Review: The Curious Digital Marketer 2.0

The Curious Digital Marketer 2.0 is an interesting type of book on Digital Marketing. Its the second book in a series and has been written by Kapil Ohri, Head of afaqsCampus.

Digital Marketing is quite the rage these days and there are umpteen number of experts around. It also gets confused with Social Media Marketing at times (which is a subset of Digital Marketing). Unlike traditional marketing where the number of ‘experts’ is lower, Digital Marketing does not suffer from the same fate as a lot of people think that, since they use Facebook and Twitter, they also know how to use it effectively for marketing. 

However, a lot of digital marketing decisions are still taken by traditional Marketing Heads who aren’t exactly abreast with the world of digital advertising.

I run a digital advertising agency and there have been many frustrating instances when I have had to painfully explain stuff like CPM’s, CPC’s, CTR’s etc etc to potential clients from the offline world. Some of them were even surprised that there is advertising on Facebook !!

Well, this is where this book (and its predecessor) comes in handy. 

If you are a Student (interested in a career in Digital Marketing), Entrepreneur or a Marketing Professional and need to get familiar with Digital Marketing in a jiffy but don’t know where to start, then you should definitely pick up these two books.

Its organized in separate sections including Display Advertising, Search Engine Marketing, Facebook Marketing and Web Analytics. You can see the table of contents of Book 1 here and Book 2 here. Infact, I suggest looking through these two links because they will tell you exactly what questions are answered in the book.

Its written unlike a traditional book and instead follows a breezy conversational style using questions and answers, and decently illustrated with infographics. Apart from Kapil, the book also has contributions from Industry Experts who provide inputs based on their live industry experience.

Since it is in Q&A format, the book veers more towards being simple enough for the beginner and has enough details for someone who knows ‘something’ about Digital Marketing but wants to learn more. While you won’t become an expert overnight, it will definitely give you enough information to experiment with stuff on your own or make sense of a presentation by an agency.

Social Media is mostly about people having conversations online and through different platforms. Effective Digital Marketing is mostly about weaving your message within those conversations and getting the crowd to amplify your message and achieve your goals.

Its done using a great creative and content strategy and effectively using Digital Marketing tools.

(e.g. Email marketing is a tool. You can use it to get to a large number of people but if the content within your email is not relevant or engaging, then the entire exercise is wasted)

This book does not focus on creative or content strategy. It instead does a great job of explaining the various tools available at your disposal and how you can use them effectively.

This is also where I think book lacks a bit – in showcasing interesting and effective campaign ideas as case studies and creative ideas.

Another thing which put me off slightly was the sprinkling of advertising throughout the book. It somehow made it feel less like a book 🙁

Other than that, I think its a great way to get introduced to Digital Marketing if you don’t want to spend too much time and money doing a full time course.

Get a Free Copy in Gurgaon: I was sent a copy this book last week by Kapil. Asha introduced us as she felt a review of this book might be beneficial for other Rodinhood members.

I am done reading this book (twice over) so if you are based in Gurgaon and would like to read it, you are welcome to pick it up from my office.