PANAJI: Rachana Deshpande, Founder and Director of ‘9 Digits’, totally believes that the current times offer tremendous scope for a Digital Marketing business to flourish as there are no limitations on geographical mobility. She believes that for a startup in this industry, global opportunities are there for the taking like never before. The Goa-based branding & marketing entrepreneur, who is also the co-founder of ‘aR Consulting Solutions’, is a proud MOMPRENEUR and emphasises the fact that her business venture is women-dominated and therein lies its strength!
As part of the Goa IT Ecosystem/Startup series, livenewsgoa.com puts the spotlight on digital marketing visionary, Rachana Deshpande.
LNG. Describe the product/service provided by your startup?
RD: Our agency is an end-to-end digital marketing service-provider. We offer turnkey solutions from creating online branding to lead generation and generating a return on investment (ROI) from your marketing investment. We do this through a basket of products we offer including – Website Design, Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation and Search Engine Marketing, Email Marketing, Blog and Content Writing and a lot more. From simple landing one-page websites to complex e-commerce solutions and landing pages, we can cater to any web development requirements of the clients. We use tools like Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation and Search Engine Marketing, Email Marketing to create a lead generation funnel for our clients to capitalise on their investment and get results.
LNG. What are the striking features of your startup?
RD: 1. We are a Women-Dominated venture and that’s our strength. 2. We offer holistic, turnkey solutions instead of piecemeal approach, which is often half-baked and does not yield results. 3. We don’t believe in ‘one size fits all’s – our approach is very customised. We don’t provide any off-the-shelf packages, as each domain and their requirements are different. 4. We believe in ‘inclusive leadership’ – a hands-on leadership methodology that gives better direction to the team and better results to the client! 5. Most importantly, we are very process-driven. So the client experience is always consistent, whoever is the Account Manager they work with.
LNG. What inspired you to launch the startup?
RD: I think motherhood did! Corporate India is still popularly struggling with work-life balance asymmetry. While now, we are still way better, times a decade ago were not so favourable. The need for flexibility was one of my critical motivators to jump into the entrepreneurial bandwagon. Although, I always wanted to start a business of my own. And the more I invested myself in the business; the business became a 3rd baby, needing the same nurturing and time as the other 2! Marketing is a passion. My background of MBA from the USA and global corporate experience has definitely helped.
LNG. How big a role do you envisage for your startup?
RD: In the current times, the market share of ‘Digital’ marketing is overtaking the traditional marketing methods. So my startup definitely has a big scope right now due to some of the reasons highlighted below-
*Access to global opportunities instead of just sticking to local.
*The market size is huge – unlimited. But our focus is SMB sector for now. That itself is huge.
*Content is the key, and the biggest struggle for people is to identify what’s the right content. That’s where we step in! That’s our forte.
*We help companies generate better ROI on their marketing investment. Our technique are not just “number of posts per month” limited but a strategy-driven approach.
LNG. What’s your message to startup aspirants?
RD: Oh, I would always encourage people to enter into this world of entrepreneurship. Go for it! But with open eyes. Everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, but the journey is far from being easy. “Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success,” Biz Stone, Co-Founder of Twitter once said. If you’re prepared for this commitment, there is no journey as rewarding! Currently, the opportunities are there for grabs. It is up to the aspirants to identify and capitalise on it.
For more information about the company, visit https://9digits.in/
