Ramdas Shenoyy in conversation with Jyoti Malhotra — The content head, Jinal Shah — The Media Buyer and Ruchi Lad—The Design Head
What is Clinkmate and why Clinkmate?
Clinkmate is a word made up of three different words – click, link, and mate. The name does the job of highlighting the two major aspects of any digital campaign – the clicks and the links. Also, mate because we started off as friends. The word Clinkmates wasn’t doing the job so we zeroed down to Clinkmate. Clinkmate is a digital marketing agency based out of Mumbai, founded by three women – Jyoti Malhotra, Jinal Shah, Ruchi Lad. Three of us formerly worked together in an ad agency and one day just decided to be open to the idea of working on freelance projects together. Things worked out really well and today we have a team. We plan on expanding our team this year so we could take newer and more challenging projects onboard. *fingers crossed*
How is Clinkmate different from other digital marketing agencies?
The best way to explain this is – you quote, and we will customise. We have had clients with budgets as low as 5000 rupees, asking us if we could help them leverage their business, and to ours as well as their surprise, we managed to do that pretty well. Of course, there’s a cap to the lower limit, especially now since we have been in the business for enough time, we would still find a way to help your brand digitally or at least provide you with solutions based on your budget. It’s definitely — client first.
Jyoti — from coaching to advertising, what made you take the leap?
I was exhausted and bored and I couldn’t be more honest about it. I started tutoring when I was 17 for more pocket money. By the time I was 22, I had a batch of 30 students under me, two faculty members to help me, and I knew it was going to hit a dead-end anytime soon because I had stopped enjoying teaching by then.
I spent my entire college life trying to balance work, study, and play, and I guess I was doing a fairly good job. I needed a creative outlet though. That’s when I started writing short episode stories on my old Instagram account. Many people noticed my work, shared it with their friends, and that’s when I realized I could give writing a shot. I started freelancing with agencies and in a year’s time, I started working as a full-time content writer. I never had a plan and that worked for me.
How do you manage to create content for various domains?
Important Rule: You are not writing tor yourself. You are writing for them. You are talking on behalf of the brand. Sometimes I fall in love with my copies and feel extremely demotivated when they are rejected. I’ve come to realise now that it’s not about my writing but their brand.
Research is a very important part of my work. I cannot use an unusual/informal lingo for a traditional corporate firm. At the same time, the only way to get millennials to like a brand or partake in a conversation is by selecting a topic of discussion they would relate to the most. Once the job of understanding the target audience is done you are more than halfway through the process of creating content.
Ruchi– What is the role of colours in designing?
Colours define your brand and the message it wants to give. Consider an ad that says – We are here for you! Imagine this line being written in different fonts and colours. You’ll come to know the difference yourself. Reds, blues, and pinks are funky but reds, blacks, and greys are not. The right colours do half the job of designing and hence they are very, very important.
From sales to design, what is the pre-requisite of becoming a good designer?
The will to learn and unlearn. Design is not theory-based. There is no rule book as such. It’s something you learn with time. So you really have to be patient. You need to have the will and energy to rework on your designs.
Jinal, How does your typical day look like?
During a typical workday, I am running and monitoring various ad campaigns. I need to be really alert when it comes to my work so I let music lighten up my mood whenever I feel exhausted. I need to constantly keep in touch with the clients, and give them an update on the progress, so by the end of the day, I really resent taking phone calls (just kidding. I don’t have an option, you see).
What is the role of media buying in the digital marketing world?
The Media buying process is a set of strategic wholesale multi-platform ad space purchases, negotiations, and arrangements aimed at finding the most advantageous placement at the lowest price for the period.
Media buying falls into the paid media category and generally means the procurement of media space and time for displaying ad creatives. When buying media, the goal is to find the right place, time and context to deliver relevant ads to the target audience and increase conversion rates, sales or brand awareness. Media buying is time-based, meaning the buyer is paying for “renting” all possible placements on all possible platforms. So they must be available for the time-slot when it is convenient for the advertiser to place the ad.
There are 3 stages of media buying:
1. Stage One: Pre-launching
Advertising decisions are not made overnight. In fact, the stage of meticulous preparation is the most time-consuming and presupposes in-depth research and careful planning. In the pre-launch phase, the media buyer considers and makes relevant media choices.
2. Stage Two: Campaign Launch
During the launch phase, the main responsibility of the media buyer is to ensure effective media delivery and constant monitoring of the campaign performance. At this stage, it is crucial to analyze what works and what doesn’t and based on those insights, make further decisions.
3. Stage Three: Post-launch Reflections
The post-campaign stage is a time to reflect and think about the good, the bad and the ugly of the advertising campaign in terms of delivery, media space, return on investment, customer engagement and overall performance.
On managing interpersonal issues
More like the clinking of two wine glasses post-victory than clinking of two vessels. As for all the interpersonal issues, no amount of planning or preparation can help. Might as well go with the flow and take one day at a time.