Digital marketing is the new tool for reimagining business. Whether you're focused on generating leads or creating brand awareness, the gist lies in the strategic implication of the business ideas through significant integration of traditional and new age digital marketing techniques.

As we continue to live through the global pandemic era, this space has evolved hugely. While many agile entrepreneurs & marketers are constantly busy tapping onto new digital marketing trends, technology, and platforms to rapidly identify new opportunities, a new crop of digital marketing experts have come-up as well. Recently, Women Entrepreneur India magazine interviewed one such brazenly bold leader Reshma Sharma, Co-Founder & Content Director, Oyster Branding, Communication & Design from the marketing space to know about her leadership journey in the space. Reshma's experience has been decidedly rich in the communications space. Read through the excerpts to know more:

Give Us A Brief Overview Of Oyster Branding, Communications & Design.

Oyster Branding, Communications & Design is a fun creative agency that takes care of all branding and creative needs, deploying a team of young, dynamic and focussed specialists in branding, creative and marketing. Having a bouquet of pronounced corporate clients like Tata Motors, Marico, HUL, Bajaj Auto, Tata Power, and many more, we have always stressed on providing work verbing our tagline `Creativity - jarahatke!'. We assist our clients with building a brand image that generates leads for the growth & success of their businesses. Our ideas are induced with the perfect strategy that can help establish a perfectly drawing communication with the crowd.

Walk Us Through Your Educational & Professional Background. Also, Tell Us What Factors Motivated You To Venture-Out On Your Own In The Field Of Digital Marketing?

I'm a Bachelor of Fine Art (Applied Art) graduate from J.J. School of Arts, Mumbai. And my first job was as a Graphic Designer. I worked in a couple of small agencies and then moved to a corporate job in Tata Internet Services, now Tata Communications. There, I learnt the ropes of content writing. It was also during this time that I pursued several courses - a management in Advertising & PR, and PG Diploma in Journalism.

During my Tata stinit, I worked with TCS for a couple of years and continued for eight more years in the IT industry, moving into the Corporate Communication and Marcom space. Within the first 10 years of my professional career, I gained ample exposure in terms of heading the team and handling different facets of marketing as well.

Creativity was the missing in IT marketing and I wanted flexibility in work, as my baby was a toddler then. These factors led me towards quitting the IT industry circa 2011. But most importantly, it was my dream to have my own agency from the start of my career that led me to venturing-out on my own in the creative communications field. Being in the communications & digital marketing industry for 12-13 years already, I had made the right contacts and built a good network. Hence, I incorporated my agency and set-up an office with one of my ex-colleague from my first job, Minal Bagkar (Co-Founder at Oyster). Fortunately, we on-boarded big clients like Marico, Tata Motors, and more and they have been with us until now.

Throw some light on your approach to building a successful brand. What are some important pointers you keep in mind to ensure that the final output helps clients achieve the desired business goals?

Clients have certain myths in their minds - like performance marketing is a great way to get immediate sales and even create some kind of a name for oneself or business in the market. I brazenly disagree with this, as it may be successful, but not in a sustainable way. Also, performance marketing needs to be backed with a solid strategic content marketing plan. I strongly believe that brands are built in the mind. It takes time, months and years, to change anybody's mind, similarly brands take years to be built. Hence, when clients approach us and enquire about the channels of digital marketing we use, we begin with understanding their requirement, their vision and the target audiences they want to cover. In this field, there's nothing like `One size fits all'.

“As strategists, it has also been our main objective to well guide our clients towards creating the correct digital marketing plan for their vision”

It is important for one to understand this, not only from a digital marketing perspective, but from a business perspective too, as to where your reach, and vision is before you really dip your faith into digital marketing. Along with Oyster, I have also co-founded another company in 2020, named Social Flutur - a strategic marketing consulting firm. So, as strategists, it has also been our main objective to well guide our clients towards creating the correct digital marketing plan for their vision.

Given The Demanding Nature Of Your Role As A Business Leader, How Do You Strike A Balance Between Work And Personal Life?

I think there's nothing great about it, it's just time management. Even as a woman, I have been very fortunate and also been very strict about this. Be it household chores or work, there should be equal weightage. But since I am a woman, I need not necessarily engage in the rut of being a perfect homemaker, or mother. Somewhere, we need to learn to put ourselves first. Being a career woman, I do delegate my house chores to somebody who can swiftly look after it. It is my balanced understanding that I have been able to entrench and lead two companies at the same time.

What Would Your Advice Be For Other Young Women Aspiring To Be Foray Into The Field Of Digital Marketing And Entrepreneurship?

If you want to become a good digital marketer, you need to be a good marketer first. Digital is just a tool, but if you don't have the basics of marketing in place, then it will be difficult for you to even understand how to effectively use these tools to be successful. Also, marketing requires certain instinct and common sense to drive growth, hence do try to boost your observation skills. Reading is very important.

Reshma Sharma, Co-Founder & Content Director, Oyster Branding, Communication & Design

With over 25 years of professional experience in digital marketing in diverse industries, Reshma is a specialist in content driven marketing communication, creative ideation, and thinking out-of-the-box with a practical yet creative blend of thought.