Established in 2014, and headquartered in Mumbai, sunSTRATEGIC brings rich content that is thought-provoking. With constantly researching and abreast with knowledgeable about trends, the company is supporting their clients.
In an interview with Insights Success, Sherina Kapany, Founder of sunSTRATEGIC, provided some enlightening and perceptive answers about the company, its journey, and its future plans and other endeavors.
- Please tell us about your Company. What are the different types of Marketing solutions/services/products that your company offers?
With the desire to merge technology, marketing and creativity, sunSTRATEGIC was conceived in 2014.
Serving Fortune 500 and blue-chip companies, we are one of the few digital marketing agencies in India with a focus on Content Marketing Strategy and Design Thinking – a model still new to Indian agencies.
At sunSTRATEGIC, we aim to enhance and strengthen your brand – no amateur feat! We provide our clients with Trending Content for Websites and Storytelling Devices, Traffic Building through Blogs and News Articles, PR, Social Media Marketing, Social Listening, Community Management, BTL, Gaming App Development, User Experience Design, and much more, while testing the waters in virtual reality norms.
- Please enlighten us about yourself and how you are dealing with current problems related to the Marketing industry.
I left India when I was 17. I studied and worked in USA for 13 years in technology and marketing. I worked with A grade corporates in the US, Australia and Europe. I decided to come back to India because I did not believe that getting a green card and settling in a high paying job really was the end goal of my existence. So a new country, a new venture and an adventure was what I sought. I dealt with problems by focusing only on qualitative content, not being gimmicky and welcoming negative feedback in my stride.
- What is your take on the current scenario of ‘Digital Marketing Industry’? What steps are you taking to make it better?
The industry now has a firm grip on the market and is growing rapidly. The need for creating a strong online presence has given rise to competition which makes work fun. To increase the pace of the digital marketing wagon, I consider and give a suitable platform to the young and upcoming talents.
- What traits or qualities does an organization need to have to excel in this highly competitive world?
Organizations must focus on developing an identity and exhibiting flexibility. Also, I cannot preach enough on the value of good staff and training your staff.
- Which strategies do you follow to remain competitive with continuously evolving technologies and trends? How are you preparing yourself to become unique?
Following trend reports, industry news, tracking consumer behavior, using tools, are essential.
Our original content is our USP. I try to disconnect content from the product I am branding. I can literally put a picture of a chicken and pink candy-floss together to sell a piece of real estate. Can you imagine the correlation? But when you see it, it adds up brilliantly. I think shameless push of a product is a huge turn off. Your audience is smarter than you think.
- Where is your company heading? Tell us something about your upcoming products/services/plans.
We have ambitious plans. Besides increasing staff strength, we are looking to expand our services in Digital PR, and tapping into new content marketing platforms. We are looking to create content for hospitality markets for Pay per View Model, while we have already worked in Fashion, BFSI, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, real estate and others.
We look to become a studio producing original content in India in multiple languages for multiple intents through our capabilities.
We are expecting to expand into AR/VR, gaming and in-film branding. We have also developed the first-of-its-kind content and lead generation app and we have opened talks with potential investors.
- What competitive advantages is your company providing to your clients in this contentious world?
Since the digital revolution, PR has been forced to adapt to the boundless scope of digital media. The need for unique content engenders gravity to strategy-focused digital PR, and towards marketing partners such as sunSTRATEGIC, which specialize in combining traditional PR with Content Marketing, Digital Outreach, Social Media and Search.
- What were the problems you faced at an initial stage and how did you overcome them?
The biggest hurdle we faced was giving out strategies for free because clients wanted that but we decided to stop doing it early on. Clients who didn’t pay us on time, we let go off. And resources which were not reliable, we fired.
When I started, my time was split between sales, execution, HR issues, and payment collection. It was a huge learning curve especially since I had never worked in India. It made me work harder to get “good and meaningful” business and taught me to deep-define our company values.
- Kindly share your views on the future of ‘Digital Marketing Industry’.
The industry is poised to be even bigger than what it is today, growing at a staggering pace. Mobile devices, personalization technologies, and the Internet of Things are going to be the biggest trends impacting marketing organizations by 2020, besides Big Data and Augmented Reality.
More and more companies/brands are shifting their preferences and budgets towards digital marketing over offline marketing avenues.
Besides a huge demand for video content, there is bound to be much greater focus on long-form content for better engagement metrics.
- What is your advice to the young entrepreneurs in the Digital Marketing industry?
Always keep your emotions at home! You are here for business, it’s not personal.
