Digital Marketing is the essence of businesses today. With the growing popularity of the field, the demand for creative people to join the workforce as digital marketers is also positively growing.
Businesses across industries look for talented digital marketing managers to lead their marketing efforts to reach a wider audience and optimize their presence.
But what does it mean to be a digital marketer in a leadership role? To seek the answer to this question and explore more about digital marketing, we spoke to Lakshya Chandwani, Senior Manager-Marketing at Naukri.
Here's what he has to say about the field and his career journey.
Let's dive in!
Also read: How to make a career in Digital Marketing?
Could you take us through your journey so far? And how long have you been working in the field of marketing?
I have been working as a Digital/Performance Marketing professional for the last 10 years, and it has been a journey filled with lots of learning and unlearning.
The space is ever-evolving, So, it is loaded with challenges, opportunities & a lot to look forward to – keeps me on my toes. ?
What does your day as a Senior Manager, Marketing look like?
Monitor (Everything) & Respond- Keeping a tab on the daily performance of the campaigns and site metrics (sessions, users, registrations, etc).
Work closely with tech, product, and BI to ensure that we spot early trends and act upon them proactively. I (along with my team) speak with job seekers every week to understand pain points & sharpen our campaign targeting.
What got you interested in this field?
During my college days, I was fascinated by what Google does and how Google earns money.
Google Ads (earlier called Google ad words) is still one of the best ad platforms ever created (launched 22 years ago).
I opted out of college placement to land my first job at an agency that catered to onboarding and training SMBs (Small and Medium Businesses in India) on the Google ads platform.
What are some of your key responsibilities as a Senior Marketing Manager?
Build, plan & strategize to shape performance marketing for the key metrics: User-acquisition, Retention of active users & reactivation of inactive users.
Regular interaction & insights sharing with business-level key stakeholders to build the Performance Marketing Strategy for Naukri together.
Identifying trends and insights from the reporting data, spending optimally on campaigns based on insights, and different business goals.
Being aware of emerging technologies, ability to evaluate them, and providing thought leadership and perspective for adoption where appropriate.
Is the popular belief that marketing is the ideal field only for extroverts true? Or do you disagree?
I would argue that marketing needs more introverts — people who will spend more time listening than talking, reflecting deeply on meaning, and building fewer, deeper relationships.
(Here, relationship refers to the relationship with your super consumers - the top 10% of the highly engaged consumers)
Of course, the conclusion is not that extroverts can not be great marketers or that all introvert marketers will succeed. ?
What are the three things that you like & dislike about your job?
Likes:
The constant change: It is ever evolving and filled with experiments and new things to try and make a business impact
Non-stop education: You get to learn a lot and then some more
Small businesses can compete with the big sharks, there is no clear winner
Making the web world a better place – one post/story/reel at a time ?
Dislikes:
Battling the algorithms when it comes to managing digital campaigns
Seeing too many annoying ads (as a customer, not a marketer)– guilty of adding to the pool
How do you maintain a work-life balance?
Planning the day by creating a daily to-do list, focusing on results rather than the time spent, taking small breaks, and finishing work within office hours.
Also, doing one thing that I love daily like going for a walk with my wife, meditation for 10-15 minutes, or playing FIFA on my PS5 – so that I can prepare myself for the next day.
Are there any mandatory skills one should develop when pursuing this field?
More than technical skills, skills like a problem -solving, strong work ethic, analytical/quantitative skills, crisp communication (verbal and written), readiness to learn, and adapting swiftly are a few skills/qualities which will help one to get a kickstart.
How has Naukri helped in your career growth?
Info Edge is an organization where you get to work on challenging and high-impact problems from day 1, which shapes us for the future.
Info Edge has helped me by showing confidence in my abilities and helping me realize my potential.
From early on, I was given a chance to take up small projects, which helped me understand the virtues of taking ownership and delivering end-to-end results.
I have had the best of guidance (from senior leaders, I would want to thank Sumeet for the support and guidance) throughout my journey, and it has been filled with ups and downs.
But the bonds beyond work that I have created with peers and managers – they will always have a special place in my heart.
It is a safe space to learn and grow. Now that I am a people manager, I would want to give it back to the team: giving my best in leading the team and helping them realize their full potential and become the best version of a team and individual.
What would you advise the people who are new to the industry?
Forget yourself, your product, and your fancy technology.
Just focus on your user and (their) intent. As long as we don’t understand our customers and don’t see what they need and want, we will not be successful, no matter how good our targeting or how smart and sophisticated our strategy is.
Now that you have come this far, what is the next milestone you aim to achieve?
My next milestone is to build my skills as a leader and to build, inspire and lead a team that can create high-impact value for the business and the users.
What’s your success mantra?
These are all-time favorite quotes by Sir Alex Ferguson (the reason why I fell in love with Manchester United when I was 13).
"You learn more from defeats than you do from victories."
and
"Origins should never be a barrier to success. A modest start in life can be a help more than a hindrance."
What is In Conversation with?
Seeking an expert's opinion is not always easy, so we are bringing the expert's opinion to you!
In this series, we aim to explore the career journey of people from different fields, backgrounds, and career stages who have to tread the path and made a place for themselves in their specific fields. Join us as we try to understand all about what they do, how they started, and where they are headed next.
Stay tuned to read more such articles, and to get insights into your desired field, send suggestions to guestpostnaukri@gmail.com!
