Sudhir Mantena of Nyoo Media on Internet Marketing, differentiating in this space, and the road ahead

Tell me about NyooMedia

NyooMedia helps Local Businesses and Large Brands get Great Leads, Better Conversions and More Customers through Internet, Social Media and Mobile. Using its cloud based SaaS platform it provides an end to end solution ranging from the creation of merchant microsites to delivery of marketing campaigns to intelligent dashboards and analysis. We cater to merchants all over India via Bizgain.In and to North American customers via Bizgain.Us. In addition, we run a 12 city information website called MetroMela.com which focuses on local listings, editorial and user reviews across Shopping, Food, Entertainment, Health & Wellness and Services.

What are the products/services that you offer specifically? Please explain in detail.

Through BizGain, we offer an Integrated Platform that helps local businesses and brands Create, Execute and Analyze Digital Marketing Campaigns. While the platform has a Self Serve Capability, we have an in house Professional Services Team that can Plan, Implement and Monitor these Campaigns for our clients. Campaigns include three segments – Create, Execute and Analyze. Create for instance involves setting up of a Landing Page. This could be the Client’s own website, a Facebook Fan Page or a Microsite that we would create specifically for the campaign. All of these Landing Pages would have our Lead Capturing Widgets (Ex: a Click2Call where a visitorcan click the link and directly get connected to the merchant via the phone Enquiry Form or Deal Coupon that can be downloaded to the mobile, or even Group Buy). To ensure the usage of these widgets, our team creates engaging text. These lead capturing widgets can, for example, be embedded on Facebook pages or have a Microsite be completely available on Facebook. In addition, SEO, ENewsletters, Blog Writing and Facebook / Twitter Page Management is also offered to customers.

Then comes the Execution part where we run Ads on search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing or Social Media like Facebook apart from professional networking channels like LinkedIn. Everything, right from Ad creation to Setting bids and Choosing Keywords is handled by us. Analysis: The campaigns are monitored regularly to ensure efficiency. The results are then measured through an informative Dashboard that reveals not just Leads Data in terms of email ids and mobile numbers but also Performance Metrics in terms of Cost Per Lead and Cost Per Transaction. Recommendations are also given on the future course of action. A client therefore gets Real Time, Targeted Leads through Efficient and Cost effective campaigns. The really interesting part is that all this is delivered from a single platform that ensures integrity, security, flexibility and ease of use.

Since how long have you been operational? What is the size of your team? Where are you based?

We’ve been operational since late 2006 as Metromela which tested the hypothesis. The BizGain platform however is less than 15 months old. Our team includes around 25 people including fulltime employees and consultants. We are headquartered in Hyderabad, India.

This is a very competitive market. What does it take to survive in this space?

Internet is and has always been a competitive market. Key parameters for survival in this space include a Great Product and an Effective GotoMarket Approach. Also, the Indian market is cost driven. So the Right Pricing is also essential. You also need to be in constant touch with your clients and hand hold them through the process. So Engagement is another important parameter.

How do you differentiate yourself from other digital marketing companies?

The market is competitive in terms of the number of Internet based startups there are in this space. If we narrow it down to those providing Digital Marketing services, there is a handful. Plus, each of these caters to a niche segment only. For instance, there are standalone web design companies who create landing pages, there are others who run SEM campaigns without looking at the landing page aspect and then there are a few who provide Landing Pages plus SEM but without flexibility regarding channels. Our Integrated Platform and Services that enables Flexibility, Efficiency, Cost Effectiveness and Measurability is what differentiates us from the rest.

What are the challenges you faced in this space as a new entrant? How did you overcome them?

As it is with many startups, lack of awareness is a challenge. This affects both Hiring and Sales plans. We scaled hiring related challenges by going via the college placement route (brings in credibility) and thereafter our first few joinees became our referrers. Now most of our hiring happens through reference while we do use job ads occasionally. To overcome the issue of awareness in Sales we participated in Trade shows. We got a few anchor clients. Once they came onto our client list, others followed.

What are the challenges you faced while acquiring clients?

Apart from lack of brand awareness, the primary challenge we faced was regard to Internet marketing awareness. Not many were willing to give it a shot either because they didn’t believe in the power of Internet or because they found voluminous leads through call based lead generation companies. So we changed our Go to Market Strategy where our Sales Pitch essentially became an Educational Pitch on ‘Why Internet and What’s there to explore’. Clients also had to be convinced to look at Internet as an additional Channel of Marketing rather than having to choose between Print / Phone based Marketing and Digital.

Have you fund raised to startup? If not, are you looking at raising funds now?

Close to a million dollars has gone into the company through angel investors like Sateesh Andra, Venture Partner with DFJ, Syam Prasad Reddy, MD of Indu Projects and Bob Kondamoori, MD of Sandalwood Partners. For scalability purposes, we would be looking at further investment and potential partnerships in the North American market too.

Tell us about the market space that you are in. Throw numbers. Also, let us know your expansion plans.

Globally, the Internet Advertising Market is expected to reach $72.76 billion by 2015. In India, the market has crossed Rs. 1,000 Crores (4% of the advertising pie but growing at 50%) and is expected to touch Rs. 5,000 Crores by 2015. In terms of the number of businesses, there are 35 million SMBs out of which just about 100,000 indulge in advertising. Considering that India’s Internet audience at 100 million is the third largest in the world, more and more businesses will soon realize the potential of this medium. So there is a lot of room for growth. In terms of expansion, we are looking at the North American market. We are in partnership talks with Yellow Pages companies whose business would be complementary to ours.

What revenue brackets are you looking at by the end of next year?

We are looking at revenues of Rs. 25 Crore by the end of December 2012.

We at YourStory.in wish the entire team of Nyoo Media good luck as they plan to scale. What do you think about this story? Do check out http://www.nyoomedia.com/ and Let us know by writing to [email protected]