As a part of our ASK RODINHOODERS series, please meet Puneet Aggarwal. Puneet is a very active Rodinhooder; you can bump into him at any of our Open Houses, in any city! He is super resourceful and loves helping people, meeting people and bouncing ideas. Many of us will really benefit by his presence here 🙂
About Puneet:
“I am a Punjabi “Ambarsariya” boy who since his 6th grade when computers were introduced in the school, wanted to make money from them. I was never interested in code, or programming but always wondered how to use this technology and marry it with commerce.
Blessed to be surrounded by friends who were equally geeky, I purchased my first 2.4 kbps modem in 1993 and trolled the Delhi BBS (Bulletin Board Service) scene. In 1995, when VSNL launched the internet service in India, I started reselling web space and web design services to people who wanted 1-page websites. Doing that, I met a doctor who forced me to change my business.
I started selling natural dietary supplements to the USA and UK market in the year 2000. I have remained bootstrapped ever since. As an entrepreneur, I have produced and sold Ayurvedic Feeds for horses for improving their performance in Equestrian and Derby. Presently, I run Nirogam, a content destination for everything Ayurveda.
I love hindustani classical music, travelling, playing tabla, dining out, candlestick analysis of equities, and when I am doing none of these, I am a self-proclaimed HoneymoonSwami, advising engaged couples about how to plan a memorable honeymoon vacation.
I strongly believe that “One sells best when one doesn’t sell at all ”
What can you talk to me about ?
– Emerging trends in Health-Tech
– Anything about Ayurveda; trends within the Nutraceutical and Supplements Marketing
– Entering the 1 lakh core+ Wedding Industry with 1 crore weddings every year.
– Tips for soon-to-get-married entrepreneurs for their honeymoon.
– New Ideas in the travel technology space.”
Twitter Handle : @ayurvedaguy
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Puneet is following this page – so go start asking relevant questions in the comments below!
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Puneet Nirogam Aggarwal
Super Excited to be a part of this and thanks Asha for putting it up! 🙂
Happy to Give, Happy to Help, Bring it On 🙂
I am LISTENING…….
parag kejriwal
Hi Puneet
The Global market for traditional medicine is around $90+ billion, but contribution of India in International trade is miniscule. I believe a really big business could be built out of Ayurveda. But doing the business in traditional way, starting a manufacturing concern won’t help much.
I want to start with niche segment/disease say Diabetes or Infertility and combine Ayurveda, Yoga with tech.
Whats your take on this, beside the numbers what is the real market potential & what more can be done in Ayurveda?
Puneet Nirogam Aggarwal
Hi Parag, I will reply to you in a while.
Puneet Nirogam Aggarwal
Dear Parag,
Before I could elaborate and offer my comments, I think you need to clarify your idea a bit and let me know which area are you trying to work upon. For example – what plans do you have to marry Yoga with technology ? What do you wish to do in the area of Diabetes, Infertility etc. Are you looking to educate people, or launch products around these ailments ?
Yes, the real market potential both in India and abroad is big and growing 20% YoY. The Nutraceutical market in India, currently is pegged at around 10000 crores. Ironically, Ayurveda in India has been ignored all these years, and people in the West have adopted it more than what we have done in our country. This is slowly changing. We are moving from a curative regime to a preventive regime. More classical Ayurvedic drugs are being clinically tested and getting mentions in modern scientific American Journals.
Fingers crossed. Looking forward to hear soon from what you have in mind,
Regards, Puneet
parag kejriwal
Hi Puneet
What i intend to do is sought of wellness program. I want to design a 10-12 weak program based on yoga and ayurveda, for people suffering from diabetes & people who have high risk of developing diabetes. Kind of health management company. I have contacted few ayurvedic doctors for same.
And for tech part, I think a platform for delivery of educational content, and analytics of various data points to give feedback to patient, will augment the overall effectiveness and delivery of such program.
Deependra Gadkari
Hello Puneet,
We have a 3rd generation ayurvedic medicines manufacturing and marketing company Ayurved Pratishthan, we have two OTC products in Haircare and laxatives category which we are selling for the past 25 years with decent growth, I have following questions:
1. What is the marketing medium with maximum ROI for OTC promotion ?
2. Is ad based demand creation vis-a-vis ethical promotion via Medical reps which strategy you suggest ?
3. Also could you suggest any new ways of marketing of ayurvedic OTC products ?
Thanks and Regards,
Deependra.V.Gadkari
Puneet Nirogam Aggarwal
Hi Parag,
I am extremely sorry for the delay in replying. My notifications got filtered out in Gmail.
Its a good idea to have a wellness program if it is conducted well. The resources are plenty and people are willing to adopt Ayurveda.
The problem with ill-health or poor fitness stems from the fact that we are not answerable to anybody when it comes to our body. So a wellness program can be effective if it starts holding you accountable. Everyone who wants to improve their health, need a strict accountability partner who holds a “virtual whip” and whips them when they faulter. One has to submit themselves completely to their accountability partner when following a regime. So if the wellness program is able to do this, and people really follow it, then it will life-transforming.
Instead of a 10-12 week programme, I would be more inclined towards a 7-day or 3-day intensive program where you give them a glimpse of lifestyle that they should lead and adopt, and then keep reminding them for the next 40 days if they are following it. A lot people will naturally fall out and not follow, but atleast they would now know that it is because they are not following what they have been asked to, due to which it has happened, and not because of some product or medicine or external factors.
In Ayurveda, we call it the AVA mantra. Ahaar, Vihaar and Aushadhi.
If Aahaar (Food), Vihaar (Lifestyle) is not corrected, then Aushadhi (medicine) is of no use.
If Aahar + Vihaar is corrected, then medicine is of no need.
For the tech part, I am really not sure whether Health Apps, Analytics, Feedback to Patient works through technology or not. Ultimately it boils down to action on the patient’s part. Without action, the program is just a program. People who do not take action, will blame the program, and not themselves. What is needed is infusion of accountability with subtle reminders. If the person is willing, even an email reminder / feedback is enough. If the person is not willing, the most sophisticated tech product will not help.
Your intent is good. Go ahead. Let me know if you have any follow-up questions.
Puneet Nirogam Aggarwal
Hi Deependra,
I am extremely sorry for the delay in replying. I would really like to see your products and you can send those details to puneet@nirogam.com
a) The marketing medium is completely dependent on your target audience. The medium should be the same that your target group uses to purchase other products. Find your target audience’s behaviour. Create a Customer Persona and then think on which places would your typical consumer go to, what would he do, what would he eat, drink, and what is his/her lifestyle. Use the attached file to create a Customer Avatar for your business, and then just target that medium to advertise or market. You will get a much better ROI that ways.
For OTC products, ethical promotion via doctors, nutritionists still works. What can be really effective is Youtube or Video Marketing as I am presuming you cannot afford ATL channels like TV etc. Youtube can be effective in engaging with the consumer. Digital marketing has high ROI if executed well and remains the most affordable.
b) Demand Creation or Desire Creation : Here, I would like to point out what Eugene Schwartz had said. This was told to me by the our in-house Internet Marketing God Abey John just this morning. Eugene, the legendary Advertising Guru says “Mass desire must already be there. It must already exist. You cannot create it. And you cannot fight it. But you can and must direct it, channel it, and focus it onto your particular product”
Hence, once you are sure that the mass desire exists, all you need to do is channelise it using various promotion mediums which suit your target audience.
3. New Ways of Marketing OTC products : Youtube, Facebook, Other Social Media Channels, Awareness Blogs, Corporate Health Workshops, Shop-in-shops in Modern Retail.
For the hair-care product, you can tie up with spas, salons, trichologists (get the doctors, trichologists to endorse and give testimonials about your product), get video testimonials from your customers, and run Facebook paid campaigns.
For Laxatives, talk to gastro-enterologists, panchkarma centres and certified dieticians. Have you tried talking to hotel chains for keeping a small pouch / sampler pack along with the complementary set of toileteries to help the hotel guests, expunge quickly and easily. This might sound off-beat but it can be effective as a lot of people after having hotel food the previous night might feel the need for a fibre supplement or a natural laxative. Many premium hotel chains have started keeping 5 gram Isabgol pouches in the tea service, and YAKULT in breakfast. You can even talk to Spa hotels like “Ananda in the Himalayas”.
The whole idea of new-age marketing is create a lot of content. It doesn’t cost a lot to distribute it on digital marketing channels. So as long as you create content, it can be distributed and you will have a greater reach and engagement.
I hope this helps,