VJTI is one of the most famous engineering college in Mumbai. People have a preconceived notion that engineers from this institute would be coding or doing some high-funda technical work. But with changing times, things are not the same. There are many like “Tejas Chaudhari” who discover their passion during engineering days and have the courage to take risks. Today, I have with me Mr. Tejas Chaudhari who is leading digital marketing at Quantastic Marketing Pvt Ltd.
Who is Tejas Chaudhari?
Tejas Chaudhari is a part of the leadership team at Quantastic Marketing Pvt Ltd. He has done his engineering in IT from VJTI and immediately after his engineering, he did his MBA (Marketing) from IIM Lucknow. Post his MBA, he has worked as Marketing Manager at Lodha Group. After spending around a year at Lodha Group, Tejas joined Audi India as Senior Manager and have spent around 4 years there.
Tejas Chaudhari then left Audi India to embark on his journey as an entrepreneur. He co-founded several companies and today he is the chief digital evangelist at Quantastic. Tejas is an all-round digital marketing expert who helps organizations from Media planning to Campaign ideas to Lead generation.
He believes “Content Marketing costs 60% less than traditional marketing and hence, it is an integral part of our strategy we propose to our clients”.
This is going to be an insightful interview. So let us begin with the interview with this amazing personality – Tejas Chaudhari.
#1. Welcome to #ExpertSpeaks interview Tejas. You have done your engineering from VJTI in 2011. In 2011, you started with your MBA from IIM Lucknow. VJTI is known for its placements. What made you go for MBA Marketing immediately after your engineering?
I had 3 offers in my last year of engineering but they never enthused me to work as the role was more technical. It was never going to be a satisfying job.
During my engineering, I was inclined towards managing sports festivals and projects which required more than just technical skills. Not coming from a business background, formal education was my best option to get to know about how to run a business.
#2. You have worked as a Marketer for several brands like Lodha, Audi India and Krème de la Krème – The Gelateria. What are your key takeaways or lessons learned while working with these organizations?
When I started working for each brand, I had no clue about the industry which actually helped me bringing fresh ideas.
What helped me to succeed with all my stints was that I kept experimenting. With each experiment, I learned a lot and that is how I grew in the organization.
Irrespective of the industries, basics of marketing remain the same. You need to define your proposition, understand your TG and communicate your message accordingly.
#3. What triggered you to start Quantastic Marketing Pvt Ltd?
Actually, Quantastic was started by my IIM Lucknow batchmate Anand Ingle in 2015. By 2017, it was mainly into mainline advertising. I joined Quantastic in the endeavor to kickstart the digital marketing vertical of the agency.
From 2013, I was infatuated by Digital Marketing. The scale at which you can reach by a few clicks caught my fancy. I realized that to learn digital marketing it was imperative to work for clients and help them scale up.
#4. How many brands have you served till now at Quantastic? What is your favorite digital marketing case study till date?
In the past 25 months, I have worked for more than 25 brands. But my favorite case study has to be of Southeast Asia’s largest Automation Expo. We have bene working with them for the past 2 years. They went from digital-zero to digital-hero in these 2 years.
Right from generating international leads for their exhibitors to selling seats of their exclusive conferences, we have used digital marketing to its best. Currently, 80% of their revenue is generated through digital marketing efforts.
We tapped their current audience on key pages on their website with smart lead magnets to maximize the ROI. We are touching an ROI of more than 10x for their paid campaigns.
#5. What challenges did you face while setting up this digital marketing agency? How did you overcome them?
Primarily, we face 2 challenges while running the digital marketing agency.
Firstly, clients expect brilliant results from the very next day of the campaign launch. But even digital platforms need some time to learn and optimize for the best strategy. We are upfront with our clients in terms of timelines required for each platform to give the best results. E.g. Facebook needs 10-12 days for learning before we decide the winning campaign route. While Google needs at least a month before we understand what is working for the brand.
Secondly, B2B brands are skeptical of using digital marketing to generate leads and build brand awareness. So, we offer them a 1-month window to prove our results irrespective of the industry. Almost every time we are able to convince a client to pursue with digital marketing after this window. B2B clients are really a tough nut to crack but eventually, the number is the universal language of any business and they understand it the best.
#6. Is an MBA from a prestigious college necessary for becoming a digital marketer?
I feel that becoming a digital marketer does not need any credentials at all. All you need to know is that you should be good at creating and distributing content, measuring the results and acting on it accordingly.
MBA gives you a perspective on how an overall business is run and digital marketing is just a part of the system.
#7. What is the best source to learn digital marketing as per you?
Digital Marketing is not a sprint but a marathon! One thing is for sure that learning never stops. I had realized this fact very early in my digital marketing career.
So, I started following many blogs in the field. After going through more than millions of words of digital marketing advice, I can proudly shortlist the best sources for learning digital marketing. I really don’t recommend following too many sources as it can be very confusing while implementing tactics shared by everyone.
- Backlinko by Brian Dean: SEO and Content Marketing related blog
- Neil Patel & Eric Siu: Marketing School Podcast
- Drew McLellan of Agency Management Institute: Blog for building and running an agency
Personally, I find the above sources reliable and appreciate the honesty shown in case their earlier advices have been wrong.
One caution I wish to share is that unless you implement their advice, the learning you will get will go down the drain.
#8. What are the key skills which you look at while recruiting a person for any digital marketing role?
Usually, when I interview a candidate for Quantastic, I keep it very very simple. I ask them the below questions:
- Why you choose digital marketing as a career option? – This question helps me screen the herd mentality candidates who are in the field because of their peers.
- Take me through a campaign where you have done something counterintuitive – This question will identify what approach the candidate uses for digital marketing and what is the potential of the candidate to do something different.
- What are the 3 future trends in digital marketing? – This question assesses whether the candidate knows the industry and actively follows few industry leaders or blogs.
#9. Besides Quantastic, what does Tejas Chaudhari do in his free time?
I am a cricket fanatic. So, you would find me watching old cricket matches on YouTube or watching a live cricket match.
Recently, I have caught on with brewing a coffee without any proper equipment. With the emergence of many niche roasted coffee brands in India, I am on a spree of trying them all.
#10. What are the 3 top trends in digital marketing which you feel will revolutionize the industry?
Omnichannel marketing
The last decade saw a tremendous growth of use of digital platforms for marketing. But you did not see the traditional mediums dying completely. As a consumer consumes content almost everywhere, marketers need to rise up to the challenge and be present where the consumer is. The Marketing rule of 7 says that a prospect needs to see or hear or feel the brand at least 7 times before they take any action. The 7 times should be a mix of online as well as offline channels.
Interactive content
Static content is dying. People no longer ‘like’ Facebook static posts unless explicitly called out to take some action. Engagement rates and buying intent are going down for static content. Interactive content like quizzes, games, polls, stories, calculators have really helped businesses get significant engagement. Creating such content though needs more efforts but they pay off for the brands in the longer term.
The emergence of new platforms
Similar to the FMCG revolution in the rural market that happened in the late 90s, the last couple of years we have seen platforms like TikTok, Helo gaining momentum with Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns. With the majority of people residing in these towns, platforms like TikTok have taken serious steps to grow their reach in the Indian market. With more than 200 million users already on TikTok, the future surely is promising for such content and platforms.
#11. As you know, #ExpertSpeaks is an initiative to let experts like you share their experience and knowledge with the sales, marketing and digital marketing enthusiasts out there. Would you like to share a few words regarding this initiative? Any feedback/suggestions?
I think it is brilliant of you Jainish to pull this off consistently. You are actually a portal to exceptional knowledge. Growing up in the career often you need a few mentors who can guide you and help you in your endeavors.
#ExpertSpeaks can be an initiative that can help many budding marketers. I suggest you can take a few questions from your readers to make it more interactive and will help your readers clear their doubts.
#12. How was your overall interview experience?
I am pleasantly surprised by this interview experience. The questions are well thought out and super-contextual. It has actually helped me structure my thoughts and made me realize new things about myself.
Conclusion
It was a great interview with Tejas Chaudhari. He has shared great tips and his answers are going to help a lot of digital marketing enthusiasts.
If you have any further questions for him, feel free to write them down in the comment section OR you can ask it directly to him on LinkedIn.
You can connect with Tejas Chaudhari on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tejaschaudhari/
Do not forget to share this amazing interview with your friends.
Happy Reading!
Great content! Super high-quality! Keep it up! 🙂