All Posts in Marketing

|In: Marketing|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

They say time is money and only time determines how far you’ve come with your business. Growing a business is no child’s play and marketing it to the optimum level is essential. So, how does one go on about this seemingly complicated concept which is rather simple?

Let’s find out the four best hacks in growth in marketing techniques.

Social Presence

Your social presence can largely determine the impact that you’ve created on your customers. In this competitive industry, connections sure do help. Display your best clients, trustworthy testimonials, customer satisfaction rates and throw in a decent number of case studies.

This not only will prove to be an anchor for newer lot but also reassure the existing base. The more personalized your website is, the more people tend to connect with it. Like for example, take a look at Freecharge website, the way they portrait shopping coupons to be grabbed by their online recharge users. And not just they promote them on their website but also on their social channels.

Speed

Today, almost everybody lacks patience. Fats food, fast cars, smooth technology, nothing makes us wait. So, why should your website? Get on the bandwagon and stay ahead of times.

When the customer is willing to spend time and money on you, the least you can do is be quick to offer and oblige to the services he’s looking for. It won’t take long for them to turn towards better sites if you lag behind.

Customer Services

How do you ensure that he new customers keep pouring in and the existing ones stay loyal? For that each and every customer matters. One fault on your behalf and it’ll take him seconds to criticize and defame you. You cannot possibly afford that. Achieve this by knowing the core needs of your customers and making the site easy to navigate even for the newbies.

Viral Looping

This is one of the paramount tools in marketing. Word of mouth is probably one marketing technique that businesses swear by. This is basically a simple concept where a customer gets in few more and they get some more. This chain continues and ensures you’ve a well prepped base.

This is achievable when your goal is crystal clear and you succeed in getting the best interests of your customers. This can include integrating the product in the right platform and reaching out to those who need it and will pay for it.

Know essential marketing statistics

If you see the growth chart of social channels and stats, there are a couple of significant players that are fighting for the pie. And no surprise that Facebook and Twitter are the two dominant players when it comes to the social platforms that many businesses would like to leverage their business.

What is under-noticed is a lot other channels that has potential to send four times more users to your website than Facebook and Twitter. One such channel is – LinkedIn. So before heading into any social campaigns, know its statistics.

Growth hacks is an efficient strategy where in initial stages you’ll need to invest considerable amount of time and intellect but once you’re past that phase, the returns will only be the cherry on top!

About the author

Sree Reddy is a content and social media marketer for GrabOn, an online coupons and deals venture. You can check out awesome deals on GrabOn.

[Image Credit* – Venturesity]

|In: Infographic|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

The awesome folks at TheLadders, a US based company providing online job search service posed the following 2 questions to Marketing Professionals

  • What is your educational background and how do you feel your degree has aged as your career has progressed ?
  • If you could give one piece of advice to a new marketer looking to stay relevant in an ever-changing industry what would it be ?

The answers resulted in the below infographic where they have shared 8 essential tips from marketers on Breaking in & Staying relevant. Marketing has definitely changed since last couple of years & these tips would help the new-age marketers to stay abreast with the latest skill-sets.

Some good news for marketers in touch with latest trends is The unemployment rate for marketers with the right mix of skills is trending towards zero

Do share your feedback/comments or tips on how you have stayed ahead of the curve in this new-age Marketing era!!

|In: Marketing|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

With an aim to ensure aspiring digital marketers and traditional marketing professionals are industry ready with requisite skill-sets to take on exciting digital marketing roles, Simplilearn – the largest destination for online training and professional certification courses, introduces Digital Marketing Certified Associate [DMCA], a comprehensive digital marketing course created by a dream team of Silicon Valley digital marketing experts like Avinash Kaushik, web analytics guru, and Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google, Best Selling author Bryan Eisenberg, and President of SugarSpun Marketing, Jennifer Evans Cario.

According to industry data, digital marketing managers are paid 82% more than traditional marketing managers. The digital age has taken over traditional marketing, making online marketing more prevalent for some of the biggest Fortune 500 brands and even small-medium enterprises.

Simplilearn

In order to create future talent in this domain where the online advertising spend is expected to be USD 278 billion by 2019, Simplilearn has developed this course to ensure professionals are well equipped and certified to become a complete digital marketer.

Commenting on the Ankur Arora, Category Head at Simplilearn said

While businesses are shifting their interest and focus towards digital over traditional marketing, there isn’t a better time than now for young and experienced professionals to work towards their digital skill-gap. Through this course, we aim to help our learners train themselves to cater to the growing industry need for skilled digital marketers. This course will serve as a comprehensive platform as it is equipped with all the elements to elevate a professional to be a smart digital marketer.

Catering to fresh graduates, traditional sales, marketing and advertising professionals at all levels and entrepreneurs who have realized the potential of the medium, the course helps learners to be ready for the industry and be part of a high quality digital marketing team, or execute their own digital marketing campaigns. It will also prepare them for certification exams like OMCA, Google Analytics, Google AdWords, Facebook Marketing and YouTube Marketing.

DMCA has 40 hours of Instructor-led online training from digital marketing experts, 39 hours of High Quality E-learning content and 40 hours of live project work.

On completion of the training, learners will be equipped with the knowledge and skill-sets in SEO, Social Media Marketing, PPC, Conversion Rate Optimization, Web Analytics, Content Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Email Marketing, etc. They will be able to master and execute tools like Google Analytics, Google AdWords, Facebook Marketing, YouTube Marketing, etc.

To master major domains of digital marketing and acquire hands-on skills to apply in daily business scenarios, the All-in-one Advanced Online Marketing Suite training is recommended as a next step after completing the DMCA course. Up to date and comprehensive, eight advanced short courses on SEO, Web Analytics, Social Media, Mobile Marketing Conversion Optimization and Content Marketing are designed to train an individual become a digital marketing specialist.

Powered by Market Motive, DMCA course is priced at INR 34,900 and the advanced bundle at INR 39,999

About Simplilearn

Simplilearn is the world’s largest provider of short term certification courses that addresses the unique learning needs of working professionals. Having trained over 4,00,000 professionals worldwide,  Simplilearn provides unmatched customer experience, which handholds a customer – right from enrolling into an online course to getting Industry-recognized certificate in hand.  Simplilearn’s course contents are recognized by over 40 certification bodies, prominent ones being PMI, Axelos, Scrum Alliance, Peoplecert, and The Open Group. Simplilearn has also diversified into vendor certification like those from Microsoft, Cisco, and Salesforce. For more information, visit SimpliLearn

|In: Marketing|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

There’s a lot that makes India incredible, and there are some incredible feats that are ‘Made in India.’ Recently ASUS India unveiled a video titled Incredible Made in India on its Facebook page that takes a look at the historic feats that have distinguished the nation in the global arena.

Conceptualized & created by full-service digital agency BC Web Wise, the video goes on to reveal that the high-end ASUS Zenfones will now be Made in India.

ASUS India shared the video with press and on social media on Friday, 02nd October as it announced its local manufacturing plans, starting with the Zenfone 2 Laser, at a facility based in Sricity, Andhra Pradesh.

Inspired by the brand’s tagline In Search of Incredible, the core idea behind the video was to sensitize audiences and instill a sense of pride in all things ‘Incredible Made in India’.

The sand art video showcases several historic exploits and inventions by Indian individuals and institutions right from the invention of Zero, or building the world’s largest railway network, to the most economical Mars mission, and even Sachin’s 100 centuries in ODI cricket. It closes by adjoining ASUS India’s announcement to manufacture the Zenfone range in India.

The use of sand art was done to creatively emphasize the ‘incredible’ nature of India’s accomplishments through history while projecting its readiness as a manufacturing hub.

The ‘Incredible Made in India’ video has garnered more than 176,000 likes on ASUS India’s Facebook page.

About BC Web Wise

Founded in 2000 and led by Chaaya Baradhwaaj, BC Web Wise is a full service digital agency best known for its strategic brand solutions and world-class creatives. Recognized among India’s top digital agencies for six years in a row [The Economic Times, 2008 – 2013], BCWW is committed to excellence in digital marketing and ‘Empowering Brands Online.’ For more information, please visit BC Web Wise

|In: Marketing|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Parle Products, one of India’s pioneers in the biscuit and confectionery manufacturing segment, has announced its association with Mumbai’s most popular Pandal in Lalbaug. This year, devotees of Lalbaugcha Raja will witness India’s first crowd sourced #BiscuitGanesha-an opportunity for devotees to be a part of its making. A 8 foot tall Ganesh idol made out of their favorite Parle Biscuits will be placed at the waiting area in the Pandal.

Recognized as one of the oldest and most revered idols of Lord Ganesha, each year the Lalbaugcha Raja witnesses millions of devotees that travel from all over the county to pay homage. Being one of the most loved brands, Parle Products this year, will add to their excitement as they wait in serpentine queues to pay their respect and pray to Lord Ganesha. Devotees will be asked to participate by sending in their tweets/comments using Hello #BiscuitGanesha on Facebook and Twitter. For each tweet Parle receives, users will get a customized response that showcases a dedicated Parle biscuit being put up in their name on the idol, thus building the #BiscuitGanesha. At the end of each day, Parle will share a time lapse video of all the entries they have received so far. Parle Products will also organize various spot contests and competitions with exciting prizes to be won, thus engaging with devotees and loyal consumers alike.

ParlePandal

 Speaking about the association Mayank Shah, Deputy Marketing Manager, Parle Products said

Every year millions of ardent Lord Ganesh followers visit Mumbai especially for the darshan, standing in long queues for many hours. With this innovative engagement, we plan to make their wait interactive and interesting and offer them an opportunity to win exciting prizes.

Last year, we had a similar activity which had received great response from the consumers; hence this year too we wanted further consumer engagement hopefully resulting in a better connect with our brand. We are getting the idol made specially from artists in Kolkata who have been known to craft beautiful figurines from varied materials.

The association will continue through the 10 days of the festival beginning on Thursday, 17th September, 2015. Hope that guys in Mumbai catch a glimpse of the Lalbaugcha Raja 🙂

|In: e-commerce|Last Updated: | 2 Comments

JDA Software Group, Inc., has announced that it is hosting the 9th Edition of the Supply Chain Practitioners Council (SCPC) at its Bangalore office on August 21. The day-long event will bring together supply chain experts from different industry verticals and organizations, including Mukesh Singh, founder and CEO of ZopNow, Suresh Satyamurthy, Co-founder and CEO of Tarnea, Vinay Mohan Sharma, Director, Retail Solutions at JDA Software, George Kochumman, Senior Manager at Chainalytics & Prashanth Mahadevaiah, head of the  Supply Chain Group for Capgemini India

JDA

The SCPC aims to bring together the leading supply chain practitioners from across industries to showcase achievements and share best practices, while building a community which can influence policy making.  This forum intends to foster an environment to propel India towards global supply chain leadership and make it a go-to place for supply chain excellence.

This widely attended supply chain forum has occurred successfully in Bangalore for the past two years and eight such editions have been hosted by companies/institutes such as Dell, Cisco, JDA, Honeywell, SAP Labs & IIM Bangalore.

Dr. Narasimha Kamath, director, Product Management, JDA Software India. said

We hosted the 5th edition of the SCPC which was manufacturing-centric. The theme for the 9th edition is ‘last mile delivery and returns management, which is retail-centric. The eminent speakers will discuss current opportunities and challenges. It is also a great networking opportunity for supply chain professionals.

JDA has a large client base in manufacturing, distribution, retail, category management and store operations. It is a privilege to provide a platform that helps supply chain professionals to actively collaborate, think collectively and act decisively. The SCPC helps promote understanding of the current market problems and the way they are currently being solved, as well as provides guidance on moving enterprises to the next level of supply chain maturity.

About JDA Software Group, Inc.

JDA isa the leading provider of end-to-end, integrated retail, omni-channel and supply chain planning and execution solutions for more than 4,000 customers worldwide.  For more information, please visit JDA or JDA on SlideShare

|In: Marketing|Last Updated:

There was a post which we wrote around 7 years back which stressed on how Traditional Marketing techniques can help to retain customers & also acquire new customers. 7 years is a very long duration 🙂 & most of those techniques are now outdated/expensive and marketing has taken a new route i.e. The Digital route.

Social Media is now playing an important role in “customer buying behaviour” & customer-sentiment echoes about your brand and might affect “buying behavior of prospective customers”. How irritated do we feel when we get an un-wanted email about deals from companies e.g. Unmarried person receiving deals about diapers etc. Today’s age is more about Understanding the consumer & utilizing information we have about the customer [Buying Behavior] & offer something to them which is RELEVANT to them 🙂 However, this same tip may be true for B2C business but might not be applicable for B2B space.

In a Nutshell, Digital Marketing Strategy needs to answer very simple question – WHO is your customer, HOW do you communicate & WHICH tools are available for communication. My wife runs a small Home-Made chocolate business & sells on online-marketplace(s), so it was evident that Facebook & Instagram would be an ideal place in order to share useful information about Product Updates, Discounts etc. which definitely brought in new likes & new customers but at the same time, Twitter turned out to be less effective.

Today, we look at some of the rules which we can use in today’s Digital Age for “Customer retention” or “Customer Acquisition”

social_media_monitoring

Leveraging the Right Social Medium

As mentioned at the start of the article, “Knowing a customer” was never so important than it has become now 🙂 It has become very critical to know about the Target Audience [Gender, Age etc.] & their online-habits. Understanding their online-habits can help you to make “content/deals/stuff” tailor-made according to their liking & this would definitely play a vital role in “Retaining that customer”. For B2B companies, LinkedIn might be a better place to acquire new customers.

Lot of new age CXO’s are now active on LinkedIn especially publishing “Posts” since it provides more transparency from company stand-point & at the same time, gives better visibility to the company. However, for B2C companies, Facebook, Instagram etc. might turn out to be more fruitful since they are your target audience [similar to what I mentioned about the Chocolate Business]. Conversion of LIKE/COMMENT to Prospective customer is much higher !!

Better understanding of customer(s), Monitoring competitors & Leveraging the medium is the key…

Build Deeper interactions

In many cases, the ultimate goal of social media marketing is to increase exposure, drive traffic and create leads. This leads to some misconceptions on how to use the platform. You would have encountered this situation – “You are talking to a friend on phone…you are done with all the discussions…dam’n, there is nothing more to discuss and than comes Aur Bolo [Tell Me] 🙂 This means that “All meaningful discussions are complete & hence, the chances to getting hooked on-to that call is less” 🙂 Your online-conversion [on Facebook, Twitter] should not end in “Dead-end” just like the above mentioned telephonic conversion.

Define your target audience[Age,Sex,Marital-Status etc.] , understand their buying decisions and build “Deeper Connect” with them. This creates a very positive influence on your brand & your customers might turn into “Evangelists” 🙂 Personalized and Tailor made content can work wonders in this case. TO THE NEW Digital is a premium digital services company that combines the power of technology, analytics, marketing and content for digital transformation.

Understanding customer, their needs & tailor-made content can go a long way…

Finding Influencers

When I joined Twitter I used to wonder “Why would someone follow me” or better question is “Whom should I start following”. The obvious answer to this question is “Someone who is influential on Social Media/SM Guru etc.” On similar lines, when your brand is present on a Social Media channel, it is very important to find other relevant social media accounts, blogs, sites and services and mention them on your social media feeds. These are the INFLUENCERS for your brand 🙂

Identify Influencers, Reward them & create new Influencers

Social Media Risk Management

We have so far talked about the “Rosy Side” of Social Media but given the “Speed” with which Social Media posts spread like FIRE, Issues can grow quickly and you need to be able to respond. Having presence on Social Media might not be enough for your brand, Listening to what consumers are saying about your brand would drive VALUE. Ensure that there is no leakage of confidential company information.

Feedback [Positive/Negative] should not be deleted since this would ensure that there is “Transparency”. You need to do Social Risk Assessment to quantify, monitor & benchmark social media risk vis-a-vis competition. You need to go beyond the regular social media metrics & quantify risk by analyzing millions of social data points and calculating a unique Social Net Promoter Score [NPS].

Consumer feedback, good or bad, should be seen as “Emotional capital”

In most of the scenarios, companies keep the “Core” work & try to find a partner to work on something “If there is a better fit in the market”. Same can be the case for Social Media Management & Monitoring.

Your can leverage the existing skills of TO THE NEW Digital, a premium Digital Services Company that has a team of over 600 people which includes technology evangelists, social media experts, content specialists, and creative mavericks who have transformed businesses of more than 300 companies spread across 30 countries worldwide. TO THE NEW Digital is also a strategic partner of many global companies including Google, Amazon Web Services [AWS], YouTube, DataStax and MongoDB.

Conclusion

Just to summarize, there is no special Mantra to achieve success on Social Media. Certain tactics might work for the competitors however, might not work for your startup. But in this fast-moving Digital Era where “Information spreads like wild-fire”, these tips might help you to build a better Social Media Strategy for your brand & if you ain’t have that skill, better to partner with an agency that can deliver the goods of “Social Media” for you 🙂

Image Source – Web-Live.it