- Influencer-based marketing technique building genuine connection with potential customers
- Advertising plays a vital role in building up a brand’s image
Interview with Mr. Abdullah Shahmeer — Director, Inceptives and Quad Co
PAGE: Tell me something about yourself, please.
Abdullah Shahmeer: I am by profession an educationist and a media professional. At the moment, I’m running two firms namely The Inceptives which is a design house, and Quad Co which is an education management company. Moreover, being an educationist, I teach both media studies and sociology at several A-level colleges, having around 14 years of experience in the field.
PAGE: What are top brands/products of your organisation? Please elaborate with details:
Abdullah Shahmeer:Â Under the umbrella of The Inceptives, we are having an international publishing house, Tolkeins. Tolkeins provides numerous services such as content creation, ghostwriting, editing and proofreading etc. These are the key products that we are providing around the globe; as far as my design house is concerned, other business units provide digital services such as web and mobile development, branding, logo design, graphic and animation to both B2B and B2C customers.
PAGE: Could you share your experience of working on some brands and sustaining them in the cutthroat competition in the industry?
Abdullah Shahmeer: Integrity and sustainability are the key elements to stay in the game. No matter how cutthroat a competition may become, long-term planning and fairness in dealing will always lead to a sustainable business as customers multiply because of your integrity and consideration for their deadlines. Furthermore, continuous research and development, and employee training must be a priority as especially in the service sector, employees are your assets. They are undoubtedly the biggest intellectual capital. Investment in terms of training and wellbeing of the staff members will always prove to be beneficial in the long run. The local e-commerce sector lacks these things, a good strategy is the foundation of any business and that is how you retain your brand’s reputation in the industry.
PAGE: Quality does matter. However, how much role does advertising play in promoting a brand?
Abdullah Shahmeer:Â Quality does matter, however advertising matters just as much. Previously advertising was limited to national level brands, but there has been an increase in social media marketing, brands are investing more and more on the aspect of marketing due to the niche marketing capabilities of digital media; we have an influencer-based market. Thus, you can easily sell your services in terms of design solutions, or digital marketing to multiple platforms.
Moreover, concentration towards the advertising aspect of any business consists of your vision, your mindset. Advertising plays a vital role in building up a brand’s image; numerous brands are able to sustain because of their marketing strategies as it is more about the vision they foresee. I believe that advertising is an investment, not an expense. Once we achieve such a mindset, it will surely lead to goodwill of many companies. Moreover, most of the international clients consider advertising as an investment, they build their brands through advertising strategies. The local brands are lacking this core business strategy. The customer perceives a brand’s image through how much effort it has put into advertising.
PAGE: Marketing a brand has morphed in the wake of social media and digitisation. What is your take on it?
Abdullah Shahmeer:Â There are several new techniques surrounding digitalisation, for example viral marketing, where the role of influencers is increasing day by day. It is a part of the new strategies arising, you need to understand the market segment before planning out your strategies. What we have now is an influencer-based market, PR (public relations) is a common viral marketing strategy through which we can develop the brand image for different clients and brands. Influencer-based marketing technique is the way to go in today’s market for building a more genuine connection with potential customers.