Chapter I

Introduction and
Rationale to the
Study

Introduction to the Title:

Importance of Digital Marketing in Start-Up Ecosystem

Social media is one of the most cost effective ways to market your start-up. In addition
to providing a platform for growing your brand, it offers an easy medium for promotion
and customer service opportunities.
Many start-ups fail because they are unable to reach their target market or due to poor
marketing, even though they have a winning product. According to a survey conducted
by CB Insights, 17% start-ups fail due to poor marketing.
As a start-up entrepreneur, person should be ready and available to the customers at right
place and right time. The only efficient, effective and possible medium to reach the
customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, is through digital marketing.
Bewakoof.com, apparels and mobile phone cover seller has become Indias top most
socially engaged brand with 1.5 million fan following on Facebook. Recently, they
started selling their products using the medium of instant messaging application called
WhatsApp and now, they claim that 15% of their totals sales are influenced only by
WhatsApp This is the power of digital marketing, which is nothing but the future of
marketing.
In the recent years, it has been proven that digital marketing is much better and
sophisticated way to communicate with target audience at an affordable cost. Even it will
provide start-ups the ample opportunity to compete with big players or large businesses
in their markets.
There are number of reasons for start-up entrepreneurs to embrace digital marketing in
their business. Some of them are:

Cost-Effective & affordable way to reach target audience

Increases your visibility

Increases customer engagements

Creates brand awareness

Boosts online conversion

Tracks ROI (Return on investment)

Increases sales and leads

Influences purchasing decisions

In the last couple of years, start-up ecosystem in India and the world over has seen a
surge in online ventures. With the growth of internet start-ups, online marketing has
become an integral part of an overall marketing strategy. According to the Federation of
2

Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), digital advertising spend in India
grew at 30 percent in 2013 as compared to 2012. Whereas TV and print advertising grew
by 13.8% and 4.6% respectively compared to the year 2012.

Significance of the Study:

Digital Marketing:
Digital marketing is an umbrella term for the targeted, measurable, and interactive
marketing of products or services using digital technologies to reach consumers. The key
objective is to promote brands through various forms of digital media.
Digital marketing includes Internet marketing techniques, such as search engine optimization
(SEO), search engine marketing (SEM) and link building.
The promotion of products or brands via one or more forms of electronic media. For
example, advertising mediums that might be used as part of the digital marketing strategy of a
business could include promotional efforts made via the Internet, social media, mobile
phones and electronic billboards, as well as via digital and television and radio channels.

It encompasses things like:

Online Banner Advertisement

Search Engine Optimisation
Search Engine Marketing
3

Social Media Marketing

Pay Per Click
Content Marketing

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO):

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page
in a search engine's unpaid results - often referred to as "natural," "organic," or "earned" results. As an
Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for, the
actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines and which search engines are preferred by
their targeted audience.
All major search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo have primary search results, where web
pages and other content such as videos or local listings are shown and ranked based on what the
search engine considers most relevant to users.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM):

Search engine marketing (SEM) is a form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion
of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) through
optimization and advertising. SEM may use search engine optimization (SEO), which adjusts
or rewrites website content to achieve a higher ranking in search engine results pages, or use
pay per click (PPC) listings.
Google AdWords is by many measures the most popular paid search platform used by search
marketers, followed by Bing Ads, which also serves a significant portion of ads on Yahoo.

Social Media Marketing (SMM):

Social media marketing is the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social
media sites. Social media marketing programs usually centre on efforts to create content that
attracts attention and encourages readers to share it across their social networks.
The resulting electronic word of mouth (eWoM) refers to any statement consumers share
via the Internet (e.g., web sites, social networks, instant messages, news feeds) about an
event, product, service, brand or company. When the underlying message spreads from
user to user and presumably resonates because it appears to come from a trusted, thirdparty source, as opposed to the brand or company itself, this form of marketing results in
earned media rather than paid media.

Pay Per Click (PPC):

Pay per click (PPC), also called cost per click, is an internet advertising model used to direct
traffic to websites, in which advertisers pay the publisher (typically a website owner) when
the ad is clicked. It is defined simply as the amount spent to get an advertisement clicked.
With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target
market. Content sites commonly charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding
system. PPC "display" advertisements, also known as "banner" ads, are shown on web sites
or search engine results with related content that have agreed to show ads.

Content Marketing:
Content marketing is any marketing that involves the creation and sharing of media and publishing
content in order to acquire and retain customers. This information can be presented in a variety of
formats, including news, video, white papers, e-books, infographics, case studies, how-to guides,
question and answer articles, photos, etc.

Content marketings purpose is to attract and retain customers by consistently creating and
curating relevant and valuable content with the intention of changing or enhancing consumer
behaviour. It is an ongoing process that is best integrated into your overall marketing strategy,
and it focuses on owning media, not renting it.

Basically, content marketing is the art of communicating with your customers and prospects
without selling. It is non-interruption marketing. Instead of pitching your products or
services, you are delivering information that makes your buyer more intelligent.

Definition of Start Up: Start Up is a business in the form of a company, a partnership or temporary organization
designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.
Start Up companies can come in all forms and sizes. Some of the critical tasks are to build a
co-founder team to secure key skills and resources to be able to conduct research and build a
first Minimum viable product (MVP) in order to validate, assess and develop the ideas or
business concepts in addition to opportunities to establish further and deeper understanding
on the ideas or business concepts as well as their commercial potential.

Definition of Start Up Ecosystem: A Start Up ecosystem is formed by people, start Ups in their various stages and various
types of organizations in a location (physical or virtual), interacting as a system to create new
Start Up companies. These organizations can be further divided into categories such as
universities, funding organizations, support organizations (like incubators, accelerators, coworking spaces etc.), research organizations, service provider organizations (like legal,
financial services etc.) and large corporations.
Fostering entrepreneurship has become a core component of economic development in cities
and countries around the world. The predominant metaphor for fostering entrepreneurship as
an economic development strategy is the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Contents of a Start-Up Ecosystem:

1.
2.

Composition of the Start Up ecosystem

List of organizations and/or organized activities with start-up activities

1. Composition of the Start Up ecosystem:

Entrepreneurship Education
Start Ups at various stages

Entrepreneurs

Start-up team members

Angel investors

Start Up mentors
6

Start Up advisors

Other business-oriented people

People from other organizations with start-up activities

Start Up events

2. List of organizations and/or organized activities with start-up activities:

universities
advisory & mentoring organizations

Start Up incubators

Start Up accelerators

Co-working spaces

Service providers (consulting, accounting, legal, etc.)

event organizers

start-up competitions

investor networks

venture capital companies

crowdfunding portals

Other funding providers (loans, grants etc.)

start-up blogs & other business media

other facilitators

Chapter II
Industry/Sector
Profile
8

Information technology in India is an industry consisting of two major components: IT

services and business process outsourcing (BPO). The sector has increased its contribution to
India's GDP from 1.2% in 1998 to 7.5% in 2012.According to NASSCOM, the sector
aggregated revenues of US$147 billion in 2015, where export revenue stood at US$99 billion
and domestic at US$48 billion, growing by over 13%.India's prime minister Narendra Modi
has started 'Digital India' project to give IT a secured position inside & outside India.
India is the world's largest sourcing destination for the information technology (IT) industry,
accounting for approximately 52 per cent of the US$ 124-130 billion market. The industry
employs about 10 million Indians and continues to contribute significantly to the social and
economic transformation in the country.
The IT industry has not only transformed India's image on the global platform, but has also
fueled economic growth by energizing the higher education sector especially in engineering
and computer science. India's cost competitiveness in providing IT services, which is
approximately 3-4 times cheaper than the US, continues to be its unique selling proposition
(USP) in the global sourcing market.
The Indian IT and ITeS industry is divided into four major segments IT services, business
process management (BPM), software products and engineering services, and hardware.
The IT-BPM sector in India grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25 per cent
over 2000-2013, which is 3-4 times higher than the global IT-BPM spend, and is estimated to
expand at a CAGR of 9.5 per cent to US$ 300 billion by 2020.
India has emerged as the fastest growing market for Dell globally and the third largest market
in terms of revenue after the US and China, said Mr Alok Ohrie, Managing Director, Dell
India.

Market Size
India, the fourth largest base for young businesses in the world and home to 3,000 tech startups, is set to increase its base to 11,500 tech start-ups by 2020, as per a report by Nasscom
and Zinnov Management Consulting Pvt Ltd.
Indias internet economy is expected to touch Rs 10 trillion (US$ 161.26 billion) by 2018,
accounting for 5 per cent of the countrys gross domestic product (GDP), according to a
report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Internet and Mobile Association of India

(IAMAI). In December 2014, Indias internet user base reached 300 million, the third largest
in the world, while the number of social media users and smartphones grew to 100 million.
Public cloud services revenue in India is expected to reach US$ 838 million in 2015, growing
by 33 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), as per a report by Gartner Inc. In yet another Gartner
report, the public cloud market alone in the country was estimated to treble to US$ 1.9 billion
by 2018 from US$ 638 million in 2014. The increased internet penetration and rise of ecommerce are the main reasons for continued growth of the data centre co-location and
hosting market in India.

Investments
Indian IT's core competencies and strengths have placed it on the international canvas,
attracting investments from major countries. The computer software and hardware sector in
India attracted cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows worth US$ 13,788.56
million between April 2000 and December 2014, according to data released by the
Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).
The private equity (PE) deals increased the number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A)
especially in the e-commerce space in 2014. The IT space, including e-commerce, witnessed
240 deals worth US$ 3.8 billion in 2014, as per data from Dealogic.
India also saw a ten-fold increase in the venture funding that went into internet companies in
2014 as compared to 2013. More than 800 internet start-ups got funding in 2014 as compared
to 200 in 2012, said Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Google India Pvt Ltd and Chairman,
IAMA.
Most large technology companies may have so far focused primarily on bigger enterprises,
but a report from market research firm Zinnov highlighted that the small and medium
businesses will present a lucrative opportunity worth US$ 11.6 billion in 2015 and US$ 25.8
billion in 2020. Moreover, India has nearly 51 million such businesses of which 12 million
have a high degree of technology influence and are looking to adopt newer IT products, as
per the report.
Some of the major investments in the Indian IT and ITeS sector are as follows:

Wipro has won a US$ 400 million, multi-year IT infrastructure management contract
from Swiss engineering giant ABB, making it the largest deal for the technology
company.

10

Tech Mahindra has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Geneva-based SOFGEN

Holdings. The acquisition is expected to strengthen Tech Mahindras presence in the
banking segment.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) plans to set up offshore development centres in

India for Japanese clients in a bid to boost the company's margin in the market.

Reliance is building a 650,000 square feet (sq. ft.) data centre in Indiaits 10th data
centre in the countrywith a combined capacity of about 1 million sq. ft. and an overall
investment of US$ 200 million.

Intel Corp plans to invest about US$ 62 million in 16 technology companies, working
on wearable, data analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT), in 2015 through its
investment arm Intel Capital. The Indian IoT industry is expected be worth US$ 15 billion
and to connect 28 billion devices to the internet by 2020.

Keiretsu Forum, a global angel investor network, has forayed into India by opening a
chapter in Chennai. With this, the Silicon Valley-based network will have 34 chapters
across three continents.

Government Initiatives
The adoption of key technologies across sectors spurred by the 'Digital India Initiative' could
help boost India's gross domestic product (GDP) by US$ 550 billion to US$ 1 trillion by
2025, as per research firm McKinsey.
Some of the major initiatives taken by the government to promote IT and ITeS sector in India
are as follows:

India and the United States (US) have agreed to jointly explore opportunities for
collaboration on implementing India's ambitious Rs 1.13 trillion (US$ 18.22 billion)
Digital India Initiative. The two sides also agreed to hold the US-India Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) Working Group in India later this year.

11

India and Japan held a Joint Working Group conference for Comprehensive

Cooperation Framework for ICT. India also offered Japan to manufacture ICT equipment
in India.
The Government of Telangana began construction of a technology incubator in

Hyderabaddubbed T-Hubto reposition the city as a technology destination. The state

government is initially investing Rs 35 crore (US$ 5.64 million) to set up a 60,000 sq ft
space, labelled the largest start-up incubator in the county, at the campus of International
Institute of Information Technology-Hyderabad (IIIT-H). Once completed, the project is
proposed to be the worlds biggest start-up incubator housing 1,000 start-ups.
Bengaluru has received US$ 2.6 billion in venture capital (VC) investments in 2014,

making it the fifth largest recipient globally during the year, an indication of the growing
vibrancy of its start-up ecosystem. Among countries, India received the third highest VC
funding worth US$ 4.6 billion.

Major players
The leading companies in the information technology industry of India are

Wipro Ltd,
Aditya Technologies,
NIIT Ltd,
Patni Computer Systems (P) Ltd,
Polaris Software Lab Ltd, ,
HCL Infosystems Ltd,
Hexaware Technologies Ltd,
Iflex Solutions Ltd, CMC Ltd,
Igate Global Solutions Ltd,
HCL Corporation Ltd,
Infosys Technologies Ltd,
Satyam Computer Services Ltd,
Larsen & Toubro Ltd,
Tata Consultancy Services,
Tata Infotech Ltd
Mastek Ltd.

12

Entrepreneurship has been one of the most popular subjects that have aroused the interest of
students and young entrepreneurship in large measure. The importance of the subjects is
magnified manifold in todays economic climate. Entrepreneurship introduces a critical
element of dynamism into an economic system.
It is no coincidence that the worlds leading economy, the USA, is believed to be the most
entrepreneurial society in the world. The process of globalization and liberalization has
introduced two sets of changes the first is the obvious introduction of dynamism into the
system through the process of globalization.
While new opportunities have opened up in international markets, the bar has been raised in
the domestic market through international products and services being available to Indian
consumers. The domestic market will no longer be lower risk. It will force Indian
entrepreneurs to regain their spirit of innovation. The more subtle change is social: increase in
literacy levels, greater consumer awareness, enhanced media penetration, and basic changes
in family structure.
Keeping with the demands for greater innovation in Indian enterprises, several have
fundamentally redesigned structures. There are no easy answers to how the rate of changes in
entrepreneurial activity can be increased. Entrepreneurship extends beyond a conventional
business and economic perspective. Creativity, innovation and bringing a vision to life are as
much entrepreneurial activities in a social sphere and have the same impact on society as
does the business entrepreneurship to the economy.
Indians have always been entrepreneurs: we have all heard about businesses growing from
father to son or the rags to riches story in conventional industry. But recently there has been a
shift in the nature of Indian entrepreneurship. It has come to stand for something that is out of
the box and globally oriented.
The concept of entrepreneurship is a complex phenomenon. Broadly it relates to
entrepreneur, his vision and its implementation. The key player is the entrepreneur.
Entrepreneurship refers to the process of action an entrepreneur (person) undertakes to
establish his/ her enterprise. It is a creative and innovative response to the environment.
One of the qualities of entrepreneurship is the ability to discover an investment opportunity
and to organize an enterprise, thereby contributing the real economic growth. It involves
taking of risks and making necessary investments under conditions of uncertainty and
innovating, planning and taking decisions so as to increase production in agriculture, industry
and services.

Current scenario of Entrepreneurship in India

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report, Indias High-Growth Expectation
Early-Stage Entrepreneurship (HEA) rate is only one-fifth of that of China. Further, among
medium and low income countries, while Chinas nascent and new entrepreneurs appear to be
the most growth-oriented, with more than 10 per cent of them anticipating high growth.
Early-stage entrepreneurial activity in India is marked by low levels of growth expectation.
13

This is despite the extremely high levels of potential entrepreneurial activity as perceived by
the non-entrepreneurially active population in the country.
While data on entrepreneurship is hard to come by, the following numbers are telling.
According to the NSS 62nd round, in rural India, almost 50 per cent of all workers are selfemployed 57 per cent among males and nearly 62 per cent among females, while the
corresponding figures in urban India are 42 for males and 44 for females. The NSSO defines
a self-employed person as one who has worked in household enterprises as own-account
worker; worked in household enterprises as an employer or worked in household enterprises
as helper.
The essential feature of the self-employed is that they have autonomy (decide how, where and
when to produce) and economic independence (in respect of choice of market, scale of
operation and finance) for carrying out their operation.
According to the 5th Economic Census conducted by the Central Statistical Organisation
(CSO), there are 41.83 million establishments in the country engaged in different economic
activities other than crop production and plantation.
Five states viz. Tamil Nadu (10.60 per cent), Maharashtra (10.10 per cent), West Bengal
(10.05 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (9.61 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (9.56 per cent) together
account for about 50 percent of the total establishments in the country. The same five states
also have the combined share of about 50 per cent of total employment.
Finance:
Access to credit is considered to be one of the key problems faced by entrepreneurs in India.
This problem is particularly acute at the start-up stage, where bank finance is hard to obtain.
Despite new sources of finance such as venture capital, angel funding and private equity
becoming increasingly popular, institutional finance is still not able to meet the current
entrepreneurial demands.
Regulation and governance:
An entrepreneur has to deal with a host of regulatory and compliance issues. These include
registering ones business, obtaining government clearances and licenses, paying taxes and
complying with labour regulations. Cumbersome paperwork, long delays and red tapism
involved in such transactions create unnecessary burdens for entrepreneurs, constraining their
productivity and their ability to do business.
As seen in the Doing Business 2008 rankings, India performs poorly in these indicators. A
study investigating the effect of regulation on entrepreneurship using the GEM dataset shows
India to be having one of the worst regulatory indices. Moreover, lack of clarity on
information relating to legal and procedural aspects of starting an enterprise, as well as those
relating to clearances, licenses and government schemes further aggravates the problem.

14

Chapter III
Organisational
profile and Business
Overview

15

LEMON IDEAS Pvt. Ltd.

Mission and Vision of the Company:
Mission:
Our Mission is to nurture entrepreneurs and start-ups pan India level by providing them right
kind of mentoring and funding opportunities.

Vision:
We aim to build a conducive ecosystem for new start-ups and entrepreneurs in Tier II cities of
India and making a contribution towards nation development.

Company Profile:

Lemon Ideas is a start-up mentorship organization dedicated towards fostering the start-up
ecosystem in India, we at Lemon Ideas are primarily aiming towards building conducive
ecosystem for new ventures in Tier II cities of India. Our work at Lemon Ideas includes
mentoring, innovation and incubation/Co-working for start-ups in their early stages. We are
also active in the space of talent innovations where we hunt for promising ideas and teams for
start-ups. We aim to nurture 1000 entrepreneurs and 100 start-ups over next five years.
Lemon has collaborated with whos who in start-up ecosystem to bring the best support for
entrepreneurs in smaller towns as part of its ecosystem partnerships.
Lemon has a strong network of resident mentors, domain mentors and advisors. These
experienced entrepreneurs from different industries provide right experiential guidance and
mentorship to the start-up teams at Lemon.

Registered Address:
Lemon Ideas
Lambent IT Park (GlobalLogic)
Harihar Nagar, Besa,
Nagpur 440027
Maharashtra, India.

16

Composition of Board:
Dr. Rajeev Roy: - Chief Gardener
Mr. Vikas Rajput: - Dean Program
Mr. Deepak Menaria: - Chair - Experiential Learning
Mr. Sanjay Arora: - Chair - Entrepreneurial Marketing
Dr. Tejinder Singh Rawal: - Chair - Business Finance
Mr. Nitin Gujarathi: - Chair Technology
Dr. Prabodh: - Chair - Self & Psychology
Mr. Sourav Mukerji: - Chair - Outbound Program
Mr. Mukesh Ashar: - Chair - Behaviour Science
Mrs. Poonam Menaria: - Self Awareness Mentor
Mr. Praveen Kanda: - Technology Mentor

Major Customers:
Janta Choupal
Super Pandit
Ink Tantra
Khichadiwala
College Nucleus
Discover Dollar
YourVision
OrangeNorange
Hiplogik

17

Kabadiwala

Functional Overview:
Lemon Ideas operates its services headquartered from Nagpur. They are Start-up Incubator. A
start-up incubator in business speak is a company that helps new and start-up companies to
develop by providing services such as management training or office space
Lemon Ideas is moving from being Start-up Incubator to Start-up Accelerator. Start-up
Accelerator also known as Seed accelerators are fixed-term, cohort-based programs, that
include mentorship and educational components and culminate in a public pitch event or
demo day. While traditional business incubators are often government-funded, generally take
no equity, and focus on biotech, medical technology, clean tech or product-centric companies,
accelerators can be either privately or publicly funded and focus on a wide range of
industries.
The main differences between business incubators and accelerators are:
1. The application process is open to anyone, but highly competitive. Y Combinator and
TechStars have application acceptance rates between 1% and 3%.
2. A seed investment in the start-ups is usually made, in exchange for equity. Typically,
the investment is between US$20,000 and US$50,000 (or 10,000 and 50,000 in
Europe)
3. The focus is on small teams, not on individual founders. Accelerators consider that
one person is insufficient to handle all the work associated with a start-up.
4. The start-ups must "graduate" by a given deadline, typically after 3 months. During
this time, they receive intensive mentoring and training, and they are expected to
iterate rapidly. Virtually all accelerators end their programs with a "Demo Day",
where the start-ups present to investors.
5. Start-ups are accepted and supported in cohort batches or classes (the accelerator isn't
an on-demand resource). The peer support and feedback that the classes provide is an
important advantage. If the accelerator doesn't offer a common workspace, the teams
will meet periodically.

Marketing
The marketing team at Lemon Ideas is responsible for creating a complete marketing
experience that helps maximize revenue growth and profitability. The team
collaborates to conceptualize, develop and deploy products, services and platforms to
enhance business performance. This team makes sound marketing decisions around
product lifecycle and form future strategies to build a loyal consumer base. Some key
characteristics that define the marketing team at Lemon Ideas are being fast paced
and result oriented.
18

Digital Marketing
The digital team at Lemon Ideas plays a very important role as it is a start-up. Social
media (Facebook, Twitter, Blog and LinkedIn) advertises locally and globally overall.
Creatives, success stories are being also shared to spread the start-up mantra to
people.

Chapter IV
Outline of Problem/Task
Undertaken

19

In India, there is still a lot to develop in the case of services sectors. Our Prime Minister
majorly focuses on Make in India which basically contributes on Indian made products; that
are produced in India and distributed worldwide.
Start-ups are one of the best way to create employment and produce swadeshi goods,
increase GDP overall etc. Advertising about the products and create buzz in environment is
companies need today.
Digital Marketing is other important factor for Digitisation of the country. Today, most of the
start-ups and other companies makes the most out of digital media. Social media usage is
most preferred tool used by every company as the reach of the social media is very fast.
Task undertaken was to find out how start-ups utilize their resources so as to pitch itself in the
society. Parameters were:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

Documented Strategy for the plan.

Marketing budget provided for digital marketing.
Analytical tools for measuring success.
Media (out of paid media, earned media, owned media) used for advertising.
Digital Marketing basics.

20

Chapter V
Literature Review

21

Digital Marketing:
Digital marketing is an umbrella term for the targeted, measurable, and interactive
marketing of products or services using digital technologies to reach and convert leads into
customers.The key objective is to promote brands, build preference and increase sales
through various digital marketing techniques. It is embodied by an extensive selection of
service, product and brand marketing tactics, which mainly use the Internet as a core
promotional medium, in addition to mobile and traditional TV and radio.
Digital marketing concepts and practice are evolving tremendously among several industries,
especially by the leading companies among each industry utilizing the mass reach of digital
tools and social media platforms, benefiting from the possibility to create individually
tailored approach that can achieved at a very productive cost
Digital marketing activities are search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing
(SEM) , content marketing, influencer marketing, content automation, campaign marketing,
and e-commerce marketing, social media marketing, e-mail direct marketing, display
advertising, ebooks, optical disks and games, and any other form of digital media. It also
extends to non-Internet channels that provide digital media, such as mobile phones (SMS and
MMS), callback and on-hold mobile ring tones.
The term 'digital marketing' was first used in the 1990s. In the 2000s and the 2010s, digital
marketing became more sophisticated as an effective way to create a relationship with the
consumer that has depth and relevance. While the term 'digital marketing' may not have been
used until the 1990s, digital marketing itself has roots to the mid-1980s when the SoftAd
Group, now ChannelNet developed advertising campaigns for several major automobile
companies, wherein people would send in reader reply cards found in magazines and receive
in return floppy disks that contained multimedia content promoting various cars and offering
free test drives.
The rapid evolution of digital media has created new opportunities and avenues for
advertising and marketing. Fueled by the proliferation of devices to access digital media, this
has led to the exponential growth of digital advertising.
In 2012 and 2013 statistics showed digital marketing remained a growing field.
Digital media growth is estimated at 4.5 trillion online ads served annually with digital media
spend at 48% growth in 2010. An increasing portion of advertising stems from businesses
employing Online Behavioural Advertising (OBA) to tailor advertising for Internet users.
Though an innovative resource, OBA raises concern with regards to consumer privacy and
data protection. Such implications are important considerations for responsible
communications. Digital marketing is often referred to as 'online marketing', 'internet
marketing' or 'web marketing'. The term 'digital marketing' has grown in popularity over time,
particularly in certain countries. In the USA 'online marketing' is still prevalent, in Italy is
referred as 'web marketing' but in the UK and worldwide, 'digital marketing' has become the
most common term, especially after the year 2013.

22

As digital marketing is dependent on technology which is ever-evolving and fast-changing,

the same features should be expected from digital marketing developments and strategies.
This portion is an attempt to qualify or segregate the notable highlights existing and being
used as of press time.
1. Segmentation: more focus has been placed on segmentation within digital marketing, in
order to target specific markets in both business to business and business to consumer sectors.
2. Influencer Marketing: Important nodes are identified within related communities, known
as influencers. This is becoming an important concept in digital targeting. It is possible to
reach influencers via paid advertising, such as Facebook Advertising or Google Adwords
campaigns, or through sophisticated sCRM (social customer relationship management)
software, such as SAP C4C, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage CRM and Salesforce CRM. Many
universities now focus, at Masters level, on engagement strategies for influencers.
To summarize, Pull digital marketing is characterized by consumers actively seeking
marketing content while Push digital marketing occurs when marketers send messages
without that content being actively sought by the recipients.
3. Online Behavioural Advertising: Online Behavioural Advertising refers to the practice of
collecting information about a users online activity over time, on a particular device and
across different, unrelated websites, in order to deliver advertisements tailored to that users
interests and preferences.
4. Collaborative Environment: A collaborative environment can be set up between the
organization, the technology service provider, and the digital agencies to optimize effort,
resource sharing, reusability and communications.
An important consideration today while deciding on strategy is that the digital tools have
democratized the promotional landscape.

Start-Up:
Start Up is a business in the form of a company, a partnership or temporary organization
designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. A company that is in the first
stage of its operations. These companies are often initially bank rolled by their entrepreneurial
founders as they attempt to capitalize on developing a product or service for which they believe there
is a demand. Due to limited revenue or high costs, most of these small scale operations are not
sustainable in the long term without additional funding from venture capitalists.

A start-up incubator is a company that helps new and Start Up companies to develop by
providing services such as management training or office space. Business incubators differ
from research and technology parks in their dedication to Start Up and early-stage companies.
Research and technology parks, on the other hand, tend to be large-scale projects that house
everything from corporate, government or university labs to very small companies. Most
research and technology parks do not offer business assistance services, which are the
hallmark of a business incubation program. However, many research and technology parks
house incubation programs.

23

The incubation process: 1. Help with business basics

2. Networking activities
3.

Marketing assistance

4.

High-speed Internet access

5.

Help with accounting/financial management

6.

Access to bank loans, loan funds and guarantee programs

7.

Help with presentation skills

8.

Links to higher education resources

9.

Links to strategic partners

10.

Access to angel investors or venture capital

11.

Comprehensive business training programs

12.

Advisory boards and mentors

13.

Management team identification

14.

Help with business etiquette

15.

Technology commercialization assistance

16.

Help with regulatory compliance

Start Up accelerators are fixed-term, cohort-based programs, that include mentorship and
educational components and culminate in a public pitch event or demo day. While traditional
business incubators are often government-funded, generally take no equity, and focus on
biotech, medical technology, clean tech or product-centric companies, accelerators can be
either privately or publicly funded and focus on a wide range of industries.
A Start Up accelerator is built to foster rapid growth of its portfolio companies. It's a manmade perfect storm of mentorship, access to technology, office space and an innovative
community, packed into a short time frame. Essentially, the function of an accelerator is to
turn the art of starting a company into a program that can be repeated, churning out valuable
companies as if on an assembly line.
While each accelerator has nuances, programs tend to share several traits: Start Ups apply to
be part of a program lasting a few months, in which they obtain mentorship, office space and
funding, usually in exchange for company stock. The accelerator program hopes to enable
exciting new businesses and of course get a return on the investment.
The primary value to the entrepreneur is derived from the mentoring, connections, and the
recognition of being chosen to be a part of the accelerator. The business model is based on
generating venture style returns, not rent, or fees for services.

24

Seed accelerators do not necessarily need to include a physical space, but many do. The
process that Start Ups go through in the accelerator can be separated into five distinct phases:
awareness, application, program, demo day, post demo day.
With the establishment of information technology, each and every activity of our daily life in
personal and professional aspects has seen a massive change and the role of digital media is
simply spectacular. Many people operate businesses worldwide on small scale and large
scales. However, when running a business offline, you can experience only moderate success.
When it comes to online, you can find it expanding largely in quick time. And, for this digital
marketing is the key.
Any business can reach to millions of people through digital media. An optimized website
along with marketing activities can target the customers and rive in more traffic to the
website. You can attract more customers who are interested in your products or services
through marketing. The key facts to start up and expand your business are as follows:

Target your customers

Engage yourselves in online communities

Converse with audience

Educate customers about products

Open up new ways to expand business

A powerful marketing strategy is crucial for any business. When it comes to setting up an
online business, you obviously face huge competition. When you wish to enjoy the privileges
and success your competitors enjoy, you need to have a well-organized business plan and
marketing strategy. You need to develop a good website, have a marketing and advertising
campaign and popularize your brand. The key elements for any digital marketing strategy are,

Website design
Functionality of the website

PPC campaigns

Social media advertising

Video marketing

Search engine optimization

Social media marketing

Email marketing

Website is the basic thing to have a good start up. Design your website in an attractive and
informative way such that any visitor who views your website gets to know what your
business is about. The website content and functionality also should be user friendly.
Marketing campaigns are smarter ways of attracting target customers. Increase the brand
awareness and increase the online visibility of your website.
Search engine optimization helps you bring natural traffic to your website. With proper skills
and knowledge in SEO you can find a massive difference in the sales of your products in
25

quick time. Marketing activities like blogging, social bookmarking, posting newsletters and
classifieds, forum participations, article marketing and other social networking activities help
in generating back links to the website. Using top notch digital marketing tools is a good and
must activity for marketers.
Online business has become highly competitive with people opening up businesses in all
industry verticals. To gain online presence and increase brand awareness digital marketing is
mandatory. It is hard to imagine a successful business without digital marketing today. Be it
any industry vertical, small or large scale business, the website has to be designed in the right
way and marketing activities should be powerful to target online audience.
In the late 1990s, the most common type of Start-up Company was a dotcom. Venture capital was
extremely easy to obtain during that time due to a frenzy among investors to speculate on the
emergence of these new types of businesses. Unfortunately, most of these internet start-ups eventually
went bust due to major oversights in their underlying business plans, such as a lack of sustainable
revenue.
However, there were a handful of internet start-ups that did survive when the dotcom bubble burst.
Internet bookseller Amazon.com and internet auction portal eBay are examples of such companies.
To confirm the commitment of the founding team, their contribution and ownership rights for the
start-up and to capture the intellectual properties being generated for the start-up, the co-founders
should seek to agree and execute a Shareholders' agreement (SHA) early on. Business models for
start-ups are generally found via a bottom-up or top-down approach.

A company may cease to be a start-up as it passes various milestones, such as becoming

publicly traded in an IPO, or ceasing to exist as an independent entity via a merger or
acquisition. Companies may also fail and cease to operate altogether. The size and maturity of
the start-up ecosystem where the start-up is born and grow, have clear impact on the volume
and success of the start-ups.
Investors are generally most attracted to those new companies distinguished by their strong
co-founding team, risk/reward profile and scalability. That is, they have lower bootstrapping
costs, higher risk, and higher potential return on investment. Successful start-ups are typically
more scalable than an established business, in the sense that they have the potential to grow
rapidly with limited investment of capital, labor or land.
Timing has often been the single most important factor for biggest start-up successes, while at
the same time it's identified to be one of the hardest things to master by many serial
entrepreneurs and investors. Start-ups encounter several unique options for funding. Venture
capital firms and angel investors may help start-up companies begin operations, exchanging
seed money for an equity stake. In practice though, many start-ups are initially funded by the
founders themselves. Factoring is another option, though not unique to start-ups. Other
funding opportunities include various forms of crowdfunding, for example equity
crowdfunding.

26

Start-up business partnering

Start-ups usually need to form partnerships with other firms to enable their business model.
To become attractive to other businesses start-ups need to align their internal features, such as
management style and products with the market situation. In their 2013 study Kask and
Linton develop two ideal profiles, or also known as configurations or archetypes, for start-ups
commercializing inventions. The Inheritor profile calls for management style that is not too
entrepreneurial (more conservative) and the start-up should have an incremental invention
(building on a previous standard). This profile is set out to be more successful (in finding a
business partner) in a market that has a dominant design (a clear standard is applied in this
market). In contrast to this profile is the Originator which has a management style that is
highly entrepreneurial and have a radical invention (totally new standard). This profile is set
out to be more successful (in finding a business partner) in a market that does not have a
dominant design (established standard).

Chapter VI
Objectives and Scope of
Project
27

Objective of the Project:

Objectives for a project provide a guideline for the researcher for him to remain always
focused on the purpose of the project and avoid any possible hindrance from the main subject
handled.

Primary Objective:
To create awareness amongst the people about Start-up culture:
Lemon Ideas being a start-up itself has become a word of mouth for most of the
Nagpur city. To create awareness about Start-ups was one of the tasks to get into
the depth of the project.
To know the number of start-ups using digital marketing:
Digital Marketing, its importance, its usage was another task so as to segregate the
digital marketing start-ups from other start-ups. This would be a beneficial tool for
revenue generation purpose.
To study the role of digital marketing and building brand awareness for the start-ups:
Start-up is the need of the hour in todays world and especially in India where
digitisation has reached towards highest level. So, presence of the start-up culture
is to be known so as to conduct the survey in the field.

Secondary Objective:

To analyse the data collected through the survey which was floated to the start-ups in
Nagpur City and nearby Cities.

To find out how many start-ups use digital marketing.

To study the effectiveness of digital marketing as a tool for increasing revenue.

Scope of the Project:

This project was carried out in Nagpur City and nearby region, so data collected is
applied for these regions only.
Duration

: The scope of project was limited to duration of 2 months.

Location

: Location for the project was Nagpur City.

28

Area under Study : The start-ups in Nagpur and other nearby cities were under
study.

Chapter VII
Research Methodology

29

Research
Research is common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. The word research is
composed of two syllables, re and search. re is a prefix meaning again, anew or over again,
search is a verb meaning to examine closely and carefully, to test and try, or to probe.
Together they form a noun describing a careful, systematic, patient study and investigation in
some field of knowledge, undertaken to establish facts or principles. Research is a structured
enquiry that utilizes acceptable scientific methodology to solve problems and create new
knowledge that is generally applicable. Scientific methods consist of systematic observation,
classification and interpretation of data.
Definition The Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English lays down the meaning of research as
A careful investigation or inquiry especially through search for new facts in any branch of
knowledge
According to Redman & Moray A systematized effort to gain new knowledge
Research MethodologyIt is the way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be understood as a science
of studying how research is done scientifically. In it we study the various steps that are
generally adopted by a researcher in studying his research problem along with the logic
behind them.
Characteristics of Research:
Research is a process of collecting, analysing and interpreting information to answer
questions. But to qualify as research, the process must have certain characteristics such as

Controlled
Rigorous
Systematic
Valid and Verifiable
Empirical
Critical

Controlled - in real life there are many factors that affect an outcome. The concept of control
implies that, in exploring causality in relation to two variables (factors), you set up your study
in a way that minimizes the effects of other factors affecting the relationship. This can be
achieved to a large extent in the physical sciences (cookery, bakery), as most of the research
30

is done in a laboratory. However, in the social sciences (Hospitality and Tourism) it is

extremely difficult as research is carried out on issues related to human beings living in
society, where such controls are not possible. Therefore in Hospitality and Tourism, as you
cannot control external factors, you attempt to quantify their impact.
Rigorous - you must be scrupulous in ensuring that the procedures followed to find answers
to questions are relevant, appropriate and justified. Again, the degree of rigor varies markedly
between the physical and social sciences and within the social sciences.
Systematic - this implies that the procedure adopted to undertake an investigation follow a
certain logical sequence. The different steps cannot be taken in a haphazard way. Some
procedures must follow others.
Valid and verifiable - this concept implies that whatever you conclude on the basis of your
findings is correct and can be verified by you and others.
Empirical - this means that any conclusions drawn are based upon hard evidence gathered
from information collected from real life experiences or observations.
Critical - critical scrutiny of the procedures used and the methods employed is crucial to a
research enquiry. The process of investigation must be foolproof and free from drawbacks.
The process adopted and the procedures used must be able to withstand critical scrutiny. For a
process to be called research, it is imperative that it has the above characteristics.
Types of research Design:Research can be classified from three perspectives:
1. Application of research study
2. Objectives in undertaking the research
3. Inquiry mode employed

31

Application of research study:

From the point of view of application, there are two broad categories of research:

Pure research
Applied research

Pure research involves developing and testing theories and hypotheses that are intellectually
challenging to the researcher but may or may not have practical application at the present
time or in the future. The knowledge produced through pure research is sought in order to add
to the existing body of research methods.
Applied research is done to solve specific, practical questions; for policy formulation,
administration and understanding of a phenomenon. It can be exploratory, but is usually
descriptive. It is almost always done on the basis of basic research. Applied research can be
carried out by academic or industrial institutions. Often, an academic institution such as a
university will have a specific applied research program funded by an industrial partner
interested in that program.
Objectives in undertaking the research:
From the viewpoint of objectives, a research can be classified as

Descriptive
Correlation
Explanatory
Exploratory

Descriptive research attempts to describe systematically a situation, problem, phenomenon,

service or programme, or provides information about , say, living condition of a community,
or describes attitudes towards an issue.
Correlation research attempts to discover or establish the existence of a relationship/
interdependence between two or more aspects of a situation.
Explanatory research attempts to clarify why and how there is a relationship between two
or more aspects of a situation or phenomenon.

32

Exploratory research is undertaken to explore an area where little is known or to investigate

the possibilities of undertaking a particular research study (feasibility study/ pilot study).
In practice most studies are a combination of the first three categories.
Inquiry mode employed:
From the process adopted to find answer to research questions the two approaches are:
- Structured approach
- Unstructured approach
Structured approach:
The structured approach to inquiry is usually classified as quantitative research. Here
everything that forms the research process- objectives, design, sample, and the questions that
you plan to ask of respondents- is predetermined. It is more appropriate to determine the
extent of a problem, issue or phenomenon by quantifying the variation.
Unstructured approach:
The unstructured approach to inquiry is usually classified as qualitative research. This
approach allows flexibility in all aspects of the research process.
SamplingSampling may be defined as the selection of some part of an aggregate or totality on the basis
of which a judgement about the aggregate is made. In other words, process of obtaining
information about an entire population by examining only a part of it.
Types of sampling:
Probability Sampling - A probability sampling is one in which every unit in the population
has a chance (greater than zero) of being selected in the sample, and this probability can be
accurately determined. The combination of these traits makes it possible to produce unbiased
estimates of population totals, by weighting sampled units according to their probability of
selection.
Systematic Sampling - The most practical way of sampling is to select every item on a list,
this kind of sampling known as systematic sampling.
33

Stratified Sampling- If a population from which a sample is to be drawn does not constitute
a homogeneous group, stratified sampling technique is applied in order to obtain
representative sample.
Cluster Sampling- If the total area of interest happens to be big one, a convenient way in
which is sample can be taken is to be divided into smaller non-overlapping areas called
cluster known as cluster sampling.
Non probability sampling- In case of non-probability sampling, it is considered appropriate
to use a random selection process where the probability of each cluster being included in the
sample is proportional to size of the cluster.
Research Design
Research design is the based framework, which provides guidelines for the research process.
It is a map or blue print according to which the research is to be conducts. The research
design specifies the methods for data collection & data analysis determine the source of data.
Most specifically it was a Descriptive kind of research which takes care of who, when,
where, what, how and why aspects of the investigation. Further statistical methods are used to
serve the purpose of project.
Various parameter used in research Research Design - Descriptive
Data Source -Primary & Secondary data
Research Instrument Questionnaire
Types of Questionnaire -Structure and non-disguised

34

Chapter VIII
Analysis
And
Findings

35

The survey was taken over 20 start-ups present in Nagpur and nearby cities of Nagpur.
These start-ups have come into existence in about 1 year.
They had been floated this questionnaire through Google Docs so as to complete the survey.

The analysis of the survey is been explained below.

Q1) Do you have a documented Digital Strategy / Plan in place?

Yes
No

8
12

Interpretation:
Here, we can interpret that more than half start-ups dont have documented plan of their startup.
This is where we can basically segregate the life expectancy of the start-ups.

36

Q2) What percentage of your overall marketing budget is assigned to Digital?

Percentage
10
25
33
50
75
100

Start-ups
7
5
4
3
1
0

Interpretation:
Here, we can interpret that most of the start-ups dont have strategy build towards digital
marketing.
16 out of 20 start-ups have less than 50% budget towards digital marketing.

Q3) Which statements best describe your current Digital Marketing efforts?
37

DM Effort

Count

In-house
Marketer/Marketing Team

Outsource the Marketing to 4

Agent or Consultant
Marketing expertise on the 1
founding team
Most of the Marketing done 5
by
own,
without
background
Don't Really do any Digital 4
Marketing

Interpretation:
Here, we can interpret that most of the start-ups prefer digital marketing on In-house
marketer (30%).
Also, 20% dont really make use of digital marketing in their start-up.
Q4) What does your company aim to achieve with Digital Marketing?

38

Parameter

Count

Creating
brand
awareness
Driving strategy for
customer acquisition
Creating and executing
lead
generation
campaigns
Developing
company
messaging
and
positioning
Creating
marketing
brochures and other
materials
Other

16

8
9
6
6
3

Interpretation:
Here, we can interpret that start-ups using digital marketing are more over concerned with the
creation of brand awareness and also generating lead through various sources.

Q5) How do you measure the success of your Digital Marketing efforts?
39

Type of Tools

Count

Using a free analytic tools

10

Using a paid analytic tools

Using agency produced

reports
Using consultant produced
reports
Using external eCommerce
platform/software
Other

2
3
1
2

Interpretation:
Having faith in oneself is what start-ups look out for. So 50% of the start-ups have free
analytic tools in-house.

40

Q6) Which 2 of the following tactics are most important to your 2015 strategy?

Tactics

Count

Email Marketing
Social Media
Search Engine Marketing
Content Marketing
Blogger Outreach
Affiliates
Display Advertising

14
18
10
10
6
3
5

Interpretation:
Here, we can interpret that start-ups create their brands awareness with the help of social
media, search engine marketing, email marketing.
Above tactics would surely help in strategizing in the year 2015.

41

Q7) Which one of the following media do you believe will deliver you the best return in
2015?

Media

Count

Paid Media

Earned Media

11

Owned Media

Interpretation:
When it comes to delivering the best returns, earned media is preferred at most.
55% of start-ups prefer earned media over paid and owned media.

42

Q8) Which of the following areas do you require the most help with?

Options

Count

Social Media Advertising

Content Marketing

10

Digital Strategy and Planning

15

Conversation Rate Optimization

User Experience Testing

Interpretation:
From about chart we can interpret that start-ups using digital marketing requires most help
with digital strategy and planning which is most basic part as compared to other tools
highlighted above.

43

Q9) Have you ever considered or had formal Digital Marketing training?

Question

Count

Yes

No

15

Interpretation:
More than 70% of start-ups have no experience in training of digital marketing.

Findings:
After analysing the responses of the 20 start-ups, we find that there is a huge need of digital
marketing in start-ups for pitching themselves towards the society of India.
Digital strategy/plan, tools of digital marketing, training of digital marketing, budgeting the
digital marketing are the signs telling that digital marketing is the need of the hour in todays
world.

44

Chapter IX
Key learnings and
Contribution to the
Host Organisation

45

Key Learnings:
Through this project and through LEMON IDEAS, I got to learn about start-ups, how they
work. Lemon Ideas being a start-up let me work in every part of the organisation. I got a
detailed understanding of how start-ups are being funded and how they pitch themselves from
their competitors.
Another important thing to learn was about digital marketing. Digital marketing has a very
wide scope in the coming years which helped me in knowing how the working of digital
marketing in any organisation is and how it is cheapest and economic source of
communication to reach into the mass.
A depth knowledge of Information Technology and its association with start-ups was also
covered.

Contribution to the Host Organisation:

Generated leads to Lemon Ideas for the purpose of their institute named Lemon School of
Entrepreneurship.
Cold calling for their promotional events like Weekend with mentor, Lemon School of
Entrepreneurship and Mentor Speak.
Suggested targeting strategies for different start-ups and masses present.

46

Bibliography/References:
www.lemonideas.in
www.lemon-school.com
www.ibef.org
www.slideshare.com
www.yourstory.com
www.techcrunch.com
www.google.com
www.wikipedia.com

BOOKS
Principles of Marketing-Philips Kotler & Kelvin Keller (Edition 13)
Research Methodology concepts and cases- Deepak Chawla and Neena Sondhi

47

Chapter X
Questionnaire/Checklist of
Questions

48

Annexures: Glossary, Questionnaire/Checklist of Questions

Questionnaire:
Q1) Do you have a documented Digital Strategy / Plan in place?
Yes
No
Q2) What percentage of your overall marketing budget is assigned to Digital?
10
25
33
50
75
100
Q3) Which statements best describe your current Digital Marketing efforts?
In-house Marketer/Marketing Team
Outsource the Marketing to Agent or Consultant
Marketing expertise on the founding team
Most of the Marketing done by own, without background
Don't really do any Digital Marketing

Q4) What does your company aim to achieve with Digital Marketing?
Creating brand awareness
Driving strategy for customer acquisition
Creating and executing lead generation campaigns
Developing company messaging and positioning
Creating marketing brochures and other materials
Other:
Q5) How do you measure the success of your Digital Marketing efforts?
Using a free analytic tools
Using a paid analytic tools
49

Using agency produced reports

Using consultant produced reports
Using external eCommerce platform/software
Other:

Q6) Which 2 of the following tactics are most important to your 2015 strategy?
Email Marketing
Social Media
Search Engine Marketing
Content Marketing
Blogger Outreach
Affiliates
Display Advertising

Q7) Which 1 of the following media do you believe will deliver you the best return in
2015?
Paid Media (any of the following: display, search, affiliate and social media advertising)
Earned Media (any form of publicity generated by your advocates, customer, fans,
partners)
Owned Media (any marketing channel owned by your start-up like website and social
media profiles operated by company)
Q8) Which of the following areas do you require the most help with?
Social Media Advertising
Content Marketing
Digital Strategy and Planning
Conversation Rate Optimization
User Experience Testing
Search Engine Marketing
Online PR
Tracking and Data Analysis
Reporting
50

Other:
Q9) Have you ever considered or had formal Digital Marketing training?
Yes
No

51