How big is the market for outsourced marketing in India and what is its growth rate?
Outsource marketing spend is increasing and the Indian market is estimated to touch $500 mn by 2011. Its growth rate is on par with the growth of IT and ITeS Industries. And the IT + ITeS industries will grow at 30% in the next four years. Marketing spend could be assumed conservatively to be 2% of the revenues during this period. The outsourcing budget will be 100% of marketing spends.

What is the cost difference between in-house and outsourced marketing?
It is touch to quantify that.

How does your company cater to the marketing requirements of IT companies?
Prayag Consulting provides marketing consultancy specifically targeted at IT/BPO industries. Prayag partners with emerging and established IT/BPO firms at a business level to provide practical, market and business oriented solutions designed to achieve specific sales/ marketing objectives.

What services do you offer?
We offer marketing related services to technology companies. A company may want to set up a marketing strategy, marketing plan or may be planning marketing presence. We researching opportunities available to the company, the market for its products, and track its competition

Who are your customers?
We have 15 clients. These range from well-established large companies such as Wipro, Microsoft, IBM, and Intellinet, to startups such as Gradatim, Lifetree India, and young telecom companies that need marketing help. Large companies like Microsoft, Wipro and IBM outsource a lot of their marketing work if they find right partners.

What are the changes you see in the way companies market their products?
Over the last seven years, Indian companies have become more appreciative of the markets. They have realised it is not enough to simply deliver the best products. Till 2000, business came effortlessly to Indian technology companies. Most of the companies never bothered to market themselves. There were exceptions, ofcourse, like Infosys - who were already aware of marketing. But after the dotcom bust, the scene changed.

Business did not come easily and marketing had to be sharpened. Companies wanted to differentiate themselves in the market. Today more Indian companies are talking about branding their image, and what message they are sending to the market. They keep a close track of their competition. Smaller companies are also aware of the need for marketing.

What talents are needed in marketing for IT?
Marketing communication is important. Brochures, positioning - and you have to speak the client's language.

What's the advantage of outsourcing marketing services?
Salaries are very high and high rates of attrition, companies do not want to increase their headcounts. At the sametime, they also have to deals with peaks in work. They outsource at times when work peaks such as for two-three months in an year. That is where we step in with our own R & D, writing, hiring and researching talents.

Where do you source people?
Finding good people is a challenge. We can provide some orientation but mostly it is the on -the- job training. Our work involves building case studies, whitepapers and studying analysts such as Gartner and Forrester.

What are the skills required for such roles?
Market communicators are required. They should understand technology, the buyer, client, and the industry they are in. The communicator must speak the client's language. IT companies speak only tech language. The communicator should be able to marry technology with business. For example, everyone talks about SOA. But as a marketing communicator, you should understand what SOA is, its business benefits and be able to communicate through that. Business communicating is a good career. A person must have an excellent command over English, study mass communication, and understand business. The work involves industry research, developing content, and managing teams. You start as a business communication specialist, become an assistant business specialist and then a senior communication specialist. Salaries start at Rs.2-3 lakh and can touch Rs.9 lakh, depending on person, experience and performance.