Agency Feature: Digital Upstarts

Who are we?

Digital Upstarts is a digital marketing agency based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. We are a passionate team of digital aficionados who address each other as "Upstarters" for each team member contributes substantially to the agency. Always zealous in what we do - be it tailoring a video for our client or developing a sophisticated e-commerce website or managing social media presence, we give our 200% to it.

Digital Upstarts was born in Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA), and stayed in MICA’s incubation center for its initial years of establishment.

A startup which began its journey as a social media marketing agency has now scaled up into a full service digital marketing company. Having served more than 150 satisfied clients in a span of more than 7 years, we have extended our wings and are facing the market upfront today. We have successfully delivered solutions for a wide range of industries which include Retail, Education, Foods & Beverages, Hospitality, Healthcare, Entertainment, Real Estate, FMCG, etc.

Our operations are transparent and based on three fundamentals: Strategy. Creativity. Technology. The company is spearheaded by two enthusiastic management grads, Nitin Jain and Nikhil Talreja.

What's in the name?

The significance behind the name 'Digital Upstarts' lies in our clear objective of strengthening & upstarting a business' presence on the digital platform. Whether it is a startup, mid-sized company or an established company, we focus on kick starting your digital journey and keep evolving your business.

What we do?

We are a full service digital marketing team of digital enthusiasts who engage in every aspect of digital marketing. We devise well-thought-out strategies for businesses, upon the execution of which they can have their voices heard over various digital platforms and media and meet their marketing objectives. We have a specialized team of dedicated graphic designers, content writers & account manager to cater the diverse needs of our clients which includes designing logo & corporate identity, social media marketing, web and digital banners, article/blog writing and email marketing. We also look after the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) needs of our clients to constantly enhance their online visibility. With our hands in the jar of 'Web Development', we develop and manage our clients' websites and provide them a work space in the digital market. Videos being the most viewed consumed form of content, we shoot, edit and market various types of videos.

To list, following are our services:
Graphic Designing
Social Media Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Marketing
Videos – Production, Editing, Marketing
Emailers
Article/Blog/Content Writing
Web Development
E-Commerce Management

Why we do it?

The year was 2011. Digital marketing was a relatively newer medium but it carried a tremendous potential looking at the future prospects. There were a limited number of digital agencies in the state of Gujarat. An opportunity knocked on our doors and we were wise enough to grab it and give it a concrete form. Our objective was as clear as a day: to help our clients unravel the mystics of the digital world of marketing. We provide our clients with various solutions for promoting their brand online and help them evolve digitally.

How we evolve?

The industry is growing so fast and we are still keeping up with the trends. Things you do to keep up and evolve.

Whenever we participate in any pitch or meet a prospect through any reference, we often hear that we, the Upstarters are always on the top of the digital game, which means we are being perceived that we are technically very sound.

We dedicate a lot of our time reading, watching, learning, decoding and understanding the latest updates & trends in digital. When it comes to information related to social media updates and trends, Social Samosa is our go-to platform, which you will find as bookmark in browsers of everyone in the team. Whether it comes to new certifications from Google, Facebook or Hubspot, we make sure our team is keeping up with it and evolving continuously. With Google AdWords, Analytics and certified Hubspot professionals, our team not only has strong knowledge about the best practices but also has the required experience to achieve your desired business objective. There are about 30 agencies in Gujarat who have earned the Google Partner Badge and we are proud to be one of them. As our tagline suggests, “evolve digitally”, we have incorporated it in our DNA.

Social responsibility in social media

For a digital agency like us, that indulgences itself in influencing a proportionately large spectrum of the audience through an online platform, social media is a tool that wields unlimited power; an effective instrument to spread a word about anything pretty quickly among larger masses. Since its inception, the aim of the organization has been to establish a connection between the brand and its clientele by all the fair means possible. We believe in gaining the trust of the audience by putting forth the brands in all their honesty and integrity. In this age of information and awareness, conveying our messages in a transparent and positive fashion is what drives us at Digital Upstarts.

Need of the hour

Just as a coin has two sides, social networking websites have their bright and dark sides as well. In this day and age, propagation of false ideologies and biased view-points on social media has increased more than ever. With an exponential increase in the use of social networking websites, people have mistook them for reliable sources of news and current affairs. This is especially true in the case of middle-aged users who put their blind trust in social media and share any and everything without checking the validity. This is in accordance with the absence of appropriate social networking laws and a stringent regulation body that looks after the execution of the legislated laws. Thus, in the wake of the world where authentic information is as important as ever, the curb of ambiguous content and the spread of filtered content is the need of the hour.

We learned the hard way

One of the most difficult challenges that we have faced in last 7 years is managing the cash flows. Typically, a digital media agency not only provides services to the clients but most of the times, it also invests in media on client campaigns and spends on their behalf which is obviously reimbursed later. In such a case, if your company’s more than 50% revenue comes from 1-2 key clients and the credit cycle of payments from these clients keep increasing, it disturbs the liquidity. There have been instances in the past when we as promoters have delayed our withdrawal by a month or two but have paid salaries of the team & vendors always on time. In such a scenario, it is advisable to push your clients to directly invest in the media campaigns or you should ask for advance payments.

Did we just share that?

One of our clients in 2014 wanted to make changes in the creative after 2 days from the post being uploaded on social media. She very innocently asked us not to delete the post but simply replace the creative with newer one keeping post intact. The fact was that she was herself very active on social media and this coming from her burst all of us into laughter.

Also Read: Agency Feature: Grapevine Media

They work with us

We have a strong presence in the Gujarat market and have been working with leading brands of the state hailing from various industry verticals. From the finest retail brands like The Arvind Store & HOF to the reputed educational institutes like CEPT University and the category leaders like CERA, we have catered to their digital marketing needs. We have made immense contribution in Gujarati film industry which saw a turnaround in 2014 with the new wave of urban Gujarati films and digital marketing was the go-to medium for filmmakers to effectively reach out to masses with their limited budgets. We have been associated as Digital Marketing Partners with blockbusters like Bey Yaar (2014), the film that ran successfully for more than 25 weeks and was a game changer in the industry, Wrong Side Raju (2016), the national award winner in Regional films category and Love Ni Bhavai (2017), another silver jubilee film which has won hearts of millions of audiences and is considered to be the epitome of love stories.

Industry as we foresee

The Indian Social Media Industry is growing at a fast pace and it is going to be unstoppable in the coming years. Even a small grocery store in the locality today is feeling the need to stay connected with its customers & engage with them and social media is the immediate platform that is easily accessible. However, the challenge to strike a conversation with customers or arrest their attention(which is getting depleted day by day) with the content overload will keep giving a headache to brand owners. Small & medium businesses with limited resources may not succeed in finding innovative solutions and will lose mindshare of their audiences. It will be interesting to see how they make smart use of digital to stay relevant.
With the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics, brands will have to continuously invest on technology in coming years and the overall performance of social media campaigns will be augmented. At the same time, customers will prefer to receive customized brand communication which will be challenging for a brand which has scores of following. It will be fascinating to see how things evolve further.

A day without Internet

Internet has become a very integral part of our life and it is difficult to imagine a day without it. Businesses across the world would lose billions of dollars if they see such a day. Professionally in the field that I am in, I have to constantly stay updated with the latest happenings, and if not always but sometimes it feels like a lot of my energy is spent on it which seldom leaves room for utilizing the same energy on personal tasks. So personally, for me it would be a refreshing change to enjoy the small break for a day. I would meditate for longer duration and stay connected to the self. I would spend quality time with my family and friends (and also insist them to keep their phones away ;)

Lastly, are you hiring?

We are currently hiring a seasoned Business Development Executive who has atleast 3-4 years of experience in fetching digital marketing business from international markets. Interested candidates can mail their updated CV on cvbhejo@digitalupstarts.com.