Spirit W | Follow the herd, you will not be heard: Midas Touch's Radha Giri

Radha Giri, a young and dynamic entrepreneur, is passionate about marketing and technology. As the CEO of Midas Touch Consultants, she helps businesses create a recognized brand and generate revenue by combining her business sense and state-of-the-art online marketing techniques. She has vast industry experience in the area of marketing wherein she has led highly creative marketing teams and defined successful go-to-market plans and strategies for multiple innovative, award-winning software products, services. She has very successfully launched multiple software products in global market with effective marketing and business-winning messaging. In past, she has also headed technical teams in software product development and engineering.

In an insightful conversation with Adgully, Radha Giri, CEO, Midas Touch Consultants spoke about her life, career , her  organization and how digital marketing was her first choice while launching her own company.

Sharing her views about the online media space she said that being in this space requires one to be creative, strategic as well as analytical. It gives the opportunity to apply creativity to  every day matters and also to the smallest possible details. Simultaneously, an extremely analytical outlook is a must , taking into consideration the fact that you have to apply your mind to deal with  data and numbers.  She attributes all these different aspects of the online media space as the reason for entering this field and making it her profession. She says, “I have always been a very logical and scientific minded person. So I enjoy being in this profession.”

When asked about the challenges she has faced Giri says, “In today’s world, it’s all about capabilities, skills and willingness to do better and better. I have been  raised and tuned to think in this way and I belonged to surroundings where talent was always appreciated. Hence, any challenge that has come to me has been an opportunity to explore my skills and grow better.”
She believes that today’s industry as such, is very challenging.  With the evolving technological advancement and social networks, the world is getting closer. So, if you are talented, have a knack of understanding people, ‘know’ your business and are ready to lead then there is nothing that can stop you from achieving your goals.

Giri hold a master’s degree in computers and law. Her background in law helps her understand the finer legal aspects. She has played a key role in patent writing and trademark filing for various software products. Midas Touch Consultants is the brainchild of Radha Giri who has been a university topper throughout her academic career.

She loves taking risks and taking the path less travelled. Something very conventional is not for her. When people were going into software services, she chose to dive into software product management. Initially she started off as a software engineer doing programming and then went on to diversify into technical support management for software products, business development, product management and program management.

She says, “Despite being a non-MBA, I got into Digital Marketing, when it was at a relatively nascent stage. Learnt everything on the job, tried lot of new things, made some mistakes and also saw some fantastic success. I enjoyed every bit of it! So much so, that when I thought of starting on my own, online/ digital marketing seemed to be the obvious choice.”

Giri says, “I believe in creating value for the organizations I work with. I was part of the core team which took multiple software products to more than 50 different countries and made those globally known. I was part of the time when social media was at an early stage in India and I worked with multiple companies in forming their social media strategy and executing the same.

Today, many such companies have seen tremendous concrete ROI from their social media efforts.”
Defining her journey with Midas Touch Consultants so far, she said, “Only one word – Fascinating! I don’t remember a single day when I was bored or did not feel like getting up in the morning for something exciting to do.”

Over the last two years, Midas Touch has worked with a variety of clients from different industry verticals – software product companies, software services companies, mobile/ social games and apps companies, entertainment industry, travel industry and also branding and activation agencies. The team has done the whole range of online marketing activities – right from defining the digital marketing strategy, social media strategy, brand messaging, website content optimization, collateral creation and so on.

She believes, “In today’s times, if you follow the herd, you will not be heard. So we have been fortunate to be part of the time when brands in India are not only willing to adopt newer marketing methodologies and techniques, but are also ready to listen to and implement uncommon ideas.” Giri  proudly  informed that their work has been recognized by the industry. They recently won the “Best Social Media Agency” Award conferred by the Global Youth Marketing Forum.

When asked to name the persons who have been a source of  inspiration and responsible  for making her the confident and dynamic personality that she is today,  she said, “The first name I would take is that of my mom. I have learnt a lot from her. She has instilled lot of good qualities and value system in me which defines the way I think and act. Instead of preaching about things, she has taught me through her actions, which I believe is very valuable. She is a homemaker and the amount of multitasking she manages, even if I can manage 1% of that, I would pat myself on the  back!”

She went on to add, “Apart from that, I really admire Kiran Bedi, the first Woman IPS Officer in India. She has always shown a lot of courage and has lived life on her terms without compromising on her values.”

Being techno-savvy herself, Giri combines latest tools and technologies in providing effective and successful online marketing solutions. She has recently published an eBook "Are you Socially Shy?" This book describes how businesses can get started with social media and that too in a matter of few hours. With practical tips, suggestions and examples, this book makes a wonderful read and has been one of the best-sellers on Lulu, where it is available online for sale.

Shedding light on the goals that she has set for herself, Giri said, “I would like to bring in change in the way social media is thought of and adopted. Right now, it is being looked at more as a set of tools, technologies and networks. But I feel that ‘social media’ has to be in the culture of the organization. It has to be in the DNA of the people working in a company – it is about sharing information and knowledge, engagement, helping each other, forming a connection and creating value.”

Elaborating and explaining  further she said “Whether it is Facebook, Twitter or any other platform, the fundamental principles remain the same. But people are so overwhelmed with the wide choices of social networks, that the essence of social media is not being understood. People start getting into ‘what can get more Likes on Facebook’ and ‘how can I increase followers on Twitter’ and the spirit of social media is lost somewhere.  I would like to work towards bringing a change in the way people think of social media.”

When asked to share her views about  women today  having an edge over men in the media space, she said, “I had read somewhere that while running the business, women focus more on intuition and relationships, while men emphasize on logic and efficiency. Women have the ability to connect with people and build relationships. In today’s world of social media, which is all about building relationships and engagement, I think women can exploit their ability.”

According to her the media industry lacks organizationally. Elaborating further on this point she said, “This industry is about creativity. But at times, processes are brought in, which can kill creativity. I am not against processes but don’t include those just for the sake of it. Processes should reduce the work so that people can spend more time in what they are best at. But I also see that the industry is changing everyday in many ways and for the better. So there is nothing to complain about. After creating influence in the industry, I see myself getting more into social work by way of educating people.”

She also believes that it is high time enterprises seriously consider social media in their marketing efforts. She does not consider it as an option anymore since it helps to build thought leadership, gather reviews and opinions and educate people.
Concluding  a most interesting conversation Radha Giri shared with us her firm belief in the saying “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Some of the clients they have worked with include Quick Heal Technologies, Nihilent Technologies, Clear Concepts Knowledge Services & Jagran Solutions. Her determination and hard work speaks for her success that comes from her decade long experience in the areas of digital marketing and product management. Through Midas Touch, Radha strives to carve a niche in the industry by identifying and using the latest state-of-the-art online marketing techniques. | Aanchal Kohli [aanchal(at)adgully.com]