Shaping Strategy, Embracing Change: A Marketer’s Journey Across Roles and Realizations
"When I look back at over 13 years of experience in the corporate world, I cannot help but smile with a heart full of gratitude. I truly believe I have been lucky in so many ways, to learn from some amazing mentors and smart peers.
My journey started with a MBA campus placement at an analytics startup based in Bangalore. While I had grown up in Delhi, Bangalore sounded like a fun distant place I was ready to explore. During my first job, I learnt multiple hard and soft skills over 11 months. What really does an industry analysis mean? How to find growth opportunities for a company? Why are blogs an important part of brand building? How to retain review comments in a doc after correction? If there is any bias for employees with longer face-time (in office presence) in a startup?
With a strong fire in my belly to climb that corporate ladder fast, I decided to then explore a role with a strategic bespoke consulting firm. It was a global firm with my team members located across India, Poland, Germany and Brazil - a full remote working setup. This is where I sharpened my skills on real in-depth market analysis, pricing strategies and vendor identification. I also worked on primary research, to marry its insights with secondary research based information. I got accustomed to 5-7 rounds of reviews of a single document, thereby becoming very comfortable with constructive feedback which I believe is an important attribute for a successful person.
Having built a base on my research and market analysis skills, I was approached by KPMG for a consultant role in the research & benchmarking business unit. This was a key chapter in my learning book with further expanded exposure to global teams, well-defined processes, pulse surveys and bell curves of the world, and lots more. It was a rewarding journey where I got the opportunity to set up new revenue generating capabilities such as Survey Analytics and Vendor Assessment.
It was all going well, when one fine day I got a call from my ex-colleague for an opportunity to be the founding member of a marketing analytics team at an Indian insurance company. I grabbed it with a hope of remembering key frameworks from all the marketing sessions during my MBA. This was a major turning point in my career and I will always be grateful for it. This is where I explored the world of web-analytics, channel attribution, lead management system, website management, communication strategy and how to win over internal politics.
Since then, it has been pure-play marketing as I realised that this is where my heart is! I was later a part of a US-based international education loan provider in a growth strategy and analytics role. Again an enriching experience loaded with learnings on prioritization of marketing initiatives, A/B testing, identifying next set of target markets, setting up channel goals and KPIs, listening to customers, getting ahead of competitors and offering a deaf ear to office gossip.
Having worked for so many years in the corporate world., my father had been nudging me to do something of my own. So I finally decided to take the leap of faith in Feb 2025 and started operating as an independent digital marketing consultant.
I have had so many learnings in my journey so far, but sharing some with a hope that it helps you some way -
Build that 'forever learner' attitude, it will help you carve a niche for yourself
Don't be afraid of exploring new terrains, you never know if you'll find something which motivates your better to get going daily
Document as much as possible - interesting docs, your achievements, your ideas, etc. It usually comes in-handy later
Attend offline events for an accelerated learning curve - both soft skills and domain skills
Drop that 'I am shy' hat - networking with people might give you your next big idea!
Lastly, I will strongly suggest having no regrets in life, so try new things to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. Because that's when the real growth happens!
