketer to tap the customers through Digital Marketing. Now digital marketing needs to be an integral part of the marketing strategy.
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?
Prof. Vijay: There is no debate as such on conventional marketing vs digital marketing. Now we are living in the digital era. Most of the customers are connected now and that’s why as a marketer, we need to connect with the customers through digital marketing channels.
There is no threat as such to the future of conventional marketing. The customers are evolving and so is marketing. The customers are doing more of online search than offline search and that’s why marketers need to reach out to customers through digital marketing medium. There is also a forecast that half of all global advertising dollars will be spent online by 2020, matching the worldwide combined “offline” Ad spend, such as TV, print ads and billboard posters. So, in that way conventional as well as digital will have an equal share by 2020.
Share about your 3 favorite Integrated Marketing case studies. What did you like most about them?
Prof. Vijay: As a student or a professional in the digital marketing domain, you may find a number of brands doing well online. If you follow these brands closely, you will understand the game of marketing played by these companies. Brands like Red Bull, Starbucks and Nike are awesome on online platforms, right from their website to Facebook page to YouTube and Instagram channel; these are all placed well. You just need to check out their pages/channel to understand their marketing strategies.
According to you, what are the top 3 mistakes committed by organizations today in leveraging Digital Marketing?
Prof. Vijay: With the growing importance of Digital, most of the organisations have adopted a digital marketing strategy. But somehow, the strategy has not been planned as well as executed well.
Digital helps to engage with the customers 24X7, but the engagements will only enriching; if it is supported by the right kind of content planning and execution. The content also needs to be creatively told, so that it connects well with the customers. So in that way, only thing organisations need to improve upon, is to plan their content in the most creative way.
In that way, I don’t think organisations are making mistakes. The only gap is to plan and execute the digital strategy well.
Between Agency and In-house, which approach would you recommend for the maximum value of Digital Marketing? Why?
Prof. Vijay: Agency approach is always better to execute your digital marketing strategy, as the agency has got specialized people to look after a different aspects of digital marketing. But if you are an e-commerce company, then you need to have the right kind of manpower in-house to have better control.
How do you ensure increasing Digital Marketing’s relevance and influence in the organization?
Prof. Vijay: The right kind of leadership ensures digital marketing’s relevance and influence. It helps to prioritise, plan and execute it well. Here, training may help the digital marketing team to stay updated.
Why do you think it’s important for entrepreneurs, marketing professionals and students to learn Digital Marketing today?
Prof. Vijay:
For Entrepreneurs: If your customers are on the digital platform, then you also need to be there. Otherwise, you may challenge your existence.
For Professionals: Digital marketing may open up new avenues and also fortify your domain knowledge for being relevant in the changing times.
For Students: Digital marketing opens up a lot of possibilities for a student. There are immense opportunities under digital marketing domain with expertise into different areas right from Search Engine Optimization (SEO) TO Search Engine Marketing (SEM) to Social media Marketing (SMM) to E-mail Marketing and so on.
Your YouTube channel is great with wonderful content out there. What are the 3 main aspects you focus on before creating any video?
Prof. Vijay: Yes, you are right. My YouTube Channel ‘Marketing by Vijay’ is quite popular with students and professionals across the world. My content has been watched more than 2 Million times.
Before creating any video, I need to answer the question first, as to whether I can help students learn the specific topic of Marketing in a simpler way or not. If the answer is yes. I go ahead and also check out as to how many times on an average, the topic has been watched on other channels. It gives me the insight to understand my students’ pain points, whom I am trying to address.
What is the main focus area that makes you engage with your audience?
Prof. Vijay: As in Cinema, the engagement point is Entertainment. Similarly on YouTube or any online platform, Content is everything. Your content will help your users connect with you.
How can Businesses utilize YouTube as a Marketing Channel? Also, would SMBs and Large Corporations be at an equal footing in terms of competition when it comes to Video Marketing?
Prof. Vijay: Video Marketing is going big 2019 onwards. If you see something, then you believe. This very principle requires you and your business to be on Video. Again online platforms like YouTube have democratized everything. Now being an SMB, you are as good as large scale corporation. You may utilize video as a marketing tool through your website as well as through your YouTube Channel.
What are the top 3-5 skills you look for when hiring a candidate for Digital Marketing profile?
Prof. Vijay: To become a successful digital marketer, you need to understand marketing first. Once you understand that, then you need to understand the tools and techniques of digital marketing. With a creative content oriented mindset, you can do wonders in digital marketing.
What is your advice for newbies, who are looking at building a career in the Digital Marketing industry?
Prof. Vijay: If you are looking to build a career in Digital marketing, you need to specialize in one of the aspects of Digital marketing. You need to learn the tools and techniques and then you need to practice it. You should also update yourself with all the latest developments in the industry through blogs, news articles, events, conferences etc.
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?
Prof. Vijay: For Search Engine Optimization, you may check out Moz. You may check HubSpot for Inbound marketing. Content Marketing Institute’s blog will help you learn Content Marketing; while Marketing Land may help you be updated in the digital marketing domain.
Share the names of 3 people you respect when it comes to Digital Marketing.
Prof. Vijay: You may follow Neil Patel, Arnie Kuenn, Rand Fishkin, Larry Kim, and Jeff Bulas. They will keep up updated in digital marketing.
How do you see Digital Media evolving in the future? What are the top 3 trends do you foresee for 2019?
Prof. Vijay: Voice input, Video and Image search is going to change the face of digital media. In the world of Alexa and Google Assistant, now you need to implement your strategy in and around these trends to stay updated in the business.
Would you like to share a few words about the work we are doing at Digital Vidya?
Prof. Vijay: Digital Vidya is doing great in the world of digital marketing training. On one hand, it is helping students learn digital marketing tools and techniques, while on the other, it is empowering professionals to take the lead in the domain. Kudos to Pradeep Ji and his team for this commendable job.
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 :).
