Some thoughts on Networking, Social Media in Financial Express

Last Friday I had an extremely interactive discussion with a medium sized company’s owner about his Branding & Marketing processes. Whilst, he had done some innovative things, the basics were still lacking. Having convinced him of them, decided to pen down those thoughts.

Product and promotion

Offline:
• Branding
• Image through communication
• Image through medium used

Online:
• Branding and colors on the site
• Branding and colors on the newsletters
• Branding and colors used for any new application or module

Place and physical evidence

• Sign board at the entrance of Office, Stores
• Entrance to be maintained consistently
• Reception, needs to be clean & maintained so there are posters, reading material of relevant products –
necessary to get the visitor to feel that he/ she has come to a great place!
• Security to greet customers well
• Receptionist to greet customers well and cater to the basic courtesies – ask for tea/coffee/water; ask what
they have come for; keep the area for brochures and newspapers in order.
• To keep the reception area well stocked with brochures and any reading material so that the customer’s wait is
pleasurable and worthwhile.

People in service

• The concerned person should not keep the customer waiting for long
• Each and every employee to make the process easy for the customer
• Every employee to adhere to dress code so a uniform and desirable image is formed
• People to adhere to the selling process steps strictly while attending a customer.

Process in service

• Whether it’s online or offline, every department to make the process easy and pleasurable for the customer

I am sure this is not a complete & comprehensive list. But it is the bare minimum. It is extremely easy to get a lot of ideas, however to execute ONE of them takes a lot of effort & time. All products, companies that are BRANDS today are because of CONSISTENCY.

I have been always an experimenter so to speak with basic applied technology (that is to say, I use what I am comfortable with) for the past 10 years and found it pretty effective.

Ryze, Blog, Linkedin, Facebook & finally Twitter used it all. Some good, some bad but it all balances out.

And it was in 2009 that I kept hearing this “Social Media” being used very often. Gentleman from a company that I was consulting about their Online foray kept throwing it to me and soon enough their agency got into the act, giving me the whole nine yards.

Trying to understand the entire social media jungle, I started delving deeper into it - reading about it, meeting people, trying my little experiments that I have chronicled on this blog.

After having joined my current organization, I was bombarded by everyone (except the peon, receptionist & driver) about online strategies, social media (there again) & how PR would help.

In a bid to get away from all these I finally caved in & agreed to meet the shortlisted PR agencies (three in number). And there began my nightmares…

All of them came in with the CEO/VP; Account Director; Account Executive and practically the same Power Point Presentation of 30 plus slides which could be broken up as:

1-10 About their company & our company (straight lift from brouchere)
11-20 About PR snapshots - how it works, value vs straight advertisements etc.
21-30 Social Media - snap shots - print screen of some clients

None of them could answer the following basic questions that should have been internally prepared at their end:

1) Why have you not studied the client? (not even googled it properly)
2) Do you think the client 106 years old has no clue of PR
3) Did the PR brief not tell you client expectations? In which case where are they on any of the 30 slides
4) Social Media - nice meaning from a host of sites etc. But do you think we need it? What should be our strategy? (Answer was FaceBook, Twitter & mind you our Ecommerce site is yet to go up)
5) How would PR work keeping in mind the recommendations? (Sir, worked for our other clients)

Nowhere during the course of the three meetings was the work complete integration, interaction with old, new consumers, commitment used anywhere. Retainer mila, bus kaam ho gaya. And YES they are yet to get back on the questions asked.

I guess this may be one of the reasons that some of my agency friends, acquaintances avoid talking shop with me, which actually may be a good thing.

But that leaves one with a Question - Is PR harnessing the power of social networking sites & blogs to help businesses generate strategic mind share & presence. and If so how many Indian Brands have enjoyed the fruits till now.

I sure would welcome suggestions, criticism, inputs, thoughts on the above….it does not matter whether you understand social media or not; whether you are an agency or client.

I had been hearing about Startup Saturday from Netra for a while, when one fine day in October, whilst cruising past on the Rajeev Gandhi Sea Link or #bwsl as made popular by b50 I received a call from Annkur asking me if I could attend the interactive session the following week.

In my enthusiasm, I said Yes, and had second thoughts when I received his email “Referring your talk at Startup Saturday, it would be great if you can share your experience with the psyche of Indian consumer in creating international brands out of what has always been a commodity.”

But it was too late, because by then Jeev Daya Netra Prabha had swung into action.

I reached there on the designated Date & Time, entered the room & saw some 35-40 people sitting there listening raptly to the previous speaker. I was hurriedly introduced to the Originator of the idea Aditya Mishra and waited for my turn. (Felt just like waiting before an exam)

Soon enough it was my turn & we started it off. Quite an interactive session it turned out to be, with a lot of questions flying back & forth, before it ended.

I managed to acquit myself reasonably well, I think & for those of you who had asked for a copy of the presentation startupsat10thoct09.

I had been meaning to write this post a while back, but got sidetracked with my daughter’s results, experiment with Twitter so got delayed a bit.

A lot has already been written about how much money all the Franchise, BCCI et all have made; but the common refrain being India did not benefit much. Read the rest of this entry »

I had been on Twitter for a couple of months, attended a minor tweetup organised by Netra before I saw a tweet from @90di that got me thinking.

Trying to find out the methodology got me nowhere, but I decided to run an experiment myself rather to amuse myself and if possible understand what makes Twitter tick here.

From the 5th May 2009 to 13th June 2009 whilst the experiment continued I was No Rank - 90’s - 60’s - 20’s sub 10’s with a final high of sub 03 for nearly 5-6 days.

As @90di commented that “Usual Suspects” contained ShaaqT Gul Panag Keeda Shashi Tharoor amongst others; so was in real august Indian Tweeter company.

Now here is where I presumed the following:

• Some of the names on the list came up, due to followers talking about them
• Some of the names on the list came up because they followed norms laid down by twitter:)
• Some of the names came up the list because they were trend setters/followers like Keeda

Doodle by @keeda on Twitter Trend

My experiment was divided into 3 parts:

1)  Break into the first 100 Indian Twitters

2)  Break into the first 30 Indian Twitters

3)  Finally, break into top 10 for a period of week or more.

1)  Break into the first 100 Indian Twitters

• After analysing my tweets - used some of the applications - but could not make head or tail out of it so finally relied on myself.
• Realized that Twitter advocates being yourself, which is fine but so does Indian Democracy - then why in spite of cribbing et all we elect the same politicians - because in spite of voters changing the politicos remain the same.
• But, how do you be yourself - if the nick is something else & your name is something else - luckily that did not affect me.
• Having been a hoarder of some text; thoughts; jokes or all bundled as gyan decided to share this with the tweeters, of course hoping for a couple of shoutdowns.
• Parallel started following some known names that looked good from their bio - this helped in retweets
• From April 3 to May 25 I jumped from 150 to 400 odd followers that included a whole lot of bots & people based out of India who did not have any kind of interaction with me.
• Slowly I found myself inching up the scale to speak till I finally broke in on the 5th May

2)  Break into the first 30 Indian Twitters

• Then it became tougher to break in with a wide variety of variations floating around.
• Started tweeting seriously - bit of gyan; news with comments; interacting; replying.
• Finally I thought I was ready to conclude the experiment around the 30th May & so the final push began.

3)  Finally, break into top 10 for a period of week or more.

• Had prepared a fair amount of interactive tweets for different days
• Worked on the background that would make people want to RT
• Some completely new thoughts that could be shared with a variety of groups
• Heavy interaction in terms of replies; help; DM everything.

And, hence managed to conclude it successfully. My personal findings:-

• Irrespective of how “be yourself” you are, perceptions matter
• Most of the followers do not read your bio, go thru your blog before deciding to follow you. Only your Tweets matter.
• A great Blogger may not be a great Tweeter & vice versa
• Common searchable knowledge is tweeted by everyone; try something that is personally relevant.
• The pareto principle applies here also.
• Whilst PR; Advertising - online & offline; media; brands talk about Social Media & recently Twitter, fact is how relevant to daily life, work environment are the top 100 twitters that is crucial
• If a chunk keep talking about just technology, crib about government & civic the feeling is ‘Hey we read & listen to this all the time’ Tell us how Twitter can help us.
• Irrespective of whether you may live it, love it, hate it fact remains that it is MLM, with of course no transactions involved.
• Everyone eventually manages to create a pyramid or a banyan tree which helps them & all their connections, mostly always in a positive manner.
• Embrace it as another channel, medium - it shall deliver results. Remember as somebody said “The use of electronic networks and associated technologies is to enable, improve, enhance, transform or invent a business process or business system to create superior value for current or potential customers.”
• AND Finally remember with the right approach, attitude & bit of hardwork you can overcome the System i.e. Twitter:)

Approximate data has been taken from Twitterholic & 90di I hereby acknowledge that I have not been guided by any Social Media Agencies, Gurus; but am thankful to the everyday tweeters who made this possible.

I have been a admirer of Mr. Kishore Biyani since the time I first met him some 7 years ago. Over the years, I have had the chance of sitting with him in a group, hearing him speak at close quarters and agree with some of his comments about consumers.

Whilst I am not privy to how the group functions, what are the SBU and who makes what money, I am definitely sure that Big Bazaar after constantly being fine tuned has turned into a good money making machine which probably at times is supporting some of the smaller SBU’s.

Recently Big Bazaar celebrated its Anniversary Sale. Whilst at the Gym in Mega Mall last Monday, I received a call from my wife, requesting me to pick up some stuff. In my enthusiasm I replied in the affirmative & proceeded to the basement where it is located.

No 1 - There was a sea of Black Humanity extending right up the escalators. Looking at my confused state, one of the gaurds asked me if I wanted to Shop - ‘Of course, otherwise why am I here’ ; he gestured to me to use the right side & come down. On reaching there, I understood that the Q was for Gelato (Special offer Rs.9/-) Chaat (Rs.10 -15/-)   Learning: It is still possible to bring in people with a lead in that has no/little relevance to actual business done. Here the marketing write off may just be the space!

No 2 - Going inside, saw families treat the store as an Pre School Outing. Clothes, Stationery, Linen, Groceries all where ever there was a deal - it was being dumped - in trolleys with shouting across aisles ‘Kaun sa color’ ‘4 ya 6 lena’ Learning: Timing - Anniversary, school opening, related offers, price points, complete volume & value game.

No 3 - The vegetable & fruit side was nice & cool with practically no body really shopping. Answered soon enough by the staff - Wednesday everything will go off with the offers.                                                                                              Learning: Specific, Constant, Consistent ensured people & staff were clued in & ready.

No 4 - There were some good to great deals going on - some from the FMCG companies, some from Big Bazaar it self that are definitely not available anywhere else.                                                                                                                             Learning: Whilst Private Labels introduced & were gaining ground, the volume game or marketing tactics ensured that other Brands did not suffer, but were still in play.

No 5 - Cash Counters manned & opened all across, with Express ones making exceptions also.

Some Negatives that can be overcome immediately -

• Cleanliness - No housekeeping visible at any place whatsoever.
• Customers allowed to drink water, soft drink inside leading to problems.
• Staff whilst friendly, need to be neatly dressed or rather cleanly dressed
• The internal banter amongst staff, gaurds need to be controlled.

However, all said & done the consumer pulse & reaching into their pockets is what matters at the end. AND here Big Bazaar straddles the right spectrum, integrating itself completely with the needs of the consumer. It bridges the gap from the small, neighborhood kirana store & a hypercity, something which Subhiksha was also keen on doing, but failed. It provides half or more of what common man aspires - AC environment, in a mall, ability to look, touch things, decide on their own without push - all at probably less than the Kirana store (OK not all items). This leads to most of the consumers focusing on Value that they end up buying Volume, thus helping Biyani laugh all the way to the bank.

Eventually, some of these consumers would graduate to the next level and try Hypercity, Star Bazaar and be replaced by others - very similar to Gopinath’s Deccan Aviation and what I love to call the “Funnel Theory”

I received a call from vodafone a while back. The young lady spoke to my wife, who after the first couple of questions dumped the phone in my hands & walked off to do whatever wives do during lunch hours!!

The young lady started with a bang —–

• Sir, May I have your name (If you have called me, then you would have it)
• Sir, Company only gives us series of numbers (Huh! By just connecting to the computer & MTNL directory this problem should be solved)
• If you have 3 vodafone post paid numbers, we shall give you 1 more free & change all to a new plan where for Rs 160 each all 4 of you can speak unlimited to each other. AND we shall change your billing plan to .60p for within circle & Re. 1 for national for phone & text yada yada yada (Duh!!! Hold on madam, why would I want to do that? I am currently on a plan where it is .50 p circle & national for both voice & text.)
• OK no problem sir, then how about the offer of Rs. 160 (We do not speak worth Rs. 640 in either case)
• OK no problem sir, we have another offer for senior citizen yada yada yada (Sorry not interested, can you offer me something better than my current plan for data & voice?)
• Sir, we are not authorized to offer anything other than this.

Phew!! I have not understood what kind of marketing does Vodafone expect to achieve with this. Because I think this is the old tried & tested funnel theory. Call as many as you can, speed talk them, pick up documents, issue activated card, bill them. Repeat next day, week, month AND the DSA (direct sales agents get Rs. 100 - 150 per subscriber)

The past couple of months have been trying to understand the debate of Social Media which suddenly has taken over the web, agency & young marketers.

Whilst meaning to attend one of the media summit, bar camp or whatever it is called at different locations, previous commitments have interfered but never mind I shall make it a point some time soon.
Mahesh Murthy & Nethra Parikh recently organized a discussion on Bridging the Social Media Divide
As the post says: A good beginning is always made when both sides accept that there is a disconnect. Being from a client’s side & not even a marketer, having dealt with agencies, marketers & SM guru, some points that seem relevant to me are:

1) Medium does not matter, Performance criteria, fixed parameters linked to deliverables maybe not
always immediate ROI is a necessity.

2) Whilst Mavens are required, particularly for some industries, it is a reality that typically clients are wary
about the % of budget to be devoted there & hence the short shift to #SM

3) Marketers are great at asking Q as are Agencies in answering them but the fact remains that except
for the top 5% of companies/brands who understand quantifiable data that has quality linked to it,
accept it and the most IMP ACT on it. e.g every talks CRM; tracking customer thoughts on their
product etc. but finally not doing anything about it since there is always a serious disconnect internally
where the marketer’s ability to sell to internal clients is suspect.

4) Instead of harping on Marketing, platforms, Media - social or otherwise & pushing examples of the
American Social Media that mostly does not have relevance in the Indian context or scenario, the way
to win win situation would be to
a. All Social Media Guru’s to become Shishyas first, share in layman terms what they mean without
using jargon which is difficult for anyone & everyone to understand.
i. With due respect to everyone who had gathered
ii. With all learning’s I have gleaned on the web in the past couple of years
iii. And meeting passionate web marketers, SEO, bloggers, now Tweeples & Social Media
enthusiasts
Most of them are extremely passionate but keep spouting something they have either read in the
blogs of so called American experts or collected & believe in short term gains.
E.G. I need one client a month to take care of my expenses….brilliant….there’s a sucker born every
minute!
OR
Use the funnel theory…..pitch to every tom, dick & harry…you’ll soon find one Chandru

Every couple of months they re invent themselves with the new mantra of the quarter.

b. Once the Social Media aspect is laid down for a layman; convert/adapt/apply it to the Indian
perspective AND mind you here the approach has to be across industries, because the idea is
the more difficult the industry segment, the easier it is for them to understand. e.g. applying it
to a retail store chain is easier whereas applying it to a CFL or LED manufacturer is difficult
initially but would pay rich dividends. Also they are more adaptive to change as they are also
trying to change the industry.

c. Once you have a couple of solid diverse industry examples or even when you are applying it
there, broadcast, share the case on an ongoing basis….basically do everything you speak about
i.e. should be used to influence, call to action etc.

d. Finally the bridge is more or less getting there; the disconnect is reducing slowly & soon it shall
be integrated.

5) All of the above is something that is vital. Even today in India 90% of the agencies (large ones top
10)have a web marketing, presence, social media division, company BUT except for those 10-20 people
working there, no body else has a clue & it does not form a part of the pitch.

6) Rest of the agencies would not even have that. Besides this there are the whole list of
specialists….boutique agencies, designers, buyers.

7) AND of course the PR agencies who except 1 or 2 (and believe me I have dealt with a lot of them)have
no clue about what you are talking except Page 3 tactical ideas.

ASK any one of them - Is PR really understanding & harnessing the power of social networking sites, blogs to help Biz generate strategic mindshare & presence. And you will see blank faces.

So to get Social Media really Social & acceptable, do not rely on marketing or PR only but let it act as an Integrator which helps the client to really understand all 3 in one go once applied in tandem.

With everyone talking about economy, recession, job cuts & what have you; the scenario sounds depressing, whereas it actually is not.

Talking about this with friends from various industries, though primarily from the Jewelery business, advising them, I decided to pen down the basics, because even in such times a winning strategy can be executed, keeping the fundamentals of business in mind always.

Some basic mantras that can help tide you over:

1. PRODUCT - stick to the basics

i. Focus on profit, not volumes - The time is to rein in the volume push, concentrating on profits. It would be better to maintain profitability on existing volumes, rather than grow volumes.

ii. Innovate within existing Formats - Take cognizance of the different formats of sales/distribution. Aligning & offering more products, offers at a S-I-S (shop in shop) may be much better than trying to push a high street/stand alone store during these times.

iii. Maintain standards - Continue maintain laid standards, do not start switching off AC’s, lights (instead tone them down; use reflective visual merchandising to help). Do not compromise on service levels, staffing drastically.

iv. Let product innovation take a back seat - Continue investing in innovation, but do not invest time, effort, money into completely new products that may only be on the shelves after a couple of months or next season.

2. Promotion - Focus & Creativity

i. Do not blindly take decisions on cutting down advertising & promotion. Take a step back, analyze & implement.

ii. Yes all experiments may be held in abeyance OR better still targeted at niche, catchment areas before being rolled out.

iii. Above all do not get into deep discounting, just because everyone is doing so. It is the worst decision to get into herd mentality.

3. Price - Be determined.

i. Sure, create a lead in price but always keep competition in mind. Studies, Analyze but never blindly follow them.

ii. A good idea would be create closer price ladders in similar products, designs.

iii. And create, increase opportunities for standard pricing across designs, sub brands, collections.

4. Proposition

i. Communication is the key here. During tough times, customers look for a tangible benefit & hence imperative to give them a good - great value proposition.

ii. Also deliver a much higher perceived value by add on and other related adjacencies.

5. People - recognize, own, connect, cherish, celebrate, reward - This goes for consumers as well as own people.

i. Take the lead in identifying changes of consumer behavior.

ii. Keep a constant & consistent dialogue about brand, product, and industry.

iii. Consolidate distribution

iv. Continue investing in the team; creating a sense of joint ownership.

v. Celebrate people’s (own & consumer) achievements.

vi. Infuse pride in people.

I am sure, there would be more points & would welcome inputs, thoughts.