Digital marketing: The joy of stats

dubai - Namita Ramani, founder of Above Digital, helps UAE businesses tap online revenue

From an owner of a fashion boutique to a digital marketing strategist - Namita Ramani, the founder and CEO of Above Digital, has come a long way.

Since establishing Above Digital in 2004, she and her team have helped over 300 companies reach their target audience and convert leads into customers. Above Digital employs digital channels such as Google PPC and SEO campaigns, social media and e-mail marketing to generate leads on their clients' websites.

Talking to Khaleej Times during a workshop hosted by the Dubai Business Women Council, the official representative organisation for professional businesswomen and entrepreneurs in Dubai, Ramani shared her entrepreneurial journey.

"Since the age of 16, I knew I wanted to work in the digital world. I owned a fashion boutique in my hometown of Ahmedabad in India, which was given by my father as he thought fashion would be of interest to me," she said.

However, rather than planning the boutique's new season collection, Ramani was more focused on its website and Google ranking.

"I was one of the few thousand people in India then who owned a laptop. It probably wasn't very good business sense to devote my time to the boutique's website when the target online market was so small at the time," she recalled.

True calling
But Ramani realised her passion for the digital world when she moved to Dubai in 2000 and began studying web programming courses.

"It was here that I discovered my passion for digital and began designing and coding functional websites as a freelancer. As my client base grew, many of the bigger organisations asked me to legitimise my business. Thus, Above Digital was born in 2004 and I haven't looked back. My expertise now is lead generation, providing web strategy and optimisation to convert online traffic into actual leads or customers for my clients," she informed.

"Digital marketing provides the most cost-effective way to reach your potential customers. If you are not doing this, your opportunity and revenue are lost. Many businesses in Dubai still need to take digital marketing seriously. They should invest in websites - which I refer to as the foundation - to generate revenue," she observed.

She said the UAE is a fantastic hub for start-ups and entrepreneurs since it hosts many groups providing help and support for businesses.
Ramani said she sees more opportunities involving technology in the near future.

Mobile apps
"A big focus for us is mobile app development. This is a huge growth area in the region due to the high penetration of smartphone users in the Middle East and the UAE. We still lag behind in the digital technology that the West uses for most apps. So, we see a lot of potential here," she said.

"I am very keen on launching our own e-commerce properties. One of our projects is to relaunch SpaGenie as a spa and well-being website, providing a database of the UAE's spas and spa travel options.

"I have also started doing a lot of training on digital marketing and sharing my knowledge on how to generate results from digital campaigns, working closely with entrepreneurs at conferences and other local events. I love to hear feedback on how my sessions have helped attendees generate revenue for their businesses. This has inspired me to launch the Above Digital Academy which will provide online training for businesses and entrepreneurs," Ramani added.

She tries to convert social media traffic into real customers through her market knowledge and experience.

"All our clients are retainer projects for a minimum one year. It is only then they see the full benefit of working together. We work closely with all our clients to understand their business. When they take our full package, they see the magic happening to their conversions and RoI growing 700 times or sometimes even more.

"A mentor once told me that it is always easier to sell to a current customer than to bring in new ones. We give our current customers our full attention. Their business is our priority before we start approaching new customers. This is an approach which I also recommend to our clients," she concluded.

- riaz@khaleejtimes.com