The New Mandate: 365 day communication and not 360 degree marketing

There is a new world order, with the modes of communication going through a whole new evolutionary phase, every business and its customers alike are feeling the change. IndiaMart helps you understand and maintain the competitive edge! Read how:

What does this mean for Small and Medium Enterprises?
For the SMEs well, it means business. Emerging companies in India are experiencing a whole new dynamic shift in the way business is conducted. Every functional area within an organisation is undergoing an evolutionary shift.

Eg: employee engagement, which used to be one of the functions of the HR in any company today is a full fledged function within organisations and tools such as MS Sharepoint and many other collaborative frameworks are being used, which has resulted in not only increasing retention but also reducing down cost of talent acquisition in a way for emerging companies.

360 degree marketing: R.I.P
We have all studied in major marketing manuals about 360 degree approach to marketing. The times we have evolved started from print to television and now the digital forms of marketing. But the times of 360 degree marketing are a passe now. Businesses are soon evolving to understand how consumerism is changing and hence they need to mold the ways of working accordingly to always keep their fierce competitive nature intact.

Source: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1076/4727872584_9ba85bfecb_b.jpg

Lets Un-learn and Re-learn: 365 Days of Communication
Un-learning is as much a part of the process of evolution, as is re-learning. Lets understand for a moment something which we have been doing since ages now as humans: Talking and Conversing!
Yes, we all converse daily in our lives, the effective context may change w.r.t the audience we are dealing with which further influences our content.

Businesses now have to understand just this: talk by creating the right context!


Technology and New Media is changing the game
Mobile Technology and New Media has changed the game for businesses today. Mobility has evolved the way consumers look at and engage with content. Eg:
Apple iPhone and smart devices like the iPad:

Source: http://www.personal.psu.edu/scd5029/blogs/SCDIST110H/apple-iphone-kybd-large.jpg

Communicate to your customers the way they access about you

We have all read about the basic, that you must be in the listening of your customers/ employees and every other stakeholder to your business. Now is the time to put it into effect!

Communicate 365 days with your stakeholders

Leverage the power of Social Media and other emerging technologies where your customers and employees are already present to communicate. You no more need to physically go and touch base. Strong content such as Video: Blogs: Vlogs: Podcasts etc. help your business reach out to your relevant target audience while maintaining the context and the meaning and increasing engagement.

Create a powerful context and Empower your customer to converse with your business daily

Its human to talk and converse, share, learn and grow. That's what your business now needs to be. Instead of being a business to your customers, you now have to be closely related to your customers. The human intention and context makes a lot of difference and new technologies and powerful content enable your business to communicate with its customers smartly!

Drop in a comment to this post, if you wish to know more about how your business can communicate effectively, in less time and with increased engagement. Our team of experts will be happy to help!

How Personal Branding Works for SMEs - Marketing for the SME

We all must have heard of the age old statement: Behind every successful man, there is a woman, this statement has evolved into Behind every successful man, there is a well crafted personal brand" and for SMEs and emerging companies, the first rays of light in terms of business generation majorly comes from the network of its founding team/ stakeholders.


Lets put it this way: in the above sentence the real important keywords are: Successful, Personal Brand.
In my personal experience of the marketing domain, Iv seen many brands build. Iv been lucky enough to work with and under some real business leaders who with their knowledge, business acumen, experience, risk taking and acting faster than everyone else growing in niche domains, have created personal brands. They are re-called. THEY SELL.


YES! I said it, THEY SELL. Products from major Brands which we buy today in the market are known because the brand spends dollars and dollars on creating a strong brand recall with us (their customers).


But what happens to companies which are small? 
Well, they sell because the first thing that sells for them is their founding/ co-founding/ core team. First the man/ woman, his/ her words sell. His/ Her brand sells. Coming from this thought, well, in my marketing experience I have had the chance of getting in touch with entrepreneurs and hence I talk from experience.


Great to know this, but how does one grow upto making/ building a personal brand?
There are may theories and a simple Google search on personal branding, will give you enough gyaan about how to go about it and what all should you do etc. Let me share my understanding of talking to many entrepreneurs how they generate business for themselves and why do their clients buy them, I have made a standard pointer list which essentially is a step wise approach to building a personal brand

• Question yourself: what are you really good at
• Find your passion: start doing what you really really are passionate about
• Find your niche: realize your niche, your domain
• Add value: start working for not earning money, but to really add value in the early stages of your career
• CREATE A STRONG NETWORK: NETWORK: NETWORK: NETWORK: there is nothing more powerful than a strong and relevant network. A powerful network takes you places
• Credibility is CREDIBILITY nothing else. Period.: work while creating a strong credibility from the very beginning

How do you Network?

One of the best things you can do for yourself which will keep paying back to you for the rest of your professional life, well, go and attend as many relevant events, as you can. Events are the best places to network with people who can help you improve and leverage your talent and connect and explore opportunities, while building new opportunities.

There are many platforms like IndiaMart, TiE and NASSCOM, which you can subscribe to and upon becoming members, participate in their events.

Which is the Next must event for the SMEs in India?

Be there at the SME Conference 2011 by IndiaMart and TiE at Sheraton, New Delhi, on January 28th.

Network Socially: quickly and for free

Use free and powerful social networks like LinkedIn: with a powerful profile on LinkedIn, you will sure be able to attract and connect with the relevant network of people.

Position Yourself, Go Talk, Create Content!!

Start a blog, share your thoughts/ thought leadership and express yourself

Finally, let me take a deep breath (have been breathless till now, stopping myself from saying this): well, the truth sure is, behind every successful man, there is a woman, cmon' how could you forget it?

Look forward to your comments!!

Post Contributed By: Aditi Thakur (Expertise: Marketing)