Advertising is not a one stop solution. Lessons to learn for Start-ups. Create value inward.

Learn from recent setbacks faced by highly valued companies like Byjus & Paytm

It is the dream of every entrepreneur to create a company with ever increasing customers, high valuation among investors and the brand name known all over the world. While pursuing these goals many of them forget that unless you invest in your product upgradation, employee satisfaction & customer loyalty there is no use in creating a brand value through heavy advertising through mass media. Recent issues faced by Byjus, Paytm and very recently Bharatpe are all examples now for any start-up company to learn some lessons.

Create value inward. Invest in your product, employees & customers

Even before Byjus was called in by the authorities for enquiry, the brand faced severe backlashes from its customers & employees. While customers were angry with the high intense personal-call marketing tactics (they would call an existing customer every day to market the same product)   followed by non-upgradation in the product quality (even a 6^th standard kid could find out spelling mistakes in their online study material), employees were angry at the pressure tactics used to make them meet high targets and the way they were sacked to be replaced by newcomers. The internet was already filled with the customer complaints and the bad-mouthing by erstwhile employees. (This same author had warned about this in a previous article in https://www.afaqs.com/news/advertising/hrithik-roshan-bats-for-whitehat-jr-what-will-this-do-to-the-brands-image) . Byjus as a unicorn company soared ahead with high valuation but it was losing its inhouse brand ambassadors (customers & employees). TATA group is an example where they invest continuously for generations in keeping their employees and customers loyal. Even when they face a tough situation, these two pillars - employees & customers – always stand behind them in full support. 

Slow and steady build a solid brand.

“Patience is a key element of success,” said Bill Gates. When a man who has created a great empire out of his business, we ought to give ears. In a recent talk show, Mr. Kochouseph Chittilappilly, the founder of the brands like V-Guard, Wonderla & Veegaland said “All of you know me now as a successful businessman. There were all those years behind where no one knew I existed. Business is about building it slow and steady.”

Most start-ups nowadays try to be a unicorn and scale up so fast that on the way up it stumbles and start falling. The higher you go the heavier will be the fall.  Recent issues faced by Byjus was due to its scaling up in all directions with high paced acquisitions and even the restrictions on Paytm came after its entry into every aspect of financial business available instead of focusing and stabilizing its main business as a payment app. These companies might of course come back but will pay a high price for its lapses. Start ups and entrepreneurs must learn the value of patience and build your brand slow and steady and keep all the physical and financial infrastructure in place before scaling up.

Follow the law of the land

The cardinal rule in any business to run in the long run is to follow the law of the land it operates. Just by creating high valuation and bringing in high profile investments is not a solution for your business to be in the run for a long time. Byjus was called in by the officials for flouting several laws of the country, Paytm is facing issues for not following several norms to be followed under RBI rules, Bharatpe is facing issues as its co-founder has been called in by officials for breaking financial laws. You can build a brand for a short run by spending heavily on mass advertising but keeping it alive in the long run needs to be by following the rules of the land. Great business thinkers has always said that the success of any brand, any product or any technology depends on the law of the land. Especially when you are a start up you have to know the laws, should be updated about the changes in the laws and adhere to them steadfastly. Unlike bigger companies a small company may not be able to face the financial struggle while facing legal issues. 

BRANDING LESSONS FROM ELECTION CAMPAIGNS

 

Roadshows alone won’t win hearts

State Elections Results 2021: A Branding POV

Every election campaign is a case study for marketers and branding professionals as these campaigns are aimed at convincing a large target audience within a short period of time. At the end of the day both a brand owner and a political party is trying to ‘win hearts’ by promising a value through their product/service.  Verdict of the audience on state elections 2021 is out and here is an opportunity for marketers or brand owners to learn how the winner could reach out to the target audience convincingly and how the losers couldn’t do so. Different states went under elections just now. Maybe what we are going to analyze here is applicable to all the states but let us stick to one state, Kerala, to make the analysis shorter and clear.

Road shows alone won’t win hearts: ATL alone won’t bring customers

All the three major political parties carried out road shows, yathras and mass rallies for the election campaign. But what made the winner smart is that the CPM under the leadership of Pinarayi Vijayan used their entire party machinery to go to the ground level and talk directly with the voters. They meticulously went door to door convincing the voters about their proposition, replying on the spot to clear the doubts in the minds of the voters. BJP and the congress depended more on road shows and yathras and mass rallies to ‘win hearts’. Here is an important lesson for brand owners too. ATL advertising or mass advertising in mass media like TV can make your brand name register in the mind of the consumers but if you want to convert that consumer as your customer, then you have to find ways to connect with your target audience directly through BTL advertising too. All avenues including digital medium will have to be used to connect with the target audience directly, introduce the product/service proposition, reply to their genuine concerns and be interactive. ‘Winning hearts’ is what creates a loyal customer and winning heart is not possible through one side communication but only through interactive communication.

Brand loyalty among your employees and trade partners

Any brand to be successful has to go through different channels of participation from the brand owner, inner core of the team, partners like dealers/distributors, retailers and so on before it reaches the final customer. Only if all these channels believe in your product/ service proposition, will they promote your brand to the end consumer. The winning party in Kerala and its leader did the same with their strategy. They convinced their political partners or allies about their stand on each subject, made them believe they are one for all & all for one and at times they even corrected according to the feedback from their local partners. This resulted in creating a unified voice in their campaign and this in turn made clarity in communication for the voters. This is another lesson for any marketer or brand owner. You cannot go out there and sell your product/service directly to every end consumer. Your distribution channels or anyone who takes your product/service to the end consumer should be seen as your brand ambassador. To do that you have to convince them that they are a mutual partner in your success story and for that you are ready to hear them out and do any corrections if necessary.

Clarity in brand proposition

Any campaign to reach your target audience should have clarity in your campaign proposition. The more positive the campaign thought is, the more receptive the target audience will be. LDF had a very clear slogan as their proposition whereas the UDF and NDA had vague communication platforms. ‘URAPPANU LDF URAPPANU THUDARBHARANAM’ (Sure it is LDF, Sure it is continuity for LDF) was very clear about what they are asking for and it showed the confidence in their approach. ‘naadu nannavan UDF’ ( to make this place better, vote for UDF) is a vague statement that anyone can put forward and there was a need to clarify how they are going to do it. ‘modikkoppam puthiya keralam’ (new Kerala with Modi) is also a vague statement which is not clear about the campaign platform or the brand proposition. Here is another lesson for a marketer/brand owner. Be clear first in your mind about what you are going to propose to your target audience. Create campaign platforms which will motivate your target audience to buy your product/service through clarity in your campaign thoughts and stick to the campaign platforms throughout your campaign period. Communicate in different levels to your target audience on what you mean by your campaign platform and what they can expect from your proposition.

Believe in your campaign platform and stick to it

Once the LDF decided on the campaign platform to have the word “Sure” in their slogan it is interesting to note that every leader, whether from the main party of the LDF or the smallest party in the LDF, tried to use that word even in their local press meets. This is a great example of how your campaign thought can be made popular among the public. The campaign platform should be believed in by the brand owner first and should adamantly try to stick on it during the campaign period. Everyone associated to the brand should be motivated to believe in that thought and they should propagate it whenever they get a chance. A campaign platform should be created after long thoughts over it and once decided has to stick on it rather than changing it during the course of the campaign.

Disclaimer: Pictures downloaded from internet just as reference images.

CHANGING LAWS WILL CHANGE THE LANGUAGE OF ADVERTISING

 

IT IS THE LAW THAT CREATE BIGGEST DISRUPTION IN BUSINESS. EVEN MORE THAN A PANDEMIC OR A DISASTER

  

We are amidst a pandemic that has shook the world and have created disruptions in businesses. It has forced us to change and create innovations in the way we live and do business. Still I believe the biggest disruption in any business is created by the laws of a state or a country. If you don’t agree imagine this. The pandemic has created lots of new business opportunities for eg. Sanitizers. But each state has different set of rules to procure, manufacture or distribute the contents which create sanitizers. So any business man who thinks this as an opportunity and invest in it should be aware of the laws that govern the industry he is investing in. Now imagine there is another business man who has huge supply of sanitizers with him and there is huge demand in another state but that state has stiff regulations to do this deal. Many people had started selling homemade cakes & bakery items to overcome the present financial burden but there are laws which they have to conform to even for such businesses. In states like Kerala the authorities have warned that unless these business-from-homes are registered under FSSAI they are liable to be prosecuted. So it is not the supply, demand or opportunity that creates or disrupts your business but it is the law that does it. An entrepreneur should never forget that any business in any country is governed by certain rules & regulations made by the respective governments. Even there will be different set of rules for different states within a country.

NEW LAWS FOR ADVERTISING (The Consumer Protection Regulation Act 2019)

From July 2020 a new law has been implemented in the field of advertising and without knowing this new law it would be suicidal for any business house or advertising companies to go ahead doing earlier kind of advertising. The new law seeks to hold manufacturers, service providers, advertising companies and celebrity endorsers accountable for ads, stipulating heavy fines and even jail terms for misleading claims. There is a provision in the new law which allows for ‘e-filing’ of complaints and a video conferencing option to participate in complaint redressal. Gone are the days of escaping from customer complaints by simply stating on your documents or packages that any dispute can be filed in the remotest place on earth.  Till now we had only ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India) as a self regulator which had no legal authority to prosecute the offenders. Now, a Central Consumer Protection Authority, headed by a government-appointed chief commissioner, will be set up in Delhi to regulate violations of consumer rights, unfair trading practices and false or misleading advertisements. And keep in mind this new law is not applicable only for the traditional media of advertisements but also for the new age media like the digital.

CELEBRITIES, BRAND OWNERS, AD COMPANIES BEWARE

This new law brings into its umbrella everyone involved in the marketing of a product and even the so-called digital delivery platforms or aggregators are also held responsible for false claims or misleading advertisements. The biggest move is to bring the celebrities who endorse a product into the ambit of this new law which for sure will make celebrities think twice before doing blind endorsements without checking the facts of their claims. Guilty manufacturers and service providers face jail terms of up to two years, along with fines of up to ₹10 lakh. Celebrities found endorsing misleading ads can be fined up to ₹10 lakh. For repeat offences, the new authority can impose a fine of up to ₹50 lakh and a jail term of up to five years. It can also bar a celebrity from endorsing ads for up to a year, extending it to three years for repeat offenders.

HOW DOES THIS CHANGE THE LANGUAGE OF ADVERTISING

We are in the midst of lots of false claims by even the biggest of brands in the country. Most celebrities even don’t care what they are endorsing as far as they are paid hefty sums. For eg. The 99% germ free ads has become so outdated that people now see only that one germ that remains on the screen as every ad looks and claims the same for similar products. People know these claims are outright false ones that they don’t even care whether it is 99% or 95%.  All this will have to change with the new law. The approach and language of advertising in marketing a product or service is going to change or else you will be held responsible by the consumer as this new law is giving full control over to the consumer. This will bring back good copy, good content, based on sound strategies back into play in the field of advertising. This will bring back the creativity of thinking how to place the product or service into the consumers mind by sticking to the originality of the product or service rather than with misleading loud false claims. Advertising companies will have to work more closer with the brand owners to create brand awareness on a long term basis rather than the short term loud speaker ones. As an advertising professional who always believe in the power of good advertising, I personally am more than happy with this change in law. Good advertising for me is simply communicating the true good elements of a product or service to the consumer in such a way that the consumer finds it satisfies a need or solves a problem for him/her. Bringing in a celebrity for the sake of influencing a consumer with false claims is not good advertising. Offering discounts which you don’t get in reality is not good advertising. So the new law for sure will make the brand owners, ad companies and the celebrities more responsible toward the messages in their ads. This would bring a more level field to play with words and visuals and only the real professionals would be able to create ads which help a brand to be on top of mind of the consumer. Both advertising industry and brand owners will have to innovate to adapt to this new disruption which is going to be out there in the market, even after the pandemic has left us. So all the stake holders in these industries better learn the rules by-heart so that they won’t be forced to leave the field of play.

Branding in the Time of Corona

“Florentina Ariza had kept his answer ready for fifty-three years, seven months and eleven days and nights. 'Forever,' he said.”
― Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera
The great novel gives us a message - even if you have to face uncertainties in life, patience will lead you to your goal. At times we may have to step back to reach that ultimate aim. A brand owner has to be patient to make his customer loyal to the brand just like the lead character in that ever-famous novel by Marquez. It is not about bragging about what you have but end of the day it is about the customer falling in love with your brand.
 

Branding in the Time of Corona

These are testing times to the human species as a whole and every individual has a responsibility towards the global community in fighting this out. The corona virus has unleashed never seen terror among people through COVID 19 and every brand is getting affected by its devastating hold. So what should Brands do during these testing times?

Do’s and Don’ts

Be Silent – This is not the right time to try to sell your products or services through advertising. Nobody is going to even read out what you have to offer unless it is useful for their daily life to face this difficult situation. For eg. A bank should refrain from offering their products like fixed deposits, A hospital need not advertise about its huge infrastructure or equipments, A retail showroom need not offer discounts to lure customers. On one end these won’t get any eyeballs from your target audience and from another end the customers in these troubled times would look your brand as just plain insensitive. On the other hand a hospital can advertise its new video consultation services, a bank can advertise its digital services especially those services which may help the customer financially during these difficult times like allowing them to overdraw their salary accounts, a retail showroom can allow their customers to buy online and allow returns & exchanges on such purchases or even introduce EMI schemes so that the customer can pay later for their apparel purchases.

Care your customer from your distant shores – Brand loyalty is all about making the customer feel the brand as their own. It is not about the colour of the logo or the emblem but it is all about the perception of a customer on a brand’s ability to satisfy their personal needs, it is about the perception of the customer about how a brand cares them. For eg., When a bank advertises about all the covid care measures but don’t even sanitize their ATMs a customer doesn’t feel the brand cares them. When a hospital advertises about their infrastructure the customer may not notice them but when the hospital provides sanitizers for free it may connect to the general public. When a retail showroom announces discounts the customer may not even look at it where as when it does something to give out masks to the general public it may get noticed. In short it is not about shouting in their ear but about caring your customer to overcome these tough times.

Be patient, Shut your mouth – These are the times when the authorities under the Govt. and everyone world over are trying to spread the message about how to fight COVID 19. There is no need for the brands too to spread the same messages. Just sending the same messages they get from every other source along with your brand logo doesn’t make any change in the daily life of your customer in these difficult times except you are one more another person who clutters their mobiles and mail boxes. So be patient, shut your mouth and open it only when you feel you have an idea which may contribute your customer another tool to fight this deadly disease. Save your money & resources spend on useless advertising, wait for the good times and wait for your loyal customer to return to you on their own at the end of this mayhem.

Experiential branding – This is the time to create experiences for your customer that influences their perception about you. The other day I saw a 3 star hotel in my town, which was not that popular earlier, being appreciated by everyone passing by. What they did was simple. They put out their hand wash sink on the pavement outside their hotel walls which can be used by at least 5 people at a time to wash their hands with soap and water. Now this is what makes the customers notice than the hotel spending huge sums on advertising in mass media. These are little things for a brand to think about but make huge difference in the perceptions of the customer. They experience the care directly rather than the brand speaking for itself. When your target audience is facing difficult times create experiences for them which might reduce their pain a bit. Yes that too should be considered as a branding exercise for the brand’s long term benefit.

'The Hindu' - the mainstream Indian newspaper had the guts to publish an ad in their own newspaper saying it bluntly against the misuse of ad space during these difficult times. Kudos to them for saying it on the face.

OF MISTAKEN LOGOS: THE MOST USED ONE IS THE MOST MISTAKENLY USED ONE!!!

An eye-opener

A consultation session with a Doctor always means waiting for a long time and recently on one such occasion came the bouncer question. My younger daughter asks “Dad, Look a logo on the Doctor’s Car. What is it?” The knowledgeable dad in me who plays and fights with logos everyday quite confidently replied, “That is the Symbol of Medicine used by Doctors as Doctors’ logo on vehicles.” On the spot came the next question a little tricky one though, “But what is the use of that logo on a Doctor’s vehicle”. I had to think a bit to answer this as I haven’t given much thought before on this doubt. Though not sure about myself I faced the question bravely and answered “Oh that is used to recognize a Doctor’s vehicle so that in an emergency they can be given special privilege to reach their destination.”(Still am not sure about that answer but she seemed satisfied). Now came the million dollar bouncer question (maybe because she hear a lot about logos and meanings of colours in branding and blah blah blah talked around her by  me) “What is the meaning of that logo and why is a snake used in it?”. I started to answer as we do always to a child as if we know everything more than them. But alas I really didn’t know the answer for that. Now the researcher in me gets motivated and starts learning on the symbol and here goes the interesting find. Symbol of medicine or the Doctors Symbol is the most mistakenly used logo in the world and the Doctors or healthcare practitioners are the ones who use this symbol most mistakenly all around the world!!!

The real one: Rod of Asclepius

A single snake on a rod is called a Staff or Rod of Asclepius (sometimes also called Asklepios or Aesculapius). According to Greek mythology Asclepius was a son of Apollo and he is depicted as the God of Healing. His daughters are Hygieia (goddess of cleanliness), Iaso (goddess of recuperation from illness), Aceso (goddess of the healing process), Aglea (the goddess of splendor and adornment), and Panacea (goddess of universal remedy). The Rod was believed to have magical powers in the hand of Asclepius and though there are different versions to the story, the snake is believed to be on the rod to show the power of Asclepius to resurrect dead people through his healing process. The serpent is also a symbol of rebirth and fertility due to its character of changing skins on its own.  In those days snake bite was the one of the most dangerous causes of death but Asclepius is believed to have the power even to bring back the dead to life through his healing powers. 

The mistaken one: Rod of Hermes or The Caduceus

Two snakes entwined on a Rod with wings is called the Staff of Hermes. This symbol is also known as The Caduceus. According to Greek mythology this is the staff of the Greek God Hermes (also known as Roman Mercury). Hermes is known to be the protector of merchants, business men, shepherds and even gamblers, thieves and liars. Unfortunately this is the symbol used mistakenly by many people associated with health care and medicine. The serpents on the rod here is believed to be symbolizing peaceful negotiations in business and the wings depict the speed of God Hermes as he was the messenger of Gods too.

How came the misrepresentation?

There are studies conducted on the subject years back. According to a survey conducted in 1993 of 242 medical logos, over 38% of American medical associations and over 63% of American hospitals use the Caduceus as their symbol. It is believed to be first misrepresented by the US Army in 1903 while creating a logo for their Medical Corps Unit. The Caduceus symbol is also used by more than 75% commercial establishments as the symbol of trade. So this symbol got more popularized as we see the symbol of Hermes more than the symbol of Asclepius all around us. 

Conclusion:

Both logos may look similar but both stands for very different symbolisms. Using the right logo goes a long way in sending across a message. There are no wings on the logo of medicine and only one snake on the rod. 

References:

http://medtiquity.com/2015/08/23/the-symbol-of-medicine/

https://www.florenceinferno.com/rod-of-asclepius-and-caduceus-symbols/

https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=7229

https://www.livescience.com/33104-why-is-the-medical-symbol-a-snake-on-a-stick.html

PROMISE LESS; DELIVER THE PROMISE - CHANGE IN CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS

Gone are the days when big promises used to bring customers in flocks to the store. Technology and specifically the internet have changed the whole business scenario. Though we perceive that the easy accessibility of online stores has made the customer more demanding, if we look at it from another angle it may be working the other way round. Yes the customer is more demanding still but the customer demand has become more specific rather than waiting for lots of offers and goodies.

Let us make this clearer through real life scenarios. Imagine yourself as a customer. You have booked a hotel room directly over phone in one of the three star hotels in a city. You got the best price after bargaining over the phone and the moment you enter the room you start complaining on the size of the room, to the size of the bathroom, to the colour of the window shades, the service quality of the room boy and what not. Now if the same room was booked by you through a mobile app like OYO and you get the same room for the same price as before you don’t complain on anything. You will just stay there in the same mediocre room with mediocre facilities till you have completed your business trip. Yes it is all about the quintessential PROMISE. The customer expectation while booking an OYO room is way less than the hotel offering its facilities directly just because OYO promises less and the customer EXPECTS less.

If you are not yet convinced extend the imagination to any other product. Say you are a customer who has gone to buy a pair of shoes from an offline store which advertised 50% off (of course with a *conditions apply that no one can read). Your expectation is to get a good deal on a good brand. The moment you enters the store you come to know it is only on selected models. Years back in a same scenario you may try to select from those 50% items but in today’s world you would just walk away from the store as you have other hundreds of options. Now even if you buy from the store after umpteen number of try outs and checkups, the moment you come back home you might think it was not a good deal and want to return it. If the same shoes you buy on an offer from an online store like myntra you don’t expect your shoes to be more valuable than you pay, even expect it to have some faults but most probably end up using it even though returning it to myntra is quite easy. So again it is all about the PROMISE. The less you promise the better the customer will be satisfied. The better a customer is satisfied the better they come back. If still not convinced just go to any store, even big brand showrooms and you can see any tall claims with hidden agendas out rightly being rejected by customers. Extend this thought to any product be it cars, airlines or any service offerings or even movies and you will be convinced of this change.

This doesn’t mean offers & discounts are not attractive to customers. Actually customers are all the time looking out for offers but they bite only the ones they feel are genuine ones. So promise only what you can deliver. Try to deliver more than you promise. Customer expectations are more realistic nowadays and this is a blessing in disguise for businesses. Less offers means better bottom lines and turning out your customer to a loyal one is not any more based on cut throat competitions on price but on the genuineness of the product or service. The new age customer is not looking for tall claims from you but transparency in what you are offering them. The customer is not looking to buy from the No.1 in the business all the time nor is he looking to buy from the biggest showroom in town. His expectations have come down. He is looking out for genuine PROMISES, the ones that he expects you to deliver. Mind you, PROMISE LESS; DELIVER MORE is one of the basic theories of brand building & marketing communication. Better go back to the basics to meet the new customer expectations rather than being worn out by over feeding the customer expectations with tall undeliverable promises.

In-film branding & Content Marketing down South

Though late as always, Kerala brands are waking up to content marketing. Thanks to demonetization, the subsequent fall in business and less black money to flaunt around, business houses in Kerala are now thinking different. From the all-out spending on creating television commercials & traditional advertising they are slowly but steadily moving towards content driven advertising including online & in-film branding and they have started to look for other avenues for their marketing communications. But as usual there seems to be a tendency to misuse these new mediums both in terms of creative content and expenditure on such media. This might be either because of the ignorance about the basic concepts of such marketing tools or just because of the age old misconception of advertising - ‘the more you spend the more it reaches out and the more you spend the more you should have voice in such content’. Times have changed. It is not how much you advertise but what you advertise that matters. Today content is the King. Future is in content driven marketing ideas and the content will be influenced and even created by customers.

In-film branding

Recently I happened to watch a Malayalam movie which had in-film branding by about a dozen brands in Kerala. Unfortunately it was done in such a bad way that it didn’t do any good to the movie or the brand as such. The basic concept of in-film branding is that our brand subtly slips into the narrative of the film rather than shouting at every opportune moment. In most of the recent films we can see blatant use of in-film branding techniques which makes a negative impact on the viewer’s mind rather than a positive affiliation to the brand. It would be good if some basic points are kept in mind while going for such branding techniques.

·         Viewer is sitting out there in the theater to watch the film not our brand. So never should our brand be shouting at the viewer in between the film’s story line.

·         Whatever be the brand’s spend on a movie, tweaking the story line to suit the needs of the brand should never be done as it spoils both the brand and the movie. First the movie gets spoilt by such in-film branding and second it results in wastage of money for the brand to be in a flop movie.

·         Hear out the whole story line and decide whether your brand could fit in somewhere in the story line. For eg. a movie about atrocities in a medical institution and your hospital brand being used in the film as that hospital will be disastrous for your brand.

·         Do not shout your brand at your audience because you are not airing your TV commercial within a film. Keep in mind that James Bond is not every now and then waving his Omega watch at the audience; rather it is a device that helps him all his way. James Bond is not mouthing out the words ‘I am using an Omega watch” rather the brand is promoting James Bond films in their other communication materials.

Content Marketing

Though content marketing has reached its advanced stages in India and abroad, Kerala brands still don’t use content marketing as a part of their marketing tools. Online is all about content which is relevant to the viewer. Even Social Media like FB, Twitter etc. are used in a wrong sense by most Kerala brands just as another medium to showcase their print ads or TV commercials. Better be aware of some basic points while using online as a medium.

·         Internet is a medium which can be used to make loyal customers but it can be done only by giving them relevant content. For eg. a print ad put out as an FB post wont create a customer for your saree showroom but a relevant information about a particular cloth material may create interest in the mind of an FB user.

·         Nobody is going to search out and see your TV commercial in YouTube. Create short films, music and other contents which help out to reach your brand to viewers instead of posting your TV Commercials.

·         Think yourself as an FB user. The third time you see an irrelevant post from a business house or a brand you would hide such posts. So no need to insist on daily posts of your brand in social media. Rather go for interesting posts keeping intervals between the posts and make sure they are relevant for your target consumer.

·         Internet is not only about social media and social media is not only about FB, twitter & Instagram. It is a wide wide world out there which includes blogs, travelogues and much more. Use online media in such a way that internet has rich content about your brand or product, again make sure it is relevant to the reader.

·          Mobile games, mobile apps are all alternatives to increase your brand visibility but again it all depends on how you create content specifically for these mediums.

·         Last but not the least, online marketing is all about interactivity and even a single post on FB can create interactive sessions with your customers if they feel it is beneficial for them to interact. Better stop shouting online about what you have to say about your brand/product and start speaking what your target audiences want to hear.

Branding in the Time of Demonetization

Branding in the Time of Demonetization

“He allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.” – Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera.

Business and Economics is always about adjusting to market situations and reacting to market demands. Maybe it is for the first time that both business men and economists have reacted to a situation in the same voice. Demonetization and its after effects have rattled business men and economists alike. Nobody (here it should be read as ‘those who were not big enough to get highly classified information’) knew it was coming and now most of them don’t know how to deal with it. Those who thought this was just another gimmick are now coming to terms with demonetization as a reality but still most of the businessmen I came into contact were divided in their opinion as to how to deal with it.

Accept Reality

Yes it is for real. Demonetization has happened. Whether it is good or bad for our business is unpredictable. Alas if market economics were so easy to predict then we would have got lesser number of entrepreneurs in this world. Entrepreneurship would have been boring if there was cent percent predictability in market situations. The first thing to do for any business is to accept the reality. Accept the change in mode of operations. Government is going to push digital transactions like anything, telecoms are going to push their services more, and people are going to use digital transactions more. So stop cribbing about the advantages of dealing in cash and move on.

Every disruption in the market is an opportunity

There is a popular story narrated at most management classes about the Chinese that while the US markets were reeling under the shock of 9/11, the Chinese had already started exporting caps & t-shirts with US national flag elements printed on them. Demonetization is definitely such a catastrophic event in business world which has disrupted the whole market operations. Does that mean everything is doomed? No, there will be opportunities among disruptions. The faster you find those opportunities the better. Especially in an Indian context we have smart business houses who innovate in every way to market their products. Each market within our country is unique and the effects of demonetization are different in each state and even different in parts within each state. The need of the hour is to find out which market is faring better and reach out to that set of customers. Find new markets, new opportunities, out of the box marketing techniques like cross branding and so on.

Digitalize your transactions

Yes digitalization is not a future thing but the present thing which has captivated all the markets in the world and it is transforming the way business is done. The earlier you digitalize your transactions the better your customers would stay with you.  Already the government has announced discounts & offers for digital transactions and we all know what happens when customers are lured with such bounties. The same customer who sided up with us today, the same guy who hated to use digital payments would ask us why you are not offering digital payment options. The scarcity of POS machines/ swipe machines is not an excuse you can hang upon for long. Customers are more aware of options like internet/mobile banking, paytm, mobile wallets etc. more than before and will be ready to use them more because it is not the customer who is worried about paying that extra tax on billing but the shop owners are. It is not the customer who is afraid about the source of their income while making a purchase but it is the shop owners that are worried about the consequences of under billing or low stock declaration levels. Customer loyalty starts when they get what they expect from a brand and ends when they feel they don’t what they expect. So the day your competitor starts accepting digital payments with offers, your loyal customer will be the first one to leave you. Digitalizing your transactions has its benefits. You get better customer database, can learn on the customer buying behavior and improvise your offerings at a lesser cost than before. So it’s all about adapting to the situation at the earliest and reaping the benefits of digitalization than lamenting about the demerits of demonetization.

Measure your ROI on Ad spends

As a brand strategist it is interesting to note that most of the times it is good for brand owners to face disruptions. Be it a recession or a demonetization, these are the times to retrospect and reinvent. When the cash flows are over flowing most business houses spend too much on advertising without even caring about the return on their investments in such huge advertising budgets. If there is one thing that we all agree upon it is the fact that demonetization has brought upon us, as individuals & households, a certain kind of accountability, even spend thriftiness, in our daily expenditures. The same applies to business houses. This is the time to relook at your advertisement expenditures. At the same time every business needs to market their products to grow and in these times of cash crunch it is the time to be patient about brand building activities. More importantly it is a time to measure the effectiveness of your expenditure on advertising. Whether your brand reaches out to correct target audience is to be taken seriously and the necessary changes in the medium of advertising is to be made. Gone are the days of mass marketing only through print & TV. Other media vehicles on the Internet like social media, blogs, YouTube are all now part of daily life of an average customer and more importantly we are going to see mobiles playing a major part in marketing your products. Still except from big corporates, we see very little branding activity on those frontiers like mobile apps, mobile games and virtual reality from smaller entities. Make sure your marketing communications break the clutter. Use innovative and creative approaches to your marketing communication. Go back to your basics, call your loyal customers one by one and inform them about the new mode of transactions. Help them if they need help in moving to digital transactions. Forget those days when you had lots of unaccounted money to do mass advertising. Revoke those old days when you talked to your customer directly. Maybe relook your product packaging and renew it with new digital windows like QR codes, bar codes etc. Get online to reach out to new customers.

Love in the Time of Cholera

Use this period to understand your employees and customers. Love your employees more, love your customers more. Make the ambience of your store or appearance of your product more appealing to them. Use this period to build your brand and reach out to untapped markets. If you can come out in good shape after this demonetization period you are well equipped to fly higher.

Advertising makes this world a better place to live in

Yes.  Advertising does bring about positive changes to the world around us

Every now and then we stumble upon debates on TV where they fight out like cats and dogs on issues both trivial and significant. At last the so called experts reach on an agreement – Yes Advertising & Films are the culprits for all the evils in the society.

Always on the wrong side of the table it’s high time someone stood up for the ‘Advertising Professional’.

Yes Advertising has changed the world we live in.

For hundreds of years advertising has contributed its part in changing the world around us. Whatever may the critics voice against advertising they can’t take away the contributions of advertising in making people’s life more easier, providing information to the consumer, making the consumer more powerful, providing solutions for marketing problems, innovating products & services and last but not the least uplifting the less privileged people.

We provide solutions: Even if an advertising campaign provides a wrong solution let us make it clear – we don’t create problems. Problems are created by the marketers themselves and we at advertising try to solve those problems, it is not the other way round. Most of the times it is an idea from an advertising company that provides solutions for a problem faced in the society or in a market.

We do influence that too in a positive way: Never ever in the history of advertising have someone created a product successful through negative communications. So atleast for once please own up for our own cravings for over consumption, for our own stands & beliefs  getting influenced in a negative way just through an exposure to an advertisement of a product or service. If it was so easy to influence people out there, advertising would have been extinct as a profession or the world would have been a better place to live in by its own. As advertising professionals we are hired to find something positive about a product or service, not the opposite.

We do inform and help consumer: Without advertising, people might not have found how to use oranges in juice form or how to use even a safety pin. Yes it’s true. These are not exaggerations but facts that you can browse yourself to find out how advertising have passed on information about innovations over all these years. Every day it is through advertisements, whatever be the medium, that consumers find out new ways to use an existing product/service or find out entirely new products/services. Also let us be clear about one thing- If we see misguided information about products, those are the works of such people in advertising who doesn’t know the basics of advertising. No product can be successful in a market over the long run through misleading advertisements. Transparency is what makes all those brands standing out there facing all weathers. Just because there are some scrupulous doctors out there we don’t blame that the whole medical profession is without ethics, do we?

We are always innovating: Every now and then it is advertising professionals who find innovative ways to a marketing problem and often entirely new products are devised by marketers from an idea borne out of an advertising professional’s brain. Innovative applications of existing products have helped people out there and not to mention the innovations coming out in service sectors. It is we advertising professionals who most of the time has to fight it out in board rooms of corporate companies to include an additional service or something out of the usual for the customers.

Yes we change the world: A good advertising is the one which makes way into people’s hearts. World over we have lots of examples where advertising have changed the people’s lives for good. Even a bus shelter made by a brand is a contribution towards the society. And be reminded that most of such activations are proposed by advertising companies not only because they are needed for the brand to reach its customers but also we too try our level best to give something to the society while using such advertising methods. Be it a brand raising awareness about cleanliness in Rajasthan through product sampling within a village festival or be it a government using advertisement campaigns to raise awareness about the need of vegetable cultivation, we as advertising professionals are involved from creating such an idea to making it reach among people. Especially in this age of CSR initiatives gaining importance in marketing mix of a company, we in advertising world are the happiest folks as now we can propose novel methods of sponsoring initiatives for uplifting the less privileged people using corporate money. Earlier we had to fight it out with our clients to allow us such proposals in our strategy.

Yes we do our bit to change the world within the limits of our profession just like the ones who sit there and debate on the floor of a TV channel. Just like any Doctor, Lawyer, IT guy, Mason or a Carpenter we in advertising world do care about the public. Sorry friends we have to find the real culprits for the evils of the society, maybe through individual introspection. Till then leave us alone. We are bent upon finding positive elements in a product, service and the society as a whole. Let the debate continue instead of using us as a reason to end your discussions.

Internet is no more a competitor but a facilitator

C’mon Kerala Retailer, Internet is no more a competitor but a facilitator.

Let us slow down opening up huge stores in every small town.

Its high time the brand custodians in Kerala, be it the client or the branding agency, wake up to this reality. The customers out there have turned smarter in a blink of an eye and they are using their internet facilities in their smartphones or on their desktop/laptops not only to get info about products/services but also to make their purchase online. 

 

Still not convinced?

Just order something from a popular online site and instead of getting your parcel delivered at your doorstep visit the courier office of Blue Dart or DHL directly and get your product. Your consignment will be picked up from a room full of parcels from online sites. Maybe this activity will clear your doubts whether your customer still prefer the traditional way of purchasing. If still in doubt just ask your friends, relatives, their sons & daughters whether they have ever purchased online. It would be an astounding number of online buyers that you had ever imagined.

Internet is not a competitor

Let us make this clear. Internet is not a competitor any more for the traditional stores. Or let us put it this way. Traditional stores in their traditional mode of operations are not at all a competition for online sellers today. Why? Its quite evident. An online customer has more options to choose from, get all the info & comparisons of a product, will get back his money if damaged, can send back the product within a limited time (in some sites it is more than 30 days), even exchange one thing for another if not satisfied and all this they can do on the go. The advantages for a customer are enormous when compared to traditional stores.

Still opening up huge stores?!!!

Most of the Kerala retailers are on a spree to open up new, that too huge ones boasting in terms of the sq.ft of shopping area they occupy, stores on every nook and corner of the state. Small towns are being focused for this strategy where the investment cost is too much when compared to the footfall of customers or even the total population of that small town. All this is going on while even small town customers are the biggest online purchasers and even if not purchasing online they love visiting their nearest big town for their exclusive purchases be it a brand or an occasion. Unless it is an exclusive store or a traditional store with an innovation in product or their service its better think twice before going into all out store expansion gear.

Yes, Internet is a facilitator

I just did an experiment on this subject. I browsed through different online sites for a mid value smartphone.  Of course I need to get the best price and also wanted to buy it directly from the store. So the search narrowed down to sellers in my hometown and just as expected the best price was quoted by a small time vendor who has just one store in the entire district. Is it because they get it at the best price. No, it is just that they have grabbed the opportunity to use internet as a facilitator instead of seeing it as a competitor. While the bigger stores fight with the internet for their geographical reach by opening up unviable stores all over, small time vendors are using the internet as their extended store. Dear big time Kerala retail brands as the old saying goes ‘Better befriend your bigger enemy rather than go down fighting with them’. And by saying this using the internet doesn’t mean just updating the company facebook page, it is way much more than that. Overhaul and manage your website, use online partners to sell your products and instead of just using that old time web banner in your online advertising creatives use online platforms to interact with your existing & prospective customers, get them to visit your website and if possible make them ask for a quote from you.