Navigating the Dynamic Landscape of Marketing with Niharika Tapuriah

Dive into a thrilling conversation with the esteemed marketing expert, Niharika Tapuriah. Our guest walks us through the complex avenues of the marketing world, highlighting the vital importance of a product's quality, leveraging digital platforms, and tailored marketing strategies. Filled with lively discussions around trending themes like AI, GPT, chatbots, and the role of adaptive tools to aid marketing efficiency, this conversation provides novel insights into the evolving global marketing landscape.

Niharika Tapuriah, Sr. Brand Manager - Marketing & Growth at Eloelo, talks to Agam Mathur, Director of Sales at Pepper Content as she illuminates various paradigms of product journey, the ideal marketing stack, and the profound impact of AI on marketing. A must-read for anyone keen to understand modern marketing dynamics!

1. Please tell us about your journey.

Let me share a funny story that brought me to where I am today. I've always been interested in finance, probably because my whole family works in finance. But honestly, I'm not that great with numbers. Back in the day, I studied finance at the University of Bombay. During college, the Fests in Bombay were a big deal – they still are. These events were a great way to meet people and learn about planning events. During college, I started writing as a freelance writer to support myself. I wrote for different places online, like websites and Instagram. This showed me that the world of creating content was huge and getting bigger.

After college, I did an MBA in marketing and got a job at a company in Bombay. Then I moved to Bangalore and worked at a big company. I was in charge of making content and later started working on creating the brand for the company. Later, I joined EloElo, where I'm now a senior brand manager. EloElo is an app for live streaming. I have a theory about how things have changed digitally. We used to have tapes, then TV, then mobile phones. Now, live streaming is becoming important because people want authentic things online.

If your product's not good, no matter how much you market it, you can't save it.

2. What's your take on the current marketing scene? How do you see its future evolution and impact on life?

Reflecting on the recent journey of marketing, it's clear that things have been changing a lot, especially in the last year. Just a year ago, the way we looked at ads was different. I read an interesting paper about ads during the IPL cricket tournament. Last time, a few brands advertised, but this time, there were 75 new ones. This shows that marketing is crucial, even when there are challenges like people getting tired of too many ads.

In this changing world, there's a lot of competition because so many smart people in our country are starting their businesses. We see a lot of brands growing and becoming popular. No matter what you're selling, if you don't tell people about it, they won't know. But even if you market something a lot, if it's not good, it won't succeed. It's a funny situation because sometimes even founders of companies say different things about what works.

Being in marketing now means standing firm for what you believe works best for your brand. Depending on the situation, it might mean using videos on social media or writing long blog posts. For example, writing articles might work better if you're in a business that sells to other businesses. In this ever-changing world, marketers need to champion their brand's ideas. We've come a long way, and globally, we're talking a lot about AI and technology like chatbots and GPT. These tools can help, but they can't replace the human touch. Even though technology is important, humans bring something special.

You need to understand what works best for you. Your stack has to be very personalized to your specific use case. At the end of the day, it either helps you put out better pieces of marketing content, or it's just a lot of tools that go to waste.

3. According to your understanding, what does an ideal marketing stack look like?

To be honest, there are so many choices available regarding marketing tools. However, trying to use them all might not work well. It's essential to figure out what works best for you. From a branding perspective, having a tool that shows where people are talking about you is helpful. It can show you if people say positive or negative things and where these conversations happen. This is especially useful to know if these discussions relate to your industry. Social media is a big part of marketing nowadays, and tools like Hootsuite and Sprout Social are essential. They help you manage your content and figure out what's working on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat, where many people spend time on their phones.

Another crucial tool is Google Analytics. It helps you see if what you're doing is giving you good results. If things are going differently than expected, Google Analytics can help you understand why. This is useful when you're running ads and trying out different things. In my previous experience with direct-to-consumer marketing, we learned that even small things like where you put a button or what color and size you use for fonts can affect how well your ads do. This is where tools come in handy.

An ideal set of marketing tools should match the people you want to reach. You need to know who your audience is and how they prefer to get information. For instance, sending text messages might work well for one group but not for another. Your stack of tools should be like a custom-made kit that fits your needs. It's like picking the right puzzle pieces that fit together to show the bigger picture.

You cannot replace the human element, but you can aid. So if you use AI, it will help you become efficient.

4. What is your perspective on AI's role? Has AI changed the marketing landscape and acted as an enabler?

AI is definitely an enabler. When GPT was introduced, I was unsure about it. It seemed like I could get a whole page of writing by giving it just a few hints. But then I realized that using AI this way isn't bad. It's a clever way to save time on repetitive tasks.

AI doesn't mean we're not in charge anymore. It's about using it to do things better. We're entering a world where technology is a big part, so we must learn to use it. AI gives us a taste of what the future will be like.

Different brands and people have different opinions about AI. You can find lots of funny ideas about AI on the internet. But at its heart, AI helps us do our jobs better. For marketers like me, AI is a great way to understand our audience and improve how we reach them. So even though AI might have seemed strange initially, it's handy.

5. What are the current significant challenges that marketers are facing?

In the world of brands, having lots of choices is good, but it also brings some troubles. Nowadays, it's not just one kind of thing competing against another. As a marketer, I have to always pay attention to what's popular, how people feel, and what's happening in the world. With so many brands, it's hard for people to remember yours. It's tough to come up with new things when lots of brands are trying to be different. Sometimes, when others do fancy stuff, you might want to copy them. But it's better to keep things simple and real. You either need a big plan that covers everything, or it's tough to keep up.

Another issue is that people get tired quickly. People only pay attention for a short time, so you need to grab their interest quickly. Whether it's a short video or the first words of a post, you have to be interesting from the start. This is true for emails, Instagram, and other places too. I wonder how to make my message click with people when they have so many things to choose from.

6. What's your view on ideal content? What are its importance and key elements for impactful brand-building content?

I like to divide my content into groups: teaching, sharing info, and getting people involved. Different people like different things – some enjoy reading, others like videos or pictures. The kind of content depends on what people prefer. For example, if someone's on their way to work without headphones, audio content might not work. So, the strategy behind your content affects what you achieve.

Having clear content topics that match your vision is important. Good content should be easy to explain, like telling a 10-year-old about it. If it's simple, others can easily talk about it and spread the word, just like when we hear about cool places to go. So, keeping content simple helps engage people.