Rohit Akiwatkar's Linkedin Analytics

"Hey Rohit, I'm stuck at my role and struggling to reach the Team Lead or Manager role." ✦ Here’s how to deal with the situation: - Making it to a Team Lead stage is often met with the excuse that companies are looking for people who have been there before. - It's a bit of a chicken and egg problem. - How do you land that first Team Lead role if you've never been before? While experience is valuable, it can be short-circuited. ✦ Here’s how to do it: [1] Business strategy: - Connect business strategy to marketing strategy and understand how marketing fits into the bigger picture. [2] Acquire domain knowledge: Deep understanding of customers, industry and service/product. [3] Cross functional knowledge: If you in content, knowledge of SEO, social media and design can give you an edge over others. [4] Business functioning: Make friends in other aligned functions like sales, pre-sales, customer success and product teams. [5] Developing leadership skills by: - helping others - coaching your juniors - working collaboratively - taking work from your seniors

Once you work at a growing company, It's really hard to ever go back to a big company. Adani Power(10 months) - S&P Global(6 months) - Maruti Techlabs (2 years) - Simform(7 years and counting) For me building the foundation at Simform and Maruti Techlabs was more fun. But the prospect of joining such a high growth company can be daunting. There can be a lot of questions: - Will I be able to make an impactful contribution? - Can the company resist an economic recession? - Is their project pipeline strong enough to sustain the growth? - Are they thinking about career development paths or just adding to the bench? To get rid of any doubts look for these 3 things in a growing company: ✦ Profitable business: Join companies that are profitable (or likely to be in near future) and believes in conserving cash. Companies control cash burn by managing fixed costs like headcount and infrastructure. Look for companies which carefully select candidates who can contribute in long-term. ✦ Future version of myself: Your future career path will be influenced by the people you work with, whether they be colleagues, seniors, or management. Will you learn the in-demand skills from these individuals? ✦ Growing industry: Working in a growing industry will allow you to progress more quickly than working in a stagnant or declining one. As a top-tier professional, you are in short supply and demand is still high. Choose wisely!!

35 hard truths I wish I knew before starting in marketing: 1. Anyone selling ‘instant leads’ is a fraud. 2. Focus on what works, not what’s trendy. 3. Positioning matters more than creativity. 4. The best marketers are lifelong learners. 5. Stop trying to please everyone. Niche down. 6. Never plagiarize. Originality builds credibility. 7. You can’t win every campaign. Learn from losses. 8. If you can generate 10 leads, you can generate 100. 9. If you can generate 100 leads, you can create an inbound engine. 10. Marketing isn’t about perfection; it’s about progress. 11. Don’t chase vanity metrics. Chase meaningful results. 12. Consistent content builds trust. 13. Take 100% responsibility of your growth. 14. Pessimists analyze problems. Optimists create solutions. 15. Focus on fundamentals. Trends fade. 16. Great marketing takes patience. Results are rarely instant. 17. Arguing over trends is a waste of energy. Focus on strategy. 18. Stop chasing clout. Deliver value, and recognition will come. 19. Always over-communicate with your team and stakeholders. 20. Systems beat creativity & effort every time. Build processes. 21. Show up for your audience every day. Consistency builds trust. 22. If you don’t know how to measure ROI, you’re going to struggle. 23. Stop copying competitors. Start creating for your own audience. 24. You grow 10x faster by collaborating with others, not competing. 25. Help others in the field. The best networks are built on reciprocity. 26. Experiment often. Marketing is about testing, failing, and iterating. 27. Don’t be arrogant, but believe you can market anything with effort. 28. Be on time for your campaigns. Missed deadlines cost opportunities. 29. Quit obsessing over the latest tools. Use what works and get results. 30. Thick skin is a prerequisite once you start managing a team. 31. You learn 100x more by running a campaign than reading case studies. 32. Stop taking 50+ marketing courses. Build and execute a strategy instead. 33. Write daily for at least 30 minutes. Clear messaging comes from practice. 34. Listen to your customers. Your next campaign comes from feedback. 35. Marketing can either amplify your brand or confuse your audience. Take every piece of advice here with a grain of salt. I’m just one marketer, and your journey might be different than mine. But if I have one core belief, it’s this: "Learn fundamentals and Start executing."

I'm having an existential crisis this week regarding Gen AI in content marketing. I’ve never seen a shift this fast, this deep and so completely unavoidable. Not long ago, the marketing world was obsessed with channels, formats, and funnels. Today, every conversation I have with marketers - agency owners, in-house teams, freelancers circles back to one thing: "How are you using Gen AI?" Here’s what I’m wrestling with: If Gen AI truly enables content creation at 10x speed, and if it continues to improve with every iteration, then the economics of content marketing are about to be rewritten. A single marketer, with the right AI stack, can do the work of five. And companies that figure this out early will set the pace. Not because the content is necessarily “better,” but because it’s “good enough,” faster, and useful for the target audience. And that’s the troubling part - not the tools themselves, but the sheer volume and velocity they enable. Because let’s be honest: If you’re creating content the same way you did 2 years ago, you’re already behind. At this point, not adopting Gen AI isn’t a statement of principle. It’s a risk to your career, your marketing team, and your business model. So my strategy today? - Use Gen AI tools in your work as much as possible. - Learn its strengths and weaknesses - Build systems and workflows around it, not just prompts - Focus on strategy and judgment - the parts AI still can’t replicate I still believe great marketing is about resonance, insight, and trust and not just output. But to stay in the game, we have to evolve. Not later. Now. This may not be the biggest change in marketing in decades. But it’s certainly the fastest. And this time, sitting on the sidelines isn't an option.

95% of people are happy with taking orders and executing it..sometimes doing extra. But it's the other 5% that move faster in their career. Because they communicate better. How top 1% marketers communicate with stakeholders - a 3-point checklist I wish I had 10 years ago (pay attention to the last one): 1. Tie your ideas to business outcomes using metrics ❌ Don’t say, “We increased website traffic by 30% this quarter.” ✅ Say, “The 30% increase in YoY website traffic brought in 200 new leads, resulting in a projected $1million increase in potential revenue.” 2. Use straightforward language instead of marketing jargon ❌ Don’t say, “We leveraged a multi-channel ABM strategy to enhance touchpoints and improve MQL velocity.” ✅ Say, “We personalized our messaging across LinkedIn, email, and webinars to engage decision-makers faster, which helped us close deals sooner.” 3. Equip stakeholders to champion your ideas ❌ Don’t assume your job ends when stakeholders nod in agreement. ✅ Your mission: Make your stakeholders look like strategic leaders. Package your campaigns into concise decks with clear value propositions. Help them sell your ideas up the chain and make your marketing efforts a company-wide win. Creative ideas alone won’t drive success. Your ability to tie them to business outcomes will.

CEO pings to the marketing head - "Everyone is publishing content everywhere. Let's use ChatGPT to publish some content faster." I’ve worked with companies who believed their product was so exceptional it sold itself, to those who meticulously plan every piece of content. Here’s a glimpse into the content strategy maturity pyramid and where your company might fit in. [Level 1] No Content Strategy ✦ CEO says: "Our product or service is so great that we don't need to publish any content. Let the sales team cold call and sell everything." → Reality: Without content, you're invisible. No matter how great your product is, if your potential customers can't find you or understand your value, your sales team will struggle. [Level 2] Reactive ✦ "Everyone is publishing something. Let's publish random AI-generated content." → Reality: Publishing random content just because everyone else is doing it is like throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping something sticks. It’s inconsistent and doesn’t build trust or authority. [Level 3] Tactical ✦ "Competitor A is writing a lot of blogs on XYZ subject and that is generating a lot of traffic, let's start writing on XYZ. Competitor B is posting carousels on LinkedIn and is getting a lot of likes and comments. Let's publish carousels." → Reality: While it's good to observe competitors, mimicking their strategies without understanding your own audience and goals can lead to missed opportunities and wasted efforts. [Level 4] Organized ✦ "We need a content calendar and dedicated resources to consistently produce and publish quality content." → Reality: At this level, your content efforts start to show results. You have a plan, regular publishing schedules, and dedicated resources. Your content is aligned with your marketing goals and starts driving meaningful engagement and leads. [Level 5] Strategic ✦ "Our content strategy is fully integrated with our business objectives, and we use data-driven insights to continually optimize our approach." → Reality: This is the pinnacle of content strategy maturity. - Content efforts are not just organized but are also strategic and data-driven. - Every content serves a purpose and aligns with broader business goals. - You’re not just creating content, you’re building a brand and driving sustained growth. Moving up the content strategy maturity pyramid takes time, effort, and commitment. But the results are worth it. A strategic content approach not only enhances visibility and authority but also drives meaningful engagement and business growth.

Estimating the ROI of content marketing is tough. I've been working in content marketing for 10 years now. Here's how I think about ROI: First, some background: I started content marketing in 2015, for my previous company Maruti Techlabs. Since then, I’ve published hundreds of content pieces, and it has become a key part of the marketing strategy at every company I’ve worked with or consulted. - My first major breakthrough was creating topical authority for Maruti Techlabs on 'Chatbot services.' - At Simform, we revamped our entire blog and content strategy, leading to substantial organic traffic growth. - We then established thought leadership across software development topics like React, Angular, Frontend, Serverless, DevOps, Cloud, and now Gen AI. - Today at Simform, our team has published over 350 high-quality blog posts, hundreds of social media assets, and launched AEO-first content that’s improved rankings, brand visibility, and our position as a category leader. Yet, here’s the challenge: ♦ Executives often only seem to care about leads, revenue, and immediate ROI from content marketing. That mindset is short-sighted. After just a few months of publishing without direct leads, many companies abandon the strategy and declare, “Content doesn’t work.” But after a decade in content marketing, I’ve seen the ROI show up in ways that aren’t always obvious on a dashboard: [1] The Content You Create - At Simform, our long-form guides, explainers, and frameworks have become the go-to resources in the industry. - Content on topics like Gen AI, software architecture, and frontend frameworks attracts high-intent readers month after month. [2] The Trust You Build - Content is a trust-building engine. - Last week, a prospect referred to our blog during a sales call—they’d been following our posts for over 6 months. - That kind of familiarity can’t be bought—it’s earned, one article at a time. [3] The Talent You Attract - We're hiring at Simform, and nearly every strong candidate has discovered us through our content. - Our blog gives them a peek into our thinking, values, and culture. It acts as a silent recruiter. [4] The Revenue You Influence - We ask every client how they found us. And a lot of time it's some form of content. - People read our content for months—sometimes years—before they ever hit “book a call.” [5] The Brand You Build - We’ve cultivated a loyal audience of developers, CTOs, and tech leaders who read our content regularly. - That affinity compounds over time. - When they finally have a need, they already trust us. Content marketing doesn’t deliver overnight. But it delivers exponentially over time. The ROI isn’t just in direct leads. - It’s in mindshare. - It’s in influence. - It’s in becoming the brand they already believe in - before they even speak to sales. That’s the real ROI.

Marketing is not a skill. Solving problem is a skill. Marketing is simply the outcome. So, if you want to excel in marketing, focus on solving the problems of your target audience by: ✦ Anticipating their needs ✦ Understanding their pain points ✦ Creating compelling, relevant and educational content ✦ Delivering that content though social media and blogs ✦ Building meaningful relationships and delivering customer experiences ✦ Continuously learn and improve according to latest trends Stop thinking of marketing as just a skill and start recognizing it as the result of mastering various elements that contribute to delivering value and satisfying the needs of your target market.

As a marketer 'Shiny Object Syndrome' is your biggest enemy. People early in their marketing career get super excited about new shiny tools, design trends, and cool stuff. I have gone through the same experience and mistakes: ✦ Worrying about LinkedIn post scheduling instead of what to post ✦ Email automation instead of providing value to the subscribers ✦ AI-assisted tools over improving your writing skills ✦ Starting with ABM tools rather than the ABM strategy ✦ SEO tools over understanding search intent No doubt, the tools have their place in the marketing. But they should not come before Strategy and Fundamental Concepts. Tools are just tools, silver bullets don't exist. Image Credit: Pejman Milani. His ability to deconstruct a concept into a simple image is exceptional!!

Director of Marketing to marketing manager: "Hey can you prepare a quick summary of leads we got in the Q1 2025?” This immediately sets off a bad chain reaction of fear, panic, and uncertainty for the marketing manager. How? ✦ Prepare - what format? Presentation, spreadsheet, document ✦ Quick summary - Quick? Does boss needs it today? It’s already 4:30 pm. ✦ Leads in Q1 2025 - Is this related to my performance? Instead, if your boss had sent this message “Hey, I’m preparing goals for the marketing team for the next quarter. Can you please send me a summary of number of leads we got in the last quarter in a spreadsheet? Separate the data by months, channels and lead score. You can prepare it by end of this week. Planning to deliver the goals in the next week.” ✦ Notice how the message gives clarity on - Reason for the impromptu request - Timeline for preparation - Format of the output Communication is often touted as the most essential soft skill. But there are many facets to it. One such aspect is ‘Clarity in communication’. ✦ If you are a managing a team, include context and clarity in your communication. ✦ If you are at the receiving end, then seek clarity before the cognitive load weighs you down. What other aspects of communication do you think are important?

A big problem in our industry: Marketers are not taught to be professionals. Many marketers just care about creating content, doing SEO or posting on social media, and have zero interest in making the marketing strategy successful. If you want to stand out as a marketer in 2025, the best thing you can do is change your approach to digital marketing: ✦ Take ownership ✦ Focus on business goals ✦ Customer-centric mindset This means learning and doing whatever is required to help the marketing strategy succeed. Do not be a content factory worker. Be a strategic marketer.