Cricket World Cup 2011 Advertising: Which One Caught Your Attention?

All the conversations these days are revolving around the Cricket World Cup. Many a times, I am a silent observer and few times an active participant in such conversations around who will win the match, who played better, how a catch should have been taken or how it was missed and so on. As a marketer, I heard many conversations as to which company is doing well in terms of its branding and promotion and which could have done better.

Surprisingly, as a consumer, I don't hear many conversions revolving around which brand has got some great deal, which is my preferred drink while watching the match, which watch will I wear this cricket season or which pizza I will order when India plays.

Although the consumers are not consciously taking any decisions about choosing any particular brand, companies are spending heftily on branding and advertising during this Cricket season. Because these ads and campaigns are unconsciously playing a very important role in making the consumers choose a particular brand.

Companies now are choosing multiple options like TV channels, websites, social media, SMS, email, videos etc to reach out to consumers. But, in this clutter, it has become harder to get the required attention and mindset of consumer. It is no surprise that brands are coming up with innovative and catchy ways for making their presence felt.

As a consumer, following few campaigns caught my attention:

1. Amul: Amul butter has tied up with Netherlands team. The Dutch team is sporting Amul logos on their jerseys. “Why not India team”, because “It is not available” comes the response from Amul. This is being treated as a very smart move by Amul because it has already generated a lot of buzz!
2. LG Mobile: LG has set up a ‘LG mobile army’ where it is recruiting 2,500 cadets from 38 cities to cheer inside stadiums.
3. Lays Flavor World Cup 2011: I liked the way Lays generated the curiosity and buzz even ahead of the World Cup and slowly unveiled its six new flavors. It won’t be a surprise to see Lay’s revenue going up with these ads
4. Brands on Social Media: Many brands such as Pizza Hut, Adidas, Smith and Jones, KFC are promoting deals through social media channels including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Good use of social media I would say.

Are there any campaigns which caught your attention as a consumer?

Taking Marketing Contribution Beyond Marketing Department

Most of the times, marketing is a separate department in the organizations. There is a ‘marketing team’ which handles all the aspects such branding, positioning, pricing etc. Well, it probably worked well in past when there were only handful ways of reaching out to users. However, with the new age of social media, don’t you think the definition of marketing has expanded to blogging, managing customer comments, reviews, creating and managing social media presence, analyzing results and all such things? Marketing has become a lot about conversation.

I believe that a lot of people in the company – outside the marketing department - can very well participate in this conversation with the users of your products and services.

How? Imagine this:

• Your engineers writing a blog article about the latest technology which your company has mastered
• Your support engineer providing responses to user queries on your online community and resolving issues – beyond email, phone or chat support
• Your technical engineer creating a video on using a particular feature in your product and posting it on YouTube
• Your sales teams posting interesting, informative and educative presentations on presentation sharing websites
• Your content writer gathering inputs about a latest paradigm by participating in discussion forums
• Your technical architect writing a post about a latest, cutting-edge technology and inviting comments from other tech-savvy people around

The list can just go on. So what’s happening here? Variety of people and not just the marketing team are contributing in creating an image, a brand about the company by utilizing their knowledge. Isn’t it great? What more can you expect when the best and experts are in action!

Well, I am convinced on this because I have tried this. Do you think it’s time for you to take a leap in this direction?

Be ‘Informed’ in Negotiations

In my earlier blog articles, ‘The Power of Power in Negotiations’ and ‘3 Golden Rules about time in Negotiations’, I presented the importance of 'Power' and 'Time' in negotiations as explained by Herb Cohen in his book 'You can Negotiate Anything'. In this post, we will have a look at ‘Information’ as the third crucial aspect in negotiations.

Negotiation, as Herb mentions, is not an event, but is a process. Information is at the heart of all negotiations. The more information you have about the other side about their needs, their real deadline and priorities, the more advantage you have. Chances of getting this information during the negotiations are rare.

So what to do? Start early. The earlier you start, the easier it is to gather information. Herb explains that it is a myth that the more informed and flawless we appear, the more easily we will get the information. In fact, the opposite is true. The more confused and defenseless we appear, the more easily we will get information and advice.

Where do you get information? From anywhere! Talk to the associates, people who are working or have worked with the person with whom you are going to meet at the negotiation event. If it is not possible to make such a direct contact with other side’s associates, find other ways. Make use of third parties, speak with people who have negotiated or dealt with them in past. Try to gather information from publications, journals etc.

Now, during the actual negotiation event, practice effective listening techniques. On careful concentration on what’s going on, you can learn more about other side’s deadlines, feelings, motivations and real needs. It will also help you listen to what is being said as well as what is not being necessarily said. You will be able to better interpret and understand the cues which could be unintentional, verbal or behavioral.

The key piece of information any negotiator would like to get is about the real limits of the other party or how much are they willing to sacrifice to make the deal. Many a times, this can be obtained by observing the concession behavior on the part of the other side.

In a nutshell, to be successful in negotiations, gather as much information as you can about the other party. For gathering information, start early. Practice listening technique during negotiation event and observe. The more information you have about the other party, the more power you will have in the bargain.

So here we come to the end of this 3 part series about crucial aspects for successful negotiations. Hope you enjoyed reading these articles.

Do share your comments with fellow blog readers!

Social Media ROI – Measurement Metrics

There is lot of excitement, curiosity and confusion around social media marketing. On one hand, there are a lot of organizations which are joining the social media bandwagon just because everyone seems to be there. On the other hand, there are others who are looking for ways to measure the ROI before they get into social media marketing.

For those looking for ROI measurement, I think the first thing they need to do is to think a little differently. I believe that the ROI measurement needs to go beyond number of visits and clicks etc. Here, conversation is more important than conversion. I suggest, before you start with social media marketing, first clearly define your objectives: Are you looking for leads and sales, are you looking to build a community of engaged and involved prospects and customers, are you looking to create brand awareness, are you looking to gather new ideas or are you looking to create online brand?

Once the objectives are defined, I think measurements become easier because the measurement metrics change based on those. Just be careful to not get excited about worthless metrics like ‘number of followers or fans’. Remember to also focus on quality and not just quantity. Here, the measurement metrics could be ‘the kind of people following your blog’, ‘number of influencers who tweet about you’, ‘number of people who actually used your TwtQpon’, ‘kind of engagement around a discussion on your Facebook wall’, ‘Number of retweets you get and from whom’, ‘reduction in support investment because of support through online community’, ‘number of new features your product users suggested to you’ and so on.

Here are some of the successful social media campaigns. There are many such successful campaigns. I have just picked these few:

1. Starbucks: Starbucks started MyStarbucksidea. Here, Starbucks asked its customers as to what they want from Starbucks. The social media success metric in this case would be number of suggestions gathered, number of unique suggestions which the company might not have thought of and number of suggestions which the company actually implemented.
2. Dell: Dell announces offers and promotions on Twitter. Here, the ROI is clearly measurable in terms of sales coming from Twitter, the number of people who availed the ‘Twitter Exclusive’ offers.
3. Target: The retail chain Target donates 5% of its income to charity. Last year, it decided to donate the money to charities which are selected by Facebook users. It did ‘Bullseye Gives’ campaign which essentially was a voting application connected to Target’s existing Facebook page. On this, it allowed users to select which charities they would like to see the funds. Money was given based on percentages. Here, Target not only just did good through charity, but it also increased the fan following of the brand. It can now be able to communicate with these fans in future.

As we see, the ROI metrics go beyond click through and more towards audience engagement and involvement.

Do you have any thoughts on measuring social media ROI?

3 Golden Rules About Time in Successful Negotiations

In my earlier blog post ‘The Power of 'Power' in Negotiations’, I presented the importance of power in negotiations as explained by Herb Cohen in his book 'You can Negotiate Anything'. In this post, we will have a look at ‘Time’ as the second most crucial aspect in negotiations.

Herb describes 3 golden rules about time.

Rule #1: The passage of time affects negotiations in a very significant way. In any negotiation, the consensus or settlement action happens close to the deadline. So be patient. Patience pays. Wait for a favorable moment to act. When not sure, do nothing.

Rule #2: Never reveal your real deadline to the other side. Deadlines can be flexible. Never blindly follow a deadline but evaluate the real benefits. The ‘other side’, no matter what they try to show, always has a deadline.

Rule #3: Don't take an extreme action unless it is advantageous for you, cautions Herb. Many a times, as the deadline approaches, you might observe a sudden change in power. Because, as we know from rule #1, with the passage of time, although people remain the same, circumstances do change!

Social Buzz Creation through Unusual Celebration of Usability Day

A recent post about FREE website design on one of the social networking sites caught my attention. Well, it was for two reasons: 1) It was offering one FREE website design and 2) which is more peculiar is that the occasion which this company chose for this contest is the "World Usability Day".

Honestly, I had not heard of this day until I saw this post. All of us talk about (like experts) about usability in everything – phones, ipod, TV set, DVD and what not. But I don’t think many of us pay special attention to this aspect when it comes to designing products or experiences. The company, IDYeah Creations, which has announced this contest, offers usability services and UI solutions.

I thought this contest is a very interesting thing for few reasons:

1. By celebrating “Usability Day”, the company is showcasing its passion about usability
2. Website is something which every business needs and probably by doing one FREE website, the company will create an example of how to design a user friendly website and demonstrate the power of usability
3. The amount of buzz this is creating – of course there is some freebie, but more for its uncommon celebration of a not-usually-celebrated day. The company has said that it will choose the winners based on ‘genuine’ need and I am sure many people (like me) are thinking about how to demonstrate the genuine need – more controversy, more buzz!

Things like these convince me that social media and buzz creation have immense potential - provided you add a little bit of creativity to it.

I will be keen to see the website of the lucky winner which IDYeah creates!

Our Internet Marketing and Social Media Marketing Workshop was a Great Success!

A half day workshop on October 27^th, 2010 organized by Midas Touch Consultants was a great success with professionals from variety of streams attending it.

Amongst the audience, we had CEO and marketing professionals of India’s leading antivirus software company, former MD of a well known software product engineering and quality engineering services organization, Owner of a usability services organization, Sales Consultants, Co-founder of an organization providing expert services in the area of software testing and quality engineering, Head of Strategy and Consulting from a Outsourced Enterprise Product Sales consulting organization, Head of Marketing of leading Thermal Insulation Material dealers, CEO of a public relations and communications company, Strategic Marketing Consultant, Event Head from an enthusiastic startup and also a student who is leaving for an overseas job soon.

The workshop covered various aspects in online marketing such as Website Optimization, Web Analytics, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Email Marketing and Social Media Marketing. With lot of real-life examples, it made it easier for the attendees to understand the concepts.

The most enjoyable part of the workshop for me, as a presenter, was the very enthusiastic and participative audience. Through their questions and participation, they made sure that they understand whatever is being explained in the session. Not only this, they also asked lot of questions relevant to their own area of business. The collaborative learning gave good insights to everyone. The discussions revolved around how online marketing can be used for consumer products, how it can be applied for software products, services or to niche enterprise products and how social media can be used for enhancing personal brand.

For revision of concepts, we played a nice game (built using Harbinger’s YawnBuster software). The correct answers to the questions asked during the game convinced me that the audience has well grasped the concepts. Even post the afternoon break where we all relished on some yummy snacks, the participation levels were as high as before and there was absolute no lull – either the snacks were not tasty or the presenter engaged the audience with interesting discussion topics – and I would like to believe in the later one -:)

I felt especially good when one of the participants coming all the way from Mumbai mentioned that the workshop was worth her travel!

Thanks everyone for making it such a great event and for those who missed it, we look forward to see you next time!

Product Launch Checklist and More….

Okay, so now you have completed conceptualizing a product idea, the design is ready and your engineers have started building it. What next? You obviously gear up to make a big launch of the product.

What is the checklist you need to go through before you can say that you are ready for the launch from the marketing perspective?

Here are some items which I think are important:

• Naming the product
• Product messaging
• Product positioning
• Target market segmentation
• Sales strategy
• Pricing and introduction offers strategy
• Marketing plan preparation
• Advertising channel identification and finalization
• Channels identification (?)

Coming to more of operational items: 

• Logo and website design
• Search Engine Optimization
• Literature Preparation (brochures, flyers, conference panels etc)
• Sales tools preparation – whitepapers, demos, FAQs etc
• Press release
• Newsletter preparation and opt-in management
• Social media promotion strategy and preparation for the same - you can’t avoid this if you want to reach out masses in a short time

Can anything more be added to this list?

Once you have the checklist ready, what do you think is the best way to plan and execute these items so that none of these are sidelined just because “we don’t have time right now!” or "we can always do those later"?

The Power of ‘Power’ in Negotiations

In the book You can Negotiate Anything, Herb Cohen describes Power, Time and Information as key elements in any negotiation.

Describing the variable of 'power', he goes on explaining various dimensions (mentioned below) which, if understood and used well, can make you come out as a winner in any negotiation. Here is an excerpt of that.

1. Power of competetion: The author suggests that you should create competition for something you possess. Never enter a negotiation without options because if you do, the other side will treat you lightly.

2. Power of legitimacy: Legitimacy is very strong in our society. Tapping in on its power can certainly give headway. The author gives a tip that use power of legitimacy when it’s for your advantageous to do so and at the same time, challenge its power, when it’s advantageous to do so.

3. Power of risk taking: Risk taking is a must during negotiations. Mix courage with common sense and take calculated risks. But, before taking a risk, calculate the odds to determine whether the potential benefits are worth the possible cost of failure. Never take a risk out of pride, impatience or a desire to get it over with. When stakes are higher, consider sharing or syndicating the risks.

4. Power of commitment: Get a commitment of large number of people because this way you put yourself in a position to exploit a favorable opportunity.

5. Power of expertise: Establish your background and credentials early in the confrontation. That way, your statements may not even be challenged. Prepare ahead of time. But don’t be pretentious. Ask intelligent questions and know whether you are getting accurate answers.

6. Power of knowledge of “needs”: Everybody’s needs are different. What people say they want (their demands) may not be what will actually satisfy their needs. As Herb Cohen has reiterated, to successfully interact with any individual in any setup, determine his or her needs and then fulfill them.

7. Power of investment: It is important to get the other person invest time, money or energy in a situation. It’s the key factor in making an ultimatum work. At the beginning of every encounter, you should approach people collaboratively. If you want to become competitive, be that only at the end, after the other side has made an investment. The extent of an investment and willingness to compromise are directly proportional. The author gives a tip stating that: if you have something difficult to negotiate, cope with it at the end of a negotiation, after the other side has made a hefty expenditure of energy and substantial time investment.

8. Power of rewarding or punishing: Yours as well as other side’s perception about a person, situation or object play a very vital role in negotiations. Don’t eliminate options and reduce the other side’s stress unless you receive something for something. Let them wonder until you have received what you are shooting for.

9. Power of identification: Get others to identify with you. The power of identification exists in all interpersonal relationships including business transactions and politics. Identification, whether with or against, plays a big factor in negotiations and decision makings. Therefore, behave decently and try to help others.

10. Power of precedent: Use the power of precedence to your advantage. To justify what you’re doing or asking for, always refer to other situations similar to the one you’re currently in, where you or others did so-and-so, and the result you wanted occurred.

11. Power of persistence: Be persistent enough while negotiating. You must be tenacious. Persistence pays off.

12. Power of persuasive capacity: If you want to convince people, show the immediate relevance and value of what you are saying in terms of meeting their needs and desires.

13. Power of attitude: Try to regard all situations and encounters as a game, says the author. Do your best, but don’t fall apart if everything doesn’t pan out as you’d like it to. If you develop this healthy attitude towards all negotiations, there will be many benefits like: a) you will have more energy, b) you will be under reduced stress and c) you will get better results, because your attitude will convey your feeling of power and mastery of your life.

In my coming blog posts, I will also put up information about the other two elements (time and information) in negotiations.

Till then, happy reading!

Co-existence of Sales and Marketing – Has it Changed?

How many times have you heard this dialogue or have experienced it yourself?

Sales Manager: "Give me good leads. The leads which you gave are not good. How can my team sell?"

Marketing Manager: "You have got good leads. Your guys are not able to close those!"

Well, gone are the days when companies and managers could afford to be in the middle of such discussions. In today's active online world, it is no more lead generation, handover and closure with separate stakeholders from marketing and sales for each task. Today, buyers rely more on online reputation, social media and sites than just what the sales people tell them.

Smart organizations thrive on creating a culture where the marketing and sales people work together hand in hand to facilitate faster closure. It's no more about only "leads". Free content is what drives the action. Marketing and sales need to work together in creating valid content for each step in the sales process and facilitate easier evaluation of the offerings throughout the sales cycle.

In fact, in case of complex sales, which involve multiple decision makers and have long sales cycles, social media can play a very important role. A well managed social reputation can in fact shorten the sales cycle. It can help the buyers in making more informed decisions and can also help sales people in bringing people into the top of the sales funnel.

What is your sales and marketing strategy?