For eMarketingEye, 2023 was a year of stellar growth

Rajitha Dahanayake, Founder and Chief Executive of eMarketingEye (EME), deep dives into how the company navigated uncharted waters in the digital marketing realm, achieving a historic 40% revenue growth and pioneering innovative campaigns in Asia Pacific and Middle East Regions in 2023. In this interview, Dahanayake unveils the strategic manoeuvres behind EME’s record-breaking year and strategy for growth in 2024.

Looking back at EME’s journey in 2023, could you share some of the key milestones and achievements that have shaped the company’s trajectory this year?

The year 2023 has been a breakthrough for our company, signifying a pivotal moment in our 16-year history. We are on track to achieve a remarkable 40% increase in year-on-year revenue by the end of our financial year in March 2024. This growth, particularly significant in the aftermath of the pandemic, is a testament to our resilience and strategic focus, especially given our emphasis on the hospitality industry. The projected revenue growth is poised to be a record high for us, underscoring an era of unprecedented success.

Our achievements this year are largely due to our innovative approaches and strategic partnerships. We have forged strong collaborations with our clients and partners, which have been instrumental in our progress. A standout accomplishment was our prompt adoption and implementation of Google’s Performance Max for Travel Goals. We pioneered this initiative with a trailblazing campaign for prominent hotel brands like Anantara and AVANI. This campaign marked a significant first in Southeast Asia (SEA), leveraging Performance Max for Travel Goals, and gained recognition as a Google featured case study and also presented at the Google Think Travel APAC 2023 Conference in Singapore. This achievement highlights our prowess and innovative strategy in digital marketing for the travel and hospitality sector.

Further embracing technological advancements, we have significantly integrated Artificial Intelligence (AI) across various departmental functions. Our focus on AI transcends mere digitalization; it involves employing AI in diverse areas like design, campaign automation, and web development. Notably, AI assists in converting designs into functional front-end code, improving our workflow’s efficiency and precision. AI is also pivotal in crafting advertising content and optimizing paid advertising campaigns.

Encouraging our staff to utilize AI aligns with our vision of efficiency and enhanced output. Embracing automation positions us at the forefront of future-oriented business practices. Another focal point in 2023 has been the optimization of our internal processes and systems, particularly in contract management, invoicing, and reporting. These enhancements are significant milestones, reflecting our commitment to continuous improvement.

Our growth trajectory is also bolstered by our valuable partnerships. As a Google Premier Partner for 2023, Google Marketing Platform Certified Partner and a Microsoft Advertising Select Partner, we have solidified our position in the digital realm. Additionally, our new partnership as a Yandex Learning Partner, a first in South Asia, opens doors to innovative collaborations. With Yandex being Russia’s premier search engine, this partnership empowers us to offer cutting-edge solutions to our clients, furthering our mission of delivering excellence in digital marketing.

How have the company’s core values and leadership strategies influenced your success and direction in the rapidly evolving digital marketing landscape? 

At the core of our company’s success is our exceptional staff, the cornerstone of our knowledge-centric service organization. Our workforce is predominantly millennials, complemented by an increasing number of Gen Z professionals. This dynamic mix is essential for a company like ours, with 16 years in an industry where youthfulness and innovative thinking are key drivers of success. Our experience with millennials has been overwhelmingly positive, debunking common stereotypes. These millennials are not just employees; they lead and propel our company forward with their energy and innovative ideas.

The challenge, however, lies in adapting our management approach to meet the unique needs of our Gen Z employees. Their requirements and expectations differ significantly from those of millennials, presenting a distinct set of challenges. Navigating these differences is a continual learning process, but one we embrace wholeheartedly. Crucial to our approach is the autonomy and flexibility afforded by our Board of Directors. Their focus on overarching objectives and performance outcomes allows our Management and Executive teams considerable latitude in decision-making. This level of autonomy underscores the board’s trust in our team’s expertise and judgment.

Our organizational structure is intentionally flat, fostering a collaborative environment where senior staff work hand-in-hand with their teams. We uphold an open-door policy, ensuring approachability and a strong connection with our employees. Our culture celebrates collective achievements, emphasizing team success over individual accolades. While we do recognize exceptional individual contributions, our primary focus is on fostering a culture of teamwork and shared accomplishments.

Empowerment and ownership are central to our work ethos. By forming small, well-resourced teams with the authority to make independent decisions, we’ve seen significant improvements in efficiency and a heightened sense of responsibility among team members. This approach reduces the need for frequent senior management intervention and fosters a more agile and responsive work environment.

Additionally, our leadership model includes virtual teams while integral to their respective departments, collaborating on broader organizational decisions. This structure ensures a balance between specialized departmental focus and overall company strategy, creating a dynamic, effective, and cohesive work environment.

2023 has been a year with unique challenges. How have you built a culture of resilience and dynamism in overcoming challenges?

In 2023, a major focus for our company was internal restructuring to align with expected market growth and scalability. We spent the second half of the year planning an overhaul to enhance operational efficiency and elevate our client services, set to roll out next year.

Another key area was staff development. Keeping pace with industry trends, we faced a challenge in talent retention due to a migration trend among professionals. To address this, we doubled down on developing our current staff and strategically hiring new talent. Our aim was not just to fill positions but to ensure new team members could quickly excel and contribute significantly to our growth.

Can you elaborate on how EME fosters a culture of innovation and builds teams that drive technological advancement and creativity?

Our operational strategy places a strong emphasis on fostering innovation and enhancing collaboration, achieved through the promotion of small team structures. We are trying our best to limit each team to four or five members to encourage close collaboration and efficient teamwork. When a team expands beyond this size, we divide it into smaller groups to preserve this dynamic of intimacy and efficiency.

Central to nurturing creativity and innovation is our approach to hosting various competitions, such as our AI utilization challenge. This initiative encourages employees across departments to demonstrate their innovative use of artificial intelligence in daily operations and projects. The most innovative participants were celebrated at our annual staff conference “EME Level Up”, a platform for knowledge exchange and exploration of new industry trends, featuring esteemed speakers.

Regular tech talks and discussions form a core part of our learning culture. Depending on the team, these talks are held weekly or bi-weekly and delve into the latest technological advancements and industry insights. Complementing these sessions is our ‘EME Elite’ internal training program, which rewards employees with Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points for each attended session. This program incentivizes our teams to remain at the forefront of industry knowledge, covering a broad spectrum of topics from technical skills to leadership and team management. We enrich these sessions by inviting external experts and drawing upon the expertise of our internal talent.

Understanding and maximizing talent is a critical component of our philosophy. We extend our training beyond technical aspects to include soft skills and leadership development, recognizing these areas as integral to unleashing our team’s full potential.

Partnerships with industry giants like Google and Meta offer additional learning avenues. We actively encourage our staff to engage in conferences and collaborative efforts with these organizations, further broadening their professional horizons.

We have also thoughtfully designed our workspace to support our team’s diverse needs. Unconstrained and collaborative spaces set the perfect stage for productive brainstorming sessions. Acknowledging our significant female workforce, which makes up 52% of our employees and holds many leadership positions, we’ve established a women-only meeting space ‘Chéri’. This area is designed to cater to their specific needs, offering a conducive environment for discussion, collaboration, and overall professional growth.

What are EME’s plans and aspirations for the future? 

We aim to solidify our status as a leading digital marketing agency in the hospitality sector in Sri Lanka and internationally, driven by our proven success in Asia, particularly in the Maldives, Singapore, Thailand and Sri Lanka where our digital campaigns have significantly impacted the hospitality industry.

We will continue to strengthen our focus on the hospitality industry inspired by our achievements in key regions like the Maldives, where we manage campaigns for about 30% of the hotels, and our collaborations with renowned brands in Asia Pacific like Minor Hotels, Pan Pacific Hotels, The Ascott, Universal Resorts, Pulse Hotels and Resorts, and Sri Lankan Brands such as Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts, Heritance Hotels, Thema Collection, and Uga Escapes.

Looking to expand our horizons, we see the Middle East as a market ripe with potential. Our strategy to tap into this market includes increasing our visibility through exhibitions, enhanced public relations efforts, and partnerships for workshops etc.

Our EME Academy, known for its workshops in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Sri Lanka, will resume these valuable initiatives. We’ve scheduled specialized workshops for Middle Eastern clients and broader industry events across the Asia Pacific.

We will continue to leverage AI to improve our automation, campaign management, and development processes and the latest version of our PerformanceEye reporting platform, slated for release in next year’s second quarter, will enhance client reporting and facilitate a strategic shift in our team’s focus from report generation to more strategic tasks.

Another major development is a comprehensive restructuring of the company centred on efficiency, scalability, profitability, and quality. It involves forming specialized teams and a deeper focus on client relationship management. This strategic shift is crucial for our continued growth and success in a rapidly evolving market.

Source : https://economynext.com/brand_voice/for-emarketingeye-2023-was-a-year-of-stellar-growth/