Topline Consulting, an Integrated Marketing Communication firm, started its journey on Indian Soil in 2018 after successfully managing business and their needs in China for almost a decade where they handled giant businesses ranging from industries like Electronics, Finance, Consumable Goods and many others working on clients like Huawei, DBS Bank, BMW, and Alibaba Group.
In India, they have had clients such as Symphony, OPPO, TECNO Mobiles, Miniso, Amway, Vista Rooms, HSBC, TanTan, CARS 24, TikTok Ads, VMate, Likee, Helo and others. Their services extend from Integrated Marketing Solutions, Influencer Marketing, Social Media Management to PR and Events.
On their second anniversary in India, Medianews4u spoke to Udit Joshi, Head of Development and Operations, Topline Consulting Group, India on the journey so far and plans ahead.
Read on.
Tell us about how you started Top Line Consulting? How has the journey been and tell us about your services and some clients?
An Industry Observer and Marketing Innovator, Topline is a leading international integrated marketing communications firm. Today’s India is a marketer’s paradise. There is so much to contribute and add value to. Our approach for Marketing in India is to respond to real-time business challenges of our clients whom we treat as our partners of growth.
Our journey has been a beautiful adventure where we have enabled several brands to discover and realize sustainable business values through marketing and communications.
Topline has focused expertise and strong resources in a smart device, finance, and internet domains. The brands we serve are spread across e-commerce, smartphones, lifestyle, consumer durables, and Ed-Tech, further diversifying the agency’s portfolio.
How is the business shaping up in times of Covid-19? What has been the impact of Covid on your business?
As an integrated marketer, in my opinion, COVID has certainly left a deep impression on both the people and economy, and marketing around the world is going through a very apparent shift. The success of a business strategy must be supported by a strong marketing communications strategy, which is the perfect expression of business strategy.
It is significantly important as, after Covid-19, we as a marketer have to see people with more humanity. The marketers have to rewrite the definition of marketing. Our duty will change, it will be to influence the market. And the mantra for good marketing will transform to “treating the customer as a human being, not as a buyer”.
What are the priorities for Topline Consulting Group?
As pure practitioners of innovation, the digital space is the priority for Topline Consulting Group. Topline is among the first innovators in India to create the verticals of “Multi-Channel Network” and “Direct to Consumer Public Relations” to serve clients for specific and targeted business services.
We have done some remarkable and enriching projects as innovative marketing solutions for two of the largest brands in the smartphone sector.
Among the various marketing solutions offered by our team, we have thrived on Digital, Influencer, Content, and Experiential Marketing.
How have brands changed or modified their communication strategy? And what has been your advice to all your clients?
With the rise of this pandemic and the isolation dragged in by the lockdown, everything has evolved to digital. However, as we know, isolation does not change the structure and mechanism of how marketing does for businesses. Empathy-based marketing is understanding the emotional needs and motivations of your customers and aligning your plan to meet them. The need of the hour is to have a compassionate approach by creating trust and using empathy to craft marketing communication.
During these hard times, how are you keeping up the morale of your teams that are working remotely? How are you making sure about the mental health of employees?
Topline lays a lot of emphasis on acquiring talent with the right mindset and capabilities who understand the client’s business goals. Our team members work closely with the client as their partner of growth solving out business problems. Marketing is evolving at an accelerated speed and requires multi-skilled talent. We share intellectual learnings as reviews, improvisations, simulations on a daily basis which ensure that everyone is alert, aware, and have our minds in the active mode.
For the Emotional Quotient, we ensure our employees are sensitized to practice empathy in their actions and behavior. We break up the goals to give ourselves shorter snackable targets to keep the momentum high. We ensure a weekly Town-hall meeting of the entire office which is called the Happy Hour. It is a mix of formal training sessions and informal exchange. It really helps boost morale and keep up the spirits.
Our team is our strength and with them, our vision and mission to become a global organization strengthen even more.
Being a multiple service agency how are you making sure that you’re ahead of the curve in these times of uncertainty and crisis?
Topline Consulting Group sets stands out among the peers by playing the role of an industry observer to develop products as per the futuristic marketing scope. After a thoughtful study of Indian marketing essentials, our firm created four levels of full-scale capabilities.
These are –
A Think Tank Consultancy
As a partner of business growth to the clients, Topline provides comprehensive solutions coupled with marketing intelligence for brand product launch and market entry, product sales, and lead generation from the directed audience.
Brand Communications Advisory
Insight-driven strategic content marketing to generate user loyalty, generate brand influence among others to provide high-quality marketing results delivery.
Dedicated Vertical Solutions’ Enabler
Based on futuristic technologies, Topline has pioneered in introducing products such as live broadcast, Multi-Channel Network (MCN), Moment Marketing, User Generated content marketing and others.
Customized Tech Platform
To create impact on brands with focused business needs, Topline has created an expansive line-up of unique services such as, “TopSocial for Influencer Marketing”, “Think Culture Foundation for Social Innovation” and “TopView for Academic Initiations”.
Topline is among the first innovators in India to create the verticals of “Sensory Marketing” and “Direct to Consumer PR” to start serving clients for specific and targeted business services.
Any trends that you see emerge post-lockdown?
Digital is where the customer is today. By holding the customer at the heart, interactions must be developed by the marketers spanning the entire buying process. Digital humanity has become essential to drive trust and culture.
The market has changed and so has the consumer behaviour and a 360-degree approach is not enough. Among the trends, two stand out –
Time Share
Time is the biggest challenge for marketing today. The attention span of the customer has decreased dearly and marketing has shifted from traffic to attention economics. Marketing has to be quick and effective in lesser time.
The need for Evolution in Influencer Marking
The right content drive to build closer online communities is the core value. It requires intellectual influencer marking instead of relying on engagement. The content, today, is generated by the users and patrons.
