"The world is our market, so why should the vision be just India-centric?" asks Suresh Reddy, co-founder and chairman, Ybrant Technologies.

In an interview with rediff.com, he explains about the company's e-marketing initiatives in India and the challenges ahead.

Could you tell us about your company's operations and clients?

Ybrant Technologies is an e-marketing solutions company that delivers support services and software tools for enterprise e-marketing.

Ybrant  began as USAGreetings.com in September 1999. This early entrant quickly became popular for its wide range of original and hi-tech animated content, and grew to a user base of 1 million.

In November 1999, the company introduced the 'Powered by USAGreetings' engine -- its first e-marketing product. In June 2000, the company metamorphosed into Ybrant Technologies Inc.

By December 2000, Ybrant Technologies had developed four platforms to cater to the differing e-marketing needs of the marketplace. Ybrant has since grown its client roster to about 140 clients spread across the United States. Ybrant currently has fifteen platforms/tools to execute, monitor and measure e-marketing strategies.

Could you give us a brief about Ybrant and its clients?

Ybrant has established itself in the e-marketing space as a reliable partner in delivering quality solutions. The company has grown by over 50 per cent in revenues, client roster and employees year on year for the last three years. We are on track to do better than 50 per cent growth this coming financial year.

Ybrant is working with some of the dynamic and prestigious brands such as Yahoo, Capital one, Vayan Marketing, AdDynamics and SEOInc.

How do you support e-marketing initiatives in India? What are the effective e-marketing strategies?

The core strategy of the e-marketing initiatives in India depend upon the clients' needs the target audience they need to reach out to, the profile of the target audience which includes demographics as well as psychographic segmentation.

Internet marketing has grown to gargantuan proportions as it has been able to deliver the goods with regards to measuring the return on investments.

There are varied e-marketing tools that we use to support the initiatives in India -- banner ads, search engine placement, affiliate marketing keyword promotion (bidding) and e-mail marketing.

Our e-marketing plans enable us to support e-marketing initiatives in India, which is driven by a four-fold strategy:

• Business referrals: The best way to get new clients is the ones referred by current clients.
• Trade shows and sales networks: We present our offerings at major trade shows in our industry.
• Excellent execution: We believe, one's ability to sell is only as good as one's delivery.
• Product marketing: Our product development is driven purely by market needs.

What kind of difficulties did you face when you embarked upon this project?

We have taken enormous care to first educate the corporates and the potential clients about the benefits of Internet marketing. A lot of awareness programmes were taken up in the international as well as domestic arena to enable actualisation of business projects in India.

What are your views on the Indian online market?

The Indian online market in on the rise.

What role would Ybrant play to enhance online marketing?

Ybrant would enhance online marketing by growing the business, and will continue to educate the influencers and the decision makers.

Where do you see your company 5 yrs from now? Do you plan to hire more people in India?

The world is the market so why should the vision be just India centric. Our vision at the moment is to establish Ybrant as the leading and most trusted e-marketing solutions provider in India in a span of another 5 years. Yes, we certainly plan to hire more people in India based on our requirements.

What do you think is the future of the Indian IT industry?

The future of the Indian IT industry is extremely forward-looking, especially with the vast talent pool in India and the corporates that believe in adapting the best from across borders, thus creating stage for an industry which is excellent in the global-local scenario.