In their zest to prove themselves, it has become fashionable for marketers to gather together random tools of branding and start making them appear useful. I have noticed this especially in people who are just starting out on new assignments, old horses in new races. Strategic replaces the ad-hoc, in interests of speed. They adopt and discard […]
A friend on LinkedIn recently asked me clarification on a question that one of his clients had posed to him:How frequently should a company call agencies for a pitch for annual Brand & Communication strategy?Is it safer and better to continue to deal with the same agency by renewing the contract annually for a few […]
A colleague, who I once had the good fortune to work with, had a peculiar decision-making quirk.Any and every decision was taken in the context of ‘what the competition is doing’! Be that crafting a strategy, participation in a show, a new advertisement, presentations, new brochures etc. Competitors were the benchmark of his professional life.Now […]
The etymology of ‘strategy’ comes from a Greek word stratēgía which means stratēg(ós) military commander + ēgos noun derivative of ágein (to lead) (re Thesaurus)In military usage, a distinction is made between strategy and tactics. Strategy is the utilization, during both peace and war, of all of a nation’s forces, through large-scale, long-range planning and development, to ensure security or victory. Tactics deals with the use and deployment of troops in actual combat.In today’s scenario, a lot of B2B organizations forget the critical difference between what comes first, strategy or tactics.They start with tactics, in a knee-jerk reaction to the market environment, and name it strategy. A classic case of cart leading the horse!B2B environments […]
I often run into conversations like this:“I have explored all branding tools namely PR, Creatives, Blogs, Newsletters, Social Media, but somehow my brand is not taking off. Can you give me an idea/ a strategy which can make my brand skyrocket?”Well….. Yes, of course, we can. But hold your horses…..We would like to treat the […]
I do not know what your definition of marketing is, but for me, it is ‘building a community through continuous engagement’.The big question that all of us need to ask ourselves, probably as a derivative of month-end financial reporting is -> “Are we doing enough to engage with our Target Audience?”Do a snap profiling of […]
You are an established brand, and may well lull yourself into believing that your ‘name’ is the key to opening many client locks. After all, so many years have gone by while you invested in all those expensive ATL and rigorous BTL activities, attending exhibitions, forging channel relationships, creating connections. You cannot be faulted for […]
The global business environment today, and always has been, volatile. Here are a few things that hopefully will not but can happen…. Your USP can be copied once you are successful You shift your USP and soon find yourself right in the middle of a cluttered segment The differentiated customer experience that you offer is […]
Evaluate your brand’s relationship with stakeholders – your consumers, vendors, channels, influencers, investors, and shareholders continually. To sustain your business relationship with your stakeholders, you need to ‘act’ on it. You cannot take it for granted that they will always hold you in high regard, and not leave your side for some extra margin or […]
Marketing should not be about ‘Buy my product, I make the best one.’ It should be about ‘How can I help you take the best decision and add value.’ Whatever business you may be in, you can increase the value to your clientele. Do think from the customer’s perspective. The different marketing tools and formats […]