Making waves within the digital area

In the bustling digital age, the place each different particular person with a smartphone claims to be a social media guru, Kennedy Karanja is busy proving that true mastery takes greater than only a catchy bio and a hoop gentle.

As the founding father of Upbrand Digital, he doesn’t simply run social media pages — he orchestrates full-scale digital methods, from Google adverts to content material creation, making companies shine within the crowded on-line area. Karanja’s journey into the digital world wasn’t deliberate with a neat, colour-coded imaginative and prescient board. It was 2019, and he had simply transitioned from media to the company world when whispers of a mysterious virus started dominating world headlines.

Coronavirus (Covid-19) was nonetheless a distant hearsay, however companies had been already murmuring about digital transformation. While most noticed an impending catastrophe, Karanja noticed a chance.

“It was actually a crisis,” he recollects with a chuckle. “I had just left the media for corporate, then boom—Covid hit! Suddenly, everything had to shift online. The organisation I was with could only function digitally, and I had to lead that transition. That’s when it clicked—everyone wanted to go digital, but nobody knew how.”

Thus, Upbrand Digital was born. At first, it was simply Karanja and an in depth ally, hustling to determine themselves whereas networking like their hire relied on it—as a result of, properly, it did. The enterprise grew, and at this time, he runs a workforce of 4, with one member on a part-time foundation.

Balancing his new enterprise whereas holding onto his company job was no straightforward feat. “I had to train my team so well that by the time something reached me, it had already been handled with precision,” he explains. “But I also have personal clients who trust me directly, so I make sure to be hands-on where necessary.”

“I specifically wanted to do digital because I realised there was a gap. Everybody was doing digital, but they didn’t know what to do.” Since that time, he managed his enterprise with the assistance of an in depth ally, whereas on the identical time networking, an element that has additionally fuelled his enterprise success at present working with a workforce of 4 the place one is on an element time settlement.

While working his enterprise, he was additionally nonetheless within the company world, balancing a number of sources of earnings because the uncertainty of the way forward for companies was very pronounced since most companies had been halting operations. He explains how he was in a position to juggle between the 2.

“The incredible thing is I’ve trained my staff or my people such that I’m confident in what they can deliver. Then there are structures in place that ensure before something gets to me, it’s like extremely, you know, been attended to but there are clients I handle on a personal basis simply because they know me and what I personally do,” he explains.

However, as extra folks proceed to faucet the area, this type of enterprise tends to get diluted, which means much less income and on the identical time the surgency of “quacks” tainting its picture. Luckily sufficient, expertise for him is an enabler, bringing within the side of self-investment.

“I spend loads of time and sources studying and enhancing on my expertise as a result of on the finish of the day, what you supply your shoppers is what issues. I all the time ask myself what distinction can deliver within the business and that pushes me again to getting new expertise which in fact I’ve seen translating to enterprise progress.

Upon listening to the difficulty of upskilling many are inclined to get downhearted due to the quite a few challenges of securing the tutoring charges. Kanja, nonetheless, sees this as no excuse.

“So, one of the interesting models I personally have is I try and train the people that I have in terms of skills but right now, it’s even easier to get these skills because Google offers workshops for digital marketing for free,” he says.

So, all you must do is do a Google search and also you’ll obtain a free digital advertising and marketing course.

That’s one of many necessities or one of many issues that if you happen to’re coming or if I’m attempting to onboard you, I’ll simply let you know, kindly take a while, do a Google workshop seminar to get accredited certifications from Google in order that at the very least you have got a primary understanding of what it means,” he suggests. With this side his employees continues to turn into higher at what they do resulting in extra shopper satisfaction. He has managed to work with seasoned artists within the nation and cementing his place as one of many folks behind their profitable music careers.

“ I have worked with a couple of musicians and I still am. There’s one amazing experience involving music production where I was given one week to run a digital ad for a music video, for this kind of work you actually need a lot of time because it involves a lot of planning, research and how to package the whole ad,” Karanja says. “So, I just had to burn the midnight oil, getting everything I needed and within the stipulated one week I was able to do the task and it actually became a huge success contrary to what I was expecting,” he narrates.

“With this kind of work, for you to be successful, you have to go an extra mile. This has also enabled me to build a good relationship with my clients and as result I cannot go home empty handed.”

With the vast portfolio his enterprise has, specifically, pictures, videography and graphics designing, Karanja is ready to cater to a wide range of shoppers additional making his enterprise enterprise viable.

The younger entrepreneur additional explains why his enterprise has room for scalability.

Karanja emphasises on being distinctive, like within the case of adverts that they normally supply, they’re now centered on the worth and triggering feelings somewhat than simply advertising and marketing the model.

“We look at what the consumer will feel when interacting with the brand, it is what I call experience marketing. This has been a success story for most of our clients as they also do offer referrals. Then this is a digital space, meaning that we improve on a daily basis. We come up with new ideas and products that make us stay relevant in the business,” he stresses.

To boost his earnings, Karanja additionally presents digital advertising and marketing shoppers to events having attained a certificates on the identical.

“I should have mentioned I’m a certified professional digital marketer. So, I’m allowed to actually teach people at school. The reason why you go to school is to be a guru or a master at it. So, now I can offer a class.”
Just like another enterprise, he faces a few challenges however he sees them as alternatives. He explains this.

“I’m now faced with an interesting struggle where everybody can do it. So that means, what is your niche? What is setting you apart from everybody? So that’s why you have to go and learn. That’s why you have to go and get better, keep updating yourself and understanding the trends. How can I improve? How best can I handle my clients? So right now, it’s not only digital marketing, which is interesting,” he explains.
For him, resilience, self-investment and consistency are the main components driving his progress.