CEO Insights India

A present day CMO is expected to be among the most multidimensional of leaders. They play the role of an advocate for the customers and an anchor for the team of marketing professionals of the company. They drive business growth and are responsible for changes playing out every day in their organizations. Khushboo Agarwal, Chief Marketing Officer, Sanctor Digital, is an influential, cutting edge marketing leader whose innovative ideas have helped shape multiple businesses. She is a highly motivated digital marketing & client management specialist who leads ground breaking, unique strategies in her business operations. Khushboo possesses over 14 years of professional experience and a track record of serving more than 300 businesses in consulting and inhouse roles. During her professional journey, Khushboo has had a pivotal influence in handling core manufacturing companies, services & product based companies, and micro entrepeneurs based out of Australia, Canada,India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, UK, USA and more. Her role spans digital marketing, business development, and employee management among others. She successfully leads and mentors her teams and helps them execute distinctive strategies for organizational success and client centric solutions. She has recently been recognized as one of the Most Influential Marketing Leaders by the World Marketing Congress. Let's hear it from her.

Take us through your academic career and professional journey. What made you decide on a career in the marketing and advertising industry?
Hackneyed as it may sound, it was the industry that chose me and not the other way around!

Having started my professional career in journalism, I have dabbled with fashion styling, and content writing, till I realised my true calling. Not at a pivotal point in my career

but a gradual evolution of understanding a gap in the market and snugly fitting in as a liaison between the world of digital marketing on one hand and empowering entrepreneurs on the other… I see my journey as a facilitator who helps brings ideas, products and services from the businesses to you, the end users via digital media… And everything in between!

Academically I hold a BA(Eng with Distinction)from Fergusson College, followed by and MA(Eng)from the University of Pune. In order to further my goals of understanding and helping businesses via digital media, I completed my PGDBA in Marketing from Symbiosis College.

Define Sanctor Digital as an organization.
A vibrant and progressive workplace where comfort zones do not exist. Fuelled by visionary entrepreneurs and dynamic teams where passion, dedication and delivery run a relay race passing on the clients needs as a baton all the way to the finish line. Speaking of facts and figures, founded in 2013, Sanctor Digital has been offering digital marketing services to clients across the globe. We excel in delivering exceptional results to our clients, catering to all online business needs such as web designing, web development, business strategy, paid search marketing, search engine optimization, and social media marketing among others. We help our clients reach out and connect with their customers across global markets by developing customized strategies focusing on their specific requirements. We sincerely believe that we are just getting started, and hope we can continue to learn from our clients as we grow with them.

What is the business mantra that you follow? What keeps you going today?
Resolving conlict. While conflict can be extremely conducive to innovation and problem solving, unresoved conflict is chaotic. I see my job and my journey as somebody who weighs out all the variables from clients to their needs teams and their skills, deliverables, platforms and their limitations, and the most precious resource of them all... time, and resolve their inherent conflicts to consistently deliver. This

is what keeps me going both at a professional and personal level.

Given the widespread use of technology and multiple social media platforms, resolving conflict across various channels and helping our clients develop a genuine connect with each and every customer can be considered among the top inherent challenges faced by organizations today ranking right up there with sustainability, environment and people.

Keeping this in mind, we have been able to create and successfully execute dynamic and customized multidimensional plans that help clients connect with the audience in a unique way through several platforms at the same time. So, creating strategies that deal with real problems that the entire ecosystem is facing in the burgeoning digital era is what gives me a kick every day!

Being a CMO,what are the majorprofessional incidents that bestowed you with utmost satisfaction.What are your future plans?
I must really appreciate the think tank that has come up with these questions! Now that you have made me look back, I could list out several instances like my first viral post that had 10 million likes, or the time when I had single handedly one of our biggest ticket clients in a matter of days, or helping out a small home grown mom and pop shop with the same enthusiasm and attention to detail as a multinational company in the mining sector, the various honours, accolades that I was fortunate enough to be bestowed with…but if I were to put my hand on my heart, it just comes down to two things feeling the sense of satisfaction that a client derives from our work on an ongoing basis and feeling a sense of camaraderie and family with everybody that I have had the fortune of being professionally connected with.

Khushboo Agarwal, Chief Marketing Officer, Sanctor Digital
Having MA in English from Savitribai Phule University and a PGDBA in Marketing from Symbiosis College of Pune, Khushboo has hands on 14 years of professional experience in various verticals. Being the Chief Marketing Officer she strives to achieve the highest marketing goals in this digital era.

•Hobbies:Writing, dancing, singing
•Favorite Cuisine:Continental
•Favorite Book:Screw It, Let's Do It by Richard Grandson
•Favorite Travel Destination:Goa, Bali