Building Brands Online : A Plunge Into The World Of Digital Strategy - Internship At SoCheers Infotech Pvt - IMT Ghaziabad

When I boarded that aircraft to Mumbai, I was under the impression (from what I had read online and gathered from my seniors) that I was going to an out-and-out digital media agency, but one week with SoCheers Infotech Pvt. Ltd. and I realized the agency was now offering 360 degree marketing solutions (a phenomenal growth for a startup which started off as a social network), even if they were through vendors and contacts. An exemplary way of “clawing” into the industry. A textbook example of how to build your competency: become the Jack of all trades (along with being the Master of one: building Digital Strategy). The agency provides digital media services such as – social media marketing, web development, content management, digital advertising, e-commerce, ad film production and digital analytics.

 I was officially a Digital Marketing and Strategy intern, part of the Brand Strategy team which consisted of a team of 5 people, working in tandem with a Client Servicing Team, Art Team (designers) and copywriters.  That, in short, formed the flat organisation structure of SoCheers, headed by 3 directors as the leadership team. I was accompanied by 4 driven interns one being my colleague and PR head in the college media team at IMT and 3 others from IIM Amritsar and KJ Somaiya, Bombay.

 

Our average day used to start with someone from the client servicing team (also known as Brand Management Team, as they handled the individual client accounts the company scored) or someone from the leadership who on having received briefs from the clients, briefed the Brand Strategy team on what the client aims to do, what sort of a campaign they want, and where exactly the client wants to be at the end of the campaign. We had roughly 3-4 days on an average to prepare a pitch for the client. The duration for preparing the pitch could be as less as merely half a day, or as relaxed as a week (which of course meant more time for me to explore Bombay in the evenings).  In a span of two months, I personally worked on almost 23 clients. The varying nature of industries our clients came from was the fun part, in my opinion. They ranged from an restaurant outlet looking to change its positioning to a bottled sparkling water company, from a luxury hotel to a company selling the idea of buying original spare parts to tier-II city mechanics, from an e-commerce website just starting out in their business to established event management companies trying to organize a music concert on a large scale, and I was thankful to touch upon such variety!

The biggest tool, I believe I had at hand, was something IMT imbibed in me: “Research”. The word does sound boring or repulsive in classrooms but trust me, researching brands digitally were the most enjoyable part of my job. Also, the fact that I was a content person, somewhat helped. The kind of stories, articles, opinions, incidents and events you come across during such research, range from being clever, inspiring, hilarious, and enjoyable to simply bizarre.

 My biggest moment came when I was asked to collate and stitch together a digital strategy for a popular global pizza outlet and my supervisor casually asked me to make the pitch directly to the client. For me it was huge! Imagine being on the 37^th floor of St.Regis (the same hotel Justin Bieber was put up during his overhyped concert), overlooking Mahalakshmi Race Course, Haji Ali’s Tomb and the magnificent South Bombay skyline as a backdrop, and there you are, pitching to the Marketing Head of a global pizza chain. It’s an intellectual high of a rare kind.

The combination of in-depth research (which was reading as much data there is online about the company, doing a thorough industry and market analysis, analyzing the content strategy adapted, trends and all forms of communication the brand is giving out to their Target Groups at large) and an eye to understand the consumer from a creative perspective is the essence of creating a good digital strategy.

To add to that, I had amazing mentors at SoCheers. The kind of people who gave me a brilliant perspective of understanding the nuances of consumer behaviour and how small things, like a melodious background jingle or an eye pleasing creative, can be game changers. The people I worked with were more of design thinkers. “Strategists” was just their official designations. All big budgets and endless hours of brainstorming can go for a toss if you do not understand people. At the end of the day, your customer is a person. With feelings, with likes and dislikes and character traits. If you can understand and be empathetic to him, he will give you his money (sales) and heart (brand loyalty).

"Marketing and life aren’t different, as, at the end of the day; it’s all about understanding and caring for people".

For me, that is the biggest takeaway from this 2-month internship.

The city Bombay is like another character in the story personified. Walking, living, struggling, suffering and enjoying every moment with you. It’s like having a constant invisible companion. For that side of the story, you can always reach out to me and we can talk about Bombay’s spirit over a cup of coffee!

    ------------------ About the Author:

Akshay Natu

SoCheers Infotech Pvt. Ltd.

IMT Ghaziabad (PGDM Marketing)

Akshaynatu10a@gmail.com