Tell us about your background.
Raised in Dubai, I studied business and marketing from the Champlain University, Burlington, Vermont followed by my post-graduation and MBA from Middlesex University in Dubai. I started my Public Relations career in 2004 and have been fortunate to build a global brand over the last 17 years. Yardstick Marketing Management is a venture born out of my passion for the communications industry. I have always wanted to create new benchmarks in communication and hence, the agency was started with a vision to make a real difference to businesses. Marketing is a key element of every business plan and our aim and objective is to understand our client’s vision and then customize the plan to fast-track their business growth through strategic and integrated communications.
What current trends do you see in Marketing and PR?
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, digital transformation remains one of the key trends to watch out for. It will remain a focus for companies in 2021-22 considering this is the new normal for businesses. Companies across industries will continue investing in integrating new technologies to remain at the forefront. The other growing trend is voice and audio. Podcasts and voice searches have witnessed an upward trend and continue to grow in market share. Influencer engagement continues to command a bigger share of the marketing budgets, with brands allocating additional funds towards paid influencers. Influencer marketing enables brands to level up their outreach especially when they collaborate with the right mix of influencers who can build trust for the products or services among the target audience. Additionally, personal branding through renewed purpose for thought leaders is emerging strongly as a key trend among leaders and brands. It is imperative for leaders to hold a clear stance on certain social issues and align with similar brands that share same set of beliefs.
What interesting and successful projects have you been involved in?
When a client comes to us with a vision in in mind, especially to create or change perception of their brand image amongst stakeholders or a communications strategy to attract investment into the company or in preparation for a merger or an acquisition within a set time-frame, this is what excites me personally. A clear vision, followed by milestones defined and timely KPI measurement is what offers us the room for creating and ensuring the output is aligned to the overall business objectives. A couple of recent brands we worked with are – Abicalcados – Brazilian Footwear Association who had mandated us to introduce and invest into educating the market on their wide range of footwear brands. Over the two years of strategizing and servicing the account, the brands became well-known through various modes of communication within the region. Organic and Real, an ecommerce start-up was looking at raising funding, and the marketing campaigns and efforts were strategized to attract investment into the business. This too was an interesting project where the platform got invested into, and for us one of our key success stories, as Yardstick enabled to create the right brand messaging and positioning that garnered visibility to meet the brands end-goal of getting funded.
What is your number one marketing strategy you would give to a company in the start-up phase?
Own your narrative and involve a communications partner from day one. Most of the successful brands have understood the need for effective communication at the very beginning of their journey. To create the right positioning for the brands, it’s crucial for companies to rope-in the right communications partner who understands the brand objectives. The communication partner can create a right mix of marketing tools, keeping a 360-degree approach and can get the right visibility through the right channels. Image management through brand awareness tactics should be taken care of by professionals. The communication partner can effectively strategize and execute relevant campaigns to ensure the communications momentum is maintained and visibility is generated through the apt media vehicles to achieve the desired marketing outcomes.
What drives you as a female entrepreneur and business leader?
Working with global brands and visionary entrepreneurs has always inspired me personally. Evolved brands have an established communications strategy and have a completely unique way of operating their global communications programs versus a small medium enterprise. In both the cases, the brand or the entrepreneur’s vision is what excites us as we propose tactics that take marketing campaigns to the next level. On a business level, the opportunity that each day presents to create something unique and innovative, brainstorming sessions, thought-provoking conversations, client success stories always add magic to our days. No two days are similar, and hence we enjoy creating conversations that engage and enable brands to carve their niche globally.
What is next for Yardstick Marketing? What is your main goal for the next 3 years?
We are investing our time and resources to grow our digital footprint. We are an integrated marketing consultancy and hence looking at scaling up by adding new departments horizontally to the business.
How can readers find out more about you?
I would love to connect via the following:
Email: anishkaa@yardstick-marketing.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.cn/in/anishkaa-gehani-6086923
Instagram: @anishkaagehani
