“Online learning can be a powerful method of lead generation for brands”

ShoutMeLoud, a platform to learn, and grow as a blogger or digital marketer, has been creating a formidable community of bloggers, popularly known as ‘Shouters’, over the last 12 years. Spearheaded by Harsh Agrawal, Founder, ShoutMeLoud, the platform offers digital marketing tips to bloggers, freelancers and small businesses, besides providing valuable ‘How-To’ tips for Blogging, Podcasting, YouTubing to increase traffic, sales and brand value. 

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Interestingly, as stated in his website, Agrawal bought the domain ShoutMeLoud.com on December 1, 2008 by borrowing a credit card from his friend. “It was not easy to ask for a credit card from anyone, but we all have one such friend,” he writes. Since then, ShoutMeLoud has become more than just a popular blog, garnering more than 1 million page views a month and making a positive impact on many people’s lives. 

In conversation with Adgully, Harsh Agrawal speaks about the 12-year journey of the platform, turning blogging into a paying and successful venture, the power of social media marketing and more. 

Tell us about Shoutmeloud, its journey and how it has become India’s leading Digital Marketing platform?

The 12-year long journey of ShoutMeLoud has been a great experience at personal, professional, and entrepreneurial levels. My first reaction will always be – “Wow! That’s amazing.” I discovered blogging in 2008 and since then I was fascinated by the very idea of writing my work and spreading it around the world. That’s how the idea of ShoutMeLoud came into being and it has carved a niche for itself. When I began, it took me 2 months to discover that blogs can also make money, and that was when the idea of blogging completely changed for me.

The biggest challenge for me came after a few months of starting my blog, when I received the letter of joining Accenture. I am a trained engineer and had to decide – should I take the risk of blogging further, or should I stay safe and join one of the biggest MNCs in the world?

I found myself in a big dilemma when my heart wanted to do blogging, but it had its risks. Working in an MNC was a safe bet and the future seemed financially secure. I sought advice from my elders and peers, and the best advice came from a friend who worked in another MNC, and he said, “Harsh, we all work with a dream of one day doing something of our own one day, and you, my friend, you are already doing it.” His words resonated with my thinking, and I decided not to join Accenture and pursue my career as a professional blogger instead.

The success of ShoutMeLoud is very much related to this story, because my intention with ShoutMeLoud is to help people become their own boss. We only release tested, proven methods that work for us and will work for others. To share some statistics, we drive more than a million page views a month, and much of our traffic is organic. We always take the best route for helping our audience and one of our philosophies is – “No one should lose money because of us.”

All these simple but powerful principles have made ShoutMeLoud an award-winning platform in digital marketing.

What is the industry market size of the segment that you operate in? Who are your competitors?

Encompassing the revenue size of the global digital marketing industry is a gargantuan task owing to the multifold increase and ever-expanding dimension of this vertical. Digital marketing spends will reach $146 billion by 2023 in the US alone as per Forrester. For India, as per IBEF accounts, the digital advertisement market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 33.5 per cent to cross the Rs 25,500 crore ($3.8 billion) mark by 2020.

We’re in the creative field, and our biggest difference is consistency and our field-proven case studies. We are proud that we have led all the major segments of the digital marketing and blogging industry. In the last 12 years, we’ve seen a lot of sites trying to copy our strategy, and some of them caught the eye for a moment. But, as I always say, “passion is one of the biggest drivers of successful blogging”, and that’s hard to copy.

What are the Digital Media Marketing strategies post COVID-19?

We have seen a significant amount of new interest in the area of digital marketing. People are beginning to understand the importance of becoming a creator and being self-sufficient. As the recession looms, it may be the best time for everyone to start a side job.

The biggest one is – ‘We Care’. Since the situation around the globe is difficult, the biggest message that we convey to potential leads is that we care, and you are not alone in this situation to work from home. Communicating to connect should be a go-to strategy for any brand in the post-COVID-19 period. Putting brand value, mission statement, empathy, safety, and people first is the way to stand out.

Some of the areas of digital marketing where we see significant growth are:

Live Video: These areas are becoming more and more popular among B2C segments and can be used by any brand. One could use the YouTube Free platform or even a webinar setup with Zoom or other webinar platforms. The biggest advantage of live video is that it helps convert leads into sales.

Multicast and redistribution: One could easily take their existing videos and use multicast technologies such as OBS, Restream.io to reuse existing video content across multiple platforms, one way to maximise ROI from video content that is difficult to produce and cost-sensitive.

Online learning: Every brand, especially in the B2C sector, should focus on providing its users with a kind of online learning platform. This is perhaps the most powerful method of lead generation for brands of all sizes, and it makes perfect sense, as a huge world power relies on online learning to make them self-sufficient, and attracting this new generation of workers would be very rewarding in the coming period.

Why are brands investing in social media marketing?

Unlike PPC, Social Media does not generate direct sales, but increases brand loyalty and helps your brand establish itself as an authority. Indeed, the lack of an active social media profile has a negative correlation with brand perception.

Thanks to tools like AgoraPulse, SocialPilot, Social Media Marketing has become more manageable, and we have been able to automate a large part of it.

Nowadays, it is hard to imagine that a brand exists without some kind of social media presence. Always remember that social media is a place to engage, build a community, and establish authority, rather than sell hard.

The last but most important thing is that social media marketing helps in enhancing brand awareness. Many first-time users would discover your brand on social media and thus, become your potential customers in the future. It is usually longer, but very rewarding.

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