Exclusive Interview Of Founders Of Media Care Brand Solutions, Helping Startups Plan Their PR & Marketing Activities

Imagine there is a company who is launching a new product or services and public do not know about it. Think about a company launching an IPO or taking the investments and there is no media around to cover the news. Just imagine a company is in expansion mode and hires new staff, recruit new senior management positions and expanding their offices and branches in the different parts of the country but the people planning to deal with the company do not know about this.
The marketing of the company goes down ultimately leading to the loss of revenue, brand recognition and market position.
A Public Face on Your Products and Services
A good pr or digital campaign highlights a small business’s products and services through creative means. For example, a publicity or digital campaign that highlights a new product launch also promotes the business as a whole. A press conference held to discuss an expansion has the added
benefit of introducing key decision-makers to the general public and putting a public face with the company name. These types of outreach efforts can help improve the overall impression of an organization.
Touting Your Innovations
A public relations initiative that touts a small business innovations can attract attention, investors and potential business partners.
Regular forms of communication in the form of feature news articles, public appearances and presentations, and service on expert industry panels establish a small business place in their industry’s spotlight. This positive perception can help improve overall effectiveness by demonstrating the company’s ongoing successes.
Showcasing Your Charitable Work
When the general public is aware of a small business charitable contributions and community support, it can make it more interested in patronizing the business. For example, a public relations outreach effort that notifies the community about a small business cash donation to a local school paints the business as a good corporate
citizen. This can help elevate an image of trust and respect, which can translate to a better overall perception of a company.
A PR & Digital Marketing is important in all aspects and stages of the company’s growth. Today we are going to present an exclusive interview of Yasin Hamidani &
Heemanshu Hemrajani Founders of Media Care Brand Solutions LLP. The company provide a 360° marketing and branding solutions to brands and companies. They specialize in providing PR service (public relations) both offline & online where they manage crisis communication, media relations, press conference, press meets, product launches and ensure a high end continuous sustenance of the client/brand in the media.
They also specialize in Digital Marketing needs such as they manage social media platforms of brands, corporates & individual personalities, SEO, SEM, Website development and EMail & SMS Campaigns.
1. What is the Name of Your Venture? Any specific reason for this name?
A- Our venture name is Media Care Brand Solutions. We provide 360° branding & marketing solutions to brands, companies, corporates & individual personalities. The main reason to keep the name ‘Media Care’ is that we take care of all the media & marketing communications and we expertise in the same.
2. Who is your target Audience/clients?
A- Our target clients are corporate companies, brands and anyone who is looking out for PR & Digital Marketing services.
3. Where is your venture based (city, state, country) & What are your geographical target areas?
A- We are headquartered out of Mumbai but have offices in Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad & Bangalore and hold a Pan India & UAE presence through our associates in other cities.
4. What problems does your venture resolve? What are your products or services?
A- We provide a 360° marketing and branding solutions to brands and companies. We specialize in providing PR service (public relations) both offline & online where we manage crisis communication, media relations, press conference, press meets, product launches and ensure a high end continuous sustenance of the client/brand in the media. We also specialize in Digital Marketing services such as Social Media Marketing, Video Making, SEO, SEM, Email & SMS Marketing, Website & App Development, O.R.M. Apart from the primary service we do help clients in Media Planning, Brand Building & Development and Event Management.
5. Share the idea or story behind the venture. How did it come to existence? What motivated you to start your own venture?
A- I started with freelancing with few clients in early 2016 from home. Within 3 to 4 months I was loaded with clients due to reference and excellent work. The idea to start my own organization was going across my mind as I was missing out on working with major clients as a freelancer. I always wanted to have my own company and be an entrepreneur. Also many of my existing clients were also opting for services like social media which was managed by friend and co-founder of Media Care Brand Solutions –

Heemanshu Hemrajani on freelance. Since it was a big risk to start a new company and built it all alone, I decided to go into a partnership with my best friend Heemanshu. Post my discussion with my industry mentors and ex-colleagues, me and my co-founder decided to begin a new chapter by starting our new venture.
 
 
 
 
6. How did you hired your first team members? What skills do you want in your employees/team?
A- In the early stages we didn’t had the budgets to hire an experienced employee, hence I took the advantage of being a professor. Being a visiting faculty in few college in Mumbai and teaching the B.M.M (Mass Media) students, I started hiring interns and gave them free internships and few of them were hired on small stipends.
We majorly look at talents who are young, energetic, enthusiastic and ready to give in their creativity for making a brand. We also look at how an employee holds his communication and convincing skills. He should also be calm while in pressure or crisis when working for brands/clients.
7. What expansion plans are you looking for the next 2 years, next 5 years?
A- As of now we are growing our organization and acquiring more clients on board. We aim at having 100+ clients in the next 2-3 years and increase our employee strength from 15 to 50+.
We are soon planning to even go International to potential markets like Canada and other Middle East countries.
8. Where do you want to see yourself in next 10 years?
A- We see ourselves growing International and holding offices in every city of India with team strength of 100+ employees and 500+ satisfied clients.
9. What are your immediate goals over the next 1, 3, 6 and 12 months?
A- Our immediate goal for now is to close atleast 50+ clients in 12 months and grow the organizational structure in a proper hierarchy manner
10. Have you raised any funding? Or have any plans for the funding?
A- No, it’s a self-funded agency by me and my co-founder. In the future yes we are looking at raising funds and are open for investors to invest in our organization.
11. What was the most challenging part of your journey till now? How did you overcome those challenges?
A- The biggest challenge of the journey till date is client acquisition. Since the market is very much competitive and surrounded with many freelancers, majority of the clients or brands which have low budgets always opt for freelancers which is very difficult for an agency to work upon such budgets.
Big brands and clients always opt for agencies via references and hence for a start-up like us it becomes too competitive to beat them and give them the best strategy, ideas and agency fee as compared to what the brand is currently paying.
Also another challenge is to keep the clients satisfied 24×7 without getting laidback in terms of creativity, coming-up with campaigns and building continuous presence of the client in the media.
We are still trying to cope up with the challenges with networking at events, being part of industry events and requesting current clienteles for reference.
12. What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?
A- My hobbies are mainly playing cricket, going to the gym and cycling outdoors. I am a big time movie and music lover and love networking and interacting with new people and making new friends.
Most of the time I am into looking at the trends in the industry and reading case studies of international brands and spending some quality time with my family and friends.
13. Whom do you consider your idol or biggest motivator?
A- On professional front my idol is Mr. Madan Bahal (M.D – Adfactors PR) and Mr. Piyush Pandey. For me they both have brought revolution in the PR & Advertising industry in India. I look myself to be in the same league in the coming future. On personal front its always going to be Salman Khan.
My biggest motivator is myself. I believe a person should motive himself rather than relying on others for the same.
14. What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
A- There is a huge difference between being an entrepreneur and working for someone else.
As an entrepreneur you have 10 times more responsibility than working for someone, you have to deal with the growth of the company, payments, getting new clients, fixing the organization, hiring good talents, salaries of the employee and networking.
But in the end you also have bigger profits compared to getting a fixed salary.
While working for someone you only hold focusing towards the job description given by the organization and giving your best to it and having a fixed salary deposited on a fix date of every month without any tension.
15. If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
A- I would look at being an RJ (Radio Jockey) as a new career.
16. How has being an entrepreneur affected your family & Social life?
A- Being an entrepreneur has surely changed my life a lot. You barely get time for family or friends. Since my company is a start-up, I am constantly busy running around for meetings & new pitches and client meetings. At times it becomes difficult to even take care of the family if any member is unwell and needs to be rushed to the doctor. However still as a responsibility, I try to cope up and juggle between both personal & professional life.
17. Anything, you would like to say to our readers or upcoming entrepreneurs?
A- I would only say that ‘there is no doubt that running a business takes a lot of time. But the only way to be satisfied in your life is to do work that you truly believe in and not bother towards what your friends or family speak. There might be bad days in your business and you would feel like quitting but the only mantra to keep those bad days off is work hard, work smartly and the success will be yours. I learnt one important thing in my school –‘Winners never quit and quitters never win.’
18. Tell us something about your education & family background.
A- I have done my Masters in Media, Entertainment & Advertising from Mumbai University and also a visiting faculty at few reputed colleges in Mumbai teaching mass media students.
My family is very small which consists of me, my mother and my aunt. I am blessed to have 2 mothers – one who guided me towards religious believe and other guided me towards education and worldly matters. My aunty who is also my guardian is a retired principal from a BMC school and has dedicated her entire life for my education and upliftment and ensured I get the best things in my life. I am blessed and thankful to the Almighty Allah to bless me with a good family.
19. What is your USP which makes it unique & different from other start-ups in similar domains.
A- Our unique advantage is our organizational structure which gives a direct approach and breaks all the walls between an employee and senior management or the bosses. Our team is young, enthusiastic and energetic with specialized industry knowledge and great media relations. We also ensure maximum exposure to our clients and their companies.
20. What do you think is the biggest threat to the success of small businesses & Start-ups today?
A- The biggest threats are the freelancers in the market who try to break the market by offering services at a cost which no agency can agree upon. Another problem is that when these freelancers fail to deliver and when small agencies like us try to pitch in the same client, it becomes difficult for them to gain the trust and secondly the agency fee is compared to what they paid to a freelancer.
Another issue is not having experienced and senior management in the company. If a small agency wishes to capture a big client, you need to hold well experienced and senior management and lastly reference matters a lot. If no reference given, you cannot have big clients on board. However there is always a solution to win clients and it all depends on how you present them and convince them and gain their trust over you.
21. Do you consider yourself successful and by what means do you measure success?
A- Yes, I consider myself successful. Within 3 years of starting my agency, we have managed to pitch in bigger clients and have won bigger pitches as well, normally agencies struggle to do it in their first 5 years of start-up.
I measure success based on how many accounts we won, how many campaigns we delivered successfully with a great impact on the T.G and lastly how well the company is managed and the team is happy and satisfied working under us.
22. Please share complete name, address, phone number, email id & website of Your Business & Contact Person
Company Name – Media Care Brand Solutions LLP
Dheraj Heritage, UB – 12, S.V Road, Santacruz (W), Mumbai – 400054
+91 9967836604 / 9773438744
www.mediacare.co.in
Yasin Hamidani & Heemanshu Hemrajani