Dennis Yu

We taught digital marketing in Mumbai — with Samir Karkhanis and Dan Ulin

Dan Ulin, in Mumbai, interviewing Dr. Samir Karkhanis. Public video on Elite Student Coach.

In February 2024 I sat in a Mumbai classroom with Dr. Samir Karkhanis and Dan Ulin. Samir runs Yangpoo. Dan coaches families whose kids are choosing among a family business, graduate school, or a first serious job. I was there to teach the same thing I teach in Arizona: the Content Factory, one-minute videos, and Dollar a Day.

This page is the story of that room. The practice syllabus is already Your First 100 One-Minute Videos Will Suck. I am not replacing that hub. I am proving we taught it in India, with partners who already work with talented young adults.

Amplify what is already working

Yangpoo already had Harvard Business School Online alliances, classroom programs, a call center, events, and students in the building. Digital marketing is not a new idea pile. I said it in the room:

We view digital marketing as just an amplification of what’s already working, not trying to come up with new ideas.

If the five-star training session already converts, we need that session on camera. If parents already trust a program because a sibling finished it, we need that sentence recorded — not a new slogan.

Four stages, one bucket of proof

I walked Samir’s team through the four stages. Stage one is a bucket: instructors, student experiences, what parents actually say. Process chops it. Publish puts it on YouTube, the site, LinkedIn. Promote is Dollar a Day aimed at graduating students and deans — not “everyone in India.”

Google’s E-E-A-T test is the same test a parent uses. Have you done the thing you claim? Show the people. Show the stories. The TV-commercial version of an education company is the official brochure. The ranking version is hundreds of short, true clips around it.

The question that is gold

A brochure testimonial lists modules. That is fine. It is not the asset. Honor the student as if they are on a named podcast. Then ask: what caused you to choose this among the many things you could choose?

Then that moment where they give that explanation, ah, that is pure gold. That’s what I want. Over and over and over again.

In person on campus beats Zoom. Media students at Yangpoo should be the ones holding the phone. That is the same young-adult motion Jack Wendt coaches on the family-business side.

Story, I believe, I am

The one-minute video is three beats. When I was… I believe… I am… Then who they are after the program. That is the framework I already published with Britain in Gilbert. Mumbai was the classroom version, with Samir’s media interns in the afternoon slot.

If you cannot get into the mindset of making a one minute video, you will not succeed in digital marketing.

Samir is the figurehead. Dan is the international proof.

Samir told us a design school would not take the meeting until they read his profile. Then he spent hours with a vice chancellor. That is a personal brand doing a sales job no landing page can do. When someone types Samir, the Knowledge Panel should match the Harvard card — not a generic MBA blog.

Dan did not fly to Mumbai to collect a stamp. He sat next to Samir and ran the public interview that is already on Elite Student Coach. Parents in India who can pay for a serious path for their kids should be able to see that: he is in the room with the operator, not commenting from California.

Until the teaching clips are on YouTube, this page embeds Dan’s public Mumbai interview and points at the OMV hub. The rest of that day’s recording stays private.

Related

Scroll to Top