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Hello January

January 9, 2019

Hello January and hello 2019! I know, I am late and it’s already more than one week into January but then it isn’t still that late to wish you all a very happy new year. Hope your first week of 2019 was full of energy and zeal.

Speaking of zeal, I often wonder what is so special about January that makes everyone plan new things this month? Isn’t it just another change of date? Another flip (or swipe, in case of digital) in the calendar? But the more I think about it and the more I observe everyone around me, I love the magic that January brings along with it.

The magic of new hope and new beginnings

The magic of starting over again

The magic of new dreams and new desires

The magic of thinking afresh again

The magic of positivity and passion

The magic of believing again.

Indeed January is magical, for it brings an amazing amount of enthusiasm and fervor around us. I love how everyone gets busy making new plans, setting up new goals and deciding new milestones in their personal and professional lives. Even though half of those goals won’t be met, but I still love the fact that we at least try for newer things again.

As Meister Eckhart says,

“And suddenly you just know it’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.”

So, what are the new things you’re planning to do in 2019? Ok, may not be new and I agree, it needn’t be new but how about thinking on – how would you like this year to be for you?

Do think about it and list down a few points for yourself this January. It will help you reflect on the year went by when you will sit and think about 2019 on 31st December 2019. 

Chronicling helps, trust me on that :-). 

On that note, wish you all a very happy January. May the magic of January continue throughout the year and may your new beginnings be beautiful and bright. Have a happy twenty nineteen! 

The agile digital marketing

April 2, 2015

Digital marketing is agile. Heard it, said it and experienced it many times earlier but I think the recent #CWC15 trend on Twitter is just one of the simplest and most perfect examples to explain this agility. Twitter this time definitely upped its engagement quotient manifold with its live cricket dashboard. It was a very well crafted and well promoted initiative with prompts and alerts at most visible places. Even a non-cricket lover couldn’t miss to notice it.

Twitter riding on an event is nothing new, neither marketers trying to grab consumer’s attention on all possible screens. But what was interesting to observe was the speed at which marketers could change their communication on this medium, engaging their audience in the moments that mattered, with messages that were contextually relevant at that point of time.

Just look at some of the screenshots grabbed on Twitter last week. Many brands came out with interesting messages that were very different from their general marketing communication, though some surely appeared to be force-fit in their quest to be different or relevant to the game. But overall the noteworthy point was the number of brands advertising on Twitter this time or the number of messages that brands could promote everyday depending upon which match it was and who was winning or losing the game. Imagine coming out with so many options during traditional advertising days? Imagine the cost implication or effort required to do it then? And no, I am not at all comparing the new age vs. traditional medium like television for things like reach. No doubts, television wins hands down at least in Indian market when it comes to reach but if I have to just take the digital medium as a second screen option, then the flexibility that this medium offers to adapt and be real time is fascinating!


And to me, the one brand that stood out completely on Twitter during ICC World Cup 2015 was Cadbury 5 Star. Not only were they smart in their content, they were also nimble enough to change as required. This Ramesh-Suresh duo knew how, when and what to speak. Otherwise, remember the reactions on seeing those super upbeat ads for any team during the commercial break on television esp. when that team was losing the game.


If I have to quickly jot down the steps on how to engage with your audience real-time without going into too much theoretical details of agile marketing, then I would sum it up in just three simple steps:

  • Listen intently
  • Communicate constantly
  • React instantly

Easy, isn’t it? Think again :-). How many of us listen carefully before communicating? How many of us communicate judiciously instead of reacting? How many of us react immediately without listening properly? Sometimes the simplest things are actually not so simple to handle and so is the case with digital medium. While the medium is very easy to use but not everyone knows how to use it to its full advantage. And those who have figured it out are already excelling in engaging with their audience on second, third or multiple screens.

BTW, I started my post with digital medium but when it came to referring to this year’s world cup, I only used Twitter as an example. I am myself wondering why I could notice all of it only on Twitter and not anywhere else? Is it just me who thinks that Twitter was the most preferred second screen option during this world cup? Would love to read some numbers by other sites but for now I would leave you with this latest post by Twitter that officially states on how #CWC15 played out on Twitter across the world.

Mobile App Only! Why?

March 24, 2015

Mobile App Only! Why?

Exactly how many apps do you think a consumer can have on her mobile? And how many apps do you think a consumer really needs on a regular basis? Yes, I do understand that amount of data a brand can access if the user has installed its app is phenomenal and that a brand gets to provide more focused experience to users through apps. But are these reasons enough for you to force install your app to consumers? Are those installs sustainable?

So, mobile market is big in India and consumers are downloading apps but if we have to go by US, UK trend, more than 80% of the time spent by consumers on mobile apps is actually only on 5 apps, skewed heavily towards social or messaging apps. Agreed, it’s not Indian data but still I’m sure this figure of 5 apps can’t be 25 in India and the consumer affinity towards apps like Whatsapp or Facebook can’t be ignored even in Indian market.

A recent incident to share — I have 3 taxi apps installed on my phone. At a peak time, none of the taxis were available with either of these 3 service providers. Tried to browse the website of another cab service and instead of allowing to browse on mobile site, it insisted me to download the app to proceed further. To add to that, my prior experience with the service provider hadn’t been that good — neither product experience with their web interface, nor service experience through their drivers. And then this force install of the app irked me a lot. Basics not in place but this urge to be technologically cooler? Finally didn’t install their app and got a taxi within few minutes from one of those already installed apps. Not only this service provider lost one potential lead (I might have actually booked the taxi in urgency on their mobile site, if that app install wouldn’t have been forced on me), it also ensured that even in case of emergency, I perhaps will avoid their site as much as possible.

Similar incident with one of my favorite e-commerce fashion brand that I used to love a lot. It was my default go-to option for any apparel purchase and it truly offered a very good experience on browsers like safari or chrome on my tab. But a recent move has changed it to again app only product on mobile. This site has an amazing presence in search engine but now for all my clicks through mobile search browsing, it’s forcing me to download the app. For this brand, I had installed the app earlier but later on uninstalled it, as I realized that while I could use the app to browse stuffs but I wasn’t able to make a final purchase decision till I saw those products on a bigger screen. Maybe it’s just me but then for purchase like clothing, pictures matter and bigger screen helps. I still prefer their web interface over app.

This post is more of a rant as a consumer but even if I put my product or marketing hat on, I still do not believe in this new trend of forcing users to install the app for anything and everything. It’s a fact — a consumer can’t have all the apps on his device and not all brands need to build an app and make it mandatory to install it.

In case of services like taxi, I can still understand the logic of app usage based on my current location but then how many apps do you think I will keep on my phone for just booking a taxi? Do I really need to have 10 apps for same service on my mobile device? And if I allow multiple apps for multiple services that I use, then how do you think my experience with my mobile device would be?

I can still understand the logic of mobile only but why this drive to be app only?

I can still understand the logic of app only for some services but why an app for everything?

What as a consumer am I going to get by installing your app? And let’s discuss beyond one time discounts. We all know it’s not sustainable, neither for you as a company, nor for me as a consumer. If that’s your only differentiator, then you’re slowly building a habit in me to always expect discounts if I am buying through your app.

So, what instigates my app download behavior? More on that in my next post soon!

But for now, I’m wondering is it just me confused with this new app-only fetish? Am I missing out on something big? Will wait and watch and will surely download your app if you’re offering me something unique and something better on that app. But won’t download it just because you thought that an app is the coolest thing to add to your product portfolio and you’ve invested heavily in building that app.

Digi-moms in India: Opportunity for brands?

June 17, 2010

A quick observation on my blogging or social networking circle and it always makes me think about the new generation, internet-savvy moms all around me.  The way these moms spend time updating about their babies in blogs, Facebook etc or the way they seek and discuss info about parenting on different websites, you definitely know that this section of consumer has definitely arrived on digital medium now. Yes, the presence maybe only in metros or selected cities, but nevertheless the population doesn’t seem to be worth ignoring for sure. And When I read a recent report about the arrival of digi-moms ( the term surely sounds nice 🙂 ) in India, I wasn’t surprised a bit on the statistics mentioned there. The survey dealt with the online behavior of over 3,000 mothers across eight countries in Asia including India, China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea.

  • As per the study conducted by Microsoft Advertising and Starcom MediaVest, Mothers in India are becoming increasingly Internet-savvy, be it for shopping or keeping in touch with family.

  • 87 per cent of the mothers surveyed in India said that the Internet is now an important part of their lives.

  • As many as 50 per cent said they had made online purchases in the last one month.

  • While Indian mothers spend 56 per cent of their total time on the Internet either for work or study, 90 per cent of them use it to connect with family and friends. As many as 75 per cent defined going online as their “me-time activity”.

  • About 81 per cent of the mothers in the country prefer reading newspapers and magazines online, and books top their list of shopping items.

  • More than 90 per cent of the moms agreed that good brands or products were worth talking about, and over 72 per cent said that they can persuade friends and family to buy the same products.

Well, the figures are definitely encouraging and the terms like online being “me-time-activity” for most of these moms definitely seem to be so relatable (I’ve many friends who were working earlier but after motherhood they are either on partial sabbatical or have decided to be at home full time, these women actually think their online time to be a ‘me time’ when they can connect with their friends, colleagues , fellow bloggers etc.) but when you think of the brands reaching out to this section on digital medium, you wonder why kids or parenting related brands are not spending their money online? I have seen it in quite many cases where the discussion on some forum is all about motherhood or kids but then the corresponding advertisement on the page would be of some general insurance company or online share trading offering. Not that a woman won’t be interested in it, there may be some for sure but would have been better to see some kiddie brand or women oriented products using online medium to reach out this new generation of digital population.  I know acceptance of this medium is still a challenge in most of the industries and despite so much of evangelization there are hardly few Indian brands who have really explored this medium in the right way. But when the presence of your TG is just so obvious, why not try it out? As far as I’m concerned, with or without this survey report, I think I can see this segment increasing in internet world quite clearly 🙂

Kingfisher Communication

December 31, 2008

I’m sure like me all of you would also have got your inboxes flooded with new year wishes. More than personal messages, it’s in fact all sorts of marketing campaigns from different services wishing new year and announcing some or other new year offer. Ah speak of that over-abuse of email marketing channel in India!!! Well, most of promotional emails went into my trash folder without even opening it…but here comes one email on my gmail id which I couldn’t help myself from opening it immediately despite knowing it very well that this one also is some marketing mailer. Reason? Well, the sender of the email is Dr. Vijay Mallya J. Now am I not supposed to click it at least once to see wht Mr. Mallya has to communicate to me? This was also just another mailer but see a small customization in terms of sender’s name did make a difference to me as a consumer. And not only me, I’m sure most of the consumers would like to click it at least once to read Mr. Mallya’s message and therefore just a bit of personalization would have led to a higher CTR than normal King club mailers. After all the sender’s name reads Dr. Vijay Mallya and from the look of it, it didn’t seem to be a virus mail. Kingfisher is really the king of communication and yea they always set some benchmark of service and communication. Check it out:

kingfisher1

kingfisher11
 

Well, this is my last post for 2008… So, shall I also say in Mallya eshtylee – I want to personally thank all of you for your continued patronage, for reading my blog and sharing your opinions…ha ha ha, I know I know it’s getting too much, so better leave this style to Mr. Mallya. From my side, just a simple wish  – Wish all my readers and blogger friends a very happy and prosperous new year!

 

Challenges in lead generation campaign:

March 7, 2008

Well, I’ve been doing lots of lead generation campaign for my current organization and for this organization, lead based campaign is more important than acquisition or brand awareness. The service which is being offered requires sort of consultative selling hence its better to get qualified leads which is followed by the internal telesales team. Considering that this is a start-up, the organization is very ROI driven and we have always been extra cautious to get the right kind of leads in the most cost effective way. But despite our efforts, we are facing some genuine issues in our lead generation campaign. I am stating here the results as well as the issues faced by me in this campaign: 

  • The campaign is SEM campaign – text ads, contextual display, ad networks and blog networks
  • The ads lead to a landing page which is a lead capturing page
  • To ensure more correct leads, I’ve announced a contest as well on the landing page
  • Approx 52% – 54% of the leads are correct for us
  • Rest 46% – 48% are junk leads – ie., numbers are incorrect or fake.
  • Because of higher % of junk leads, my cost per correct lead is going very high.

 Though I’ve read it as well as experienced in my earlier campaigns that generally internet campaign leads to higher % junk leads. But was wondering as to what’s the general trend across industry? I wanted to have some real time data for

  • Approx % of correct lead which a typical internet campaign leads to?
  • What’s the general cost per qualified lead which one can get? I know lots depend on the category for which the campaign runs, but can somebody share some approx figures for different categories, say insurance, movie ticketing, games, e-commerce sites etc?

 I’m hunting for the data on my own as well, but was thinking if I can hear of some other experiences as well. Thanks in advance for your comments J

Education in 2.0 world

December 26, 2007

Be it my love for maths as a subject or my strong conviction about need for education / tutoring portals in India, one site which I have always closely followed up since its inception is www.mathguru.com. This site was launched somehwere in July last year & the recent metamorphosis which this site has undergone is a lovely change I must say J. The site has evolved as a very interesting online tutorial portal & as per the industry sources, the site has got 15,000 registered users till now & is expected to grow to 25,000 users by March 2008 (Source: Hindustan Times) 

Well, as a kid I remember how many of my friends used to hate maths as a subject & considering the phobia of maths in many students till date I think it’s an excellent move to have a portal like this to make the life of students simpler & easier. Oh how I wish such portals would have existed when we were kids!!! Life would have been so simpler for many students in our generation as well J

However, why only maths, I think there is a need for many such portals in India who can offer education to students in an easier and cost – effective ways. Such portals are a win-win situation for all in a country like India, where curriculum based education is being given the highest priority as compared to any other country, where teachers in normal schools and colleges are one of the lowest paid salaried individuals & where accessibility to good education in most of the states is still a burning issue. With such cost effective portals students can get access to quality education in an easier way & at the same time even teachers can make more money as compared to their low salary being paid in most of the schools/colleges. Considering the need & potential of education as a category, I’m all eager to see the developments in this category in future & I’m sure this category will also see a huge boom like travel, job, matrimony & entertainment.