This Delhi-based Startup Aims to Be One Stop Solution Provider for Media Management

Understanding the changing dynamics of Public Relations and to stay ahead in the race, team at Crossword Public Relations specialize in creating brand buzz and reaching the target consumers to leave a measurable impact. Crossword group is a specialist consortium of brands offering, under one umbrella, a range of services. It was launched in September 2015. We are publishing an interview with Mr. Rajnish Jain – Founder & CEO of Crossword Public Relations:

Q.: Please tell us about the founders
Ans: I am the sole Founder of the Crossword Public Relations. Since childhood, it was my dream to become a successful businessman and make my life great and valuable for my family. My family always pushed me forward for hard work, encouraged me to study. I always believed, in this competitive world it will not be easy for me to start a business without a fundamental and practical knowledge. After 7 years of working in a Public Relations firm, I started this venture in September 2015.

Initially it was quite hard to convince the clients to work with us but after so much of dedication and failure, me and my team created a path and are on our way to success.

Q.: What is the problem you are trying to solve?
Ans: In the world of digitization, we are trying to provide one stop solution to the client for all the digital services at one place like public relations, social media marketing, Digital Marketing, Blogging etc. Apart from this we are present in more than 300 cities in India and in more than 12 countries of the world; we also solve the problem of our clients to give them PR services at a place where no other agencies have any media reach.

Q.: Can you share with us any insights that led you to believe that this is a big enough problem?
Ans: Yes, I believe that for any kind of business, the most important thing is its sales and brand image. And that’s where PR plays its part to establish a business in a market and build a relationship with its public. So I personally feel, there is a need for every kind of business to build an authentic image and not a paid one for its customers to believe in them. Therefore, I started this company and I solely believe in the power of public relations and brand management and how powerful tool it is in today’s world.

Q.: Tell us about the Product / Solution. Explain how you went about the Product-Market Fit Process.
Ans: Our Company provides a number of services to our clients which they can avail as per our pay-per-use model. The services include public relations, social media marketing, digital media marketing, event management, strategic planning, celebrity management, crisis management and website development etc. We are highly committed towards quality and creativity to provide best results to our clients.

When we talk about product-market fit process, I’ll say that if you look at our services, you’ll get the idea how important they are in this digital era. Thus we fit quite aptly in the market for our clients and potential clients who are looking for brand management and communication services.

Q.: What is your USP?
Ans: Our Company is a 360 degree marketing communication firm and thus we are a one stop solution for your brand management and communication. We provide PR services in more than 300 cities in India and more than twelve countries around the world. Crossword PR specializes in enhancing brand value form start-ups to corporate and we believe in creating quality and value for our clients.

Q.: What were your assumptions when you entered the market, learning that you have? Who in your mind is your ideal customer? Do you have at least one of them signed up?
Ans: The biggest problem in market is the confusion between advertising and public relations. People often are unaware about the basic difference between PR and advertising that is, PR is a non-paid form of communication while advertising is completely paid. For us, an ideal client for our company is a one who is interested to build a brand in market. Yes, we have got more than one signed up.

Q.: What has been your biggest failure as an entrepreneur and what did you learn from it??
Ans: Success and failure are a part of everyone’s life and business and the kind of business I am running our failures and success depends on our relationship with our clients and the media. Sometimes it becomes difficult to crack big clients for Public Relations that is the only struggle we have to do in this business.

Q.: How are you pricing the Product? Explain your thought process.
Ans: Pricing is all depend on client & services basis.

Q.: How did you get your first customer?
Ans: Experience in the same field, what new & creative we can do for clients etc.

Q.: Please tell us about the investors (if any)
Ans: Currently, we don’t have any investors for our company. We are a self-funded company at present. However, we welcome investors in future for more business opportunities.

Q.: Is there any interesting success story? If yes, please write about it. ?
Ans: My interesting success story is that until school I had no idea of starting my own Public Relations venture. I had a finance background and was from a family where everybody preferred doing a job. I started my career in Public Relations with a job and then was the time when I realized that I had an aptitude in Public Relations and can achieve a great success in this field and then I started my own venture Crossword PR and started growing my business by getting some really good clients at the beginning itself and then no one could just stop the growth of my company. We are still growing and always in a struggle to get good clients

Q.: What is the big picture of your startup? Is this Product/service leading to something bigger? If so, how?
Ans: At present, we have quite big clients in the company, so I can say that everything is going well and according to plan. The big picture that I paint in my head for the company is to expand my business both nationally and globally in the future. I and my team are working hard day by day and we aspire to reach new heights step by step in the coming future.

Q.: Since inception, give us a sense of the value of business done by your venture? Please explain in details:
Ans: Traffic on our website is 2000 per month. We get minimum 50-60 enquiries per month.

Q.: What is the insight that you have about this market, which no one else has? Uniqueness about your Startup.
Ans: My insights about Public Relation market is that this industry is rapidly growing. Today every business needs a medium to be present in the media and also reach its target customers where we as their Public Relations Company play a role of mediator between the company and the media. We mould our services according to the requirements of our clients and provide them the right platform to reach correct people who could help them in their business. Uniqueness about our business is that along with Public Relations we have also provide services like event management, social media, bloggers and influencers meet along with this we have our associates in 300 cities and more than 12 countries which no other company provides.

Q.: List all the names of the core Team Members, along with their Designated Roles.
Ans: Sure. Here are they:

• Mr Rahul Ranjan, COO, Crossword – PR: Rahul handles the business development department of the company and is one of the important pillars of our company. He is an eloquent speaker and communicator and works closely with our clients.
• Ms Nonie Khandpur, Asst. Manager – PR: Nonie takes care of the core public relations department. She has great connections when it comes to PR and business related issues. I am blessed to have Nonie, a hardworking and dedicated employee in my company.
• Ms Himanshi Kapoor, Image Executive: Himanshi looks at all the social media marketing activities for the clients. She has an amazing knack for social media, has a great sense of humor and perspective and the ability to recognize leads, which works in our way to improve social media presence of our clients.

Q.: Who do You Perceive as Your Competition? How do you differentiate yourself with them?
Ans: Every company which provides media services are our competition but we always tend to grow above from our competition. We differentiate from our competitors as we provide PAN India and International services to give to our clients which no other company has to give us.

Q.: What would be your goal to accomplish in the next six months?
Ans: My goal in next six months is that I want to crack some really good clients and introduce more interesting services and recently we are present in 12 countries and I want that we are present in every country of the world.

Q.: What message do you want to convey to fellow entrepreneurs?
Ans: I want to convey my fellow entrepreneurs that we should all follow our passions and see in which field we have our aptitude and always chase our dreams. It will not be easy to follow dreams and become an entrepreneur but we should never give up.

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Thanks Rajnish. Best wishes!