“It is not always about what you have to say orsell,”SauravPatnaik, Co-founder and VP Marketing, Kenscio

Digital Direct Marketing has emerged to become among the more cost-effective, efficient, real-time marketing channels, challenging the traditional methods of customer contact. Marketers are increasingly demanding e-execution capabilities within their marketing toolkit as this medium provides them a direct, personal, interactive and measurable customer communication capability. Digital marketers are slowly waking up to the fact that more than 50% of the online population in India is spending time on emails compared to 18% - 25% , who spend their time searching for information, and companies and brands would be able to reach out effectively to a significant percentage of their customers through this channel.Founded in June 2009, Kenscio (earlier known as Sprinklr India), identified the opportunity and built a niche focus in the fast growing market for Digital Direct Marketing. From go to market strategy to acquisition to engagement, Kenscio’s solution spectrum covers the entire customer life cycle spectrum from a DDM perspective and its service portfolio includes email marketing products and services. The name Kenscio is derived from Ken and Social graph of consumers, Ken means understanding and knowledge and Kenscio stands for the strength of understanding the social graph of the audience of their clients.

We at YourStory.in, caught up with Saurav Patnaik, Co-Founder & VP, Marketing, a digital marketing expert who has handled mandates for some of India’ s most reputed brands like Hero Honda, Coca cola, India Today, CII, Virgin Mobile, Nestle and many more. Saurav talks about the Digital marketing space in India today, how startups can utilize it effectively and how it continues to serve a significant purpose. Read on for more!

There are many companies in the digital marketing space. What makes Kenscio different?

Yes there are a lot of companies in this space; so when we started the organization we had a clear focus on why we wanted to do this. India has been very mass media heavy and as the competition of the brands increased, the need of one on one communication was becoming a true challenge. We believe that in today’s world when a user has already realized the power he possesses, it is important that brands also get assistance to address them. Kenscio focuses on that particular piece of one on one communication and specializes in it. We believe that the only way we can be successful is if our clients are successful- our relationship managers are called Client Success managers. This kind of commitment and specialization makes us stand apart. Kenscio’s client portfolio has grown by 10 times and its email volume by 15 times to 100 million plus emails every month. This commitment has also helped us win the Top 100 Red Herring Asia award

Being one of the first few companies in this space, what are the challenges you faced?

As I had mentioned earlier that India is mass media heavy, we had to face a lot of challenges, as we wanted to change the status quo. Every marketer was interested in only looking at trying to get in touch with as many people as possible and not considering identifying their buzz epicenters or people who have the affinity to consume their communication. Today, a lot of our clients who have kept their patience are enjoying much larger businesses that they could only dream of via their existing customer base. In order to reach this, we worked really hard to educate and assist enterprises at all levels to understand how communication affinity works and how it can be used in marketing- basically focusing on profit making rather than chasing an undefined growth.

What is your business model?

Ours is an agency model where we assist the clients to achieve success in their digital direct marketing initiative and we charge them for consulting and services.

What is your marketing strategy? What is the size of the market you are targeting and how do you think the market will pan out in the near future?

As we call our strategy team as Client Success Team, it is very clear that we want more successful clients and grow with them. The total market size is around Rs 250 Crores as of now and we wish to cater to all the clients and prospective clients who share our belief of empowering their customers and being a part of their success. The market is going to see a vast expansion as the number of end users is only going to increase. However, there is going to be a big dearth of specialized work force, so there are a lot of opportunities for the youth to grow fast in their marketing career if they choose digital marketing as a specialization.

Any specific trends you've noticed in the digital marketing space?

The marketer is much more mature today; and to a great extent has the clarity in terms of the business objectives he has to meet via the digital medium. Clients are asking for higher levels of professional services and are ready to invest in intelligence rather than just shooting emails. They want to marry the backend data with consumer insight to have more impactful communication. Today, they are asking how they can focus on Revenue per user to understand and utilize it for cross promotion and up-selling.

What advice/tips would you give to startups looking to market via digital media?

This medium is just like any other medium; it is just that the end user is very mature and you must respect it. It is not always about what you have to say or sell but its more about why they should believe you and trust you. You figure that out, a big part of the battle is taken care of.

Future plans.

We have recently announced expansion of our operations in the country with larger facilities in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. These bigger facilities will meet the increasing customer demand and support the rapidly evolving market in India. Indeed, the market has identified Kenscio as a leader in strategy, consulting and professional services in this particular niche. Soon we are planning to expand in Australia as well.

As a part of this expansion plan, Mr. Hemal Patel, Director, Data Services has joined its Mumbai operations. With our stronger presence and expanding teams, we are dedicated to get the best talent on board in terms of strategists, retailists etc, to provide support to customers across India.

We have taken a very close look at the Indian economy and the marketing industry and we foresee a great need of a database marketing product which will suit this kind of quo.

For more on Kenscio, visit their website here.