Marketing the NGO: How to add the Trust factor to organized philanthropy

A few months back, I ended up giving a small donation to an NGO, which went into the critical care of a child admitted in a local hospital in Bangalore. The NGO had brought detailed documents about the child and credentials from the hospital to establish a sense of confidence and trust when I donated the money. 

Of late, however, I have seen far too many NGOs not taking this critical initiative to establish that trust factor with the customer. They will call from some obscure number from Delhi or some other place. They will have a shoddy looking website with messages that aim more at emotionalizing you than establishing trust or confidence. Above all, there is no mechanism for a donor to cross verify the credentials of the organization from a trust worthy third party.

Governments can play a major role in this. Every NGO which is working towards raising funds for such causes should have a unique number verifiable from a website owned by the Government. Every quarter the financial statements of such organizations should be made available at this website for donors and public to see and verify. 

No brand can survive without Trust and it holds true of even Non Government Organizations as much as corporate brands. Organized philanthropy is still in its nascent stage. A timely Government intervention will pave a way for a great philanthropic nation.    

 

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Testimonial Marketing: B2C borrows a leaf from B2B Marketing

In the world of Marketing, B2C is like the King of all. Always preaching everyone about all the tricks up its sleeves. Even recruitment of marketing professionals is heavily influenced by FMCG and other B2C segments.

But of late, even the B2C has begun to take a leaf or two from the B2B marketing book. The latest advertisements of Cars where real owners endorse the car are a testimonial to this. But testimonials have been a long relied-upon tool of marketing in the B2B space. Here only the truth sells and fantasy has almost no place. The biggest of such exercises was seen by Maggi Noodles which got its brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan to spend time with real customers and even got their photos printed on their packs.  

Frugal marketing is very popular in B2B and testimonial marketing in B2C is a pointer to the type of marketing practices now being followed by giants. Celebrities are costly and they may not add value if you go wrong with the matching of your brand personality and that of the brand ambassador. But in the case of testimonials, you cannot go wrong with the match, since they are the real customers. Of course, as usual, the story telling and other fundamentals of ad making still hold good.

Google Cloud Marketing: Tackling a Psychological barrier to Cloud Computing Adoption

All the barriers to cloud computing are not merely technology related. Google's video here takes you to a bit of human history and addresses CIOs and CTOs on how human evolution is based on giving up control to get greater control. Watch this video to see how Google does this beautifully using human history and right analogies to drive home the point. Also a great stuff for education institutions on how they can start collaborating from within. I hope the Indian universities are taking note of this.

Review sites and Online Reputation Management: The new SEO Marriage?

No matter what Google does to discourage bad use of Internet, the SEO professionals find a way to circumvent it. After Google Panda and Penguin updates, one was assuming a cleaner and healthier use of the Net. However, the changed algorithm somehow now gives such a heavy weightage to consumer review sites that, many companies are using it as a bait to improve their online reputation.

Sites like mouthshut.com, consumercomplaints.in, complaintsboard.com are now being misused by SEO spammers to improve the online reputation of their clients. Many companies have been able to successfully push the negative remarks about their brands to the 2nd and 3rd pages of Google. They pose like a real customer of the brand and start posting positive comments about the brand, some time in such length and detail that it becomes apparent that it is too good to be true.

This raises a bigger question: have the consumer and product review sites fallen prey to the over enthusiastic SEO professionals? If so, how will they continue to maintain their position in the market as a neutral platform to raise genuine consumer enquiries?

Marketing India to INDIANS: Why FDI is over rated?

Much has been said about bringing FDI to India. Every other rating agency, the economists and advocates of reform keep talking about it. It is as if FDI is synonymous with Reform. There are pitches ( sales pitches!) done to foreign investors and Govt. spends big money organizing investors meet to get FDI flowing in the country. 

However, I hardly hear the same buzz about getting Indians to invest in India. Alright, you may say, where else would the Indians invest, right? Unlike foreign investors, very few Indians have options to invest abroad. Except the top operators like Tatas, Reliance, others hardly invest abroad. But that's not the point. What about millions of Indians who are eager to invest but do not know the way to evaluate opportunities or are afraid of red tapism and the investment climate in general. If we tap into this part of the population, we can easily deal with investment and jobs problem at once.     

That brings us to the idea of "marketing India to Indians". I am not against FDI. However, what we promote ( like the http://www.investindia.gov.in/ ) to foreign investors about investing in India and creates confidence, why can't we do it for Indians as well? There is an urgent need for the Government to create that confidence among the many sleeping tigers of India who have the money and willingness but are neither aware of the opportunities or are afraid of the complexities of getting started.

The Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and his junior counterpart Jyotiraditya Scindia should travel and hold conferences across India making a sales pitch to new investors showing them new opportunities and giving them the means and ways of accomplishing their dreams. This should be complemented with efforts from the States. That would surely take care of the black money also to a certain extent. If we are confident enough to invest in India, then surely the foreigners would be so. Then all the so-called reformists can stop talking about FDI as a single point panacea for investments.   

Tata Nano Case Study - Missing the Invisible "P"

Tata Nano is now a case study across Business Institutes and Conferences. It's worth taking a look at what went wrong with a car that was threatening to clog the Indian roads.

In short, the marketers at Nano failed to understand their customers. That's a lot to say, given that the group has such hold on marketing and customer orientation. They thought Price ( one of the Ps of Marketing) is going to drive the product. However, what other "P" ( read PERCEPTION) this good old Price "P" is going to create is something that the marketers failed to gauge. Result: an over-hyped  product that fails to understand its TG and ends up delivering a non-desirable product.

Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid is often confused with low cost or low quality products. Contrary to that, people at the bottom of the pyramid have the maximum desire quotient. They are the ones who make the rags-to-riches story. A car is an item of luxury for them and they would not want to compromise with their dreams. Infact Ratan Tata was found saying that the Nano car had got the stigma of "car for the poor". Though personally I think he owes an apology to all the poor people because of this statement, from a marketing point of view, the strategy of making a car for the Aam Aadmi did not work out. The perception of buying less than the desirable created a strong barrier for adoption.

Tata Nano has implications for many a start ups who are now aiming at producing goods and services for the bottom of the pyramid. 

Why E-Commerce companies need Google Plus One? 4 easy steps to get started

Like it OR Hate it. Google Plus is here to stay. If you value SEO, then its a given that you should value Google Plus for its immediate impact on SERPs.

Instead of ranting on how it has not picked up waves among people, its better to focus on how a marketer in an e-commerce company can make use of it. 4 quick steps would help.

1. Create a Google Plus page & post regularly. 
2. Place Google Plus button on your site. It should be placed wherever there is an image and an opportunity for users to plus it. 
3. Communicate: This is slightly a hard part. As it has not picked up yet among the masses, it is essential to communicate the existence of Google Plus page to your employees ( most of them will have a Gmail ID) with a request to plus the page. 
4. Spread it everywhere: Place the link of the page on your Twitter account, Facebook page or any other social media community and also on your newsletter. 

Google Plus impacts SERPs in the customized search front. So if I have plused a product, my friend who is looking for a similar product online is likely to see the same on his SERPs. This benefits all e-commerce companies, as peer influence has the strongest influence on buying habits of people. So if you care about SEO, you better get started with Google Plus right away. This is also a boon for budget constrained marketers to get more relevant traffic to the site. The conversion can also be expected to be better as it works like a "recommendation" from a friend.

PS: Ensure the Google Plus page is updated regularly, as an un-updated page looks pretty ugly.

Google Plus gives tough competition to Twitter Brand Page on SERPs

It appears like the new algorithm of Google, the Google Panda, is pretty complex. Companies are experiencing a change in the order of results especially related to Twitter and Google Plus brand pages. Twitter has been around for ages now and Plus is still a kiddo trying hard to climb the ladder of social media acceptance.

But, the SERPs have a different story to tell. Some brands can now see their twitter brand page on the 2nd page of Google SERP whereas a Plus page started merely a few weeks ago ( and updated in-frequently) is suddenly on the 1st page.

This is going to seriously hurt the credibility of Google if it is not rectified. Looks like Google Panda has a long way to go. 

Why Entrepreneurs Procrastinate?

Watch Cher Jones explain why entrepreneurs procrastinate and what they can do about it.


Hey Procrastepreneur, Presentation by Cher Jones at Podcamp Toronto 2012 from Peter Mykusz on Vimeo.

Sex Education in India: A case of Marketing Revamp for a proper Re-Introduction

If you are still blaming those uncanny politicians for banning sex education in India, think again. The issue has moved beyond realms of biology and moved into the core area of Marketing.

For the uninitiated, let me say a few words about Marketing to set things in perspective. Marketing is the holy grail of Management (or even Governance as in State matters) that aims to meet the needs of the society at any point of time with relevant products, services and ideas.

You must be wondering why I am getting into defining Marketing. This was just to eliminate that ubiquitous feeling among people that marketing is about telling lies and selling more.

Now what has "Sex Education" got to do with Marketing? Lots, to say the least. First of all, Sex Education is a bundle of ideas (product) that has its own target audience living in India. Sex Education was conceived with an idea to educate and thereby protect the interest of children who would develop life skills eventually. Thus Sex Education becomes the product and the school, college & children become the TG ( Target Group).

The Children of Today

Now, comes the tricky part. The syllabus or the content of the Sex Education was totally modeled on the U.S. education system. U.S. as we all know has always nurtured a totally different (and drastic) approach and ethos abut sex. The societal values depict the same.

In U.S., sex education is imparted with an objective to "just" protect children from having an unhealthy sex and lead a sexually satisfactory life.

However, in India, the approach to sex ( though is changing) has always been towards abstinence from sex till marriage. Thus the need of the Indian society from sex education is to propagate this widely held belief that is being imparted from one to the next generation. Children today are already being exposed to a huge media pourings of explicit sexuality. Children today pick up things easy and fast from various sources. However they are not geared up to rightly interpret them. The burden falls on the parents and the teachers.

The Indian Value System: 

As already mentioned, knowing Indian value system and the cultural context plays an important role in devising suitable ways of imparting sex education in India. So Piya Sarcar, the founder and CEO of TeachAIDS, has developed an interactive software to educate children about HIV in a way that's sensitive to the country's cultural mores. ( Ref: Technology Review). She kept a tab on the cultural responses to each and everything that went into her design and measured it against the local cultural ethos to ensure acceptability. As a result, even States who banned sex education have approved and distributed her software. 

This is a perfect case of Marketing gone wrong and right ( by Sorcar) !! There is still a case for re-introducing sex education in India, if the team handling the project does a careful analysis of the needs of Indian society and then carefully positions it in a way that is acceptable to the society. So what can the Govt. do about it? Here is a pointer, 

• Consult parents, students, child psychiatrists and culture experts before finalizing on the syllabus and its intonation
• Test these across India for suitability with each and every language and cultural specific requirements

• Show it to select group of parents, teachers and students to get their feedback and fine tune the syllabus and methods of delivery so it fits into the cultural framework of India
• Assure all the stakeholders of the care that has been taken this time around and how it will benefit the children. 

In fact, as a first step, the schools and colleges should educate parents with sex education and how they can deal with their children on the subject. This will make parents sensitive to the challenges faced by educators.

Hopefully, we will soon see a re-introduction of the subject in schools with a clear objective delivered within the cultural framework.

Re-Draft SOPA: But Protect Freedom of Expression

At the outset, let me state that I am all in favour of Freedom of Expression whether it is Internet or Offline. However, I do have my reservations on a total opposition to an Act like SOPA ( Stop Online Piracy Act) or similar bills / laws of other countries. 

Even a rented house where a prostitution is going on is liable for penalty. The owner cannot close his eyes and say that he is innocent and cannot control what is happening in the house even if it is illegal. As a principal of the house, he is responsible for what goes on inside the house. Digital Space by contrast is very vast but in principle is pretty similar to a rented house. Each post on FB and Google is a rented space. They cannot keep benefiting from the content and then stay immune from the negative consequences of the content. Today, the bill may have been mooted because one section of the society is affected. The same can happen to any other section and they are bound to feel offended. Freedom of Expression should not be confused with Freedom to Malign. 

SOPA or other Acts aimed at regulating the net are a daring attempt to regulate an almost infinite digital space, by and large considered as almost impossible to regulate. The way citizens have responsibility to live a law abiding life, even netizens have the similar duty and are responsible in creating a congenial atmosphere for a healthy internet. 

Sooner or later, these Internet giants will have to devise smart technological ways of putting an end to illegal or vulgar content on the site. As more and more citizens including children hop on to the net, the policy maker's intention cannot be ignored in its spirit. SOPA should be re-drafted to create a congenial way of dealing with this ever increasing mis-use of the Internet platform. If it happens, I hope the Internet companies will be taken into confidence and the net result will be a consensual and inclusive Bill.

Lokpal Movement: Why Anna Hazare should be a case study in Management Schools

India is a land of many issues. We have issues of poverty, health, nutrition, sanitation and  what not. But one issue that lies at the core of every other issue is corruption. It renders every fight against every issue useless. That is when Anna Hazare stepped in. Though he has been fighting corruption for many years now, he found a national platform thanks to the national media and the kind of followership he amassed.Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter were also abuzz with support to this new Gandhi. 

How is that a guy as simple as Anna Hazare could influence the educated, the literate and the barely literate class to come together in such large numbers? It's almost as unique as what Mahatma Gandhi himself did decades ago - uniting the whole nation. There are nay-sayers all the time, but that has not deterred the supporters of this movement. 

What makes this movement worthy of study by every Management school is the dynamism of leadership. In an age where corporate bigwigs like Raju of Satyam went on lecturing in places like ISB and IIMs on corporate governance and ethics and fell from grace, Anna Hazare used his intrinsic strength of honesty and modesty to unite a fragmented society. He provided unity of objectives and a clear direction to lakhs of people. Though Anna himself is not a legal expert, he has stalwarts in this area to guide him in the right direction : another trait of a successful leader -to nurture the right talent. So charming is his simplicity that even those who did not participate on the street demonstration wished they could some how contribute to this movement. And all this against a behemoth ( competitor ? ) like Congress Govt.  

It's time we bring this quintessential and timeless qualities of leadership to the fore and make them a part of every Management study where the definition of a manager is one who "gets things done" by hook or crook!!

Global is the new Local: Relevance of cultural localization in the new age media

The often quoted mantra in the new globalised era is "Think Global Act Local". It is also advocated that marketers should incorporate the local cultures into consideration before planning their communication.

However, some of the recent trends and especially the marketing communication practices of large and new entrants have pointed to something else. Brands are not approaching each market with a localized offering. The explosion of television & online media seem to have made uniformity a new market reality. National television channels, international news and happenings, Youtube videos, Facebook comments and constant tweets make people realize that they are a part of a greater cause, a bigger geography and therefore a bigger identity. Thus an "emotional uniformity" seeps into their thinking.

We are now becoming global citizens. The pain and aspiration of an African kid is now as real to us as a guy in Delhi or Bangalore. Real time media has played its part in bringing people from across the continent closer. We can now relate to their emotions, pains, pleasures and even needs. This gives the companies an edge in communication, where they need not localize everything. Because what is global is also in effect local.

Healthy Mobile Services: The new gap in the mobile market

The recent studies by WHO(World Health Organisation) indicating that mobiles and even other devices emanate cancer causing radiation, has actually thrown open a new market!!

The mobile operators and manufacturers will do well to remember that their continued foray into the segment is now in danger. If more and more studies reveal serious risk to health, the entire industry may take a hit. It's time for these players to start research into bringing mobile phones, accessories and applications that are healthy for use by the public.

It is often argued that the ones "within the wave" are not the ones to "create the next wave". Refrigerators were not created by  ice factories and biotechnology is not created by manufacturers of refrigerators. If there is an opportunity for the mobile players, it is now. In fact, in the new scenario, it is the ailing Nokia and its big cousins who have a natural advantage. They have been bitten badly by the likes of Micromax and Karbonn through a series of launches that are rich in features and cool in prices at intervals that simply beat the R&D departments of big companies. But Nokia, Alcatel, Philips and the likes have big R&D centers which they can now re-orient towards building of devices that are healthy. And this itself will become the next big differentiator for the companies.  

Marketing to the Minority Communities: Identifying gaps and new opportunities

As a growing adult, I found it quite difficult to mingle with boys of my age. The simple reason being that they all centered on “bollywood” or “cricket”. There were hardly any other things discussed and even if I initiated such a discussion, it was either considered too big or something to be joked about. I am sure everywhere you will come across such people who do not associate themselves with the mainstream interests of men. The “minority men” or “minority women” as I would like to call them, actually are not too different. Even they have the need for excitement and entertainment. But they seek it outside these two main indulgences and thus become minorities.

And as a market segment, they surely have a different psychographic profile if not a demographic one. Marketers are increasingly beginning to cater to such segments everywhere. Cinemas like “Peepli Live” & “Taare Zameen Par”, Channels like “World Movies” are some popular examples catering to such minority communities. It is not necessary to be a minority yourself to understand this community. The World Movies channel is from the same stable which has launched “UTV Bindaas” aimed at the massive youth of India. The size of this minority community is also growing, emphasizing a need to cater to them with specialized products and services.

Is this niche marketing? This is not necessarily the same as “niche marketing”. Niche markets may still cater to smaller markets comprising of mass audience. Media offers immense opportunities in this area. Recently a popular FM radio station, created a slot for the Indian classical music on their station. The program captures the potential of this minority community, especially in those slots, where a mainstream program may not fetch the desired rating for the programs. Even Sony Pix is now beginning to air some rare movies of the world on late night slots.

Going further there will be more specialized services for the minorities.

Single sports mania is so Un-Indian!

Let me be honest. I thoroughly enjoyed the India-Pakistan match in the WC. There is no doubt cricket is the most dominating sports in India. But it’s simply un-Indian and very unlike India. Can we imagine idli-sambar being the most loved breakfast across India? Or “Paneer Mutter” being the most popular gravy of India? Nope. The same goes with our clothing, language, culture and all the diverse nuances that India is known for. But when it comes to sports, the heavy tilt towards cricket is unbelievable. Not only the people but even the Government and media are skewed towards this game. The un-briddled attention that it gets makes it sound to the young boys that it’s the only game worth playing.

In my childhood, we used to play a variety of games, many of whom were kind of local inventions. They encouraged us to think creatively, use all our skills and faculties and help us understand our strengths and weaknesses. Today I see almost every boy running around with a bat and a ball. The imagination begins and ends with that game. This is definitely not a healthy trend for the sports diversity of India. The Govt. should take steps to ensure that even other games get their due attention. This will be in the interest of all the youngsters whose power of knowledge, skills and imagination is just taking wings. A well diversified sports-engaged nation is the beginning of a truly healthy India.

Google +1 : An open invitation to Black Hat SEO?

It is quite ironic that Google +1 comes in the backdrop of the penalty from Federal Trade Communication(FTC) on the Google Buzz issue. The very fact on which Google Buzz got nailed down upon, is the new marketing fact that will drive Google +1. It is a tool that will now "with a consent", open your private browsing patterns to the whole world. Sneakers like Govt., competitors, rivals( personal and professional) will soon see what you have seen.

The question now is how Google is planning to control the flip side of this tool by black hat SEO guys. These guys will create fake Google profiles, search for their favorite results and start +1. And if Google starts taking the +1 markings into their ranking algorithm, it will surely impact the SERPs adversely.

With Google Buzz issue still fresh like an unhealed wound and in its rush to compete with Twitter and Facebook, we should hope Google will not jump guns in the matter of +1.

Who should be incharge of Social Media in your Company?

First things first: Who interfaces the Social Media in your company most of the times and Why? The answer is clearly the "Marketing" guy from the Marketing dept. But why? This is slightly tricky. But here is a try. Because, the very first expectation of the management is to eke out maximum benefit from this newly discovered channel. But that's where the point gets missed. Social media is truly social in nature. It's a place for everyone. It brings people of all functions from within a company.

Linkedin for example is a victim of such false expectations form a social media channel. The vast no. of communities inside it have been created and moderated to seek out pre-determined marketing results. The comments have vanished and recently Linkedin had to make an amend to its email notifications where instead of saying "zero" comments they have started saying "add a comment", just to sound more positive. Plus they have brought in "open groups" concept to get more participation and conversation flowing into the groups. Similar has been the fate of many other social media channels; the falling levels of engagement. One can today see that he is a member of many groups on Facebook, Linkedin or Orkut, but they are visited very rarely and eventually the interest level falls. The monotonous comments on Twitter & irrelevant followers are also an ample evidence of falling engagement.

Social Media should be just what it is. Truly social. The suggestion that others in your organization should also participate is a little scary to begin with. But with careful mentoring by the marketing department and the management, a company can in fact see a surge in their social media presence. Different functions of the organization bring in their core expertise to the channel, giving authenticity to the conversation that a company is having in the channel. In fact, I have observed that groups who are moderated by functional experts/ subject matter experts are far more engaged and active than those formed by marketing guys with a pre-defined goal of ROI.

It's time, we allow the social media to take its due hold in the organization freeing itself from the water-tight compartment of the marketing dept.

An imagingary interview with Swami Vivekananda on Communication and Relationships!

He is perhaps the most sought after Swamiji. The media, the Kings, the general public are going crazy with his philosophy and preachings. After hours of waiting, I finally managed to get about 4 minutes to interview him. Excerpts.

Q. Why do you think people are so mad about Religion?
Ans. They are not. They are mad about their own life. The products you buy, the job you do, the girl you marry- are all about your life.

Q. Why do they listen to you?
Ans. I give clarity. Life is complex and religious books are far more complex. I make it simple.

Q. Who is your target audience?
Ans. The youth. They are today dis-illusioned and need a robust support to go ahead and make it big in their life. We need to move as a nation.

Q. Why was "sisters and brothers of America" intro at the Parliament of Word Religions so awe-inspiring for people?
Ans.Because I meant it when I said it. Remember, this slogan was used in the conference 7 times by others before I addressed it.

Q. Why are political authorities attracted to you?
Ans. Earlier each King was associated with a person who was well versed in interpretation of scriptures for governance. In a decentralised environment, it is the authorities who do governance. But there is no person to guide them in the right direction. I just happen to fill that vacuum.

Q. Do you advocate celibacy for others also?
Ans. No, not at all. I am all for pro-creation.

Q. Then why are you practicing it? Wouldn't you be better off with a wife?
Ans. My mission and path are too difficult for a family venture.

Q. What do you say about live-in relationships?
Ans. It's nothing new. Ancient days had similar relations albeit in a different form. However, people need not be so scared of getting married.

Q. People are after profits, who will serve the nation?
Ans. Profits are the results of Karma. They are not bad. The goal is to manifest divinity through work or worship or psychic control or philosophy. As for the nation, the next big profits will be through human service.