Nissan Formula 1: Safe driving is great driving.

What's your formula for great and safe driving? 

I have asked my college going son to ping me once he reaches college every day. That's to ensure he is safe and sound. That's also because Indian roads are bad and the way people drive, berserk. However, every time i think about it, i realise that our safety on our roads is in our hands. It is in the way we drive. In the way we think. And in the way we play safe, while driving.

Formula 1: Belt up/Helmet on!

It's not for any other reason that we have seat belt and helmet rule enforcement, except for our safety. The sooner we realize this, the better. But typically, how do we think? We don’t mind being penalized for a 1000 bucks if caught without the seat belt, but we still don't belt up. Human behavior is weird indeed. Does it take a fatal road accident in the family for us to imbibe the gravity of belting up? Ask yourself. If the answer is no, then go ahead and belt up.

Formula 2: Don’t lay the red carpet for the Lord of Death. . 

Speeding on an empty road feels good, but speeding on a full road and zigging in and out mindlessly is laying out the red carpet treatment for the Lord of Death. Everything happens in a matter of seconds. The end most definitely does. For those fond of speeding, race on the tracks.  Don’t drive on the roads.

Formula 3: Have a far sight. Practice defensive driving. 

I have seen many car drivers race right up and kissing the bumper of the car ahead and brake hard. Result? Bumps, dents, bends and heart cringing moments. Not to mention fisticuffs right on the road that create traffic jams. All of which is easily avoided, only if you practice defensive driving, like they do abroad in the West. You can gauge from afar what the driver/car in front of you is likely to do. You can 'sense' through your in-built (human) sensor. Use that so that you brake ahead of time and have a safe distance between you and the car ahead. If it is an emergency, follow Formula 1 above.

Formula 4: Go low beam

A low beam is good enough even on poorly lit roads if you drive slowly enough. Just to clear your vision and of the road ahead, flash the high beam for a second to understand the way the road curves or turns or to see the bumps. Then go low again. If you do, the car drive on the opposite side will send blessings your way and you will avoid mishaps. 

Formula 5: Respect the zebra as if you were a pedestrian 

Crossing on our roads for pedestrians is a nightmare. Put yourself in the walking shoes of a pedestrian especially when you are behind the wheel and stop with enough space between your car and the zebra crossing. The roads are not built for cars. Allow some space for the walkers. You will love yourself for it.

We all can be the Formula 5 types when we drive on our roads. It is up to us how fast we go for Formula 5.

The Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., conducts the Nissan Safety Driving Forum (NSDF) in India as part of its safety driving promotion activities. The program began as an annual activity in 2012. In its initial phase it covered three main Indian cities – New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai – and since then has gradually expanded to several additional cities across India.

This year, NSDF would reach 8 new cities – Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Jaipur, Vadodara, Nagpur, Chennai, Mangalore and Kochi. The overall reach and engagement levels have phenomenally grown and NSDF has effectively reached close to 2 lakh citizens. It continues to stay committed to its core objective of promoting safe driving behaviour in India.

Compared to the previous year, NSDF has witnessed an impressive 126% growth in the sensitisation of wearing seatbelts. In addition, NSDF also conducts live simulated experiences to understand how safety features function through a simulated car crash. A 360-degree turn over highlights the use of seatbelts, while sessions on road safety emphasises on road etiquette to stay safe.

Under its Blue Citizenship CSR umbrella, NSDF by Nissan works to build awareness of safe driving in India. NSDF encourages drivers and passengers to wear seatbelts, and participants learn through interactive activities the importance of wearing seatbelts.

Nissan seeks to support reducing fatalities and injuries caused by traffic accidents, and NSDF represents the company's commitment in contributing to young, vibrant and mobile India. https://www.nissan.in/innovation/NSDF.html

Meet Ms. Jifi Kotak. She will work wonders with your banking.

Ms. Jifi Kotak is a relatively new entrant in the world of banking. She is a young entrant here but extremely quick on the uptake and knows her way around like nobody does. She is friendly and helps people find their way around fast, in a Jifi really, whether they have to open a savings account online or find their last few transactions online. She is technologically very sound, can keep a secret and can help you bank effectively, quickly without you having to move anywhere at all.

Ms. Jifi, you can call her Jifi, as her friends call her is a bird lover and has many friends who are bird lovers too. They all meet everyday at two places - Twitter and Facebook. These are their hangouts. Jifi is always there on both these hangouts. Jifi and her friends meet and tweet, and chat about so many things about the Kotak way of banking. They are all like family and they are extremely well connected to one another. Jifi knows about each one of her family members and what goes on in his/her life, pretty well. She is always ever so ready to help them with their banking woes.

Jifi is ever so eager to change their woes to banking wows.

In a very short span of time Jifi has managed to win the hearts of her family members whom she regularly chats with, on Facebook and Twitter. Never does Jifi tire and if she does, not so easily. Jifi has become the soul of the banking world for Kotak's wide customer base and it won't be too long before Jifi overtakes Alladin's genie in popularity and becomes known the banking world over, as Jifinie.

If you want Alladin's genie replaced by someone equally quick to respond to your banking needs, you just have to say "Jifi". And lo and behold! All your banking work in Kotak will be ready in a Jifi.

Be Visible. Stay Visible - The Business Success Mantra

A good marketing strategy for SMEs.

In 2007, Sachin and Binny Bansal started Flipkart with an investment of just four lakh Indian Rupees. Today, Flipkart has grown into a $100 million+-revenue online retail giant. It does sound like a fairytale alright, but there’s a lot more effort to it than meets the eye. Flipkart has worked on delivery, then innovation and then visibility with a passion. Today, Flipkart has earned the trust of millions as it has lived up to its promise on delivery. Innovating and selling electronics online in the face of an audience that did not trust electronic buying online and sticking to it shows Flipkart’s guts. And one of the top 10 rated websites with an incredible SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy and execution has pushed it to the top list of being the most visible eretail giants in India’s e commerce story.

Had the Bansals just pushed the delivery bit without building visibility, they would have remained what they were on Day 1 = invisible and unknown.

The Bansals and many successful businessmen like them had three things – that are critical to any business: vision, visibility and guts. In the scheme of things, one follows the other.

We all know what Vision is. Let’s now talk about visibility, the hitherto lesser-known factor and its importance in the success of a brand.

What is Visibility of a Brand?

Visibility is the ability of a product and service to be noticed, seen consistently (by its Target Audience) and later to be recognized.

Visibility does not just happen. It has to be planned and worked on. Simply because in the business of brands, visibility plays a key role.

If you are not visible, you may as well be dead. No two ways about it.

We all know that in this universe there are billions of brands in the same space, vying for a share of the consumer’s mind. Take any product or service – cars, refrigerators, books, TVs, food, beauty services, lawyer service, you name it and some millions of competitors appear. Try Googling the name of any product or service and you will see what we mean. Imagine the stakes if you, a lone brand has to stand out among these billions!

Being visible is hard work. Staying top of mind is Herculean.

But if you don’t do it, someone else will and you will be eating humble pie sooner than you blink your eyes.

Just having a great product or service is not enough.

In many softer cultures of the world, there is an accepted behavioral norm that says if you quietly go about doing good work, it will fetch results. We have no objection to the good work but the ‘quietly’ part definitely worries us. No one will notice you if you do great things, quietly. You must talk. The opposite of Walk the Talk is every bit true in the world of brands. Talk the Walk.

Talk the Walk and how

There are many ways of being visible and fortunately not all of them will burn a hole in your pocket.

1. Use Social Media to its fullest: You all probably are present on Social Media – Linked IN, Facebook YouTube and Twitter at the very least – use it fully and post on these platforms regularly about the good work you have done. Keep adding to your network once you log on. If you do this even once a week, you will expand your network and let them know what you are doing. The good word always spreads and with great returns too. If you are Social Media shy or think it is no good, let me assure you that you are sadly mistaken and are losing out on the huge benefits it offers for visibility.

1. Use status messages to speak about your brand: Example, put a short testimonial or an award that you won, on your What’s App status or your email status. This way you get seen without actively promoting.

1. Always be open to speak in public: Many of you are part of Clubs like the Lions Club, Rotary Club, Sports Club and even industry circles like the Doctors’ Club or others – Always make it point to use every opportunity to update the members about your activity.

1. Leverage your database: Make it a point to send newsletters or emailers at least once a quarter to your database to update them about the happenings in your company and industry. It pays off. People always skim through the pages even if they don’t read it in detail.

1. Take time to build a good website and add a blog link to it: Blogs are a great way to update your website content. You don’t have to be a top writer to write blogs – in fact, blogs written from the heart with a personal touch work better, especially when you share your unique experiences with the audience.

1. Make a point to display your brand wherever you can, on T-shirts for example: Office wear, coasters, office walls are a good and affordable way of displaying your brand. Use them. On T-shirts and office sacks, play up your brand – the entire team will wear it and the world will see it.

1. Invest in being visible: Assign an annual budget to your brand visibility, however modest. It will inculcate a discipline in you and your team and contribute to your brand’s visibility.

1. The right tone matters: Just being visible is not the way forward. Being visible in the right way and showcasing a consistent image is important. Be particular that everywhere your brand shows it shows up in a consistent way. For example, if your brand needs to be seen as professional and formal, you cannot have your team showing up for a customer meeting in chappals or floaters or tees, no matter what the time or the day. Some companies end up being present everywhere, sponsor anything and everything – they are visible and noticed but probably for all the wrong reasons – best avoided.

The above is just a snapshot of the tremendous opportunities you have, to be talking about your brand. If you look around with open eyes, you will a flood of opportunities – both free and paid.

Strict No-Nos of Visibility

1. Don’t over expose. Don’t be all over the place. At every show, every newspaper, magazine, every social media platform, every whatever. Overexposure is bad for the brand’s health. Practice restraint.
2. Don’t be where everyone is just because it works for them. Check whether that place/platform works for your brand. Sometime being in a place where competition is not, works better for your brand visibility.
3. Don’t overspend. Just spending huge amounts of money does not guarantee visibility.Spending optimally for the right kind of visibility should be your objective.
4. Don’t be overly visible if you cannot deliver: Splashing on big ads in the newspapers and magazines, without having a distribution network ready is a recipe for a backlash from your consumers. Stay away from this. Invest in visibility only when you have a strong back end and front end that delivers on your brand promise.

Visibility is like a chain reaction. Keep working on it.

Just spread the good word about your brand, one person at a time. Get feedback from your customer when he visits, ask for referrals, do everything to spark a good chain reaction. There’s nothing like Word of Mouth for visibility. There’s nothing like consistent Word of Mouth for visibility.

Image courtesy: gobeyondseo.com

Parent/Adult/Child - what does your profile pic say about you?

When you post a baby's profile pic as your own, you are giving away your state of mind. A baby pic says 'Hey, I am still a child, treat me like one'. And you get what you have asked for.

You can get manipulated, cajoled , convinced, chided but can never get your way around. Sad!

If you show yourself as a parent and your pic looks like you are talking down to your network with a holier than thou expression and a smirk, you will have people running away.

The Adult pic is the normal leveled pic which portrays you just the way you would like to look at your age, designation and experience. Your network will see you as normal and without baggage or hangups.

It is important how you are seen. That will decide whether your network acknowledges you.

That will decide if your network wants to work with a child or parent. Or they want an adult.

Don't treat your profile pic as child's play.

Make your profile pic your business.

Image courtesy: http://www.mstrust.org.uk/

Body Language in Written Communication

Body Language as a term is the body's outwardly manifestations (like the folding of hands) that communicate your innermost feelings. For example, when you fold your hands, it shows you are 'closed' to the other person; when you are rubbing your hands, it shows you are 'nervous'; when you avoid looking at the other person in the eyes, it shows you are hiding something/scared/insecure.

Body Language in written communication is very difficult to show/see. The most popular ways of expressing is through 'smileys' - and we have hundreds of them doing the rounds. However, smileys are ok to use in informal communication or in an informal relationship or situation.

But how does one communicate one's expression in formal communication? Here is when i discovered not just the power of words, but the tone of voice - all over again. Or what i term as 'Body Language in Written Communication'.

There was this holier-than-thou senior person who was posting free advice on my team's wall in public - in all probability, his intentions were not to spite or belittle us; however, to the world at large, it would appear so.

I had two choices - i could answer him politely in public on the wall, or reply to him in private, that too politely. Just by choosing the latter i made it clear that i did not fancy him posting advice on my wall - that too unsolicited.

Second, the kind of tone i used, polite and friendly, thanking him, yet 'please-do-not-underestimate-us' tone, had its effect and we were successful in ensuring that he stopped by congratulating us for our efforts and results.

A single stray comment on a public platform can many a time do irreparable damage; and though it is true that you cannot control what someone else says, you can most definitely whip out your word arsenal, sharpen it with the right tone of voice and shoot it out.

Body Language is something that we have all heard of and are careful about, now put it use in written communication - especially emails and letters and comments and replies - and see how it works.

Worth a try!

Images courtesy bitstrips.com

Yeh Facebook # 2 hai meri jaan!

It used to stand in a corner quietly observing the techies zipping by in/on their sleek machines.  Whether you reached office at an ungodly 8 am or left at an equally zzzz11 pm+, the thing just stood there wrapped up in its myriad packages. I really hadn’t noticed its name till the day I decided to get myself a li’l bit of sunshine after lunch.

And then I saw it clearly - ‘Facebook Snacks Centre’!! 

Whoa! Had Mark sold off his online business and entered the street side café business? Or was he diversifying? Or was it simply his CSR activity for Indian techies? It could also be Mark’s long lost brother, who like the rich-poor Bollywood masala stories was suffering here, while his rich bro was pocketing likes and shares by the millions. Or was this simply the #2 competitor who thought the name would be enough to fetch him the fortunes of his namesake overseas?  

I couldn’t resist anymore. I had to find out.

“Where’s Kaki?” I asked the plain-looking man sitting there. ‘Kaki’ for the uninitiated was the techies’ pet name for the lady who ran the business.  Mark # 2 smiled pleasantly and asked me to take a seat. I pulled a rickety old plastic chair and sat next to the mobile thela (mobile van) which is stationed 24 x 7 at one place in Pune’s Silicon Valley.

“Kaki has gone off to catch some sleep”, he said. “I am her husband.”

“Why Facebook?”, I questioned. He smiled and said, “One young guy from this IT company you see here suggested this name. He told me, this is a name on everyone’s lips and would be a wonderful name. So I started calling my shop by this name. We sell dabba meals, Maggi, omelette pav and chai. My wife makes lip-smacking stuff – amchya sarkhi Maggi koni nahi banvat (read: no one makes Maggi the way we do).”

I was amazed! The man was talking pretty good English – despite being a localite Puneite!

“To us,” he continued, “customer satisfaction comes first. We take care of our customers. We don’t like to keep them waiting. We give them a personalized service. We remember their names and what they like. We believe in giving them quality food.” Complete CEO talk, I couldn’t stop from thinking aloud.

“Arre madam”, he said proudly.  “I quit my job at Tata because I wanted to help my wife fulfill her dreams of starting a hotel.  Today, we earn in one day what I used to earn in a month there.”

Till then, Kaki arrived, post sleep. Having had nothing much to do with education of any sorts, the lady smiled, insisted I have some of her special chai. When I asked Kaki to sit next to her husband so I could take a pic, she blushed.

I thanked them for their time and pics. Kaki’s other half got up too and invited me to his other shop – Taj 2! Wow! His logic behind this name – “There’s Taj # 1 in Mumbai (the hotel); but if you want to get the same service in Pune, there’s Taj # 2.” Saying this, he jumped on his BMW and pedaled away.

As I stared at this bite-size man with gigabyte-size dreams fading into the Sun on his antique full blown, shaky bicycle, I couldn’t help wondering – “Mark, mere bhai, you’ve got big time competition on your hands!” 

Digital Marketing Success made simple for SMEs - Part II

Continuing from my earlier blog post, here you go:

Your basic digital toolbox

• ·        A couple of latest, well-equipped computers/laptops with the latest software
• ·        Key team members equipped with Smartphones for smoother mobile access to                digital networks
• ·        A good, solid broadband internet connection: This facilitates faster data uploading,            downloading  of  heavy files – content, videos, audio
• ·        A good brand plan in place – The digital plan is a subset of your brand plan and has          to cater to the brand’s larger goals
• ·        A sustainable strategy and wherewithal to continue the digital plan over the long                  term
• ·        The right team mix with knowledge about your business and knowledge about the              digital ecosystem

The dos of a successful digital strategy 

• ·     Align it to the big picture: Align it to your brand /company strategy and goals
• ·     Budget: Earmark a budget for digital from your marketing or advertising budget. Set clear milestones and       monitor progress weekly/fortnightly/monthly
• ·    Plan the digital activity step by step: Else, you might get overwhelmed and not be able to do justice to          anything
• ·    Don’t be present on all digital media: Be there where your target audience congregates. For example,  Facebook may not be the place for you if you are into auto components. Research and find the digital  platform – social media sites and websites where most of your target market/buyers go. Don’t be on  Facebook just because everybody else is there. That could mean a waste of valuable budget
• ·  Sustainability is key: Digital is no jadoo-ki-chaddi (magic wand); it is a long term investment. If you expect overnight results, you are likely to be crushed. Digital is more about building your brand/name over a period of time. It is about diligent, sustainable efforts worked upon every day so you are visible to your target market and stay top of the mind. Giving up is not an option.  

• ·    Have an internal digital team: Even if it means two or three people; have an internal team for this job. Sustained effort is a must; moreover, your internal team can do this job better than entirely outsourcing it to an outside agency. You can do that initially, and then train your team to take over, with a consultant overlooking the progress weekly.
• ·    Offline presence and delivery: Promises made online have to be ‘kept’ offline. In simple words, what you promise, you have got to deliver, else you are likely to lose face and therefore business and reputation. Your online reputation must always have an offline plan to live up to your word.

The good and the bad about digital

The good

• Your markets and marketing are at your fingertips and can be reached through even a mobile
• You can achieve far more marketing effort in a lesser amount of money as compared to printing           costs or traditional media expenditure
• Digital marketing can be implemented sitting right at your desk. All you need is a well-equipped,    reliable computer
• You can find your buyers from all over the world and reach out to them in a jiffy
• You can incorporate to-the-minute updates about your products and services and stocks, so your  buyers always know the latest information about you
• You can also effect online orders and make the buying and payment process simple for your buyers, thus saving valuable time

The bad

• Starting digital activity with a big bang and giving it up in a short time is a sure case of loss of face – it   may amount to lack of seriousness on your part and present a wrong image to your buyers
•  Being everywhere on the digital platform without a clue of what will work for you or where your buyers are
• Allowing your digital activity to devour your entire marketing budget without assessing if it is the right strategy
• Not having your digital strategy aligned to your brand strategy/company strategy

They did it. You can do it too.

B2B, they say is not cut out for digital. That’s a myth. Many big and small enterprises have proven this wrong. We will look at how two companies did it the digital way and successfully at that. 

Dell’s Digital Savvy 

Dell is known for its digital experimentation. Dell even won an award for its focused campaign on LinkedIn. This campaign included creating a close network of IT professionals that it wanted to target for its core products. This activity by Dell focused on using custom groups on LinkedIn.

Dell has a huge number of popular B2B Twitter feeds it operates. Some deal with company news and announcements, while others are dedicated to answering customer service queries. Dell Cares PRO provides 24×7 global support and Dell for Business answers questions from small and medium size businesses. Different feeds also communicate with one another to ensure that customer queries are dealt with through the proper channels. To make sure it stays on top of things, Dell’s social media command centre collects customer conversations around the web that enables the company to effectively identify problems, address complaints, collect feedback and respond to it.

OfficeYes.com

OfficeYes.com, India’s #1 e-commerce firm for B2B Office Supplies, recently introduced a new range of School Stationary Products and launched it via a campaign on Twitter.

The challenge was to establish the category, generate a buzz around it and subsequently drive sales for the new range of products amongst the right TG. They knew that their right TG i.e. School Students may not be majorly active on Twitter and therefore wanted to focus on driving traction from their parents, elder siblings etc who are a more evolved set of users on Twitter.

To do this, they launched the campaign with the insight that people love to reminisce and talk about their School Memories. People were invited to tweet their favorite School Memory using the hashtag #SchoolMemory. Their winner was declared each day and rewarded with a set of Back-To-School Goodies.

The conversation was kept subtle about School Memories and purposely stayed away from blatant selling while reminding our followers that Office Yes has introduced a new range of Products that might interest them. As a result, they saw a 154.2% rise in mentions and 113.5% increase in retweets without any media budget being spent. Office Yes was successful in reaching out to over 1.6 lakh Twitter users in 20 days and saw a 50% hike in the number of followers as well. The brand maintained an engagement score of 99% through the course of the campaign and hence despite being a B2B setup, Officeyes successfully established School Stationary as a part of its product portfolio.

You may feel they can do it easily. But believe me, taking the first, step, even a small one, is the way to success. When are you going to take that step in your digital journey? 

Digital Marketing Success made simple for SMEs

Enter a hotel lobby, a conference room, an office reception, an airport or even an airplane; chances are you will catch all souls there talking, browsing or playing with their Smartphones or tablets or reading on their Kindle Fires. Phones, tabs and laptops have changed the face of the game of business. Technology rules our lives today-both professional and personal. Digital is big for the biggies as well as the SMEs; like it or not, in business of any kind, digital connections make all the difference.

So where do you begin with your digital endeavor? Your website.

A website is one of the most important elements of a digital branding plan for your company and is usually the starting point. A website is the first thing your buyer will check to assess you, to see what you have to offer, your capabilities, your expertise, your people and your history. If you are absent on the WWW (the World Wide Web) you are missing out on the opportunities that would have come knocking from the country and the world. For your business wishes to come true, you don’t need a genie, you need a well-thought out website that catches your buyer’s interest, keeps him engaged for some time with relevant, mature content and answers your buyer’s unsaid questions. If you are successful in making the buyer call you/reach out to you, you have hit the nail on its head. But a website is just the beginning; you have a long way to go on the digital journey.

The typical digital elements in an SME branding plan

Digital rules the roost in almost every branding plan today, whether B2C or B2B. And no, if you are thinking digital means Facebook, Facebook and more Facebook, nothing could be further from the truth. The digital medium comprises of far more elements than a Facebook. Social Media (Facebook, Linked In, Twitter) is just a part of the digital ecosystem for a brand today. 

Digital typically comprises Social Media, Content Creation and Management, Blogging, Community Building, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Email Marketing. However, the digital world is ever evolving and you are sure to find more elements. For the time being, suffice it to understand these few a little more.

 Social Media: These are social networks (some professional networks, others, social) on the web/Internet typically, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Slideshare, etc.  

     Content Creation and Management: Content in the digital world, is King, Queen and heir. The more you create content (text, audio content, video content, webinars – seminars on the web, freebies), integrate it and manage it well, the more you will rule the World Wide Web for your industry.

·     Blogging: A blog is a web log – a log of ideas, expert information, important information, expressions and thoughts on the web. You can launch a blog of your company/brand for free. A blog being what it is, it helps you create a reputation of an expert in your field over a period of time, provided you regularly write blog posts (articles), at least once a week. Focus, continuity, relevance and sustained efforts will ensure your blog gets you attention from prospects.

·        Community Building: Communities on the WWW are common interest groups. If you know the group which has the characteristics of your target market, you can build this group and create a community. You can create a new group or community yourself. The communities could be for a cause (Save Pune Traffic Movement), an interest (Marketing Masala), a shared-interest community (IT Engineers Group, Retail Community, Ad Women Community, Working Moms  and so on and so forth). By targeting your target market (community), you ensure your marketing efforts reach the right audience.

·        Search Engine Marketing (SEM): This is based on keywords or search words that go into creating small ads. You pay for these ads and the space and search engines like Google, Bing or others, catch the keywords and ‘show’ your ads to your target audience. This way your company and your products get seen by the right people and enhance your marketing efforts.

·       Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Again, a search tool, this is something you get done for your website. SEO specialists or web development agencies and consultants can help you optimize your website and web presence to ensure effective marketing.

·     Email Marketing: Post the death of the snail mail – the old way of posting letters, email marketing is the quickest and a cost effective way of reaching your target market. However, this tool is prone to inefficiencies, as it resorts to bulk marketing and hence may lead to wastage of efforts and resources. With a proper email marketing strategy however, far better results can be achieved. There are specialist agencies which do this kind of work, but the best way is to go through your digital consultant/agency’s advice and see how important this is in the scheme of your digital plan.

Digital is not free. It involves costs.  

Contrary to what most of us tend to think, digital is not free in the true sense. Oh yes, you don’t have to pay a dime to open a Facebook account or a business page, or even a Twitter, LinkedIn,  Slideshare or You Tube account; but to market your services and products effectively, you have to budget it separately. All these platforms have a paid ad option, where you need to pay for the ad space and the ad creation. If you get the platform right and the content right, there’s no stopping buyers from reaching out to you. Consider ‘digital’ as an investment and not an expense, and you will start enjoying the results.

Are you ready to take the digital plunge?

Digital is an alien world for many of us, fret not. The word ‘digital’ tends to push your marketing team out of its comfort zone; so resistance is inevitable; but nothing which cannot be overcome with a bit of planning, learning and persistence. To date, marketing collaterals meant printed brochures, leaflets, catalogues, press ads, magazine ads; at the most, it meant product films and corporate films and even exhibition stall designs. From there when you are suddenly thrown into a virtual world with PowerPoints, Social Media, Content Marketing towering over you, jitters are normal. But getting a handle on those is also imperative – easily achieved when you talk to the right agencies/digital agencies/consultants and get the right marketing team on board.