In this Expert Speaks Interview, I have with me one of the Top 25 Digital Marketing Experts In India and an old mentor – Rohit Onkar.
Many of you might be not knowing about him. So, a quick introduction before we begin the interview.
Who is Rohit Onkar?
Rohit Onkar is currently Associate Vice President – Direct & Digital Marketing at Loylty Rewardz.
He has around 10 years of experience in Digital Marketing.
Rohit has worked with several companies and across various domains too. He has also helped several brands as an independent digital marketing consultant.
In February 2020, he was awarded as “100 Smartest Digital Marketing Experts in India” by World Digital Marketing Congress.
Rohit believes in helping businesses scale using the power of digital marketing and that is reflected in his journey.
Expert Speaks Interview with Rohit Onkar
#1. Welcome, Rohit. Feels good to host you on Expert Speaks. Let us begin with your journey.
You did Mechanical Engineering and got placed at Convonix. Were you happy to get placed in a digital marketing agency or you wanted to explore the mechanical engineering field?
To be honest I was overjoyed that Convonix happened to me. At that stage in my life, I could not ask for anything better. I always felt that I had a flair for marketing but did not know what digital marketing was at that time.
Getting placed at the largest digital marketing agency in India at that time was a real blessing and I never felt that I would miss out on exploring anything because the role offered was to manage digital marketing strategy and execution for a variety of international and domestic businesses.
#2. You have worked with a lot of brands as a digital marketing consultant. What were the challenges you faced as a digital marketing consultant and how did you overcome them?
The number one challenge that you face as an external consultant is that people often are not in favour of change. While an external consultant can help you with better perspectives, but those perspectives need to translate into new processes for a long term sustainable positive impact for an organisation.
The moment you are able to convey the impact of change into qualitative/quantitative benefits, you start overcoming the above challenge.
#3. Your LinkedIn says that you have worked with NPCI too. How difficult or different it is to work with a government body? What were your key takeaways from this project?
With larger organisations (government or private), marketing is often looked at as an expense rather than a revenue driver. Also, you are constantly challenging the notion that Indians still prefer to be communicated via traditional marketing vehicles and that digital is just for the younger generation.
Having said this, if you are able to bring the measurability of digital and marry the same with business growth KPIs large organizations are willing to invest in a long term digital strategy.
With larger organizations, you got to make them realize that it’s easy to make noise on digital but doing it with relevance just increases the magnitude of that voice.
#4. Rohit, you implemented a content marketing strategy at Care24 and your strategy reduced the bounce rate by 50% and helped a lot in the SEO. Would you like to share a generalized version of your strategy which can be applied to any business?
I think I have said this time and again over the last three years. Content marketing is the new form of SEO. And what I mean by content marketing is not just writing content that your target audience is looking for in your domain. Of course, that is important.
However, it is equally important to optimize for user experience. Getting people to your website is just 50 percent of the problem solved. Getting them to engage and move across the buying funnel is the other 50 percent.
The moment you start optimizing for user experience, you will start influencing metrics like bounce rate, click to lead conversion rate etc. I am also a firm believer of optimizing key sections of your website based on content that people in different stages of the buying cycle would want to consume.
For instance, you would want to optimize blog content for people who are in the awareness stage of their buying cycle while your product pages should ideally be optimized for people in the preference/consideration stage.
#5. Rohit, What according to you is the future of digital marketing in India?
Three things in my opinion that will define the courses of digital marketing in this decade:
- Use of 2nd party data to better optimize all your paid media campaigns and reduce cost of acquiring customers
- Consumption of content in vernacular language and different formats – text, video and voice
- Increase allocation of branding budgets to digital as measurability becomes more stronger
#6. How has digital marketing helped in direct marketing activities?
For a successful business, direct and digital marketing need to go hand in hand. Take the example of you requesting for more information for a life insurance policy.
While it is fair to say that digital marketing contributed to you coming on a landing page and expressing interest that you want to buy life insurance, however you rarely make the purchase decision then and there.
In order for you to convert from a prospect to a customer, direct marketing (email marketing in this case) needs to play an essential role in nurturing you. In a nutshell, use digital marketing for acquisition but use direct marketing for retention.
#7. Rohit, how can one begin his/her journey as a digital marketing consultant?
By remembering that irrespective of your job role, you are always a digital marketing consultant because you bring in a perspective which most organisations in India lack even today.
It doesn’t matter whether you start from an agency, brand marketing role or with an ad platform, always keep an eye out on how you can bring about positive change and you will start on a journey of being called a digital marketing consultant/go-to-guy/expert.
#8. You would be using a lot of tools for digital marketing. What are your favorite 3 digital marketing tools?
I do use some growth hacking tools. My top three picks:
- Phantom Buster
- Audience Insights
- SimilarWeb
#9. Rohit, I know that you read a lot. What books would you like to recommend to my readers?
My top three business picks:
- Hooked: Creating Habit Forming Products
- Marketing Unplugged: Spotting the Elephants in the Room
- Stories at Work
#10. What skills do you look in a candidate while hiring for any digital marketing role?
The only skills I look for:
- Demonstrated success
- Research orientation
- Attention to Detail
- Ability to challenge norms using data
#11. On a lighter note, what does Rohit Onkar do in his free time?
Answered on a lighter note, things change after marriage – I spend time with my Wife.
#12. Since the day I met you, I know that your tagline is “Helping Businesses Scale using the power of Digital”. 3 secret tips which can be used by any business to scale easily.
- Define your goals and keep them measurable
- Be open to experimentation
- Don’t do too many things too quickly, stick to what works and discover other digital platforms that work
#13. Rohit, as you know Expert Speaks is an initiative to help the people who aspire to be in digital marketing or sales or marketing by sharing a lot of inspiration interviews with them. How can this initiative be scaled up?
Jainish, having mentored you early on in your career, I am really proud that you are doing this so diligently.
If you can build a forum where people with different exposures in the digital marketing field come together regularly and have live interactions with people aspiring to get better in the industry, that will add tremendous value.
#14. Would you like to nominate 3 relevant industry experts/leaders for Expert Speaks?
Yes. Speak to Pranav Parekh, Suman Srivastava and Isaac Jacob
#15. Last one, what message would you like to give to the readers?
- Avoid reading too little or too much – it’s important to implement more than just accumulating knowledge
- Nothing comes easy – while growth hacks are good, look for things which are long-term and scalable. Think big, think processes but don’t lose the innovation touch
- Stay away from clickbait content that promises you exponential growth in a very short time. Stay ethical, success will follow
Conclusion
Thank you so much Rohit! Your tips will surely motivate a lot of digital marketing enthusiasts.
Dear Readers, I hope you guys are enjoying this Expert Speaks Interview series.
You can connect with Rohit Onkar on LinkedIn –
linkedin.com/in/rohitonkar/
Also, if you wish to connect with me, then here you go –
linkedin.com/in/jainishshahdigital/
Let me know if you have any queries in Digital Marketing. I will try my best to answer and if I would not be knowing the answer, I will ask your question to an expert & help you.