Q: Hello Sumo-lings, I am Sachin Sadare, Founder of Digital Dojo, an education first - digital marketing company.
I started my first venture way back in 2012. I was handling the marketing function. That’s when I started working with websites, blogs, Facebook, YouTube, analytics, email marketing, content, SEO, paid campaigns – all of that. The term “Digital Marketing” did not exist then. Nor did any courses. 😊 I was learning everything the hard way – all by myself. It had its own PROS and CONS.
In 2016, I started an EduTech venture (boot-strapped) and I was doing all the marketing things again. The term “Digital Marketing” had been just coined & it included everything I had done before. But my challenge remained the same. I struggled to figure out how to make digital marketing work for my new venture. How to plan my activities with websites, analytics, content, emails, SEO & paid campaigns? It was almost back to square one for me. I leaned on my past experience & figured out a way to help myself with a blueprint of my digital marketing strategy. It helped me prioritize activities within my budget and schedule. And my “journey in digital marketing” began.
I realized that digital marketing was getting bigger and going deeper. A huge animal to tame. I figured that like me, every budding entrepreneurial venture or a small business or a freelancer would struggle with digital marketing - mainly what to implement and what to avoid. It was more a strategic decision than a tactical one. It was not about “How to Master Facebook Ads” but more about “Should I start doing Facebook Ads”. I believed everyone like me, must face this trade off – where to invest limited resources – time, money & energy.
I quickly pivoted and by 2017, I was primarily teaching small business owners, freelancers and entrepreneurs – on how they should approach digital marketing. This was all offline through workshops and personal coaching. Working with many of them, I realized, there is a formula or a blueprint (“Digital Marketing Mix Framework”) that could be applied by small business owners, budding entrepreneurs and freelancers. This framework helped many get the most out of their digital marketing activities. They started concentrating on a few activities which helped the business grow. The framework helped them imbibe the “Digital Marketing Mindset” and made them better at making strategic decisions related to digital marketing.
By end of 2018, I was working on converting my entire training into an online version. In 2019 I launched my first online course – The Foundation Course in Digital Marketing. End of 2019, I was ready with the Advanced Course in Digital Marketing – which is now available to you through AppSumo. This is a great opportunity for me to connect with you all through the AppSumo platform.
Cheers
- Sachin