Generally Curious

SHIFTED

2009-12-04T20:23:00.000+05:30

This blog has been now shifted to http://generallycurious.com/
Further posts will now be available only on the above site..

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

SO SHOULD YOU USE YOUR TEAM FOR SOCIAL MARKETING?

2009-10-01T15:58:00.004+05:30

INTRODUCTION
There are a lot of people online these days, and a lot more are joining in. Those who were already online have started realizing the benefits of being connected. Business is already being generated online through different tools, and Social Marketing is the new buzzword.

Social marketing has a lot of potential, provided your evangelists have some basic knowledge of your business. You may have also seen other organizations get substantial gains from Social Marketing. You may even have potential evangelists already on your team and you and your team members might also be very prolific users of the internet.

You might now be thinking of enrolling them as your Social Marketing team – since they already know so much about the business, and are already online. Before you decide on your team, there are some essential questions that you may need to consider:

Does everyone who is online from your team view the internet from the same perspective of generating business? Or derive the same benefit?
Are they even doing the right things online?
Can you use them in your marketing efforts? Would they agree to use their personal network profiles for your organization?
Will it work?

WHAT IS IT THAT ENROLLED PEOPLE FROM YOUR TEAM CAN DO FOR YOU?
They can be evangelists for your organization, but you may need to bear in mind and monitor:

What is it that they are saying on your behalf?
How is it being portrayed?
Are their interactions objective or emotional? Are they arguing on your behalf, or clearly stating why they think your organization is good at what it does?
How often is exchange of information and influence in decisions evident?

Moreover, not everyone may have the same type of profile or update history. To know how they would be able to contribute on Social networks, you may have to check their profile – what they’ve written about where they work and how it is expressed. You may also need to categorize them into different internet and network user types.

SO HOW CAN YOU GROUP THEM INTO CATEGORIES?
Forrester has a rather interesting article out, about the roles people play in social media. They have defined six categories, and outlined their general characteristics. These are:

Click on the image to enlarge it

Understandably, it’s creators with who have the largest spheres of influence. But, you may need a combination of creators, critics and collectors to be successful in your endeavors in Social Marketing.

DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH OF CREATORS, CRITICS AND COLLECTORS IN YOUR TEAM?
You can evaluate you team by answering the questions below on their online presence:

Where are their profiles?

Which networks do they have profiles on? Is it the right network to do business on?
How are these networks oriented? Personal or professional?
How many people are they connected to (sphere of influence)?
Are they good at forging online relationships?
What’s the profile of their audience/connections?
Is there business to be gained from their connections?
Are there enough high level connections from your targeted companies/industries?
If they are not on networks where business can be gained, how else can their help benefit you? For marketing? Can it be used for creating a buzz about what you do – without any business gains?

What have they posted normally?

Social and professional updates?
Professional updates?
Social updates?

Would a perceptible change in what they normally post cause any negative fall-out?
Do you have enough creators, critics and collectors in your team?

It is essential to enroll people who have normally posted Professional and Social information, so that there is no perceptible shift in their pattern of updates. Any perceptible shift leads more to negative publicity as people may get annoyed with constant updates on your organization. If suitable team members exist, you should look at getting them onboard with your endeavor. But if your team does not have the required mix of profiles, you should hire an external agency help to get onto social networks.

WHY CHOOSE AN EXTERNAL AGENCY AT ALL..
Not everyone who might be online from your team may be on the right forum. Also, not everyone may be saying things that lead to business or recognition. Yes, your team maybe providing snippets on your organization, but unless it is frequent enough, and stated the right way you may face a negative fall-out by enrolling them.

Networks are basically people connected to people. Even if you, as an individual, say something that is different from what you normally say on a network, your connections may not pay attention. If you change your pattern of updates entirely, any possible opportunity may be lost as your connections will learn to ignore your updates.

Successful Social Network marketing needs a combination of personal, professional and individual contributions to meaningful discussions, in the right manner. Also, the contributions should not differ greatly from what the evangelist says normally. Bear in mind that:

Any shift from normal is very evident to everyone in the circle of influence
Subtlety is required, not outright marketing – it’s pulling people into discussions, not forcing opinions on them

Unless your team is capable of being subtle enough in their interactions, your social marketing may fail. Most agencies that offer Social Network marketing and WOM buzz creation have people with long existing profiles who can provide the right publicity. If you choose the right agency, you can benefit greatly from their online presence. Think of it as a recommendation you ask from your clients on your professional profile.

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT EXTERNAL AGENCY
The answer to this can be found by doing the following:

Step I - Look at the networks which you aim to do your Social Marketing on
Step II – Examine the agencies present on such networks
Step III –Evaluate their presence on such networks

What is the number of their employees present on such networks?
Evaluate the employees and their updates

What do their profile pages say about them?
What are their professional qualifications?
What has their participation in discussions been like?
What are they saying on such networks in discussions and updates?
How often do they participate online?

What they are stating about their existing clients and how they are being introduced into discussions

How are their clients positioned in discussions and contributions?
Are they making enough contributions to ensure their clients are mentioned frequently enough?
Are these mentions making sense – or is the client introduced in a conversation where there is no scope or relevance of his mention benefiting him?

How can you group them in terms of creators, critics and collectors?
Does the agency have enough employees in all the three categories?

Step IV – Who are their clients? What do their clients have to say about them?

Once you answer the questions above, you will be able to decide on which agency you’d like to entrust your Social Marketing to.

SUMMARY
Social marketing is a powerful tool that can provide results. However, the implementation of the whole campaign and the underlying strategy are very important. Also, equally important are your evangelists. With Social Networks being connections between people, unless the right approach is used, your campaign stands a chance of failing to provide results.

You can also download this content from:

So Should You Use Your Team For Social Marketing?

View more documents from Sridutt YS.

A younger brother who never quite was

2009-09-10T21:41:00.002+05:30

My memory of a younger brother who never was:

He was the second youngest in the hostel. When we went for a run early in the morning, when even the birds didn't chirp, he was smiling when we came back sweaty. He was the always first to tell me on misty winter mornings - "Bhaiya, chai mil rahi hai, Mess khul gaya hai".

He joined the airforce, got his wings, and realized his dreams. He learned to soar - Bhaiya uska main, aur mere upar woh.

There were times in the night when we all used to switch on the lights, and play a completely made up game of foot-volleyball. He used to wait his turn patiently. There were times when I asked him to go away because I was not in the mood to see a smile early in the morning. There were times when I could have spoken to him, and did not quite find a common topic.

There were times when I wanted to sleep and couldn't because the guys were making a helluva racket - and I got out and yellled at them.

I miss the "muh bola" younger brother I never quite did have, whose elder brother called me Bhaiya. I miss the smile, and that silly guy who used to sit on the hostel mess' steps every morning, with that goofy smile. I miss the friend I never had.

Is that smile the only thing that should remain in my memory? Is life really so cruel?

Happy flying my brother. "If" is a very cruel word.

Dedicated to Flight Lieutenant Manu Akhouri - a MAN who realized his dreams. To a friend I never quite knew. A younger brother who became the role model for me - a much older one.

Social Media Minus The Internet

2009-08-28T15:50:00.007+05:30

A case for corporate intranets and their increasing ‘social’ ways.

The ubiquitous nature of social media today makes it hard to discount its presence in our lives. Social media, by virtue of its fast and efficient way of sharing and disseminating thoughts and ideas has found its share of admirers seeking its inclusion within the corporate enterprise. As such, its impact on organizational productivity assumes noteworthy significance here.

Understanding Intranets
Intranets, in their primary role of enabling collaborations and knowledge sharing, exhibit, as compared to their social media counterparts, a more formalized and compartmentalized approach to interactions and information flow. From providing efficient functionalities to address technical, infrastructural and employee issues, to providing a central repository to access presentations and information from remote locations, intranets are created customized to enterprise demands with the sole purpose of driving employee engagement and enhancing productivity.

The importance of being Social
So, where does social media figure in an organization’s efforts to ensure greater employee productivity? It is of course, understood that apart from providing functionalities that enable effective enterprise functions, what actually helps organizations achieve productivity targets is an effective exchange of ideas and viewpoints, while providing a platform for effective employee engagement.

Social media, by virtue of its approachability and user friendly nature, enables employees to contribute, discover and interact with their peers and others, and ascertain what they have to offer in terms of skill sets, knowledge and experience. Moreover, applications that allow people to initiate conversations, create and maintain open forum discussions and knowledge sessions, and discover newer avenue of business, all in an informal personal environment, go a long way in building effective relationships and a more productive atmosphere.

The best of both worlds
But this is no reason why we should dismiss the intranet. Social media applications, for the most part, lack the organization and structure that most organizations are built upon. Moreover, a well structured navigation system and a content management system that provides easy access to required data is an organizational requisite, which again, is something that most social sites fall short of providing.

In order to get the best of both worlds, intranets thus designed with evolving enterprise needs in consideration, could be integrated with applications that drive engagement and interactivity, and thus provide a platform for driving productivity and attaining organizational goals.
A sampling of the potential offered by such a union is offered below:

Functionality that enables voting and recommending of articles considered relevant, helpful or interesting.
Dynamic news feeds that provide actionable, critical information for employees to know and act on.
Internal networking applications that apart from providing employee contact details, also list areas of individual expertise, and thus make it easier for employees to find one another to collaborate on projects and get questions answered, among other requirements.
Enterprise/employee generated section, showcasing podcasts, photos, videos, that includes training videos, offsite trips, company outings etc.
Blogs and forums, that while providing efficient exchange of ideas and views, could evolve to become a barometer of enterprise thought.

Essentially, it all percolates down to the fact that a successful intranet deployment should integrate the advantages of social media with the core applications already proven to enhance corporate information sharing and effective employee engagement.

Online Marketing: An Approach

2009-06-07T11:59:00.006+05:30

Introduction

Marketing has traditionally consisted of the four "P's" of Product, Pricing, Promotion and Place. Deciding on the marketing mix based on these criteria has been the traditional marketing function. The marketing mix arrived at also determines how the communication is arrived at.

However, these are from the seller's point of view, and are applicable to older marketing models. In the current market scenario, the consumer is the king, and from his point of view, the decision to purchase your product or a competitors, depends on his perception of value offered. The decision will be made on the basis of answers to the following Questions:

The above questions represent four dimensions based on which a consumer will decide whether or not to buy your product. This customer centric approach, called SIVA, is how the product needs to be positioned in the consumer's eyes in order to elicit a favorable response.

Effective communication can provide a winning combination for marketers, and for this, marketers need to use communication strategies which reinforce each other. Since the Internet is the most prolific source of information in most markets, your communication must be especially effective in the online medium.

Online Marketing

As the preference of consumers towards the online medium increases, it is beginning to emerge as an important medium where purchase decisions are made and influenced. Since inputs for making decisions are freely available online, and the user has ready access to such inputs, it's beginning to emerge as a preferred medium. As a result, the efficiency of an online marketing plan has started playing a large part in the overall success of a marketing endeavor.

Unless your online marketing plan is laid out with all the factors decided before hand, and is implemented in stages, the chances of such a plan succeeding, however well made, remain slim. There are two parts to a successful online marketing plan - the components of the plan i.e. the plan itself, and the implementation of the plan.

While designing an Online Marketing plan, there are two key components that need to be taken into consideration - your site itself, and the process of getting people to your site. Both the factors have to have an underlying strategy in order to effectively influence purchase decisions.

The site itself needs to be dynamic to reflect changing content, and should be connected to enough channels to funnel in a stream of relevant visitors. And your plan for getting consumers to your site should cover what will interest them to click on your Advertisement and come to your site.

Once designed, the plan itself should be implemented in three stages - Initiate, Involve and Improve. The Initiation phase will consist of getting all the components of your site, and your campaign to attract visitors into place. This phase lays the ground work for you entire plan. The Involvement phase will consist of application of the plans, and enrolling people into your cause. It leads to funneling the right consumers to your site. The improvement phase consists of examining reports on activities done, the results, and analysis. It also involves reducing unnecessary spends and streamlining marketing to what actually works online.

Initiation
This phase consists of defining the strategy behind the website. Unless your site is created with an underlying strategy, it will not affect the bottom line. Some questions that need to be answered are -

Content related decisions

How content will be organized - from a site visitors point of view, making it easier for the visitor to access the information he needs
What contents will be displayed on the site landing page, and what section it will link to, as well as what reflects on the page a visitor comes to after clicking on a link
How the content will be organized visually, to highlight key differentiators and aspects of your product which makes a favorable decision easier to achieve
Frequency and procedure of content updation to prevent errors from occurring
What methods of requesting for a demo or more information exist, how user friendly such mechanisms are, and what happens to the leads captured by such mechanisms
What will be the procedure for reviewing content on the site in order to improve site rankings on search engines? How will updates be carried out to ensure high ranks in search engines? How will review of content to be updated occur?

Performance related decisions

How will you measure your sites appeal and success? By leads generated? By visitors?
How will you analyze and understand analytics reports from your website? What reports will you need to determine efficiency? How is it going to be related to the bottom-line?

Associated micro sites

Will there be any micro sites? How will their existence affect your main sites performance? How will they link to it?
What is the objective behind establishing a micro site? How is it different from your main site? How will you measure your micro sites performance?

Lead generation activity and visibility decisions

Will the marketing plan lead to mailer campaigns? What will be the frequency of such campaigns? How will the database be sourced? How relevant is the database? Do you have permission to mail your eDM's to the database?
What Social networking sites will you provide visibility to your organization on? Is the activity and user profile of such a site likely to cause pertinent leads to be generated? What are the messages to be sent out to other users on such sites? Will each message have its own landing page?
What directories will you submit your site link to? How will it help? What is the expectation from such directories?

Unless you answer the above questions and more - depending on your plan, you will not be able to implement your online marketing plan efficiently and correct your site's performance.

Involve

This phase consists of contacting people and getting them to enroll in your cause - whether it is for purchasing your product or positively recommending your product. This phase will consist of decisions on -

Search Strategy

Non Paid Search

What are the pages that come up for different sites?
Are these pages relevant according to what is being searched for?
Is your consumer using the same the keyword or phrase that you are optimizing for?
When your page shows up in results, what is the title for that link?
What is the content that shows on the search engine page under the link? Is this content going to get your consumer to your site?

Paid Search

What are the Adwords that you are showing ad's on? Do your ads appear as a feasible alternative?
Is the content that shows up on these ads relevant to what the consumer is actually searching for?
What page does the ad lead the consumer to? Does this page provide relevant content as per the ad itself or is it something totally different?
Does the content on the landing page help a consumer to take a decision?

Social Strategy

Site related

What are the sites that will be used by employees nominated for social marketing and networking?
Is the profile of the site members suitable to the target audience you want to talk to?
What is the possibility of business leads coming from the site?

Nominated employees

Who will lead the Social marketing aspect of your campaign?
What are the messages that will be sent out?
What are the standard replies to various questions they may face?
Should you have a company account on social networks?
Will people nominated use their personal ID's or professional?
How will leads be generated? Who will follow up such leads?

eDM campaigns

How many mailers will be created?
What is the schedule they will be sent on? What's their frequency?
Who will be responsible for delivering these mailers on schedule?
What are the mechanisms for information exchange that will exist on the mailer?
Who will be the target audience for your mailer?
What are actions expected of the consumer upon receiving this mailer?

Driving micro sites

What are the methods that will be used to drive your micro site?
What is the message that will be put up for your consumers to read?
Why should they participate/visit your micro site?
What is the advantage they get from joining your endeavor?

Improve

This phase consists of streamlining your marketing activities, and restricting your spends to what actually works for your plan. It involves decisions on -

Analytics

What are the analytical tools that will be used?
What are the criteria that will be used to evaluate performance of the different components of the marketing plan?

Evaluation

What are the criteria?
How is the performance of each component against these criteria?
What is the spend on creating and publicizing this component?
How has it helped?
Is the return worth the investment made in terms of time, effort, and monies?
How does it measure up against the other components?
Should I continue with this component or stop it?
What are the sales that have occurred due to your online campaign?
Are they justifiable against the investments made?

Adapt

Is the entire campaign worth the investment? Or should you be doing something else?
Is the message you are putting out appealing to consumers?
Once these questions are answered, you can recognize the components that work and the ones which do not, and adapt accordingly.

Summation
Each aspect of your marketing plan is a key component, whether offline or online. Each activity should complement the other activities. This medium has the greatest potential to succeed, and to show constant and instant measurements. However, you plan needs to be executed flawlessly, and should be measured constantly to reduce any deviation from plan.

Intranets : The process of planning for an intranet

2009-05-03T19:18:00.004+05:30

WHAT IS AN INTRANET?

The intranet is expressly used as a common platform for all employees. It provides access to company documents, policies, procedures, project details etc. Plainly put, an intranet is an internal website that only users who are logged into the company network can see.

Intranets are sometimes also hosted publicly using secure protocols so that employees who would be unable to access company resources, like those who are at different locations or at client offices, can log into the intranet.

Intranets vary very much. They can range from a single page on which a company can put notices to complicated sites which have their own rules built in for the day to day activities of employees like time tracking for projects, personal financial information related to salaries, details of investments, knowledge repositories for projects, training modules, etc.

Examples of the most commonly transitioned procedures and functions by different departments are -

• HR – since HR is the group that maintains engagement throughout the course of an employee’s life in the organization an Intranet becomes an essential strategic tool for this group. Some of the commonly used tools by HR are Contact Directories, Leave Applications, Surveys, Organization charts, Ongoing Training Modules, Guidebooks/Handbooks/Manuals etc.

• Sales – Sales as a function and a process requires access to quite a few documents and should also be able to interact with the organization in a centralized way even when not in the office locations. Also, as one of the responsibilities of sales is to be able to provide an estimate of the sales for the month or quarter, and to provide reports on targets and achievement statuses, the intranet becomes an essential tool for Sales.The existence of a well designed module can provide a snapshot of sales till date, which is available continuously and helps in financial planning. Some of the commonly used features of the intranet by Sales are Centralized Sales Dashboards, Demo’s, Contact directories, Forecasts, Pricing structures, Researches, Business Intelligence reports etc.

• Finance – As a function, Finance has to maintain a trail of requests and authorizations for each function they perform in order to be accountable. An intranet is an essential and strategic application for them to ensure all practices are rigorously followed. Some of the commonly used tools by Finance are Capital acquisition form, Expense report, Budgets, Financial Reports, and Payroll etc.

A well designed intranet is actually normal human interactions like reporting, requesting leave, salary advance, taxation advice, delegating and carrying out tasks, reporting etc. which has been converted into a computer based format. This allows an employee to have the freedom and convenience of not being face to face with other people in the organization, thereby increasing productivity by allowing him to carry out these interactions from his location.

WHY AN INTRANET?

An intranet is essentially a communication platform. It allows people to use their time efficiently. As an example, if an employee needs help on a specific problem, and another employee who encountered it has put up his solution on the intranet, the first employee can refer to the same, and solve his problem instead of checking around for various solutions saving valuable time.

The intranet helps in bringing data and experience together which every employee can then leverage to attain the common goal. A well designed intranet allows every employee the chance to use the entire company’s experience in order to do his work.

As an example to illustrate the point, a major issue that companies have is tribal knowledge. Tribal knowledge is unwritten pieces of knowledge or information that is needed for consistent performance.

Usually possessors of this form of knowledge are very reluctant, or may not even realize the knowledge they have. However if they can be encouraged to share it, the improvements can be tremendous in terms of efficiency. This information can then be shared on the intranet.

The intranet, being a strategic tool, allows each employee to contribute to the growth of the organization in the best possible manner by providing them a common platform for sharing and communicating.

DEVELOP OR LEASE AN INTRANET?

Intranets can be either designed in house, or can be rented/leased from other providers. The following set of questions help in making a decision as to whether one should create an intranet in-house, or whether it would be better to lease one and start a partnership with the person one has leased it from

• Do you actually need an intranet?

• Do you have resources that are trained in the skills required to create an intranet?

• Are your resources trained and experienced in building systems for human interaction, and not as a series of rules and formalities which a user would find very hard to understand unless training is provided?

• Have they any exposure or any understanding as to how a user actually uses a system?

• Do they understand how a user interprets the process that is used to complete a task?

• Can they design the intranet to be intuitive so that minimal time is spent on orienting users?

• Can they design the system to increase operational efficiency?

• Do they have the capability to design the navigation in a manner to reduce the amount of time taken to complete a job without overwhelming a user?

• Can they design the intranet based on human experiences and not as a series of functions?

• Can you spare them to create the intranet or is it more important for them to be available for client projects?

• Can you hire a resource to completely dedicate his time to increase the efficiency of the intranet?

• Can you ensure a person from management can drive it and be responsible for it?

• Do you employees have multiple profiles to handle? Do they have responsibilities other than the intranet alone? Can you ensure that they will be driving the intranet in a user centric manner?

If your answer to most of the questions above is no, or if you can not allocate enough time and resources internally, then it is better to lease an intranet and let your partner drive the project.

CHOOSING A PARTNER FOR YOUR INTRANET

If you need to choose a partner to create your intranet, the following are the things you need to bear in mind

• Experience – Your partner needs to have varied and diverse experience in order to be able to recommend procedures that work best. This means he should have the necessary exposure to the procedures followed by companies in various industries.

• Commitment – Your partner should be willing to work along with you and not just deploy the intranet. For any problem, multiple solutions exist however not all may be feasible. Your partner should be willing to understand problems and devise solutions that he can implement on the intranet without compromising on functionality and efficiency while providing a quick response.

• Capability – Your partner should have a team capable of solving issues in terms of technologies and protocols.

• Understanding – Your partner should have the capability to understand the users who will use the system, how they carry out their job functions, and how an intranet can be designed to facilitate their jobs and to increase their efficiency.

• Ability to scale, and stability – Your partner should be able to work alongside you as your organization grows. If your company is on a growth phase, and depends heavily on coordination, your partner should be able to last as long as you. While choosing a partner do bear in mind that he should be able to take market fluctuations and survive in the market.

If your partner has these qualities then you have made a good choice.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO FOR THE INTRANET

Once you have chosen a partner, you will need to work along with him in order to create your intranet. In order to make both your lives easier, you should sort out the following beforehand

• Establish the objective for the intranet. Is it to increase operational efficiency? Is it for knowledge sharing? Is it for internal communications? Once the list is created, grade them in terms of importance and keep this list in mind while discussing the same with your partner.

• Most companies have protocols like leave related information and information pertaining to employee records like date of joining or date of birth or the address on records etc. can be changed only by the HR department. Payroll information will be published only by the finance users. Does your organization have any such protocols? If you have, then list them down, and if not, create them. This will save a lot of time once you begin development.

• Which content pertaining to employee records can be published? What information regarding projects will be available publicly and which will have restricted access? Who will have access to what information? For example, only members of a project will be able to see reports pertaining to the projects, but anyone can join for a discussion on the project related discussion forum.

• Will content be reviewed by department heads for quality of information? If not, who will be responsible for the content – your partner or your employee who will drive the intranet?

• Will each department responsible for putting up content be creating it or will your partner be creating the content after interacting with each department? Who will be responsible for the information produced? The departmental head or the delegate from the department who will be liaising with your partner for providing information?

• Do you have any branding guidelines for the company? Are these to be followed for the intranet? Is there any specific layout to be followed?

• Who will take ownership of applications and content from your organization? There has to be one person on behalf of your organization who will need to manage the intranet internally – this person will be responsible for the information provided to your partner.

• Do you aim to use multimedia on the intranet? If so, what will it be? Flash based or will you use some other technology?

• What will be the frequency for backing up the intranet? Will the changes be carried out on a staging server, and be approved internally after which they will be put up or do the changes need to be made live?

• How will you measure intranet success? By the number of users? Or will each section have its own measure of effectiveness? What are the metrics for measuring the success and increase in efficiency and productivity? Will you measure each function separately or the overall performance only? If each module is to be measured separately, bear in mind the objective list created. How does this module fit in? How will it be measured?

• Establish fonts to be used, how links will appear, etc.

• Create Privacy policies regarding information available on the intranet and their usage, and any applicable legality. Are there any sections with sensitive information? You may need to check internally to see if a non-disclosure statement has to be displayed explicitly in this section.

Once you have decide on these details, it is very important to sit with your partner and find out what information he would need, and what formats he would need it in. Once this is done, you are ready to start development. Issues and clarifications will definitely come up as development begins, however ironing out these details in the initial stages will definitely speed up development.

IMPLEMENTATION - REQUIREMENTS

Once the intranet has been developed, you need to implement it. In order to do this, you need to find out from your partner what your partner requires. The common requirements are

• Servers – Production and staging

• Software licenses

• FTP and Login access (Staging and Production Server, or staging only etc.)

• Workstations - if any are required by your partner when his team comes to your location

A better method is to check what your partner would require from you and to provide the same to him.

How to start on your Online Marketing - for Individuals

2009-04-25T08:33:00.000+05:30

Recently, someone asked me to help him in marketing his services online. Now, he is a travel professional, who has a presence on a few social networking sites. He wanted to know how to use them.

His case is - he is a part time travel professional. He helps in setting up travel itineraries for people. He creates customized itineraries, and makes travel and stay arrangements. He also assists in Visa processing, and Passport applications.

Noting his presences online,I created a small image that can serve as a guideline for individual operators and forwarded to him. Remember - this is just the setup phase. A lot more needs to be done, however laying this foundation is required in order to just be accessible to the world.

Now, he needs to just follow the steps in the image, and his basis for publicizing his services is ready. Free, not very tough to streamline, and acceptable to most people. Thing is, you don't necessarily need a website if you manage your online presence well.

In case you find this useful, go ahead and use it. And if you need help after setting this up, contact me.Also remember, this is just a suggestion - if you think you have an addition to make, do contact me, and I will create it on the image.

How to maintain an email campaign

2009-04-05T20:25:00.004+05:30

In case you don't have an expensive CRM solution, and run your campaign using a database (or Excel or Access, as the case usually is), you can have a look at the image. It is a sort of a calendar to use while handling mailer campaigns.

In general, it is a good practice to create procedures visually, so that there are no boring documents one needs to refer to. Although it's not very expansive, it's a sort of a general guideline on how to handle email campaigns.

I use it in reminders that I have set up according to the schedule, so that every time my outlook throws up a reminder, this is attached for easy reference.

I hope it helps. Also, thanks to all the people who made the super amazing icons I have used. They are straight off free icon galleries. Brilliant job guys.

The importance of Acceptable Usage policies

2009-03-08T19:09:00.004+05:30

The Indian Business scene has changed very rapidly in the last decade. As organizations, we have graduated from books to computers for maintaining data, and every type of data. With the emergence of India as an IT hub for the globe in 2000, the adoption rate has only accelerated.

We depend on computer for everything – data, communication, calculation, forecasts, trends etc. This has allowed Indian businesses to counter most negative global trends and keep up the growth pace. But at the same time, we have also developed a fatal flaw – vulnerability.

For a moment, imagine – one of your company’s top level employee loses his PDA. You might say that you will replace it and his efficiency will remain the same. But, what would the implication be? Most PDA’s are now substitutes for lap-tops. The access to organizational information provided by these devices is such that a single PDA is now able to dispense almost all the confidential data that your company may have.

Add the effect of human nature to the mix, and you have a potential security threat that may destabilize your entire business. Very often, it is not necessary for your employees to devices or information regarding access points to sensitive organizational data – it is enough for them to be merely disgruntled.

To give an Idea of the scale of damages that occur, across the globe, in 2008, companies lost $1 Trillion due to Data Theft, and spent $600 million trying to put things right.

Indian Law and Data Theft

Indian law is woefully inadequate in terms of defining what theft of Data is, and the punishment prescribed. What is more ridiculous in the Indian context is that (till the IT act 2000 came into effect) you would need to prosecute your employee/contractor under a combination of sections under the IPC 1860.

There are two possible scenarios in data theft by an employee–

1. Your employee stole a hardware form of data – you would have needed to prosecute him under Sections 22 (defining movable property), 378 (defining Theft) of the IPC 1860
2. Your employee emailed/transmitted data – you would have needed to prosecute him under Sections 405 and 406 of the IPC 1860.

Add another dimension to this, that of data carriers or data warehouses and bankers and brokers, and you would have needed to prosecute such a crime under sections 407 and 408 of the IPC 1860.

Since the IT act 2000 came into the picture, the same crimes can be prosecuted under Section 43(b) of the act in parallel to the ones above – however damages are limited to one crore rupees. Now relate this to the amount you have invested in research and/or gathering data, and you have an idea of the scale of damages you may have.

Irrespective of the damage, you would still do well to inform your employees or contractors that any data theft would be punished under applicable laws.
The most logical method to counter/deter data theft is to create agreements that very specifically mention data entrustment to such employees or contractors.

Acceptable Usage Policy – What to cover

The objective behind an Acceptable Usage Policy should be to clearly state the company's policy regarding use of the intranet/information system, to avoid potential liability, to promote healthy practices and information in order to reduce threats, and ensure positive use of the resources provided to employees.

The essential areas that need to be covered are –

1. Principles governing usage of such systems
2. Consequences for unauthorized usage
3. Whether systems are monitored
4. Laws applicable
5. Encouragement of safe usage practices

Acceptable Usage Policy – Application

Most companies use an Intranet. They also store sensitive information on the same system. If an employee has access to such information, then it is usually assumed that such an employee will not disclose it to the outside world.

However, here lies the basic flaw. This is an assumption. One way to make this assumption into a legal contract is to provide an Acceptable Usage Policy/Guideline. An acceptable usage guideline usually outlines the activities for which the company has provided the access to such systems. It is however, rare to find even a privacy policy (which actually contains rudiments of such guidelines) on most intranets.

Even if such a policy is available, it is usually relegated to the footer part of the pages. Frankly – have you ever scrolled down to the bottom of your internet banking account to ever check what the links there are? That’s how much notice this will get.

So how can we inform a user of such systems of what constitutes an acceptable use?

There are a few ways of achieving this objective that are in use–
1. As a part of mandatory joining procedures
2. As a part of induction training
3. As a part of the intranet footer

However, I can testify to the fact that these are not very effective means of achieving the same. Another method that may be used is what is usually used in software installation files – that of making the user scroll down to the end of the policy itself and click on a check-box stating he/she has read the same and agrees to it. This is effect allows the company to inform and the user to acknowledge acceptance of the same. This can be used on the sign-on page - or before login is allowed for any of your systems.

I agree, this can end up being slightly irritating, but it can be achieved on any information system by making a user acknowledge the entrustment of confidential data while signing on to such a system.

Mr. Seller, Where Are You?

2009-03-07T12:34:00.005+05:30

Mr. Seller, Where Are You?
Today, almost every company has an online presence with an eye on enhancing its brand awareness. And the power of the Internet to achieve this important goal is well known. But what about the role of the Internet in shoring up your company’s bottom line? Can the Internet also be a powerful Sales and Marketing Tool? Going by a recent survey, the answer is an emphatic yes. This survey clearly shows why the Internet can be a great business tool.

Indian Online Users- A Portrait.

Observation: The findings are really interesting. According to the survey, 77% of India’s online users are lesser than 35 years of age. Predominantly urban, these undoubtedly have good purchasing power, are used to a comfortable lifestyle, and importantly, they are comfortable shopping online. Among other things, they shop online for tickets, books, clothes and music.

Interpretation: The Indian Online User has the wherewithal and the willingness to use the Internet for more than mere information hunt.

What are the Indian Online Users Using the Internet for?

Observation: In a nutshell, the Indian Online User uses the Internet for more than just emails. In addition to emailing, the Indian Online User uses the Internet for enhancing their careers thorough Job Searches. A vast majority use it to communicate, check news, receive sports updates, and download music and movies. A huge section of the users also use the Internet to keep track of cricket scores, make friends, search for life partners, and of course, search for information as well.

Interpretation: The Indian Online User is very versatile when it comes to using the Internet, offering any organization/advertiser many a channel to reach out to them.

The Indian Online User’s Buying Behavior.

Observations: 80 % of the users shop regularly on the Internet. While it is predominantly travel purchase that they use the Internet for, a huge chunk also uses it for non-travel purchase like books, music and movies.

Interpretation: Shopping online is no alien concept to the Indian user. What that means is a huge market that awaits your organization.

Should you reach out to the Indian Online User?

The answer is yes. With an online audience that is willing to, and is actively looking at conducting transactions online, it’s evident that your company should actively get online. So that, gathering maximum exposure positively impacts your company’s bottom line.

What’s the Ideal Way to Reach Out?

In any online transaction the thing to remember is that what makes the difference between a site visit and the actual act of purchasing is one simple decision. Unless you have a site that is convincing at every stage of the decision making process, you will end up with a site that will have visitors losing interest. And that means many abandoned shopping carts on your site. Honestly, I feel that this is really an avoidable situation. One important point to bear in mind while going online would be to have an interwoven strategy that will persuade a visitor to make a purchase.

How to create a transaction oriented website?

You may want to begin with the site itself. Ensure that the User Experience walks a visitor through the entire decision making process. And more importantly, influences him at every stage towards your goal of a successful transaction. In addition to a great user experience, it pays to have an accurate plan that convincingly gets the visitor to your site. On the site, one important aspect that makes or breaks repeat visits is a Response mechanism. Basically, a good response mechanism addresses typical buyers’ questions- “Great! I bought this in a jiffy! But haven’t got it yet! Who do I talk to? Where do I write? When can you tell me?”

Once these aspects are taken care of, it’s time for another mechanism to take over. And that is a mechanism that allows effective analysis. Addressing important issues such as, just how did the visitor come to your site, what was the visitor interested in, and how just how long it took for the decision to be made. While the entire process of creating a transaction oriented website may seem simple or even simplistic, it means taking into account many factors. What I attempted to leave behind with you were the core underlying concepts behind this critical task.

Shore up your bottom line:

With such a huge opportunity awaiting you, it stands to little reason why one should not consider making an organization’s website more transactional. And considering today’s business environment, one of the answers to shore up bottom lines is undeniably IOU. The Indian Online User, of course.

Database Segregation? Target Audience?

2008-10-01T16:36:00.013+05:30

I recently read an article on Right and left brain recognition patterns available here. The article explains how people think. Everyone thinks with both sides of the brain one time or the other but the first impression is created by one dominant part of the brain - the one which functions more. Another link is available here.

How can this be applied to e-Marketing?

Well. We can actually see how a persons job can be used to gauge the best visual style for a mailer/banner/communique. A person would be most likely to chose a job in which he/she would be comfortable. Examining the job along with the other regular considerations (bearing in mind the Brain orientation required for such a job) will lead to an increase accuracy by sending the right message to the right target audience, at the same time eliciting a favorable response. Lets see how this translates into segregation.

The following is a list of Left and Right brain functions -

Left Brain functions
• Logical
• Detail seeking
• Decisions based on Facts
• Language and syntax Comprehension
• Calculation
• Scientific Thinking
• Quick Comprehension
• Pattern Recognition
• Associates Objects and Names
• Strategic
• Practical
• Careful and Cautious

Right Brain functions
• Feeling/Emotions
• Pieces together Overall details into one picture
• Imagination
• Shape recognition
• Philosophy
• Faith
• Spatial Recognition
• Fantasy
• Planning on the fly
• Impulsive
• Risks

What does this tell us about a person?

A person with a dominant right brain makes decisions intuitively, as a reflex, rather than take a few minutes off and think about pros and cons. This does not mean that this person is incapable of taking logical decisions, he is simply more prone to be impulsive. Also, a major part of what we call intuition is actually learned behavior - so what would seem an instinctive response may actually have a basis in a rational decision in the past.

On the other hand, a person with a dominant left brain will understand things sequentially. Remember your teacher in school who always used to tell you to sit straight, or that your answer has no beginning or end? that's the left brain person. These people prefer to figure things out alone, the ones who would rather look at numbers than experience.

Simply put, the friend you have who insists that car X has more power, acceleration and mileage, and reels off the figures, is the left brain person. The right brain one would begin something like - 'I was driving a friends car yesterday, car X, and man, is it good...'

The left brained one will actually read through any communication, and then respond, whereas a right brained one will skip through, see the salient parts, and make up the big picture without actually reading each word. The left brained one is the one who will respond to text as well as the mailers design - if you have designed it for him to register things sequentially.

The right brained one will respond to visual cues - crisper text and a call to action that is clearly visible in a mailer that uses pictures to convey what is being communicated.

Now, how could we use this?

Suppose you have a database with the following types of profiles:

Ages - 25 - 65
Sex - Both Male and Female
Income - Students to High income brackets
Job Description -
• Lab scientists
• Bankers
• Judges
• Lawyers
• Mathematicians
• Bacteriologists
• Librarians
• Accountants
• VP-Finance or anyone from a Finance background
• Middle to upper level Management
• Graphic Designers
• Entrepreneurs
• People who have chosen Extreme sports as a hobby
• Programmers
• People in Marketing

The regular method is to create various brackets, check against the product, and send off mailers. But, are we actually bearing in mind the thought orientation of our Target Audience? what this means is, suppose you are trying to sell a car - besides the regular filters of Income etc. you should also look at job profiles.

A standard assumption is that women would respond better to visuals and Men to comparisons or a list of benefits. But when you check the Jobs the Target Audience have, you will realize that (coupled with the above information) a woman who is an accountant may actually respond better to a list of benefits, and a man who is a designer may better respond to to visuals. So when we go about our marketing functions, are we actually keeping this in mind?

Social Networking access in large companies : to muzzle or not?

2008-07-02T15:56:00.009+05:30

As per MessageLabs new report on Social Networking: Brave New World or Revolution from Hell? regarding access to social networking sites - the greatest fears for employers are loss in productivity, followed by negative publicity.

Regarding loss in productivity - what I have noticed is whenever an employee faces a problem to which he does not know the solution, he checks on Google, and then resorts to various forums on which he might be able to look for solutions. Assuming an employer blocks access to sites which may actually be a community of developers or managers, wouldn't productivity be damaged? moreover what about business opportunities that may arise from employee interactions on networking sites like linked in?

Regarding a possible threat to reputation, employers who have transparency in practices followed by them should actually encourage it. This is because a positive feedback from current employees may be one of the things which could influence talented individuals to join your organization. When everything else (Salary scales, perks etc.) is equal, then it's the smaller things which swing the situation your way. A positive statement from a current employee may help the individual make up his mind. Also, Social networking ites could help in referrals, and the costs of hiring someone who is referred by an employee is much lower as compared to advertising employment opportunities. It also has the added advantage of having already vetted people being hired - people who have been vetted by the companies employees themselves.

It is also much better for productivity and morale if an employee joins who has an acquaintance or a friend working in the company as this would lead to faster acceptance - each company is a form of a closed society with it's own unwritten protocols in terms of interactions among employees. Although every company would like to think it has a very open and friendly atmosphere, in fact this is not true.

Moreover, only a company that does not encourage transparency would actually be considering freedom of speech as a threat. Not to mention expecting any employee to praise a company when it does not in fact deserve praise would be, lets say... unrealistic?

What I feel about web 2.0

2008-06-30T21:35:00.002+05:30

Just some terms I keep hearing off and on - randomly from various people I interact with. I was getting bored, and on a lazy Saturday afternoon, made this. Amazing what people keep throwing around not realizing it's not one big bang, but a lot of minor increments in what exists already which actually helps the cause.

Base software + customization

2008-02-28T13:06:00.006+05:30

here's a question -
If I have a base software that I use to customize for clients who need it, wont it be better that after every improvement/addition, I maintain a separate template for the software (maybe on a DVD)?

The most common problem that crops up in such cases is the UI. different clients require different messages/ UI text, tool tips etc.

What a developer should do is maintain a copy of the complete system.

Currently, what happens is modules are mixed and matched in most developer scenarios, leading to inconsistency in UI etc.

Whenever a specific template needs to be replicated and customized for a client, it is better to use the copy of the software and then make modifications so that feature sets and UI interfaces remain common over the entire set of modules.