Agency Feature: Rafiki

Who are we?

Founded by Arjun Sawhney and Sunaina Basu in 2018, Rafiki is a data-driven marketing company that places the customer at the center of brands’ marketing strategy.

We look beyond initial acquisition into engaging with and delighting customers to not only encourage repeat business but to also nurture existing customers into promoters of your brand!

What's in the name?

Rafiki means friend or comrade in Swahili which exemplifies how we want to work with our clients, as a partner rather than a service provider. It doesn’t hurt that Rafiki is the name of the eccentric baboon from the Lion King who can always be trusted and depended upon!

What we do?

We like to think of consumers less as one-time buyers and more as users with an ongoing relationship. We combine the power of relevant marketing channels to deliver innovative and data-driven marketing solutions that cover:

Acquisition – Paid Advertising, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, and Content Marketing

Conversion Optimization – Customer Journey Mapping, Re-marketing, Split A/B testing and Website Analytics

Retention – Email marketing and Customer Delight initiatives

Why we do it?

Before starting Rafiki, we conducted a survey of 40 business owners to better understand the Indian marketing mindset. It was through our survey findings that we discovered that customer data was rarely being leveraged by companies! (40% of businesses stated they aren’t using data to drive their business decisions)

Driven by our passion for all things marketing - the data, the psychology, the creativity, we embarked on a mission to redefine what successful marketing looks like, focused on brands’ biggest stakeholders - their customers!

Also Read: Agency Feature: Zero United

How we evolve?

As a marketing partner, we remain adaptive and reflective of clients' needs. It is important for us to stay ahead of emerging trends and anticipate upcoming challenges. This is achieved by doing everything from testing new ad platforms and tools to staying up to date with our favorite marketing blogs (we highly recommend Hubspot’s blog!)

Social responsibility in social media

Transparency is key. Brands that fail to deliver on their promise end up alienating customers, whether it’s on social media or offline. It is our responsibility to present an honest depiction of a clients’ product or service online as well as pay close attention to what customers are saying about a respective brand. We believe ignoring (or deleting) negative customer comments or feedback is short-sighted.

The need of the hour

Monitoring social media platforms’ use of customer data to improve their targeting capabilities for unsuspecting advertisers. We ran our own in-house experiment to determine whether offline conversations influence the ads we are served online.

We learned the hard way

1) Set SMART goals - Work with clients to set goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. This is essential to manage expectations and work towards common goals together
2) Maintain open lines of communication - The only way to ensure a fruitful working relationship is to be open and transparent. Ask for feedback and don’t be afraid of criticism!
3) Innovate - never get comfortable, given the competitive digital landscape it is essential to consistently energize client campaigns with innovative new ideas.

They work with us

Isprava, Hunkemoller, Oral-B, Mishcat Co, ConnectFor, Destinations Unplugged

The industry as we foresee

Brands must focus on building communities through social media. Consumers today crave a sense of belonging more than ever. Studies indicate that social media and the use of technology has resulted in users feeling isolated rather than connected. Successful companies will authentically harness the power of the community to increase brand awareness, understand customers, improve outcomes, and build brand loyalty.

A day without Internet

Challenge Accepted! The internet is essential for our business to survive & thrive yet it can also serve as a huge distraction! A day without the internet may see all-time high productivity and creativity levels.

Lastly, are you hiring?

Yes, we are! We are looking for bold marketers to join our growing team in the following positions:

• Social Media Executive
• Digital Marketing Associate