From the Desk of the Editor would like to welcome you all to d ig ita l m ar ke ti ng – Se arch Engine the first issue of our e-magazine 'Digital Optimisation (SEO), PPC, social media

marketing, data analytics and much more – Express Magazine'! Through this and the the trend in the country and abroad seems subsequent issues, we wish to bring to promising! the readers the biggest and freshest news in

the digital marketing industry and delve into The relationship with the customer has the issues behind the stories. This magazine changed dramatically in recent years with the will serve as an extension of my passion in the power shifting to the consumer. It is digital marketing field. important to think and act like your

customers that will go a long way in helping An easy to read magazine, 'Digital Express you to choose the best marketing channels. Magazine' will provide you with the Gauge what interests them, analyse their knowledge of those fundamentals and the demographics and knowing your customers boxes that you need to tick to achieve success is your mantra for online success. online. The content will also cater for

advanced marketers with leading tips and Customer focused digital marketing is the strategies on what is working on the Internet key driver for Indian Marketers reveals Adobe right now. APAC Digital Directions Report. Indian

marketers especially feel strongly that digital Digital marketing can sometimes be provides knowledge and insights for better perceived as a difficult career to pursue, but I customer engagement (54%). There has been firmly believe with the right boxes ticked and a gradual but consistent shift in how digital is knowing the fundamentals professionals can understood as a customer engagement and achieve more. It is an increasingly enablement strategy. Digital experts believe competitive market. There's no escaping the 2015 to bring in the next wave of growth for fact that marketers now require to design this industry.strategies to engage customers on their own.Arguably, for a business to succeed in today's Digital Media marketing is complex, highly world, it is important to have a strong digital interactive, information rich and delivers a footprint within the internet. Therefore, real-time connect with the customers. Be it when a business is setting up its marketing high-level of engagement, creating loyalties, plan, it becomes imperative to integrate a converting consumers to brand influencers, solid digital approach. or carrying out a highly segmented-focused

targeting. Undoubtedly, the ROI that Digital That calls for commercially-minded, strategic Media Marketing campaigns offers, if thinkers who can combine creativity with planned and integrated with traditional solid business acumen – a mix that can be media, keeping the brand ethos and its tough to find– but which marks the overall business objective in mind, is beginning of a whole new generation of unmatched. digital communicators and marketers who

will be invaluable to the next wave of brand Digital Express Magazine will provide the awareness and messaging.latest and relevant information of Digital

Marketing industry, trends and advice to fast So sit back and enjoy 'Digital Express track your Internet Marketing success. We Magazine'. If you have any questions, will talk about niche markets, generating feedback, content or advertising requests traffic to your websites, PPC, marketing please don't hesitate to contact us.funnels, social media, Search Engine

Wishing you the best of success online.Optimization and just about anything else you can think of.

The rise in the e-commerce industry has prompted young professionals to join digital marketing as their career prospect. With the ongoing demand for various offshoots of

MS KumarDigital Marketing Strategist & Editor –DigitalExpress Magazine

arketers are The ever-expanding pool of invaluable knowledge constantly looking in media and channels available marketers are increasingly

to customers is constantly becoming more informed to the future, trying to increasing the competition. about this competitive predict the next big thing, be Real-time marketing, landscape and the customer. it for their brands or their Internet of Things and social Marketing is now emerging clients. Marketing is on the media and data analytics are as a discipline greatly ascent. Naturally marketers all proving themselves to be powered by technology.are preoccupied with valuable tools for reaching questions like: What is the Driven by increased internet out to consumers in an ever-next big campaign? What is p e n e t r a t i o n , w i r e l e s s more connected world. the next hot trend going to broadband and mobile These are proving to be be in business? How to come technology, consumers and game-changers for people up with a service offer businesses are increasingly looking for a strategic compelling enough to make shifting their attention from advantage and also with this clients call you? the traditional marketing

A Road Map to the Future of Marketing – The Rise of the Marketing Technologist

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n recent years, the Indian startup ecosystem has really taken off and come into its own—driven by factors such as massive funding, consolidation activities, evolving technology and a rapidly growing domestic market.

In 2014, 43 startups were acquired; so far this year the number has been 41, with startups themselves being the most acquisitive of the lot. Of the 41, merely two deals were struck by large corporates, with Godrej and Mahindra & Mahindra as the buyers.

The numbers are telling—from 3,100 startups in 2014 to a projection of more than 11,500 by 2020.Between 2010 and 2014, the infusion of VC (venture capital) and PE (private equity) increased from $13 million to $1,818 million. Angel investment too has multiplied almost 8 times from $4.2 million to $32.2 million.

Based on data published by YourStory, in 2014, Helion Venture Partners was top of the investors list going by the total number of deals made, followed by Sequoia Capital, Blume Ventures, Kalaari Capital, and Accel Partners.

As you can see in this chart, the market has witnessed a bit of a shakeup with Tiger Global taking the top spot in 2015 with cumulative investments of $269 million (Ventura Intelligence) in 11 deals, followed by Sequoia Capital with $208 million invested in 14 deals, and Steadview Capital with $107 million

with two deals.

When it comes to the cities where the startups that got funded were based, Bangalore led the charts with $2.43

billion, followed by New Delhi at $1.43 billion, and Mumbai stood in the third position with $610 million.

And if we break it down by sectors, e-commerce unsurprisingly took the biggest piece of the pie with $3.23 billion, followed by the closely related sectors of consumer Internet and mobile apps.

Start-Up Diaries

media: television, radio, and print; to digital American) Internet companies. India is the digital media and advertising technology media for their entertainment, education, largest market for WhatsApp, the second converge and emerge as the new frontier for

largest for Facebook and Linkedin and the innovation, marketers now have access to news and business needs. fastest growing for Twitter. India accounts real-time data that indicates the actions of Let us take a look at these facts of Mary for 7% of YouTube's overall users (70 million customers and potential customers. Meeker's Internet Trends report : India has the

rd users in India). To build a successful digital strategy you 3 largest internet population after China and nd In India a growing number of marketers are need to bring the consumer in the centre of the United States and is projected to be the 2

leveraging digital marketing to increase their communications, and at the same time largest by 2015, with 330-370 million users. th competitive advantage. Technology is fast strengthen the brand position by India is the 4 largest audience of searchers in

transforming the marketing profession: demonstrating what the brand is passionate the world as unique searchers grew by 88%. In adding new tools, techniques and strategies about. India, Internet usage on smartphones and each day. The modern marketer needs to mobile devices has risen dramatically. The Today, Digital Media marketing is complex, perform a dual role – of an artist and a Indian smartphone market grew by close to highly interactive, information rich and scientist. Marketers in this age needs to fuel 55%, followed by Brazil at 28% and China at delivers a real-time connect with the their imagination to create campaigns that 21%. customers. Undoubtedly, the ROI that Digital engage consumers, and an analytical bent of Media Marketing campaigns offers, if planned Interestingly, in India 65% of the total Internet mind to measure and escalate the marketing and integrated with traditional media, keeping traffic comes from mobile devices. Another strategy. the brand ethos and its overall business interesting Internet trend from India is that There are countless ways to market your objective in mind, is unmatched. 41% of e-commerce sales happen on the business – choosing the right marketing mobile, and that number will only increase. An integrated marketing approach is the key channel can be a daunting task! Flipkart, India's largest e-commerce firm, is to unlocking your power to handle the wide Understanding the need to develop a planning to shut its website and go with an customer base. However for all of its potential connected future using technology is App-only model. Some online retailers like and the buzz that has been created around becoming vital for marketing professionals. A Myntra are already App-only. digital marketing, it is yet to amass the power seamless integration of various channels of the evolving marketing landscape. India is a big market for global (mainly proves to be the best marketing strategy. As

(Source: TNW News)

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Breaking The Mouldhe Indian startup ecosystem is hugely e-commerce, companies like Alibaba and Leveraging the boom in the digital space, the competitive, innovative and each Softbank investing in Paytm and Snapdeal, young founders are taking big strides and

have much higher ambitions. claiming its place in the startup space. and you have a home-grown company like India is the most hyper competitive Flipkart. The good news is the sector will be Nasscom's ambitious 10000 Start-ups

internet market in the world. In the US, you transformed and customers will benefit. Programme is also in for a global push for its don't have Chinese companies — WeChat and portfolio of start-ups. It recently announced Think about the likes of Uber who reinvented Alibaba may be huge in China, but they don't the second edition of Innotrek, a trip to the the transportation business and Instagram exist in America. Conversely, the American Silicon Valley for intense networking with who changed the nature of photography – we companies are not there in China. India is the start-up accelerators and investors. A day of need the Game Changers to transform the way only country in the world where the American, the week-long trip is dedicated for campus we do things. And we need this game-Chinese and home-grown companies are visits to technology giants like Google, changing talent in the digital world.competing. Suddenly, there are three levels of LinkedIn and Facebook.

Indian entrepreneurs are going global. competition. You have Amazon competing in

Here, we bring you the stories of some of the coolest startups in the country n a crowded e-commerce industry, horizontal marketplace with a 44 per cent Rs 3 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. It is a younger ShopClues has successfully created its share of the $6.3 billion Indian e-commerce customer, out of college, on the first job,

market by gross merchandise volume just married and setting up their first own niche. It has been a steady rise ever (GMV), according to a report by Morgan home," Aggarwal says. A couple of small since the day the company went live on Stanley, followed by Snapdeal (32 per cent sellers are making good money. Shveta January 26, 2012. But planning the company share) and Amazon (15 per cent share), Narula, for instance, currently sources began much earlier, in 2011. ShopClues ShopClues coolness is in the categories it dinner sets, cookware, candles and clocks founders Sanjay Sethi and Radhika Ghai plays in, the customers and the merchants from different markets in Delhi and sells it Aggarwal says that the idea and the it targets. In India, offline retail is all about on ShopClues. She started out with Rs business model was conceptualised in the the bazaars - Sarojini Nagar, Janpath, and 8,000 and now, after two years, has an Silicon Valley. But the team decided India Lajpath Nagar in Delhi, for instance. "But annual turnover of Rs 1.5 crore. Ninety per was the right place for an e-commerce what was happening online was a mall cent of her sales are generated in business. "The only place a marketplace mentality - Flipkart was a mall. There was ShopClues. She also sells on Flipkart and could be done was India. In the Silicon nobody who was representing the bazaars Paytm. Valley, there is dime a dozen marketplaces. or bringing the actual traders of India So there wasn't much scope there," says Going ahead, it could be ShopClues' online," Aggarwal says.Sethi. wholesale business that may prove a Now, because of smaller brands, ShopClues' differentiator. ShopClues started its The company now registers growth of 600 per customer profile is more mass market, wholesale marketplace, a business-to-cent year-on-year. ShopClues gets over 50 coming largely from tier two and three business venture, eight to nine months ago. million visitors and does close to 1.5 million cities. Seventy per cent of its business While today it just contributes two to three transactions a month.currently is generated in smaller cities. "For per cent of the GMV, it is fast picking up.

With Flipkart currently leading the us, the household income is anywhere from

5

MySmartPrice : Two engineers help you compare prices of 100 product categories across the web

itakanta Ray and Sulakshan Kumar, both in their mid- All this is making investors happy. Helion Ventures and 30s and friends for 17 years, remember October 2010 Accel Partners have invested around Rs 8 crore in the vividly. It was when their long-held ambition to start a venture, says Ray. Rahul Chowdhri, Partner, Helion business reached tipping point. Both quit jobs they Ventures, says numbers speak for themselves. "From five had been holding for years. lakh visits every month when we invested around 2011, they

now get around 20 million visits every month," he says. He MySmartPrice is an online shopping research venture the does not think this is a crowded space. Incorporating offline two had set up in Hyderabad in 2011. In the first year leading prices, he is clear, will give them an edge.to the incorporation of the company, they kept working

from their homes, giving shape to the business and Ray, who thinks depth and price accuracy developing the code. MySmartPrice is an online make their venture unique, agrees that platform that helps people find products in nearly 250 there is a need to remain conscious of categories. Of these, it offers price comparison in 100 competition. On the future, Ray says five categories. Indians are highly value-conscious, to six years ago it was relatively easy to shopping research seemed the space to be in. What predict the world. But not anymore, given MySmartPrice does is help the user solve two the speed of change. "Four years ago only problems - what to buy and where to buy. 10 per cent of our users accessed us on

mobile phones. Today, the figure is 65 per "For us, passion trumps experience," says Ray. This cent. In the last one year, we have grown principle, he says, also guided them when they were five times, earn close to Rs 20 crore hiring to build their team, which now has 80 revenue and are near cash breakeven. We employees and is expected to touch 100 when new hope to grow at least four times in the campus recruits join in. The venture, says Ray, started

next one year and earn revenue of Rs 80 crore."with books, as comparing prices of books across websites is easier. These comparisons are done using a code they The company's revenue model is simple. It gets a cut from developed (referred to as Web Crawler), which browses retailers for sales executed through it. Of all the stores that retail sites for indexing. pay it, the top four are Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal and

Paytm. The potential is huge. According to the company, A pilot project in Hyderabad is already giving products and Indian e-commerce should generate sales worth $10 billion prices from the brick-and-mortar store next door. The in 2016. The Indian affiliate segment has the potential to founders plan to take this to 10 cities in the next one year and contribute $2 billion to this, it says.eventually go national.

How Edureka gained via virtual classrooms

"We are not trying to replace corporate training, we are only adding value to what they are already doing. Our focus is on the business-to-consumer (B2C) model. We do get around 10 per cent of our revenues from business-to-business (B2B), but want to be a consumer brand”

dureka's success lies in equipping freshers and industry practitioners were hired and flexible hours, working professionals with industry-specific skills including weekend classes, were introduced to make it

easier for both students and working professionals.through virtual classrooms

Bhatia feels students are flocking to them because Lovleen Bhatia, the 36-year-old co-founder of companies train in a sporadic manner. "We are not trying to Edureka, an online IT, cloud and mobility education replace corporate training, we are only adding value to what provider, was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug early in his they are already doing. Our focus is on the business-to-life. The urge to be his own boss saw him drop out of an consumer (B2C) model. We do get around 10 per cent of our engineering course and start developing a search engine. revenues from business-to-business (B2B), but want to be a Later he completed the four-year course as the project failed consumer brand”, adds Bhatia.to take off due to lack of resources, financial and otherwise.

His academic achievements at the engineering school Even though the initial scepticism about whether an earned him a job at Finacle, the core banking division of Edureka certification would help land a better job has been Infosys in 2002. Here, he found in Kapil Tyagi, an IIT addressed, the two founders have not let their guard down. Bombay graduate, his future business partner - the one who Scanning the marketplace is a continuous process and a shared his dreams and his excitement. dedicated team identif ies trending

technologies. "Courses are curated based on "Technology was accelerating change and the demand patterns. Edureka offers 50 live moving faster than our educational systems. We courses at present and has identified another decided to bridge that yawning gap between 150. Edureka courses typically run for three to theory and practice," says Bhatia. The proceeds six weeks and cost between Rs 9,000 and Rs from the sale of their earlier venture DByDX 35,000. Till date, 25,000 students have provided them the seed capital required to start attended Edureka's virtual classrooms, apart the company.from the 2.5 lakh users of the free Webinars.In the summer of 2011, Edureka kicked off its The company has raised money from angel journey with a pilot project at ABES Engineering investors, including Jungle Ventures partner College in Ghaziabad. The group of 60 Ramakant Sharma, a former CTO of Myntra. participants was a mix of college students and Edureka has raised $250,000 and is preparing fresh graduates. In 2012, Edureka moved to

to raise another $6 million to $10 million to go global. "As virtual classrooms. "Within a short time we realised that our long as there is demand for skilled talent, we will have a customer base was not students but mid-career market," says Bhatia.professionals who wanted to hone their skills in a new

software or technology. They had the ability to pay and saw the usefulness of the courses." Subsequently, the best

"Four years ago only 10 per cent of our users accessed us on mobile phones. Today, the figure is 65 per cent. In the last one year, we have grown five times, earn close to Rs 20 crore revenue and are near cash breakeven.

STARTUP FOCUS

6

ENTREPRENEURS INTHE E-COMMERCE

AND TECHNOLOGYSPACE AREEXECUTING

BUSINESS PLANS ATBREAKNECK SPEED

Different LooksimeRoad.com's unique proposition for Delhi office, LimeRoad had a humble at one of UK's largest online classifieds sites

beginning in 2011 with three co-founders: Gumtree, who has also had stints at eBay women's fashion makes it a strong Mukherjee; Ankush Mehra, who handled and Skype.candidate for the long haul. supply chain at Reliance Industries and LimeRoad, which operates on a marketplace Metro Cash & Carry; and Prashant Malik, model, keeps its cash burn low. Logistics is LimeRoad works on a simple premise. It who earlier worked with Facebook. The outsourced to partners like Aramex, FedEx allows you to create your own look - on a company formally launched in December and BlueDart. Over 100,000 stock-keeping virtual scrapbook - using products from 1,500 2012. It has raised $50 million from marquee units from 1,500 vendors are managed by four small vendors on its site. And share it with investors like Tiger Global, Lightspeed and people. There is no sales force and the total others. If you're not the creative type, you Matrix Partners. team strength is 200, and most operations are could 'buy' a look created by someone else.

technology-driven. The company sees 85 per You could also discover styles by subscribing Despite its unique business cent of its gross merchandise value (or GMV, to LimeRoad's feed or follow people whose model, LimeRoad, which is the total value of products sold) coming from concoctions you like. registered as AM - organic traffic, and the remaining from paid Marketplaces, looks puny marketing efforts. It declines to give actual The community of scrap-bookers on when compared with numbers.LimeRoad is growing fast. From creating market-leading fashion

around 20,000 looks a month a year ago to A Google report pegs the Indian online websites Myntra (now part two million a month now, users have taken fashion market at $35 billion in the next five of Flipkart) and Jabong. the total number of looks on the platform to years, roughly 35 per cent of the e-commerce Data from the Registrar of 20 million, says Mukherjee. Today, there are market. Currently, most companies offer Companies show LimeRoad 40,000 active shoppers on LimeRoad. discounts to achieve GMV figures. But clocked Rs 2.6 crore

gradually prices will stabilise. That is when revenue in 2013/14, up from customer engagement will begin to matter. This model works well for everyone - the Rs 1.1 crore the previous year. In comparison, "We are still at day one in lifestyle, unlike other creator of the look gets a kick out of showing Myntra was at Rs 552 crore and Jabong at Rs segments like electronics where there are just off her creativity, besides getting reward 527 crore in 2013/14.five big manufacturers to choose from," says points; the buyer is happy as she gets a full Mukherjee. "The biggest e-commerce fashion package; the vendors rake in the

But Suchi Mukherjee, founder and CEO of platforms have less than one per cent of moolah because when one 'look' is sold, more

LimeRoad, is upbeat. "Women fashion millions of SME vendors online."than one product is sold; and LimeRoad

customers come back to the LimeRoad cheers on because more products sold equates There is time - and space - yet for LimeRoad to mobile app 85 times a year on average, which to more commission! flourish.is the highest in the industry," says

Mukherjee, 41, a former managing director Starting out from its investor Lightspeed's

igital India is an enterprise for India's transformation on a scale that is, perhaps, unmatched in human history," Modi said while speaking about his ambitious Digital India initiative before a gathering of Silicon Valley CEOs.Search giant Google and software maker Microsoft were among some of the largest technology

giants that pledged their support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India th

initiative on Sunday, 27 Sept, announcing plans to improve internet penetration and entrepreneurship in the country.U.S.-based chipmaker Qualcomm, has been funding startups in the country since 2007, to invest $150 million in Indian startups following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with heads of Silicon Valley's technology firms.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced, during PM Narendra Modi's Silicon Valley visit, that Microsoft would provide 'low-cost broadband technology' to 500,000 villages in India. For this, the company will partner with the Indian Government under the Digital India program. Google plans to launch WiFi hot spots at 500 Indian railway stations. Accenture to bring startup innovation hub to India; may bring its 3D printing & internet of things solutions.

th th(Excerpts: Economic Times, 27 & 28 Sept 2015)

‘DIGITAL INDIA', an enterprise to transform India: Narendra Modi

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"Women fashion customers come back to the LimeRoad mobile app 85 times a year on average, which is the highest in the industry,"

8

DIGITAL MARKETING

9

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Volume 1 Issue 1Total no of pages 12

COVER BY MS Kumar