Dr. Rachana Chowdhary: A Passionate Entrepreneur and Transformational Content Strategist 

The media and advertising industry, in the past few decades, has undergone a huge transition. From full-page newspaper ads to microcontent and personalized push notifications on the consumer’s smartphone, the way organizations reach out to customers has had a dramatic shift. Leading this paradigm shift in India is not just a bunch of startups and Gen Z but also seasoned players like Dr. Rachana Chowdhary who has been a witness to the transition, catching on with every trend and even setting up a few. 

Growing along with the industry

Dr. Chowdhary started working at the young age of 19 years and was selected to be a member of the print media industry. She joined the Response Department (Ad Sales) of the prestigious The Times of India Group. She was privileged to have had the opportunity to work under the leadership and guidance of the Late Pradeep Guha, the man who changed the destiny of the Indian media industry.

As a teenager, Dr. Chowdhary had a chance to participate in a few Advertising Workshops conducted by the Father of Modern Indian Advertising, the Late Alque Padamsee. “His words inspired me to fall in love with the essence of audience-impacting content and communications,” she admits.

As internet penetration started to increase in parts of Asia, there was a dotcom revolution in the early 2000s, and the first league of the Startups and entrepreneurship flavor was in the air for the youth. Dr. Chowdhary, too, took the plunge to be part of an e-journalists network back then, which aimed to ease information dissemination to media digitally. Over the years, she navigated content creation, management, marketing strategies, strategic communications and PR, online content distribution and publishing, CRM/ORM, and Customer Experience. She acquired the necessary skill set to become a 360-degree integrated global marketing communications professional.

As a pioneer staff of the prestigious US-based PR Newswire, Dr. Chowdhary was instrumental in setting up their India business plan in 2009-10. As a pioneer in propagating Digital PR in India and APAC, she also led the Mumbai office of Business Wire for over four years and handled over 5K+ Customers. She also worked with a leading global contract publishing house, managing over 100+ D2C brand campaigns on behalf of their international publishing partners. As an evangelist on international outreach, Dr. Chowdhary is incredibly passionate about designing marketing strategies for enterprises or small and medium businesses to go global.  

In 2011, Dr. Chowdhary set up a bootstrapped venture ‘MediaValueWorks’ as a solopreneur with two clear goals – helping Indian companies communicate globally and assisting international organizations to penetrate India / APAC markets.

To stay visible is not a choice anymore

Many top management professionals/ business owners/ CEOs, or decision-makers think of marketing only when the organization needs to grow sales. This myopic view limits an organization’s growth in today’s hyper-connected, hyper-competitive, omnichannel world. We need to learn more to understand the best opportunities across products, services, and solutions that are all taking place from customers on digital platforms.

There has been a complete overhaul around the business categories comprising B2B, P2P, D2C, B2B2C, and many more models. The emergence of new communities around digital platforms and applications enables businesses to communicate, interact and share freely.

In building MediaValueWorks, Dr. Chowdhary has tried to evolve beyond the industry-level contours. In 2014, MediaValueWorks built an online PR publishing platform – www.india-press-release.com, to facilitate online visibility and search results to hundreds and thousands of users. They have offered and coached over 7K businesses to help them understand how they would benefit from online publishing on India-Press-Release.com to achieve enhanced Google search results, and SEO, and level up with backlinks.

Globally, MediaValueWorks pioneered the concept of cloud-based PR software, supported by strategic remote PR publishing services, and launched International Outreach for enterprises to communicate in over 25 languages across 100 countries. To date, MediaValueWorks has communicated and engaged with over 0.5 million journalists across 68 counties and has published content that has generated over 2 billion views. MediaValueWorks (MVW) was declared a Runner-up at a recently concluded Innovation Practitioner’s Summit by the premier institution, All India Management Association.

Leveraging the right tools to automate and scale is critical

As the CEO and founder of MediaValueWorks, Dr. Chowdhary understands her client’s overall business strategies. Accordingly, her team can offer the right solutions from the marketing lens, focusing on building effective stakeholder strategies.

Team MediaValueWorks (MVW) has put granular processes to capture to craft stories, publish content and compete globally. They manage the tasks and subscribe to various practical tools to help them scale with automation. They have successfully served on the board of many small and medium enterprise clients for over 5 to 7 years. MVW’s clientele is segregated into three categories – Long-term clients, short projects, and pay-per-use customers. Corresponding to the client’s requirements, the services team gets allocated to the right team to deliver. 

“We enjoy healthy and honest client relationships and close-knit teamwork as a client’s extended arm. Marketing communications, particularly from the point of view of managing corporate news and announcements, is attached with a very high level of trust and credibility,” says Dr. Chowdhary.

MediaValueWorks (MVW) today boasts of being one of the most versatile marketing solutions agencies reaching 100 countries and communicating in 25+ foreign languages. Strategic communications embedded into robust marketing strategies drives the brand stories with a high impact. Their 360-degree integrated marketing infrastructure is backed by a B2B Demand Centre, SMB Development Centre, and Customers’ Media Centre. Digital communications have disrupted marketing strategies. With irresistible publishing opportunities, most complex than ever, only very few successful brands have been able to amplify their messages to their target audience and achieve proper growth.

Delivering as a Leader

“The only difference between flying and falling is judgment.”

Over the 20+ years of her professional journey, Dr. Chowdhary has met over 25K+ businesses from different industries, sizes, structures, locations, etc. Having interacted mainly with the leadership and or the top management has resulted in significant observations, learnings, and insights. There has been one common challenge across the board- Crafting the best communications strategies to influence customers.

Each business day, Dr. Chowdhary wears many hats. While her role involves the organization’s strategic management, winning new customers and leading the team to comprehend and accomplish the suitable campaign methodologies from the operations angle is vital to driving high-impact results. 

Dr. Chowdhary has been passionate about perfecting marketing strategies, planning for stories, visualizing the various artifacts, and directing graphics, videos, and collaterals before the campaign gets released externally and to publishing partners. She enjoys reviewing hundreds of stories weekly to ensure the right messages are communicated to the right audiences in the right context.

Dr. Chowdhary also works closely with her finance team to ensure the organization’s cash flow status, operating capital, and other requirements are smooth. A quick connection with the audit team, she feels, is a responsibility to ensure the compliances of the organizations in multiple locations are being fulfilled timely. MVW has registered offices in India and the US and has partners in Singapore, Dubai, and Toronto and many more locations

Services inspired by Innovation

Team MediaValueWorks firmly believes that innovation is at the core of their approach, guiding them in various aspects of their operations. They strive to identify unique solutions to complex problems by fostering a culture of innovation. Regular feedback and insights from clients to develop innovative products and services that better cater to their requirements, ensuring high customer satisfaction. Encouraging innovation empowers their people and fosters a culture of creativity and collaboration. Employees who feel their ideas are valued become more engaged and motivated to contribute to the organization’s success.

As an organization, MVW’s employee turnover is negligible. The work culture permits staff to flourish by learning and expressing their thoughts. They have a remote workflow, and the teams operate from the nearest workspaces when required. “With the evolutionary trend worldwide, we need fresh talent who believe they are intrapreneurs. We offer the infrastructure and support the entrepreneur; to make their mark. We are open to meeting and interacting with professionals from all over the globe who feel passionate about making a difference in customer communications,” says Dr. Chowdhary.

Supporting diversity and inclusion are woven into MVW’s fabric

By embracing diversity, MediaValueWorks believes that it can unlock innovation and creativity and conceptualize better solutions that positively impact their business and society. Embracing diverse perspectives, fostering an inclusive environment, and empowering their team members are vital ingredients helping them drive towards their goals. 

As the International PR and outreach solutions, MVW is essentially a diversified and remote function across the world’s leading cities; they welcome and are excited to connect and engage with senior citizens, homepreneurs, and intrapreneurs looking to diversify and grow. With efficient reading, editing, comprehension, and interpersonal skills, the teams are being trained to incorporate AI into the workflow skillfully. Recognizing the diverse needs of its employees, MVW offers flexible work arrangements that enable them to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Metaverse – the next marketing trump offering immersive and interactive environment

The concept of the Metaverse, feels Dr. Chowdhary, presents an exciting and transformative marketing landscape for businesses. Adapting to this new landscape requires marketers to develop a deep understanding of consumers’ evolving needs and expectations within the virtual realm. 

Various tools have gathered vast amounts of data on user behavior and preferences, so marketing strategies have become more personalized and targeted. Creating engaging and compelling content will be paramount in the Metaverse. Brands must craft captivating narratives and stories to stand out in a dense virtual landscape.

Winning Over Challenge

Dr. Chowdhary gets inspired by straightforward things. She is a passionate entrepreneur and imparting truthful guidance to people drives her. Life teaches many lessons; it’s only learned by people who choose to reflect. A progressive and go-getter attitude has helped her bounce back from many challenges; emotional, financial, and health. 

“While there are small day-to-day and operational challenges one needs to live with and navigate, a few instances make you stronger. Precisely a month before our wedding, I had a near-fatal train accident in Mumbai, resulting in a life-threatening situation with a head injury and being in a coma, and staying hospitalized for a few weeks. Time healed me, and I could manage to walk, talk, and get back on track with a positive attitude and determination. Simple living and high thinking were taught to me by my parents. Courage and action, I learned from my in-laws. Perfection and discipline, I learned from my husband, Vikrant Chowdhary,” shares Dr. Rachana Chowdhary.

Mission Ahead

MediaValueWorks is working on its mission to establish the power of Remote International PR and Marketing Services across 100 countries’ reach and penetration. Their hub and spoke model enables intrapreneurs from different countries to leverage our network, collaborate and grow. 

“Future businesses shall have altogether different work philosophies. As our societies are transcending very fast, newer contours of life patterns will emerge, breaking traditional norms and ideologies. We need to learn to adapt to the emerging new system, focus and think creatively,” concludes Dr. Rachana Chowdhary.

Advice for budding entrepreneurs:

“Be mindful of your decisions.”

Building a business requires dedication, determination, passion, and the right mindset. 

As a founder, it’s best if you learn to acquire basic knowledge across functions within your organization. Banking and Finance, Production, Human Resources, Board Management, CRM, Sales, Business Law, Supply Chain, Distributors, Business Management, Employee Engagement, Mergers & Acquisitions, Growth strategies, etc, while you keep your focus on your core responsibility intact. Be open to feedback from customers, mentors, and advisors. Build relations with your stakeholders that go beyond the value of the transaction you may have with different entities. 

Quote: “Those who walk alone have the strongest direction.

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