I prefer to call myself a writer although my official designation at Zomato and Grofers (later Blinkit) was Communication Specialist. The preliminary pitch I was given back in December of 2014 was that I’ll be “responsible for words” and I appreciated it so much that I quit my job as an entertainment journalist at Mid-day (Mumbai) and moved to Gurgaon. Since then, I spent a major chunk of my time involved in words at Zomato and then Blinkit.
Everything from copy for app notifications to sales-y emailers to informative blog posts to pertinent customer care responses (social media or otherwise) to training modules to campaign punchlines to culture content—and much more—I’d been at them for over 8 summers now.
However, when I started in the startup ecosystem early 2015, I was more focused on handling DG’s social media presence. Back then, he had less than 5000 followers on Twitter and as of now, it’s over half a million. I can’t singularly take credit for this upswing but I was the DRI for his account throughout my time at Zomato. With a cool let’s-do-it boss like him, anything is possible. The same process continued when I moved to Blinkit as I initially managed the social media presence for Albi—one of the calmest souls I've worked with—before moving onto other things.
During my tenure at both these companies, I was responsible for almost all the blogs that you saw on the company websites today. For someone who wrote extensively on entertainment as a journalist, it was quite a shift to see things from a technological point of view, but thanks to the generous attitude of the techies at these wonderful organisations, I could pick up the technical ropes pretty quickly.
With time, I started gaining insights into the business side of things as well. The fact that Zomato and Blinkit are dynamic today is best displayed by the sheer range of challenges individuals take upon themselves as they grow. Being a front-seater—from the communications side—I learned how the greatest lesson in the startup world is to unlearn and adopt newness wholeheartedly.
What also added to my advantage was the fluidity of my role as a writer: I wasn’t just composing tweets for the CEO or fine-tuning press statements or coming up with timely internal comms, etc. As Zomato entered the food delivery space in the summer of 2015, I gradually owned responsibilities for user/merchant communications as well. Which basically meant composing quirky—boring didn’t click with Zomato users—push/pop/emails that aimed at user retention and restaurant partnership.
Similarly, I fine-tuned my words as Grofers transformed into Blinkit to pioneer the 10-minute delivery space in India. It was one of the most exciting events in startup India story. Alongside, I remained a core member of the social media team during both these transformative phases.
Of course, my words were aided by the finest designers you can think of. With design led by Akshar Pathak (at Zomato), particularly on Twitter, and Bilal Shaikh (at Blinkit), especially on LinkedIn: relatable content became a norm. I am glad to point out that my fingerprints were consistently present in most of the content that went live. Goes without saying that more ideas flop on social media than those that stick. Fortunately, we rarely swamped ourselves with a done-to-death approach.
On the offline (BTL) front, I helped the graphic designers with catchy copies for tent-cards, standees, banners, posters, etc. As ownership is one of the founding values at both Z and B, I naturally took it upon myself to correct what I felt needs to be corrected on our website/app/offline—from a branding POV.
The way I saw it, if there was a problem, I tried to solve it. Didn't matter where or how or when: everything that we could see in the system was our responsibility. That was the culture we followed. Broken? Fix it. Simple.
I’ve also worked closely, but a bit reluctantly, with the PR teams on the sort of language we should be using. The final product would (obviously) be an edited version, subsuming various stakeholders from different teams, working on the same report. Democracy of ideas, if you may.
In a startup, you spread your wings and try something new, something completely out of your depths. And I did that with recruitment at Blinkit: helping hire senior folks for Engg/Product/Category teams. Quite an experience to gauge and take a bet on upcoming as well as established talents.
Thanks to the years I’ve spent in this ecosystem, I’ve been a bona fide Marketing mentor, guiding the young blood on what to adopt and what to avoid. In this space, I’ve noticed both the high and lows. On the positive front, I’ve realised that I am actually pretty good at directing an idea towards execution as most copywriters tend to get carried away by their creativity and forget that an idea has to be executable at the end of the day.
On the negative front, I also had to make peace with the fact that I am NOT AT ALL comfortable with discarding a fresh idea. If I am not able to nudge it in the right (read: better) direction, I consider it a personal failure. Similarly, my design sense has remained somewhat insufficient.
Without a hint of immodesty, I feel that there is a lot I can offer in areas of writing, ideation, strategy and execution. More often than not, I’d be able to tell you what needs to be written but even in cases where that isn’t happening, all I’d be needing is a concise brief on what is needed. Content used to be the king. Context has taken its throne now.
For instance, providing too many options is a symptom of indecision. A writer must inherently know what is required, not what will be selected. And this pertains to all forms of writing, be it short one-liners or lengthy paragraphs or even a tagline for a new feature. Since I firmly believe in the power of words, I always seek to fill the gaps between the user and the product, between the business and the stakeholders. Right communication goes a long way in building long(er)-term trust.
Lastly, learning is essential to me. If I am not updating myself, I am doing something wrong. That said, I don’t underestimate context either. What works for XYZ doesn’t necessarily have to work for ABC. Different requirements demand different analyses. Remember how ‘connecting people’ worked for Nokia until it stopped working for them? Fortunately, over time, I’ve also learned to foresee certain inalienable aspects of communication: the purpose. I’ve got clarity in thoughts and alacrity in words. That, I presume, has to be my biggest strength so far.
Here's to the next chapter in problem-solving, preferably with words.
Beauty to know the story behind words which spoke for Zomato, you are literally a great mentor.
You have this knack of presenting insightful content in such a personal manner that it feels like I'm having a conversation a with an elder brother.
Looking forward to your future endeavours Shakti. Onwards and upwards.