How a career shift from AAFT Online to Dolphin Realty taught me that storytelling, not the industry is what actually sells.
If you've searched my name recently, you may have found an outdated title attached to it, Marketing Executive at AAFT Online. That chapter of my career is over. I've since moved into a new role, currently leading marketing and brand-building initiatives at Dolphin Realty, a real estate company operating in a completely different world from the EdTech space I came from.
This post is my attempt to properly document that transition, not just as a personal milestone, but as a genuine breakdown of what actually transfers when a marketer jumps industries, and what doesn't.
Where My Marketing Career Started: AAFT Online
I began my career in the EdTech space at AAFT Online, working as a Marketing Executive and, earlier, as a Marketing Communications Intern. My work there spanned:
- Content marketing and blog strategy for course-related search intent
- SEO and SEM for education-focused landing pages
- Social media and email campaign management
- PR support for brand visibility and event promotion
Education marketing taught me something I didn't fully appreciate until I left it: people don't buy a course, they buy a version of their future self. Every campaign I ran had to speak to ambition, not just information. That single insight has ended up being the most valuable thing I carried out of that job.
Why I Made the Move to Dolphin Realty
I'm now at Dolphin Realty, applying the same marketing discipline to real estate, a category defined by high-value, high-trust, long-consideration purchases. It's a deliberate shift, not a random one. I wanted to test whether the storytelling-led marketing approach that worked in EdTech could hold up in an industry where the stakes, price points, and decision timelines are dramatically higher.
So far, the answer is yes, with some important adjustments, which I'll get into below.
What EdTech and Real Estate Marketing Have in Common
On paper, education and property look like unrelated industries. In practice, the buyer psychology is strikingly similar:
1. Both Are Emotional, High-Stakes Decisions
Nobody enrolls in a diploma or buys a home on impulse. Both purchases represent identity, security, and a bet on the future. Marketing that ignores this emotional layer and leans only on price or features tends to underperform in both spaces.
2. Storytelling Outperforms Specifications
A course's curriculum matters less than the story of who the learner becomes after finishing it. A property's square footage matters less than the story of the life someone imagines living inside it. In both industries, the marketer's real job is narrative, not data-dumping.
3. Trust Precedes Transaction
PR, testimonials, and credibility signals mattered as much in EdTech as they do now in real estate. Whether it's an institution's accreditation or a builder's track record, buyers need to trust the source before they'll even consider the offer.
4. SEO Fundamentals Transfer, Even If Keywords Don't
The technical discipline of on-page SEO, keyword research, and content structuring is identical across industries. What changes is search intent, which brings me to the next section.
Building My Personal Brand Alongside My Career
Marketing other people's brands is only one half of what I do. The other half is building my own, as a writer, as a content creator, and increasingly, as a public voice on Instagram, where I'm now investing serious, consistent effort into content rather than treating it as an afterthought.
If you're following my work, expect more behind-the-scenes content going forward, not just polished announcements, but the actual process of building a marketing career and a writing career at the same time. Follow me on my Instagram: Yash Gadade
My Book, Letters That Never Crossed Nainital, and What's Coming Next
Outside of my marketing career, I'm the author of Letters That Never Crossed Nainital, a story about unsent letters, distance, and love that never quite finds its way across. It's about everything that stays unsaid between two people, the pauses, the silences, the words written but never received. It followed my earlier book, Miles Between Us, which first shaped how people came to know me publicly as a writer. Letters That Never Crossed Nainital has since gone on to receive award recognition, a milestone I don't take lightly, and one I hope is just the beginning.
And here's something I haven't detailed publicly until now: I'm working on a new book, with a launch planned in the next couple of months. I'm not ready to share the full details yet, but I wanted this to be the place where that news starts. If you want to follow the process as it unfolds, my Instagram is where I'll be sharing the most.
Also Read: What happens in Carter Road
Why Durjoy Datta Is My North Star
A personal detail I don't share often: I share a birthday with Durjoy Datta, one of the writers whose career I've admired for a long time. It's a small coincidence, but it's become something more meaningful to me, a quiet, personal benchmark. My long-term goal isn't just to write one recognized book; it's to build the kind of sustained, prolific writing career he has, book after book, over years, with a readership that grows alongside the work.
That goal sits right alongside my marketing career, not in competition with it. Both are long games. I'm treating them that way.
FAQs
Where does Yash Gadade currently work?
Yash Gadade currently works at Dolphin Realty in marketing and brand strategy, having previously worked at AAFT Online in EdTech marketing.
What is Yash Gadade's book called?
Yash Gadade is the author of Letters That Never Crossed Nainital, which has received award recognition since its release, and Miles Between Us, his earlier book.
Is Yash Gadade writing a new book?
Yes. A new book is in progress, with a planned launch in the coming months. Details will be shared on Yash Gadade's Instagram as the launch approaches.
What connects Yash Gadade's marketing career and his writing career?
Storytelling. Both his marketing work — in EdTech and now real estate — and his writing are built around the same core skill: making people feel something true enough to act on.
