Internet Marketing – The Next Big Thing in Board Room Meetings

Don’t be surprised if ‘Internet Marketing’ is the next agenda during your board meetings, with Narendra Modi and NDA winning the Elections 2014 this has become the NEXT BIG THING for discussion. Be it your board meeting, customer care dept. meeting or human resource meeting, everyone is discussing about it, so be equipped for it. 

Internet Marketing as defined by Wikipedia – Online advertising, also called Internet advertising, uses the Internet to deliver promotional marketing messages to consumers. It includes email marketing, search engine marketing, social media marketing, many types of display advertising (including banner advertising) and mobile advertising.  

Major reasons behind Internet Marketing being the HOTTEST topic of discussion is almost 90% hardly understand its implications whether positive or negative. Having account on Facebook and twitter deciphers into knowledge on Internet marketing, which by far most Indian’s believe?

 

So finally what is internet marketing, to make it simple here you go

Search Engine Optimization - This is a process to organically rank your website in top ten results in search engine. This process involves more than 200 techniques and each is used based on the search engine algorithms. To put it in simple words, using this technique, your website can rank in the top pages of search engine, which results to more clicks, more leads, more conversions and more BUSINESS.

Social Media Optimization – This is a process where in social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Blogger, Flickr, Linkedin, Pinterest, etc are used. SMO is more of a branding technique for the company. This technique is used to engage with the stakeholders, customers and leads. Though this is a long term process, but it definitely helps in the SEO process to generate instant leads.

 

Pay Per Click – This is a process where you pay to the search engine / social media portal to rank your website / updates on top of the results. Referred as PPC, since you have to pay per click, there are different combinations which can be used to garner the desired result. But since this is PAY PER CLICK, so incurs huge budgets.

For any company to succeed online a combination of these three techniques are used, but never forget to define the objective of the strategy, because without objective the whole budget and time will be wasted. So next time in the board meeting be well prepared to discuss how this will be a boon for different departments. Remember ‘Digital Marketing in Future will be like SEX, only losers will have to pay for it’

 

For better understanding check out my presentation on Slide Share - Click Here

B2B Marketing - Guide for beginners

Sales and Marketing is the most used up terminology in the context to B2B Marketing in India. Though all the B2B companies believe in marketing and it is of utmost need, but barely any company ever thinks about analytic. When it comes to finance or human resources, ROI is what every company thinks first, but this doesn’t stand true when it comes to marketing function.

Most of the marketing function decisions are taken blindly or by gut instinct, this sometimes proves, but most of the times such decisions are impractical. Here I have listed down the process of marketing based on by experience and it has helped lot of companies.

Most of the B2B companies refrain from using technology for marketing function and try to run away from it, but they hardly understand that it is the backbone of any function. Having tools like CRM, Social CRM, Social Media Metrics and Marketing Campaign management helps in long way to provide meaningful insights about all the different campaigns. In marketing there is no thumb rule, sometime one of the worst designed campaign works and expensive campaign will hardly give results, so METRICS are important.

With digital marketing most of the companies are rushing towards this new found avenue, with the hope of increase in conversions, but traditional marketing also has it’s positives, it is important to sync it with your CRM.

Trip to Kashmir - A different perspective

Kashmir.. snow clad mountains had always mesmerized me "Heaven on Earth". Right from the state being projected as Switzerland of India to Shammi Kapoor movies, this was the destination I was eager to visit. Though I would suggest you to refrain from traveling by road and do book your flight ticket to Srinagar, since Srinagar is not connected by Indian rail network. Though if you you can reach till Udhampur station by rail network, and after that travel for around 10 to 12 hours depending on the traffic and landslide situation till Srinagar, this journey drains you physically and mentally, due to rough mountain roads.

When you are in Kashmir you realize, that Kashmiris live, in a totally disconnected world for almost six months in a year. During this time they don't have access to lot of amenities we enjoy, whether it is electricity or water or help from govt. It is because of the National Conference govt that now Kashmir is safe heaven, and tourists needn't fear to travel or roam in any region of Kashmir. Though you will find Indian Army and BSF jawans patrolling in every nook and corner with high end weapons which you would only see on Discovery Channel Future Weapons show.

During the summers Kashmir receives lot of tourists, but since Kashmiris are uneducated, they are unable to identify and treat tourist accordingly, which leads to bad impression amongst tourists. Whether you go to Sonmarg, Gulmarg or Pahalgam Kashmiris are always fighting with tourists and also in-between them quite aggressively, when it comes to getting money out from tourist pockets. They will force you to use their sledge service and pay leading to disheartened tourists. This has been then one of the reason foreign tourists don't have Kashmir on their cards as tourist destination, the other being terrorists.

Kashmir would have evolved as the biggest tourist destination, much better than Kerala had they marketed and focused, rather than driving Kashmiri Pandits out of the state. Kashmiri pandits one of the most educated lot of people left the state almost 10 years back when terrorists started spreading terror and killing them for free Kashmir or (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir). When the country was moving towards the 21st century, Kashmiris were still grappling in terror stuck state making living out of nothing. For any state to develop, they first have to increase literacy levels, "education acts like launcher".

Just analyze Kerala as a state, what it has which no other state in India doesn't have? Highest Literacy, can think of only this, but still they have been able to market the state at par with  Pattaya (except prostitution part) Kashmir needs to study Kerala model and accordingly brand itself to become a tourist capital, since the state majorly depends on tourism for its live hood. Along studying the Kerala model, Kashmir needs to increase the literacy level of the state as a whole. Education helps to open and change the mindset of people, just speak to any taxi driver in Kerala and then talk with a driver from Kashmir, you can easily spot the difference.