Everyone who needs their place under the sun , needs a story thats different, relevant and interesting. The same applies to marketing.
How are you not a 'me-too'?
Are you just latching on to the latest 'buzzwords' or 'hype words' or do you have a story that nobody else in the market place?
A Groupon story of 'local discount deals' quickly gets copied by LivingSocial.com .
A 'Harvard Connection' story is better executed by Facebook which kills Myspace on its way.
A 'Your body is your Game Controller' story brings 'Kinect' to limelight and can help it compete with a Wii.
Whats your story and how is it different , how difficult is it to copy and how well is it executed?
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Friday, November 19, 2010
Think or Tech?
iPhone,Blackberry,Internet,Facebook,Twitter,Google, Cable TV,Mobile Phone..... The technology around us is endless and seems to be all invasive in our lives. Do they help us think better?
I heard a colleague comment recently that her daughter feeds her kid based on what internet 'advises' her rather than her mother.
It may be wise to separate technology from our innate human quality of THINKING. IDEAS /Thinking/Judgement has to be independent of information overload.
A better phone or laptop will not make you ideate better or think differently. Thats a quality you need to develop independent of these. On the other hand, 'over dependency' on these devices may blunt your cerebral abilities.
When you want some fresh thinking, switch off that device first.
I heard a colleague comment recently that her daughter feeds her kid based on what internet 'advises' her rather than her mother.
It may be wise to separate technology from our innate human quality of THINKING. IDEAS /Thinking/Judgement has to be independent of information overload.
A better phone or laptop will not make you ideate better or think differently. Thats a quality you need to develop independent of these. On the other hand, 'over dependency' on these devices may blunt your cerebral abilities.
When you want some fresh thinking, switch off that device first.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Style Guides that will help you
Use these style guides next time you write a note to customer/ web page/brochure/white paper/case study/article. You will benefit from what's working for millions.
Economist - The best in business
http://www.economist.com/research/styleguide/
Yahoo
http://styleguide.yahoo.com/
Economist - The best in business
http://www.economist.com/research/styleguide/
Yahoo
http://styleguide.yahoo.com/
Quality of Language
In the tweeting/texting/googling era, colloquial words are getting added to the dictionary all the time. That is not to say that business english has become casual/frivolous.
As people get used to more cryptic communication, do not let this extend to your marketing /customer communication. Business still makes its first impressions on the quality of language used and texting abbreviations are not tolerated.
Think twice before you talk to your customer in a texting language.
As people get used to more cryptic communication, do not let this extend to your marketing /customer communication. Business still makes its first impressions on the quality of language used and texting abbreviations are not tolerated.
Think twice before you talk to your customer in a texting language.
Friday, September 24, 2010
What you need to know!
As a marketing professional, you have two choices:
Be the Voice of the company - for this you need to know your product/service inside out. you are the 'Product Expert'.
Be the Voice of the customer - in the company. For this you need to know your customer inside out. You are the 'Market Expert'.
If you are neither, your chances of success in marketing are low.
Be the Voice of the company - for this you need to know your product/service inside out. you are the 'Product Expert'.
Be the Voice of the customer - in the company. For this you need to know your customer inside out. You are the 'Market Expert'.
If you are neither, your chances of success in marketing are low.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Does 'Experience' matter?
As jobs get commoditised, people get replaced by those who can do it cheaper,faster,better. How do you ensure you are in the second list?
- What innovation are you bringing to your job, everyday?
- The biggest impact seems to come from technology- internet, mobile,TV,convergence,social media.... How is this impacting your job/helping you do it better? Are you using these?
- How relevant is your experience? With everchanging marketplace, the experience of an environment 10years ago may need to checked.
- Are you learning from others' failures and successes so that you 'experiment' less?
- How 'networked' are you for absorbing ideas from outside your 'field of comfort' and apply them to your current job?
There is a reason Robots did not replace humans. we need that creativity all the time!
- What innovation are you bringing to your job, everyday?
- The biggest impact seems to come from technology- internet, mobile,TV,convergence,social media.... How is this impacting your job/helping you do it better? Are you using these?
- How relevant is your experience? With everchanging marketplace, the experience of an environment 10years ago may need to checked.
- Are you learning from others' failures and successes so that you 'experiment' less?
- How 'networked' are you for absorbing ideas from outside your 'field of comfort' and apply them to your current job?
There is a reason Robots did not replace humans. we need that creativity all the time!
The 'BIG' temptation
Temptation to aim for something BIG the very first time, is quite common anywhere in life. Whether its Chinese olympics or the 56inch LCD tv or the Whopper Mac ......
This is not free of risks. Anything BIG falls, it makes BIG noise. Aiming for something BIG in a business context has more risks and chances of failure because the complexities have grown tremendously.
This tendency is especially common for people coming new to the organization who want to impress with MEGA things. But one needs to know that you are more remembered for the failures than successes and so you cannot afford BIG failures.
Aim for smaller objectives, smaller projects, smaller goals and ideas.
They tend to be more successful and give you the footing to try something bigger.
This is not free of risks. Anything BIG falls, it makes BIG noise. Aiming for something BIG in a business context has more risks and chances of failure because the complexities have grown tremendously.
This tendency is especially common for people coming new to the organization who want to impress with MEGA things. But one needs to know that you are more remembered for the failures than successes and so you cannot afford BIG failures.
Aim for smaller objectives, smaller projects, smaller goals and ideas.
They tend to be more successful and give you the footing to try something bigger.
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