Upendra Singh Rana, a man who left his job to become an entrepreneur. Achieving an award for being the first Indian writer to have written books on SEO and digital marketing, taking the idea forward of creating a full-fledged digital marketing agency with the focus of providing cost-effective services. Launched ‘Make Your Brandz’ in 2015 with an investment of Rs 20,000.
Incubees: Tell us about yourself and your start-up. How was your journey from being an employee to an entrepreneur?
Upendra Singh Rana: Awarded as First Indian writer who writes books on SEO & digital marketing available on platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Snap deal, Infibeam Google play store, Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, National book store and many more.
I have been interviewed by several National TV news channels (DD News, Prime News, Hindi Khabar, Total TV, Sahara Samay News, Nation live, SNI News India, Samachar Today and many more web TV channels) and 90.4 Radio Salam Namaste. My interview and success stories have been published in several local and national newspapers (Dainik Jagran, Hindustan, Danik Bhaskar, Rashtriya Sahara, Indian Horizon, The Sikh Times and many more) besides digital media. Several Magazines also covered my journey (all about publisher, national press times, women on top and brahamasagar).
An entrepreneur is born when he or she discovers their zest to explore new avenues in the market. I was working in the IT background when I found an opportunity in the digital space which is on boom. I quit my job to start my own business. That’s how ‘Make Your Brandz’ was born. The idea was to create a full-fledged digital marketing agency with a vision to provide excellent and cost-effective service to customers. Treading a new path is always difficult. When I started ‘Make Your Brandz’, nobody around me was aware of the endless possibilities of digital marketing. They were reluctant to avail digital marketing services. However, I successfully convinced them about the benefits of online space and how it would help a business.
Launched in 2015, ‘Make Your Brandz’ is now in the forefront to help people scale up the business. I have also written books about different aspects of digital marketing to educate people about its benefits, and the techniques involved. What was it like to build a brand in the highly competitive digital marketing landscape of India? I have spoken in length about my journey. Earlier I was a job seeker now I am a job provider. I single-handedly started this firm with an investment of INR 20,000 at Sahibabad in Uttar Pradesh. I did not take any financial help from my parents. Within a short span of time, Make Your Brandz has been able to carve a distinctive niche, winning the trust of numerous clients from different industry segments. Make Your Brandz has made digital branding easy for both small and big firms.
Incubees: What are the services you offer at Make Your Brandz?
Upendra Singh Rana: Currently, we are offering various services like
· Web development & design
· Digital Marketing
· SEO Services
· Social Media Marketing
· PPC Services
· Email Marketing
· Creative creation for Social Media.
· YouTube Marketing
· Facebook Marketing
· Instagram Marketing
· Content Creation and marketing.
Secondly, we are also into providing training in all aspects of digital marketing like SEO Training, SMO Training and so on.
Incubees: Tell us about the competition in India and globally considering there are many emerging start-ups with the same service, what makes you unique?
Upendra Singh Rana: Agree with you, too much competition in this field, as we have numbers of freelancers also in the market and in companies also. Our uniqueness lies in the quality of work & whatever we say we deliver to end users. We are cost effective as compared to others. Secondly, I have practical knowledge of the same.
Incubees: You are the first Indian writer who has written 7 books on SEO, could you elaborate for the readers?
Upendra Singh Rana: A regular MCA from IME College, Sahibabad, entered the job market. I worked for two straight months without receiving any stipend. No payment for all the hard work that I did during those 60 days. That changed my outlook on the job market and I wanted to do something for beginners in the field. That is when I were inspired to write a book for professional students and ended up writing 10 books to inspire millions of youngsters across the globe.
Before this dawned upon me, I was a regular middle class guy who was content with his share of dreams, ups & downs that life subjected to me. Charged up about doing something in the IT industry, first I pursued BCA, then MCA from a college in Sahibabad, then joined the job market to work in SEO & SMO specializations. Today, with more than 4 years of experience, I have become the first Indian writer to write books on SEO. The only condition that I put upon myself, while writing, was that no professional student should feel lost when entering a job, like I felt.
Incubees: Has COVID-19 impacted your business in any way?
Upendra Singh Rana: Yes, COVID-19 has impacted my business, the market depends upon each other, when an offline business goes well then only the clients will think about online marketing. Only the training part got benefit from covid, mostly trying to add on skills so many students came to learn digital Marketing through online live sessions.
Incubees: Tell us about Upendra Rana Training Institute, an initiative by you to bring students, professionals & entrepreneurs together to share their knowledge in the field of digital marketing.
Upendra Singh Rana: Upendra Rana Training is a dedicated digital marketing training institute. We are the first digital marketing training institute in Rajendra Nagar, Sahibabad with quality learning and practical sessions. We started this training institute with a goal to provide real time training and growth, with support of our trainers, students and associates. We are thankful to everyone who has been part of our journey.
Our digital marketing course is a practical and innovative course, developed and taught by experts. Our digital marketing course is based on live projects and interactive case studies that provides you with a perfect platform to gain hands-on experience and exposure in every minute and aspect of digital marketing.
Incubees: Tell us about your team. What keeps them motivated?
Upendra Singh Rana: We have a strong team of 8 members and some freelancers also. All are experienced in their respective fields. To motivate, we give regular tasks to do. Reward system like Employee of the Month, Employee of the Year & Social media awards. We also give medals to the outstanding performer of the month & Year.
Incubees: Branding and identity being an important aspect, how do you advertise your services?
Upendra Singh Rana: Great question thanks for asking me, we believe in online marketing so we do online advertisements like Facebook ads, Search Engine Optimization. Secondly, we conduct seminars and business meetings to educate the audience about digital benefits. We do live sessions on business enhancement with entrepreneurs and clients.
Incubees: Would you like to give any advice to the up-coming entrepreneurs?
Upendra Singh Rana: Do your homework: study the field in which you are going to start your work, understand the highs and lows of that industry and then get started.
Focus on One Core Product: Most start-ups have a great vision and a great idea: ‘It’s going to be awesome, and we have a huge amount of ideas and features that are going to be in this start-up.’ Focus only on the core product or business, get that built, and get out there! It’s good to have a big picture of where to go, but then chop each feature or service off one by one until you’re down to the minimum core product.
Be Prepared to Sacrifice: If you’re serious about building a great, enduring company, you have to be willing to sacrifice some things.
Build Great Relationships: No business can survive without talented employees, eager buyers, reliable suppliers, and supportive stakeholders and communities. While building your product and looking at all the data you can collect in the digital age, don’t forget to build close relationships and expand your network. It’s all about people at the end of the day.
To know more, visit: https://www.makeyourbrandz.com/
