e Magus

Y esterday, while waiting for my turn in a hair salon, I realized how much a similar a digital ad agency business is to this age-old profession. Every little thing that goes on in a hair salon is similar to what an ad agency does, especially in India. The place: From a corner barber shop to an upmarket hair salon, digital agencies comes in various shapes and sizes. You have the small shops run by couple of people to a well laid and beautifully done up work place employing a large number of professionals. The offerings: Digital agencies offerings too, are similar to hair salons. On one end you find them basic services, like a shave & cut, of just website design and development. On the other end, you have full fledged offerings - from design to SEO, to Social Media, Analytics, Media...similar to a hair salon whose offerings also include beauty treatment, pedicure/manicure, spa, etc; Reception: Like all hair salons which has old magazines with dog ear pages, you’ll find most of...

It was almost a decade back, when I posted my first blog. In these 10 years, I created, I copied, I re-created content on various topics that appealed me at that given point of time.. Sometimes, I blogged prolifically, sometimes I just forgot that I had a blog... but i persisted, though not consistently. Social Media scenario has had a sea change since the time the blogging platforms came into being and was in Vogue. Call me an old school social media guy, but I think blogs are still very relevant in today’s world. Here are some random points on why one should blog Point of view best explained: No character limit, and no random updates that will push your post down in seconds. You can give your opinion and justify the same in a single post. People are still captivated by stories, and best stories have a set-up, plot, characters, and an end People will know you better: The more you speak, the more people will know about you. Someone somewhere is seeking the same information you blo...

T o this day, I see many digital strategy presentations quoting this - “Content is the king”. Makes me cringe. Digital marketing has changed over the years, but seems like this quote stood the test of time.   So is just focusing on content enough? I dare say, no. Because Content, as a word and belief, is very impersonal, essence-tic, and passive. Content is good, but only good enough for artificial intelligence (bots) or a purposeful information seeker. Most of the digital marketing presence was created at a time when access to Internet was limited and expensive. Computers were physically wired onto the Net, the data charges were high, search results were limited, in such a scenario just plain content was fine. The content on the web evolved in the following manner: Information/Knowledge Entertainment & News Branded content Conversations In today’s immensely networked world, which is full of conversation - context is also crucial for success. And context are best put f...