Sonali Tambe
founder, Oakpinion PR
Until a while ago, women were considered someone who belonged to the home handling household chores. Scenarios have changed today, with a multitude of women leading the business industry.
Women today believe in creating their own path to success instead of following others. Fitting right into the definition of a strong independent woman is Sonali Tambe, the Founder of Oakpinion PR.
The covid 19 pandemic left a devastating impact on the entire world. The whole country went on lockdown, and many businesses suffered. Sonali founded Oakpinion PR in 2020 when the world was yet to recover from the pandemic, and the industry was reeling under the impact of the lockdown.
It was a tough decision for her, but the past two years have been extraordinary, and Sonali feels nothing but gratitude towards her supporters and detractors.
In her words, “Starting my entrepreneurial journey during such a difficult period helped me channelise my aggressive nature into something so productive and fulfilling.”
Sonali holds a Master’s in Media Entertainment and Advertising with a specialisation in Films from KC College, Mumbai. It was a pure coincidence she got into PR and met an amazing boss who turned out to be a mentor for her.
She tried working in several other sectors, but her love for the challenges, thrill and sense of achievement associated with PR gravitated her back to PR. Her passion and understanding for PR, the support of her family and the hard work and belief of her team members put all into Oakpinion PR.
The Indian PR industry has been showcasing steady growth in the past decade. From industry giants to newly established PR agencies are the trusted source to promote and steer businesses ahead.
As the name suggests, Oakpinion helps its clients take a stand, make an opinion, and have a voice of their own with all the wisdom that comes with experience and expertise.
With Oakpinion, Sonali Tambe wishes to make a difference, be a trendsetter, inspire aspiring entrepreneurs, especially women, to put India on the world’s PR map, and live her dream every single day for the rest of her life.
Oakpinion is a PR & Influencer Marketing agency specialised in Fashion & lifestyle. For the team of Oakpinion PR, commitment and consistency have been the core values they have integrated into the very fabric of their work culture since the inception of Oakpinion PR in 2020.
The team believes in making realistic commitments and honouring them in a time-bound manner while delivering consistent results, which lays the foundation for their success story. Communication is the biggest challenge in today’s world.
Ironic as it may seem, in the age of social media and digitisation, there is so much content that a brand’s communication can easily get lost. As a PR firm, Oakpinion specialises in offering brands viable solutions to reach out to their target audience through media and help them establish themselves as a media-endorsed brand.
Their array of offerings includes digital public relations solutions, digital campaigns, event campaigns, and of course, traditional PR tools.
Oakpinion aims to offer customised PR solutions to its clients and handhold them in their media interactions. Currently, they are creating customised PR solutions for clients from the beauty, fashion and lifestyle domains.
Being an ever-evolving field, the PR industry undergoes a revamp every once in a while. Sonali shares some upcoming PR trends for 2023:
Less Is More: Simplified targeted messaging rather than generic ones will be key to PR coverage. The message should be concise with no fluff.
Exclusive Content: Journalists are more interested in exclusive pitches. Press releases that are embargoed and go live all at once are passe. It is the creativity and innovative pitches that are noticed by the media.
Human Touch: Everything said and done, PR is all about storytelling. No one can tell great stories without elements of empathy and humaneness. Stories that are real and related to human beings are what interest readers.
Exploring new avenues and expanding client portfolios is a given for any ambitious business. Oakpinion is taking a different approach and grooming a new class of PR executives who are able to think outside the box, make optimum use of technology and work with a vision rather than slogging paycheck to paycheck.
“The future is full of challenges that we eagerly await to overcome. It is full of plans to scale up and go global. And more importantly, the future is full of opportunities to bring unique brand stories to readers through the means of mass media.”Sonali shares
“Failures are nothing but learning curves”- Sonali Tambe
For Sonali, even a mistake as small as a spelling mistake in a press release is a failure to look at details. At Oakpinion, instead of waiting for a PR pitch to go wrong or a campaign to backfire and call it a failure, the team at Oakpinion succeed every day by overcoming their failures, and at the end of each day, they learn something new.
Instead of a linear and upward-moving graph, Oakpinion PR is focused on a multi-pronged growth chart. Within the past two years, they have catered to more than 60 brands and have plans to keep adding to their portfolio. Oakpinion also has plans for team expansion with a healthy mix of experienced and fresh talent.
Sonali wants to explore every aspect of PR, from digital to print, from virtual events to physical ones and from local PR to global ones.
Relationship building is vital for any business. Every member at Oakpinion is groomed to make relationships work. Courtesy of their people-first approach, few media people rely on them as friends, and some of their clients have stayed with them since the beginning.
Due to the pandemic, PR work has suffered, benefitted and emerged anew. Sonali doesn’t want Oakpinion to be yet another agency that does routine PR work for select few clients and then one-day buckles under pressure and shuts shop.
Instead of growth spurts and windfalls, Sonali believes in sustainable growth with strategic planning, long-term goals and consistent results.
She shares, “While I would love to have ten new clients, what I really want is a client base that resonates with my core values and shares my vision of sustainable growth. I want a team that is ingrained with the Oakpinion system and works diligently at upholding this system.”
Sonali also has plans to get into new sectors such as healthcare, real estate and IT, taking on international clients and cultivating a strong and dedicated team of PR personnel.
For entrepreneurs, ‘now’ is the right time, and ‘India’ is the right place. With the Government of India’s initiatives like Make in India and Startup India, there is much impetus for young entrepreneurs to be a part of this growing ecosystem.”
An entrepreneur not just makes a profit for themself but also generate employment and bring foreign currency to India, making them an essential part of the supply chain. The magnitude of their contribution towards the country’s economy is immense.
“On a micro level, entrepreneurship starts with discipline and commitment. You cannot expect to excel if you are not putting 100% of your efforts into it. A good team will help you to some extent, but to succeed as an entrepreneur, you need to be elbow-deep in your work every day. There is no substitute for hard work. And most importantly, never lose your ‘lakshya’, which means focused with a vision!”Sonali
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