Having studied computer science & engineering, marketing was never on my radar. Yet things happened. Here’s the journey from being a teacher to an entrepreneur & finally becoming a digital marketing consultant. This is a short story about Debdutto Banerjee’s professional career – the marketer, researcher & storyteller.

My Journey of Getting into Digital Marketing

It was sometime in 2014. I was employed as a high school teacher educating students on Computer Science. On one of my first motorcycle road trips, I discovered my love for photography. Saw myself gravitating toward endless tutorials on YouTube searching for “How to create better photographs?”

I wanted to have a website where I can showcase my photographs. That led me to start exploring how to build a photography website. Back then I could barely design any website. After hoarding a number of tutorials came up with a prototype.

Not that I am super proud of how the website looked. But it was a start. Integrated Google Webmaster tools & Google Analytics.
But I started noticing people weren’t coming onto the website.

I started to question myself. Why will someone come to the website? How will people even find my website?

Starting my Digital Marketing Journey

The above questions led to the exciting world of Digital Marketing. How does one market a website? If people aren’t aware of the website, it’s obvious no one would visit it. Thus began my second set of learning from YouTube. Learning about Digital Marketing & the various strategies.

I started to learn about keyword research, how to create content & follow SEO best practices. I observed a few keywords that were being searched for, but the quality of content which was available could have been better. Not only that, I started understanding how channels like Facebook, and Instagram work in the context of marketing. I quickly set up a WordPress website. Highlighted my photographs in the portfolio section. The blog is where I started creating content. The structure of the website was dedicated to the photographic community.

“How to edit photos in Snapseed” was a popular keyword for which the website started ranking on Google Search. Truth be told it felt good to see the results. This was just the start. I started using Google Trends to find topic ideas & consequently created content around them. Parallel to this effort of Content Marketing, I followed SEO best practices. On the channel marketing end of things, i.e. Social Media I started utilizing Facebook & Instagram to showcase my work. This gave additional traction in getting users from social channels.

Understanding how to grab the users’ attention

If not for the stint I had at The Beacon Kolkata, I wouldn’t have been the digital marketing consultant that I am today. Getting a chance to work at a media publishing house that generated 2000-5000 visitors every day taught me a lot about what makes users come to a website. Not only that, once someone ends up on the website, how to hold their attention with content that is intriguing, valuable & easy to digest.

I was initially approached by the editor-in-chief of The Beacon Kolkata to develop the website for them. Once that was done, I saw it as a channel through which my photographs can get to see a larger audience. Working closely with a team full of enthusiastic journalists I saw how an editorial calendar is to be built. By the time I was a year in with The Beacon Kolkata, I was elevated to be the Co-Founder of the magazine.

Scaling The Beacon Kolkata

Over a period of 3 years, we presented the story of Kolkata to more than 700,000 users. The official Facebook page grew to around 90,000 followers. It was all organic growth. Between 2016 – 2018 we started pitching content marketing campaigns to national-level brands. That led us to work with brands like Maruti Suzuki Nexa, Facebook India, and Cafe Coffee Day to name a few.

Change is the only constant

Working at The Beacon Kolkata was the honeymoon phase of learning about content marketing. But things changed. Everything that is too good to be true will eventually cease to exist. Yet, when one door closes a new opportunity opens up. Due to unforeseen reasons, we had to temporarily close operations of The Beacon Kolkata.

Our experience of running the magazine gave us immense know-how about the opportunities in the video marketing industry. I along with my editor-in-chief pivoted & started a video marketing vertical. We started doing video campaigns for businesses based out of Kolkata.

During this phase of my career, I got to work with some of the business giants of Kolkata. JW Marriott Kolkata, Westin Kolkata, Novotel Kolkata, Urbana, Celica Group, Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Pathfinder Institute, and Quest Mall were just a few of the clients we got a chance to work with. In just 2 years we did a total revenue of Rs. 1,00,00,000 (1CR).

Living through the pandemic

2020 changed a lot for many individuals. It wasn’t any different for me. The business took a major setback. The partners with whom I was working, ended up choosing different paths. I moved on & eventually took up a role as a digital marketing consultant at a University based out of South India. I was required to enhance the executive presence of the university. Apart from that, I was to set up a team that can take the project forward after my departure. It is here where I started exploring LinkedIn as a platform to market yourself. Setting up various automation for effective content creation.

Digital Marketing Consultant in the North American Market

2022 saw the effects of the pandemic fade away little by little. I wanted to explore how the digital marketing industry worked in a different country. That’s where I got the opportunity to work at Milestone. My role at Milestone Internet was as a Customer Success Manager. Essentially working as a digital marketing consultant helping customers succeed with their marketing needs. As of April 2023, I am still associated with Milestone working with some extremely talented individuals.

It was to my utter surprise I realized, the challenges I faced doing digital marketing as a business owner in Kolkata, persisted even in the North American market. Making a customer understand why they should take up 1 particular strategy over another requires an immense amount of educating the clients. I guess life comes full circle. Today instead of teaching about computer science, I educate & teach my clients about Digital Marketing. When they get all their doubts clarified, they themselves open up & say, you tell us DB(Debdutto Banerjee), what should we do? That’s where you’d want to be as a Digital Marketing Consultant. Be the trusted advisor to your customers.

The Path Forward?

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

Steve Jobs

The seeker & researcher in me lives on. Today I do active research on how & why people buy any product/service. I network with individuals to understand the problems they face at their current job. For many an individual having such a career path would not be ideal. For me, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. What lies ahead, is to be discovered. What lies ahead is sure to be exciting!

Are you thinking of starting your digital marketing efforts? Or, not finding the necessary ROI for your digital marketing efforts? Connect with me. I would love to have a chat with you. To understand the challenges you are facing with your marketing efforts. I am certain with the varied experiences that I have garnered over the years I can help you out or connect the right individuals who can help you out with your digital marketing efforts. I write weekly articles on this blog of mine. You can also look at it. Maybe, you may find the answers you are looking for.