Marketing Tools for Young Marketeers & Startups #2

Posts i never published in 2015 #2

Hello!

It has been a pretty busy week and last week was dedicated to #Mangalyaan & #MakeInIndia

Also, i hope the Marketing tools i penned down in part 1 seemed interesting & relevant
here's jotting down five more

1. Canva - Be it making a quick cover picture for FB or a header for Google+ Canva lets you create amazing creatives with ease! A must try!

2. Dare to Compete - Are you running a contest in your company? Need a platform to promote it for free. Here's where you should park your ad. It's for free. Techies will find this very useful! 

3. World-o-Meters - Have a quick presentation to make? Need to dazzle people with numbers? Them, here's your one-stop destinations! So many interesting stats being updated in real time. Worth it!

4. Sound Cloud - Wish to record a quick interview and upload it on your company's social channels? This is a great tool for it. Ofcourse, you can do limited recordings, but that limited part is free! So, go try!

5. Crazy Egg - As crazy as the name sounds, this tool is epic! It lets you view exactly which parts of your website your customers & clients are clicking on. It generates a heat map for you, so you could exactly focus on what's really important and no more live in assumptions

Have i experimented with this yet? Oh no! once i get a budget for my own marketing, i will! For now, i am just sticking to what the company has in mind

Marketing Tools for Young Marketeers & Startups (part 1)

Young marketeers and small businesses/startups will find these tools highly valuable if put to use! Penning down five interesting tools you can use for your marketing endeavors

1. Haiku Deck - Last minute presentations to be made? No worries. Stop hunting for relevant images. Haiku works great and you can try it for free (ah! the *smiles*) Choose a background, pick your images, put your text, jot down your notes and done. Wait! also export to pdf or share it online! All from one spot. Use this tool online or download it to your system! I swear it only spurs your creativity! Not boring!

2. MailChimp - I know most of you are familiar with this, however sharing my experience will make a point! It's a great tool to send out newsletters to your internal or external crowd. The best part being, you can track every click, the location of your viewers and so much more! You can start off using it for free and upgrade if need be. 

3. SurveyMonkey - While all the MBA grads are going "Oh we all know this" this is as i said for the younger/newer crowd. This is a great tool to conduct surveys or quizzes for that matter. Ask questions for free and track results efficiently. Use it once to only keep using it forever!

4. Tweetdeck - Marketing and no Social Media? Not possible right? Also, twitter works great especially for B2B companies. So, while you are gathering your relevant followers, pick this tool to schedule your tweets and track your activity. Very user friendly!

5. Megavenues - For a small Marketing team, events are not managed elsewhere. Also, finding the right venue is not very easy. This site lists out so many options for different kinds of occasions. Marketers will find it very handy

Will list some more in my upcoming posts. Please do add to the list if you may want to. 

Cannabis - The Road not taken...

I have so far talked about so many Indian startups be it on food, health, e-commerce, tech, etc. (you can read about them all here just in case you missed any - Interesting Startups) But this very startup shook me real hard! This is the story of a bunch of cool people who are working on something that's seen as "not-so-cool" Can you guess such an industry!? Wait! Let me give you a hint. This industry constitutes close to 60% of Indian workforce and contributes about 17% to our GDP. Yes! the earthy industry - Agriculture.

On hearing the word Agriculture, people may end up picturing green fields, villages, farmer deaths and what not! But, can you imagine a bunch of young people setting up a company in this arena? Surely not huh!? Well this is the story of the Bombay Hemp Company whose vision is to Educate, Cultivate and Alleviate. It was formed by a group of seven friends who are first generation agriculture entrepreneurs with zero experience in this field. 

What they do is quite interesting. Have you ever heard of Cannabis? Oh no not the one that gets you high (Cannabis Indica also called Weed/Bhang/Marijuana) We are discussing Cannabis Sativa, which is a useful and legal form of Cannabis. It allegedly could be used in 41 different industries and it has more than 25000 end uses. Hey! did you know Henry Ford made his first car using industrial hemp? Well, I did not! This industrial hemp grows close to 12 feet in three months and it is called a trillion dollar super crop. 

All said and done, how can it be used? and how are our "Cool-farmers" at Bombay Hemp Company using it? Well, in many ways! They collaborate with farmers to make the following products

1. It is used to make a form of brick which is used in the construction of "Green Buildings" This concept is pretty prominent in the West and is quickly gaining fame in India too. The speciality of this brick is it contains lime, which continuously absorbs CO2, thereby making it stronger as time passes! Also, it costs much lesser than the regular bricks

2. Hemp can be used to manufacture textiles, which are natural and require lesser resources than regular cotton

3. It is also being used to make Hemp foods, which according to the World Health Organization are considered the world's most balanced nutritional food! 

The best part about Bombay Hemp company is that they are not only carving a new industry from scratch but also are also helping farmers understand and implement the same considering how little is the land required to cultivate hemp and how much revenue it can generate. This could be the start of a new revolution uplifting the agriculture sector. Kudos to the Bombay Hemp Company! 

Check out their website for more details: www.boheco.org

Info Sources: boheco.org, inktalks.com. 

Image Sources: www.malawivoice.com, boheco.org

The Aam Aadmi Party Jhaadu!?

I totally understand the urge of businessmen to cash on every opportunity that comes their way. Sometimes they could say, "We bring light into your life", when all they are selling is a matchbox! Well, all is fair in business and the more creative you get, the better shall be your results. 

Opportunities are such a must-catch for them! Look at the Cycle Brand Agarbatti's ad, one would easily comprehend what I mean by saying "cashing-on-the-opportunity"

Also, let's not forget the Dhoom 3 special apparel and accessories that were up for sale on the Great Online Shopping Festival's website this December. Well, all of this put aside, here's something that tops the list unanimously!

The Aam Aadmi Jhadu! They are up for sale online!? What a smart move by Tradus.com to use the success of AAP to brand an un-branded good (simply meaning people don't really care which company makes them. It's a basic utility item) The AAP jhadus are being sold at a startling price of Rs. 5/-  The price holds for the first 1000 customers, post which they shall be charged Rs.19/-  Is this a one time stunt? or will we end up seeing this develop into a strong brand for broomsticks!? 

"Join Anti Corruption Campaign in Delhi. Pay Rs. 19 for this brand new Aam Aadmi ka Jhadu and celebrate the birth of corruption free NEW India." is what the website says. Converting a new political wave that's inspiring many into currency is ethical? funny? Well, that's pretty subjective. But, from the business viewpoint, I would call it a smart move! 

Many may mistake this for a fund-raising initiative, but it gets funny when you realize it is not! While the Aam Aadmi Party is busy raising funds from people by convincing them of their motives, here's Tradus.com investing in their fame. 

So, what are your opinions on this ? 

Check out the AAP Jhaadu here: http://www.tradus.com/campaign/aap-offers

Source of pictures and basic info: Tradus.com, http://www.aamaadmiparty.org/page/aap-mobilises-17-crore-in-funds, http://news.oneindia.in/new-delhi/aap-jhaadu-being-sold-at-rs-5-on-e-commerce-stores-1369964.html

P.S: All opinions are purely original and not intended to promote the product or Tradus.com

Snapchatting the World!

Recently I came across this new app for Android and iOS called "SnapChat" which lets users click pictures, take videos and also lets them add text and pictures to it. These pictures and videos known as "Snaps" can then be shared with  friends on your list. 

So you must be thinking what the big deal is when so many more apps let me do that! Well, you surely will think otherwise when I tell you that this app lets you share these snaps with your friends and will delete them soon after they are seen! Now that catches your attention huh!? SnapChat lets you decide the time limit for how long your recipients can view the snaps. It could be anywhere between 1 and 10 seconds, post which the snaps shall be hidden from the receiver's device and deleted from SnapChat's server.

(SnapChat's logo is called the "Ghostface Chillah")

SnapChat is a photo messaging app developed by Stanford students, Bobby Murphy and Evan Speigel  in 2011 as part of their final year project. It has been pretty long (2 years) since this app got released into the market. Apart from the millions of downloads and fame, what gets interesting is that, FB had recently tried hard to acquire this startup and got turned down. This is one of those few startups like Twitter that chose to stay on their ground and not get sold off. Though the app has been misused enough in the most obvious ways, it is an bold idea worth developing. 

So this left me wondering... Despite the fact that there are on an average two startups opening up in India each day, why is that the silicon valley startups get this big in no time and Indian startups take a really long time to even get identified? These were some of the reasons I thought are different about them and us: (this may not hold true for all Indian startups)

1. In India, having no job is a sin! It's a sign of incapability, leave alone trying to assess his/her ability to employ others. So, most tangential ideas are wrapped up even before they take form  

2. Risk taking is looked down upon by many startups. Here, the focus is more on customer behaviour,  current market behaviour and we  often shy away even from the thought of trying to create something the world would not have thought of. 

3. As for us, our biggest fear is acceptance,be it when building things or when coming up with lateral ideas! We think more about others than ourselves, so we do not believe in our own idea much. So anything, we think could change the world has a greater chance of getting diluted and discarded. On the other hand, the silicon valley guys just mould their ideas with no questions asked!

4. The feeling of "boasting-about-oneself-is-a-bad-thing" has been drilled deep into our Indian minds which majorly differentiates Indian startups from the startups abroad

However, with more talented young minds stepping into the business world each day, let's hope more Indian startups get there soon.

The App can be downloaded here: 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.snapchat.android&hl=en

Source of info about Snapchat: Internet
All views mentioned above are subjective 

Shopping on Wheels

It was a real surprise for me when I first noticed a government organization own an e-commerce store in India. The store with railway tracks in its background and the logo on the top will clearly shock many who are unaware of this. It is none another than IRCTC, a wing of the Indian Railways. They own an e-commerce store that sells anything from apparels to electronics, home décor to sports items. The store currently offers close to 30,000 products from 500 brands. It also offers free shipping on a purchase of or above Rs. 500

The IRCTC e-ticketing site contains a link to this store at the top. The moment I saw it, I began to imagine IRCTC trying to sell branded goods to passengers in trains just like the airlines companies do up in the air. However, to my delight I realized that this was not the case and it was  purely an e-commerce store. The store management was handed over to Yebhi.com, which handles both the user interface/design of the site along with the supply chain operations. This is one obvious reason for why the site more or less looks like Yebhi.com itself. Now how does Yebhi benefit from it? 

1) It gets its share of money for handling the look and feel and operations of the store

2) It gains access to the IRCTC database through which it can expand its user base immensely

                                                 

Though the site seems pretty good and well equipped, there are a few notable things here:

1) Though IRCTC is one of the most visited sites which assumes a daily footfall of 1.2 million visitors, it still carries with it loads of complaints such as the Server being down, issues of slow network, loss of money when the ticket was not booked and so on. Despite the kind of reputation it holds for many, the fact that they dared to venture into the click and mortar setup that has nothing to do with railways is shocking and perhaps a daring move

2)The site however requires you to re-create an account to shop here. You aren't allowed to login with your regular IRCTC login details

3)The site is more or less like any other e-commerce stores of today and hence does not really have a visible differentiator except for the fact that unlike many e-commerce stores that are suspected to pack up and leave somewhere down the lane, IRCTC's store may stand its ground longer.

4) Expect for the link to their site in the e-ticketing portal, the site is pretty much not advertised elsewhere. So, are we looking at a company that is planning to do business online without advertising much online?

5) The IRCTC store has no social presence at all. No login through social networking sites, no exclusive Facebook or Twitter pages. Perhaps they prefer preventing complaints on a public domain than having to confront them.

Nevertheless, the site is user friendly and has a simple design, so saves a lot of customer's time and effort. I would really hope the site improves over time and stands as a firm example to many more budding e-commerce players. 

You may visit the store here: http://www.shop.irctc.co.in

Info and Image Courtesy: Internet

Did you know about OnlinePrasad.com?

Life has become so hectic for some of us that we barely find any time to eat, drink or even sleep, leave alone spending time with family and friends.  How we wish the clock could stop for a while! Yeah, i agree that our life has become mechanical to an extent. But this website left me totally jaw dropped!

"Exercise for body and prayer for  soul", said a great man! Perhaps considering our digital lives, he should have quoted it as "Exercise for body and Internet for soul" We have switched our everyday online. Haven't we? We are hungry, we order food online, we are bored, we chat with friends online, we want to go out, we book a cab online, we want to read, we just download an e-book. Observing this shift of ours, people have started creating websites that make us even  more detached from the real world and  hook us to this virtual world. One such effort is OnlinePrasad.com

Online and Prasad are two highly divergent words, when put together hit you hard the first time you hear, however their concept is pretty interesting. We are apparently too busy to  spare any time for god, so they have converted are prayers into a service they could offer. Pretty confusing huh? Let me make it simple! 

You have a special occasion to pray or rather visit god. Since you obviously can't go all the distance, Online Prasad guys collect a minimum fare from you. They pray for you, present offerings to god on your behalf and then post your prasad home! So, it's basically the "Upload-money-and-download-blessings" concept.

As much as i appreciate the innovative ideas people come up with to make our lives easier each day, i pity how mechanical we have become that we have shifted our faith and belief online too. If we live online, we might as well find god online huh?

Do visit their site here: http://onlineprasad.com/

P.S: This is no marketing strategy. Just an info share. No offence intended. It was just a funny to look at it. Hope it's taken in the right spirit. 

Do you know the recipe for a successful startup?

Recently i happened to witness a presentation on "Do s and Don't s of a successful Business Plan" by Ms. Nandini Vaidyanathan, founder and mentor at Carma Connect. She is a mentor for entrepreneurs in and out of Indian, giving the best advice in the fitting of ways! Now, her talk was not just regular, it was rather mind blowing, so much so that i decided to share some insights from her talk with you guys!

Changing your FB status to Self Employed/ Entrepreneur,  takes more than just an FB account. So, i have jotted down some pointers from her presentation, that are necessary to set up a successful startup! 

1) Before you start building your business, the most rudimentary and  important part is the "IDEA". It is the foundation for your business. In today's world most of the ideas are "me-too" ones, meaning, there's barely any innovation! So, let your idea be a game changing one. Go original! Go fresh!

2) Once the idea is finalized, bring it to the table and start discussing it! Ask people to valuate your idea. However, remember not to get it valuated by people who are either left with no option but to say "great" or by people who are greatly impressed by the very word of a startup! Grab a list of all your worst critics and get them to work on their most revengeful review and Snap! you'll have the right opinion coming your way. Now Fix your idea!

3) No money, no business! So, when it's time to look out for investors, always remember that it is certainly your headache and yours alone to convince the big guy! He/she might look at the fruits, while you look at the roots! Never mind! because it is just a perception mismatch! Once you get past it, life becomes easier.

        

4) You have now setup a sweet little business of your own! It is evident that you can't handle it all alone, so you decide to hire people, your team! Watch out ! because at this juncture, you are responsible for your team's performance. If you hire anyone who knocks at your door, it shall be a wrong move! Believe in your business! If not experienced, atleast hire capable people who share the same passion as you and then watch them work magic for your startup!

5) Build a strong Differentiation! When you sell cupcakes in a space where there are 10 others like you, find the one reason that separates you from the crowd, let's say a cherry on the top. If that's the cherry people have been looking out for thus far, they are already on their way to your store! Dare to be different! That's where the game begins!

6) Finally, focus on the future as well! As important as "today" is, bear in mind that "tomorrow" is no far away! Be ahead of your time and come up with a logical and achievable Business plan that will be your guide all along!

Right from the stage of idea generation to execution, cook a nice dish that is not just liked by you, but by all ! Be specific and focused. After all you don't want a Recipe of Disaster!

P.S: Please note that all the concepts quoted above have been delivered by Ms. Nandini Vaidyanathan. They have been rephrased, embellished and coated with some examples by me for the benefit of the readers from a blog's perspective.

Untill my next post ...

Do you know about the Google Online Shopping Festival?

How much do we like a Sale!? A lot i am sure! We are always on the alert looking out for latest offers and price cuts! What if one day  our favorite e-commerce stores came together under one roof offering us the best deals all at a time? Would you call it a "dream-come-true" ? For all those who know about it, i am sure you love it. But for the rest, you ought to know about the   "Google Online Shopping Festival"

It is a 24 hour long fiesta that happened on 12th December 2012 (12-12-12). It had  over 90 renowned e-commerce brands participate in the biggest ever Online Shopping event. Google and a plethora of famous online shopping portals had come together to provide a single platform where “best deals” was the buzz word! With more than 90 famous sites like Flipkart, Quikr, Inkfruit, Monster.com, etc. offering the most lucrative deals on Jewellery, shoes, apparel, books, gadgets, watches and many more, shopping bags only got heavier by the day!

This event is inspired by “Cyber Monday”, a marketing term coined by Shop.org, which refers to the Monday after Black Friday, which is the Friday that follows the Thanksgiving. Putting it in simple terms, a 2004 research had unveiled that people online shop massively on the Monday after Thanksgiving (so much that many US employees have been fired for using official equipment for non official purposes like online shopping) terming it as “One of the biggest online shopping days of the year”. A 2005 research also found that 77% more customers buy stuff on a Monday after Thanksgiving. 

So, in 2005, the concept of “Cyber Monday” came into light to encourage people to shop online by providing effective deals and offers. Cyber Monday is an international marketing term used by online retailers in Canada, UK, Portugal, Japan, Germany, Chile and Columbia

Why have a Cyber Monday? Well, the answer is simple! Concepts like these help online retailers engage in new business arrangements/models through which they can gain visibility and also attract more customers. 

Unlike in India, this event goes beyond a time frame of 24 hrs internationally. New Zealand had its first ever Cyber Monday in 2010, organized by online retailer Belly Beyond that lasted for 5 days. In 2010, the customers had spent $1.028 billion making it the highest spending day.

Citibank India, had organized a similar 24 hour event on 5^th December 2012 termed the   OMG! Sale which witnessed participation from close to 17 e-commerce brands. However, it was restricted only to citibank’s debit and credit card holders. Through this sale, Citibank also highlighted the strong Payment Gateway they possessed. Inspired by its success, Google was next in line implementing this model in India! 

Google made use of our favorite Social Networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc. to promote their one day shopping festival. Though many called it the "biggest shopping festival before the end of the world", it was certainly the most remembered one! 

While sites like Myntra.com witnessed a 70% boost in their traffic, Pepperfry saw a 50% increase in their traffic (source: Internet) and the best part being the highly satisfied customers!

Whether it was a sales gimmick, or a genuine marketing initiative, we love shopping too much to judge it! so, if you missed it, keep waiting for the next big festival! 

Image Courtesy: Google

Information Sources: Internet

Have you heard of Grom Social yet?

When did you first create your account in Facebook? Did you have to manipulate your age to create a profile on FB?    Well, while it would not matter much if you didn’t get caught, what if you did? 

You may do one of the following:

1    1)  Delete your account, feel sorry for your mistake and not create one until you are actually 18

2    2) Act like you have deleted your account and be careful enough not to get caught again

But, would you think of creating a new social networking site altogether?

Let’s save our Of course-not-s to ourselves coz there’s an eleven year old from US who actually did it! 

Meet tech savvy Zachary Marks from Florida, who after getting banned from using FB by his parents, created a Social Networking site called “Grom Social” with the help of his friends and relatives.

This site is only for kids: kids who aren’t yet entitled to join FB. Annoyed by the fact that kids are not allowed to join Social Networking sites, he decided to act upon the situation. GROM SOCIAL is the after math of his curiosity!

It was a surprise to see GROM SOCIAL, considering all the fantastic features it contained, despite being created by an 11 year old.

The main idea of the site was to deviate kids from addictives like Pokemon and incline them towards virtual socializing and community gaming.

Some special features observed in GROM:

1. You can be part of Grom only if  an adult related to you approves of you being part of Grom. Else find    your way out!

2. The site operates on a strictly no bullying environment.

3. There was a fun and vivid character associated with every help topic

4. Highly surprising but there were school tips to help kids from grade 1 to 10 with their academics. Quite thoughtful! Isn’t it?

5.  A wide range of games

6.There is a youth privacy policy !

7.  App for iOS, Android, and BlackBerry and ability to add third party apps like Twitter

8. Now comes the cherry on the cake: “The Bad Word Filter” Seriously! That’s just amazing I thought!

9. Chat, Share photos, events, join groups on specific youth friendly topics with no obscenity/  lewdness

10.  Fun facts, health and fitness tips, articles on actions sports, latest music and movie trailers and what not!

Visit the website at http://www.gromsocial.com/

P.S: Don't worry! he does allow adults to join !