With over 12+ years of being the silent force behind numerous brands, SRV Media has worked on 2000+ projects for 300+ brands, and managed 400+ crores of media budget.
Spread across five cities in India, the SRV team is equipped to successfully handle digital marketing, brand strategy, PR, web development and many other services. And it doesn’t just stop at delivering these services, its in-depth understanding of different domains powers the company to add significant value to businesses. With the perfect blend of data and creativity, SRV Media craft strategies tailored to each brand’s unique needs.
Medianews4u.com caught up with SRV Media founder, MD Dr. Vikram Kumar
Q. How has SRV Media evolved as a company in terms of its products and services since launching in 2011?
Since our inception in 2011, SRV Media has grown from a boutique digital marketing agency to an integrated marketing and technology solutions powerhouse. Initially, our focus was on performance marketing and SEO. Over the years, we have expanded our service offerings to include social media management, PR, website development, influencer campaigns, brand communication and design, and video production.
Today, SRV Media not only serves as a 360-degree marketing partner but also provides technology solutions, ensuring our clients are equipped with the best tools to meet their business objectives. We work as consultants with all our clients, guiding them towards maximising profitability and growth.
Q. In 2011, brand spends on digital would have been in single digits. What growth trends have been seen since then in terms of digital being a significant part of marketing budgets?
The evolution of digital marketing budgets has been phenomenal. In 2011, brands viewed digital as an experiment, dedicating less than 10% of their budgets to it. Fast forward to 2024, and we see digital commanding 30-50% of many brands’ marketing spend.
This trend is driven by the increasing personalisation, measurability, and immediate impact that digital campaigns provide. The pandemic served as a major catalyst, pushing even the most traditional sectors towards a digital-first approach. Today, digital is no longer a niche—it is at the forefront of all significant campaigns.
Q. The company says that it has a high client retention rate. What are the reasons for this?
Our high client retention rate is a result of a few key factors: First, our client-centric approach that goes beyond campaigns. We genuinely focus on driving value and growth for our partners while maintaining strong synergy with their ultimate objectives, ensuring that our efforts are always aligned with their long-term vision. Second, transparency in communication has built trust.
We provide real-time performance updates, set clear, measurable KPIs, and use a consulting approach to help clients navigate complex challenges, providing strategic guidance beyond traditional marketing services. Third, our agility in adapting to client needs ensures that we keep our partners ahead of market changes. Clients appreciate our proactive strategy sessions and the ability to pivot quickly to seize new opportunities.
Q. Which are the key categories and growth areas that the agency is focusing on, such as education, FMCG, BFSI?
Our focus areas have expanded significantly, though education continues to be a core vertical where we have established a stronghold. Beyond education, we’re seeing tremendous growth in manufacturing, BFSI, and healthcare. We’re also focussing heavily on technology-based services—an area that has shown exponential growth in the last few years.
Our aim is to be the growth partner for clients across these sectors, helping them leverage digital not just for marketing, but also for brand positioning and customer engagement.
Q. The Edtech sector has seen a slowdown compared with 2021 as the funding has dried up. How is that impacting SRV Edge’s plans?
It’s true that Edtech has seen a slowdown, especially post-pandemic as the funding wave subsided. However, we see this as an opportunity to rethink and innovate. SRV has always focused on universities and institutions as clients. Though we have had clients from Edtech, the majority of our clientele is from legacy and traditional educational institutions. Our plans are focussed on helping Edtech companies optimise their marketing spends, ensuring they are getting the highest returns. We are also shifting from a growth-at-any-cost model to a more sustainable strategy—targeting specific audience segments with personalised messaging and leveraging analytics for better cost-efficiency.
Q. How is the festive season looking for SRV Media?
The festive season is always an exciting period, and this year is no different. We expect brands to spend aggressively on digital as the festive season represents a key revenue-generating opportunity.
With more consumers shopping online and engaging with brands digitally, our campaigns are focussed on maximising engagement and conversion rates. We are also working closely with our clients to develop contextual creatives and performance-driven strategies to make the most of this high-stakes season.
Q. What marketing tactics will SRV Media employ in a cluttered digital landscape to ensure that clients stand out?
To ensure our clients stand out in an increasingly cluttered digital space, we emphasise a mix of creativity and analytics-driven targetting. Unique and relatable storytelling has been a key tactic—focussing on content that resonates deeply with target audiences.
We are also leveraging personalisation through effective remarketing and drip nurturing to ensure that the right message reaches the right person at the right time. Finally, the use of interactive formats like CGI, AR filters, and gamification helps create memorable brand experiences that cut through the noise.
Q. Could you talk about the importance of Data Science and Analytics in digital marketing and how the agency uses it?
Data Science and Analytics are at the core of our approach to digital marketing. SRV’s tagline—’Insights. Ideas. Impact.’—captures our commitment to driving results for our clients. Impact is possible only through the right executions, and for the right ideas, you need bang-on insights, which are possible only through the correct use of data analytics and data science.
Though these terms are overly used these days, actual utilisation is rare but very important to maximise ROI and profitability for any brand. Our dedicated analytics team works on analysing campaign data, developing insights, and making strategic recommendations. Using predictive analytics, we help clients allocate their budgets more effectively, ensuring optimal ROI.
In fact, we make the most of AI to speed up our process of data analysis. Data that used to take days earlier to be cleaned, diced, sliced, and analysed now just takes hours. It is mandatory for the account management team of SRV to analyse the campaign data of all the campaigns running under their purview and submit it internally as well as to the clients with insights, inferences, and a way forward.
Q. As the agency scales up, is it difficult to find and retain the right talent?
Talent acquisition and retention have always been a challenge in the dynamic digital marketing industry. As we scale, we are committed to creating a work environment that supports growth, learning, and a healthy work-life balance. We believe in internally promoting talent as fast as we can, which has contributed to our relatively low attrition rate.
A set of our dedicated workforce has been with us for over 8 years, which is rare in our industry. We invest heavily in training, providing our employees with the skills they need to grow in their careers. Our culture promotes teamwork, innovation, and recognition, which has helped us not only attract top talent but also retain them by offering opportunities for professional advancement.
Q. What role are AI chatbots playing in boosting the customer experience, resulting in conversions?
AI chatbots have revolutionised customer experience by providing immediate responses to queries, ensuring 24/7 support, and answering frequently asked questions in real time. They help brands engage visitors, understand their needs, and provide tailored suggestions. This seamless interaction is crucial in converting leads, especially for education and retail brands where quick yet correct information can make the difference between a conversion and a drop-off. Our clients have seen significant improvements in customer satisfaction and lead conversions since integrating AI chatbot solutions. We use GETA.AI and their entire suite for our clients, which is a bot that not only is smart but also has a lot of capabilities in terms of nurturing returning users.
Q. At the same time, is there a danger of marketers becoming too reliant on AI, resulting in the digital clutter becoming worse?
Absolutely. While AI has brought numerous benefits, there is a fine line between leveraging AI for efficiency and relying on it excessively. Over-reliance can lead to homogenised experiences, where all brands start looking and sounding the same, thus contributing to digital clutter. It is critical for marketers to use AI as a tool, not a substitute for creative thinking.
At SRV, we ensure that AI is used in conjunction with human creativity to provide a personalised, genuine, and distinct brand experience. For example, as we spoke earlier, the analytics and account management team uses AI for regular campaign data analysis, which is important and effective.
On the other hand, all the teams that are into content creation and writing are encouraged to limit the use of AI only to image generation or ideation, but again AI is efficiently used to ensure hygiene is maintained in the search ad copies. A human element is very necessary when it comes to brand communication or design, thus it is said, ‘Creativity is intelligence having fun.’
