Deepti Tarakanath From SHIFFT FILMS Explains How A Video Can Turn The Table For Business
With the change in time and the up-gradation of technologies consumer tastes’ also change and the way of marketing is improving day by day, previously businesses uses images for marketing but now videos takes that leading place because mostly users likes watching videos than images and you can also influence them to buy our products but it is not possible through images.
After social media marketing, video Marketing has also become the good source for marketing and also a great way to influence buyers to buy products and also they understand your brand easily. Right now, video is hands down dominating social media across the board, idea marketing boosts. While creating your marketing strategies you should include videos too to enhance your market.
More than 500 million hours of videos are watched on YouTube each day! Today every business wants to create a benchmark and be different than it’s counterparts. We do witness the curve of change rising higher when it comes to flourishing marketing trends and techniques where video content marketing takes the driver’s seat rather! Before we venture out to explore this rising trend – video content marketing, breathe and give a thought to this: If a photo is worth a thousand words, how much more valuable is a video?
Today we are introducing you to Deepti Tarakanath who is the founder of SHIFFT FILMS, Deepti will explain her journey and about her venture in her own words and will also tell us, how she is helping ventures to gain traction.
1.What is the Name of Your Venture? Any specific reason for this name?
SHIFFT FILMS.
The name of my company is based on 3 things
My company was founded by me at the time of a personal shift in my life and hence the word just popped into my mind. There is so much of energy during such phases in your life and the word Shift epitomises that.
As a company we believe in the power of moving images, we believe that communication can indeed create a shift in thinking and thereby create transformation. Hence the name Shifft. ( There is a story later about this) The double ff is for effect.
“Shift” is also a jargon for a typical 8-hour production call sheet
2. Who is your target Audience/clients?
Our target audience are Marketing Heads, Business Owners, Brand Consultants, Digital Marketing Heads, Entrepreneurs, Business Owners Of Agencies and Digital Marketing Managers
Our clients are Healthcare, NGO, Product, Technology, Education, Retail, Healthcare, Hospitality, Fashion, Enterprise
E-commerce, Technology, Services and NGOs
3.Where is your venture based (city, state, country) & What are your geographical target areas?
We are based out of Bengaluru. Our geographical target areas are Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Singapore, Qatar, Dubai, Sydney, London.
4. What problems does your venture resolve? What are your products or services?
We live in a world where the digital space is cluttered. We have solutions for that.
We are a company that believes in the power of moving images and we have the prowess to harness that.
Our content creation and distribution methodology must ensure virality with a very robust and cost-effective plan
We are positioned as a one-stop shop that is capable of producing a gamut of content with our core specialisation in the area of digital media.
So in that sense, we are a TCO (Total low-cost operation) that can produce effective content providing end to end services from strategy to ideation, scripting and storyboarding or prototyping to production, post-production, delivery and distribution; mostly for the digital space; basically the entire arc
Some of the exercises we deliver
Branding
Logo design- brand identity | Typography |Brand Manual |Packaging |Space design |Websites/e-Commerce and Mobile Applications
The video outputs we specialise in –
Infographics | Motion posters | Testimonials | Vlogs | Ads | Documentaries | Short films |Training and educational films | Corporate Films |Explainer videos |Product launches | Event videos
We also own some very unique trademarked prongs in the space of
Video marketing -The Pull Series,
Content Workshops- Leap – Learn Everything About Powerful Storytelling
Content platform- iCROW
5.Share the idea or story behind the venture. How did it come to existence? What motivated you to start your own venture?
The idea came into existence when I watched a very moving film Taare Zameen Par and saw what a big difference it made to society’s awareness of learning disabilities. The way they looked at a person with a learning disability before and after was phenomenal. The transformation from one of judgment to one of acceptance, made me think, this is something so amazing to accomplish. A 2 and half hour celluloid experience had made such a big difference and somehow deep within I wanted to do that.
I wanted to make content that had an impact such as this. Of course when I began my enterprise the boom in the digital content, looked like a very lucrative and immense possibility.
6.Who are your biggest competitors and how do you differentiate yourself from them?
I do not believe in competition, I believe in cooperation & coordination. Nature has given plus and minus to everyone, everyone has something unique and something different from others and we all must identify them and try to coordinate with others to give better to the clients.
7.How did you identify your co-founder? Tell us some thing about your co-founder/s
I do not have any co-founder as of now and I run and operate this company individually. I very strongly believe when a woman can give birth to a child all alone, she can do anything.
8.How did you hired your first team members? What skills do you want in your employees/team?
I first look out for attitude and generosity. By generosity, I mean people who run that extra mile and show commitment to a job
The attitude I look out for is belongingness, ownership and loyalty
9.What expansion plans are you looking for the next 2 years, next 5 years?
In the next two years I would want the company to have displayed its core competencies, exceedingly well, in all its areas after launching them one by one through a very well-thought through approach . We need to deepen each vertical in terms of business and processes . We would also need to expand to other cities and countries. We are also looking at ace companies enrolling into our roster of clientele. We are aiming to submit our work into awards and competitions to gain mileage and recognition.
The next 5 years would be in the area of high billings, surge growth and recognition
10.Where do you want to see yourself in next 10 years?
As a force to reckon with when it comes to content creation
11.What are your immediate goals over the next 1, 3, 6 and 12 months?
The next 2-3 months will be dedicated to finding investors (infact the search has started).Setting up each vertical as part of the new phase and formulate processes. Hiring the right candidates for this new phase and
Empaneling partners
The next 6 months is dedicated
Aggressive marketing and sales in India
Looking for business out of the country
Deep dive into processes and execution
12.Have you raised any funding? Or have any plans for the funding?
Yes I am looking for investors right now
13.What were the problems you faced during the starting days and how did you resolve them?
The starting days was about finding our niche and building portfolio
The process, which inherently involved breaking new ground, meant taking risks which sometimes proved very difficult.
But the challenges sharpened our astuteness and skill and gave us a feeling of accomplishment when the job was appreciated.
14.What was the most challenging part of your journey till now? How did you overcome those challenges?
The most challenging part is about conversions till date.
We have overcome that challenge by
Getting in touch with prospective clients that we really would like to work with who did not go th us in the past
If we find out it is about pricing we have revisited the concept and reworked a workable price.
We that way get the client on our roster and can hope for more and repeat business
15.What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?
I watch movies, travel, read and write
16.Whom do you consider your idol or biggest motivator?
I get inspired by the trajectory of women who have surpassed life’s impediments gracefully and have risen to become icons and women achievers. Madonna is some one I really admire. JK Rowling and Maya Angelou, amongst many others
17.What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
Entrepreneurs can herald a new way of life, many a times
From being responsible for others to setting a tone and a principle
This is the most amazing part of being an entrepreneur
Working for someone means you don’t get to herald but get to follow.
You can still be an inspiration but its not direct
18.If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
I would first of all make sure that I am financially independent first and then set out to chase my dreams
19.How has being an entrepreneur affected your family & Social life?
It has not. I am always passionate about whatever I do. So nothing changed
My social life and family life has not suffered or rather it is exactly what I want it to be
20.Anything, you would like to say to our readers or upcoming entrepreneurs?
Dream Big. But don’t take yourself too seriously. There is a silent force that is getting everything done
21.Tell us something about your education & family background.
I have done my Bachelors in Journalism specializing in Film making from XIC, Mumbai
I lived in Kuwait during my childhood ( which i always felt was bad too luxurious and dull) that left me with a feeling of discovering myself
When I came to India for my college education I got into all the things that I always wanted to do- theater, NGO work and media. Made me feel rich, internally.
My family have always been supporting and even when I started my new venture , I get a lot of support and encouragement
22. What do you think is the biggest threat to the success of small businesses & Start-ups today?
Giving up.
There are so many opportunities to be grabbed. They present themselves at the most unexpected moments
So when you are starting out or are still in your nascent days you need patience and resilience and a sense of belief.
This has nothing to with numbers but has everything to do with grit
23. Do you consider yourself successful and by what means do you measure
Success?
I am a driven individual and I have a successful attitude. Its just a question of time when you can measure success in a typical fashion
It all depends on scale . But if you have garnered good will, if people like what you do, if you are paid your price, if you can go to work everyday with a sense of joy and belief no matter what then you are already successful
24.Please share complete name, address, phone number, email id & website of Your Business & Contact Person
Deepti Tarakanath
1/11, The Presidency
St Marks Road
Bangalore 560 001
9880639639
9632670111
080 42070111
[email protected]
www.shifftfilms.com
