Have a Burning Business Question? Ask Our Marketing Pro Sujan Patel. Data-driven marketer Sujan Patel is looking to take your questions on all thing marketing, including content marketing, branding and social-media campaigns.
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Entrepreneurs can have the greatest product in the world but if no one knows about it, no one will use it.
This is where marketing becomes a key driver for product success. Not only does it help get the word out about the actual product or service but can also raise the profile of the company. However, the tricky part for entrepreneurs is where to start. With so many different tactics, techniques and approaches, marketing can be overwhelming -- and expensive.
Fortunately, we have data-driven marketer Sujan Patel as our expert for the month. With more than 13 years experiences, he couldn't be more excited to help entrepreneurs learn the ins and outs of the field.
"I love helping entrepreneurs and often spend one to two hours a day doing so. I want to teach entrepreneurs the shortcuts or avoid relearning things the hard way," he says, adding, "Advising entrepreneurs is essentially making me smarter and giving me different vantage points on a problem."
Patel is currently the founder of Web Profits, a digital marketing agency to help companies leverage content marketing to grow their business. Founded in 2006, Patel's team has worked with various client sizes – funded startups to Fortune 500 companies – with some standouts including Mint, RingCentral CafePress. Last year, Web Profits helped clients achieve 17 million unique visitors, 2,346 press mentions and, on average, an increase of year-over-year revenue by 298 percent.
Related: 7 Time-Tested Rules for Marketing and Growing Your Business
Prior to making the jump into entrepreneurship, Patel spent half of his career being an in-house marketer, leading teams at companies like Oversee.net and WhenIWork.com and the other half working on the agency side.
He initially began his career focused on search-engine optimization but expanded his skillset, so now he is considered a "T-shaped marketer," or someone that has knowledge on a number of areas with a deeper focus on a particular function.
Besides Web Profits, Patel is involved in SaaS businesses -- Quuu.co, Narrow, Linktexting.com & ContentMarketer.io – which have helped thousands of marketers improve their social media, mobile marketing and content marketing strategies.
Related: 5 Harsh Truths About the Internet Marketing World
Outside of his day-to-day work life, Patel helps marketers and entrepreneurs learn about new marketing strategies and how to effectively implement them. He has a YouTube channel, personal blog and writes weekly for Entrepreneur.com. He has also written two books, sharing his marketing insights: Content Marketing Playbook and 100 Days of Growth.
For the month of September, we couldn't be more excited to have Patel as our expert on all things marketing – and entrepreneurship. He is looking to take your questions on all things marketing. Think: content marketing, branding, social media and more. He is also open to answering questions on entrepreneurship, including hiring, strategy and growth.
Related: Try These Marketing Strategies for Your Small Business
Got a question you would like answered? Submit your questions by tweeting us, using the hashtag #ENTexpert. One topic will be selected by the editors of Entrepreneur and addressed by Patel in a weekly write up.