italics: Creating compelling content for the modern-day digital arena

Content services company italics has been a prominent name in the business and has served more than 2k clients since 2005

The content arena has witnessed a sea change of late. With SEO requirements, social media platforms and more having brought with them the need for a whole new world of content generation activities, the scenario has leapfrogged onto a completely new horizon. Ask Harsh Vardhan Dutta, founder and CEO of italics, a global content writing agency that has served more than 2,000 clients worldwide since 2005, and he would tell you how the scene has evolved over the years.

Says Dutta: "In 2005, selling content writing services was like door-to-door sales. No readymade clients, scarce understanding of SEO, and a very embryonic social media." Content writing is no longer what it used to be. Dutta and his company italics spent their first years understanding the dynamics of communication on digital platforms, the learning process blossomed as clients came on board.

Today, italics is a recognised content agency with a team of over 100 people and with clients in more than 12 countries. Headquartered in Gurugram, India, italics started as a backyard agency with a handful of clients and strong belief in the digital ecosystem. "Our first big client was Bharti Airtel (India's second largest telecom player) in 2006 and we felt that we had cracked a dream client. I was literally dazzled by the big corporate office as a young entrepreneur," reminiscences Dutta. Since then there has been no looking back for italics.

The first few years

italics proved itself as a disruptor, a one-of-its-kind of agency, in its early years. As of 2023, there are dime a dozen companies providing similar services, yet italics is still recognised as a pioneer. After dabbling in website content for Airtel's marquee website, italics soared with more big corporate clients, such as Maruti Suzuki, Canon, Dabur and Muthoot Finance and truly entered the big league.

With the objective of creating compelling content for the digital audience, italics worked towards creating a holistic content agency for its clients. What started primarily as a website content agency, soon ventured into social media content. As of today, it has primarily three service verticals - SEO content writing, social media content and video production. "We don't want our clients to be shopping at multiple places for content. We are truly a one-stop-shop," Dutta asserts.

With a highly skilled team of resources including industry-specific content writers, SEO experts, social media executives and creative geniuses, italics has a pan-India team that delivers to the world.

Cracking the startup code

Ever since India became the startup hub of the world, italics sensed the opportunity in content marketing in its own backyard. "All startups are tech-based and they need to cater to their audiences digitally. Of course, they do not leave any stone unturned unlike traditional companies that take time to transition to the digital audience. Since 2016, our sweet spot has been catering to some of the most exciting startups," says Dutta.

He is not wrong. Today, italics empowers some of the most exciting startups such as PayTM, Groww, UpGrad, Navi Technologies, Flebo and more, along with big corporate clients.

"India is a breeding ground for tech startups. For example, fintech is the largest funded sector in startups, and we take pride in producing more than 500,000 words per month for our fintech clients. We have hired subject matter experts for different business categories like fintech, edtech, emerging tech, IT, HRTech, healthcare and more. The present and future is that of expertise and personalisation. Generic will die a natural death," Dutta emphasises.

What lies ahead?

italics takes pride in being a truly independent agency that caters to clients in the US, the Middle East, Europe and APAC. "Our vision is to create an agency that harbours talent that can provide content all over the world. We typically don't set annual targets, but we are achieving organic growth of more than 4X every year. Our primary business comes from word of mouth," says Dutta.

italics understands that global consumption of digital content is changing and companies need a dynamic set of people who can be innovative and effective. italics has created a culture of training its resources with contemporary practices and innovation.

With eyes on the future, italics is constantly redefining content marketing practices. "Challenges have been there and will definitely come forth with the advent of AI, but we are sure, with our legacy and specialisation, we shall thrive and continue to provide our clients with content that matters," adds Dutta.

For more information visit https://italics.in