Let's get started ...

How many times, we feel like talking to someone but can't even take the first step. It starts with "How to approach" and once you approach "How you build a meaningful conversation". If the conversation goes like flowing water, than it is of no worry but if it does not, "the onus lies on the initiator to transform a talk into a conversation".

I had an interesting experience during my association with a startup where we handed over free gift to each person who helped testing our product. The free gift was definitely priceless for us since it would help us to spread our word [as our name was printed on the gift] but very few people noticed it. That is where each one of us started interacting with every person during the testing process[spending an extra minute or so] to explain about our product and startup through the "name" which was printed on the freebie.

It is a universal truth that "Pictures speak louder than words" and to demonstrate that we have this Twitter T-Shirt[which I ordered months back] from Pringoo

The T-Shirt contains my Twitter profile and 400 of my randomly selected followers. It is an excellent marketing tool [much more than just putting your company's name on it]. These are some of the basic things it does :

Effective story telling
As Seth Godin points out that Great story telling should capture the imagination of the audience. This is what the T-Shirt does perfectly. It not only eye catchy but also makes a person to craft his/her own story around the picture. This curiosity makes him/her to clarify whether the guess was right !!!

Starting a conversation
As pointed in the beginning, this is a great tool to make up a conversation. I was travelling in a bus and a guy came to me asking "Is this your Twitter profile" and at the end of it, we exchanged business cards and got connected elsewhere. That person was curious to know "Not only about Twitter but also about the other guys pictured on the T-Shirt"

Popularity of your service
In this case, the T Shirt was spreading the word of Twitter & to build my own brand [IMHO having 400+ followers is no big joke ]. What if your service had more than XYZ followers and you randomly selected first ABC & got them printed on some medium. It would definitely help spread the word much much faster !!! Even better would be if this was handed over as a gift to some lucky user of your service.

This is just one example of so called "great story teller". May be next time when you hand over a freebie, the first question that should come to your mind is "Whether it would help build a talk or conversation" !!!

If you have any other thoughts about the Twitter picture, do share them by leaving a comment & the same would be included in the article.

Marketing in Rural India

Few days back, I just had a short chat with one of the co-founders of an IIM-A's Iaccelerator startup and our conversation diverted to an article that was published in Outlook Business. The article tells about how a simple SMS is helping the Indian farmers plan their farming better and in turn helping them generate more profits.

Just came across a very insightful presentation which talks about why rural India is so important & how one can tap the rural market. The most interesting point from the presentation is the statistics about Rediffmail -

Out of 20 million Rediffmail signups, 60% are from small towns. 50% transactions from these towns on Rediff shopping site.

WOM is very important for startups - Amarjit Batra, OLX India

In the previous article, we spoke to Amarjit Batra, country manager of OLX India on OLX, Marketing, Online Classifieds etc. In this episode; we speak to him on Web, Startups, Entrepreneurship. Hope you enjoy the interview.

What are some of the Web 2.0 features that OLX promises to it's users ?
OLX is a Web 2.0 product and users can easily design rich colorful listings with pictures and videos and display their listings on their social networking profile [Facebook, Myspace].Some of the features that make us different from others are:

• 100% free (forever) even in jobs and real estate
• Ability to include videos and pictures in listings
• A city, neighborhood and zip code database so the entire country is covered and not just pre-selected cities
• Ajax "WYSIWYG" rich-text editor for richer listings
• Ability to comment on listings to create a stronger community
• Advanced search functions with sliders allowing searches at variable regional settings
• A distance field allowing you to see postings near your zip code wherever possible
• Ability to post listings in any language in any country
• Ability to view the site in any country in any language
• Global reach
• Mobile version: The mobile version http://m.olx.in is unique as one can do everything that can be done on the web

Currently OLX is only in English, do you plan to release for other Indian languages considering the penetration of internet in India ?
Actually, we are present in English and Hindi as of today. You can check the Hindi site at http://www.olx.in/hi Going by the India Internet reports, it is evident that local language consumption on internet is on the rise and could possibly drive the future penetration of Internet in the country. We would like to gain some traction in Hindi before launching other Indian languages in the country.

There is strong likelihood that local languages consumption would be driven by Mobile internet. OLX site is already accessible on the Mobile through our WAP offerings http://m.olx.in and having other local languages on mobile would help.

During this time of recession, one important thing is Cutting/Managing Costs? How is OLX doing the same ?
OLX is a 3.5 years old company. By the nature of our business model, we are very scalable and have a lean team of 125 people managing our sites in 90 countries.

Keeping the recession in mind, we are focusing on efficiency and optimizing spends. Business wise, we are in a growth phase and we have been busy expanding our footprint across the globe. Therefore, we do not shy away from spending if the opportunity is good.

Where do you see OLX from 3-5 years down the line ?
In 3-5 years, OLX should emerge as the preferred destination and a strong brand in most markets where we are focused. We will continue to innovate and provide the best classifieds experience to our millions of users and hope to become the largest classifieds site in the world.

Can you share some tips for the budding Entrepreneurs ?
I feel budding entrepreneurs should look at the following before getting into a start up

• Are they really passionate with the idea and willing to commit long term to making it succeed?
• Who are they going to work with? It’s important that the core team is experienced and have complementary skills. Even the VC’s prefer ‘a good team with an average idea’ to ‘an average team with a good idea’.
• Entrepreneurs should be clear about their business model and have a monetization plan in place, even if the initial phase is experimental and does not fetch any revenues
• Flexibility and adaptability are traits that could differentiate between successful and failed start ups. Sometimes start ups struggle initially but adapt and tweak the model to the market conditions to succeed.
• Keep experimenting new ideas or new ways and
• Always ask your network of friends and acquaintances for support or ideas. Do not underestimate the strength of the weak ties.

How important is marketing aspect in Web startup & can you share some tips with us ?
Marketing is important but considering that most web start ups are constrained with cash, one cannot expect to spend huge sums on marketing campaigns.

Marketing tools that work best for a web start up would be SEO, Partnerships & Alliances, promotions, social media marketing and community driven marketing. SEM should be also be considered depending on the marketing budget.

A good product acts as a marketing tool too. The word of mouth from users takes over the job of marketing and most successful web companies have been built this way.

Where do you see the Future of Web, since Mobile & Web [Real Time Web] are converging ?
I believe that the Future of Web is mobile. It’s much more personal, convenient and accessible 24/7 and mobile is surpassing the PC penetration in most developing economies. 3G accessibility, smart phones pricing and penetration will play a key role in translating this potential into a reality. The dynamics of this market should change two to three years from today.

When do you feel is the right stage an Entrepreneur should approach a VC for funding ?
An Entrepreneur should approach the VC for funding when most of these conditions have been met

• The Company has been incorporated and business has been launched
• The Founding team is in place, but there is a need for addition of talent in senior and middle management to set up the team for the next phase
• The business model has been tested with the first set of clients or markets and the expansion needs cash infusion
• Business needs to build the critical mass quickly to get the first mover advantage, or is in a situation where the barriers to entry are low
• Have the business plan in place for the next three to five years and the execution of the plan requires capital or manpower

In some cases, the Entrepreneur can get funding at start of the venture. This is most likely in cases when the Entrepreneur has proven experience or the business model or sector excites the VC to take the initial risk. These cases are few in number, so it’s better if the entrepreneur is prepared to rough it out on their own for the initial phase of six months to a year.

Final parting words...
I would like to share a Les Brown quote I really like

"Shoot for the Moon. Even if you miss, you will land among the stars"

Print classifieds will eventually die - Amarjit Batra, OLX India

Online classifieds has been a growing business and is expected to grow 100% YOY. Be it marriage, Real Estate etc, all of use either of these services in day to day life. In this article, we speak to Amarjit Batra, Country manager of OLX,India which is 100% FREE classifieds site.

The interview is divided into two parts, with this one focusing on OLX, Online Classifieds, Marketing etc.

Before starting off, can you give a small pitch about yourself & OLX ?
OLX is a next generation classifieds site present in 90 countries and 39 languages. We are present in India on web http://www.olx.in as well as mobile http://m.olx.in. There is an option to use OLX India site in English as well as Hindi. We are live in most Indian cities and we already have users from 900+ cities in India. OLX is 100% free to search, list and transact. We have all the key classifieds categories like Jobs, Real Estate, Cars, For Sale, Matrimonial, Services, Education and Community. OLX has integrated many Web2.0 features to the product and we aspire to be good in every vertical.

I have been in the internet space in India for the last nine years and am a strong believer in the online marketplace model. India is an important market for OLX, and I hope that we can make a difference to the lives of the Indian populace through our Free Classifieds site. I am delighted to be a part of the OLX Global Classifieds team and join them in this exciting journey.

How big is the estimated classifieds market in India ?
India is young classifieds market, but there is a lot of potential. As per estimates, the size of the online market is Rs. 800 to 900 crores.

How different is OLX from other competitors like Sulekha, Sify Classifieds etc.
First of all, we are a free site. Yes 100% free! And we want to keep our core site free forever. Our major difference with vertical category sites is that we are present in many categories- Jobs, Real Estate, Vehicles, Matrimonial [only in India], For Sale, Services, Classes, and Community.

Being a local site, we are today present in all major cities in India, whereas the rest of the sites are focusing on few cities only. The other key differentiating factor is a user friendly mobile version of the site http://m.olx.in on which one can do everything that can be done on the web version. We are also present in other languages like Hindi http://www.olx.in/hi/ that gives us a wider reach.

Being a Web2.0 product, users can easily design rich colorful listings with pictures and videos and display their listings on their social networking profile [Facebook, Myspace etc... ]

Unlike others, we are a global classifieds site network with a local presence in India. Being present in 90 countries and 39 languages gives us an international reach and we do continuous improvements on our product and features.

OLX has presence in many countries, how different is the Indian market from market in US/elsewhere ?
Indian online classifieds market is quite different from US, primarily in two ways.

• Online classifieds in India have grown through vertical sites in jobs, real estate and matrimonial unlike US where the biggest classifieds site is Craigslist, a horizontal site.
• US online market has been the harbinger to the shift from print classifieds to online classifieds and it’s been happening in huge way recently with many print dailies getting out of business. Contrarily to the US and Western Europe, the newspapers in India are still growing in circulation. As a result the print classifieds is also growing.

The online classifieds industry will eventually cross the print classifieds through the sheer reach, flexibility, cost effectiveness and ease of use for both advertisers and searchers, but it will take some time.

India is difficult to cover by a single medium or a single language. It was print earlier, but Internet has shown a good growth recently and mobile is going to become important in the future. Similarly, English readership is limited in our country and to fully cover the market, local language options would become increasingly important.

You have worked with EBay(India) & other B2B,B2C based companies ..What changes have you seen in the market since that time ?
Internet has changed the way we search and buy products and services. The online transactions in India might not be huge today, but the search starts on the internet for a lot of us. With Mobile internet gaining popularity a lot more people will exposed to Internet.

In the last few years, the online classifieds market has evolved in many ways. I have seen the following trends in the Indian market:

• Increased awareness and preference for online classifieds. There has been a increased awareness among the internet users now, whereas earlier, a lot of time and effort was being spent by online classifieds players in educating consumers and businesses on the benefits of using classifieds.
• Rise of the Horizontal Classifieds Sites. The market is moving from vertical category sites to horizontal category sites. Even the players who were earlier in one category have launched other verticals or their own horizontal sites
• New categories becoming relevant online. Jobs, Real Estate and Matrimonial have been the top draw categories and continue to remain so, but there are other categories like Vehicles (Auto), For Sale (e commerce categories), Services and Classes (Education) that are also driving considerable interest among consumers.
• C2C users now have a platform to trade. Online classifieds has been a shot in the arm for C2C transactions in India and filled a huge gap. If you look at US also, C2C was earlier captured by eBay but a lot of it has now shifted to Craigslist. If an individual is looking to sell his car, give his flat for rent or look for paying guest, sell old furniture, offer tutoring services etc, online classifieds is now a preferred option to advertise.
• Boon for SME’s. As a country, India is on a growth path and the large numbers of micro and small entrepreneurs starting their businesses or facing the onslaught from competition are increasingly looking at advertising options that are free or low cost. Online classifieds provide them with a local as well as a national reach and it’s free.
• Internet is going local. Most trades, transactions and exchanges happen within a city or town and local online classifieds have gained traction since the last few years.
• Emergence of the Mobile Internet. Internet penetration in India has been constrained because of broadband and PC penetration where as Mobile penetration has been explosive. People are beginning to realise the ease of access of Internet through their mobiles and in many cases they are having their first exposure to internet through a mobile handset. Online classifieds on Mobile are gradually gaining traction and with the rapidly growing mobile internet users, it could be a large chunk soon.

OLX recently got 5 million funding from Nexus(India) , how difficult is it for startups to raise money at this point of time ?
It’s definitely tougher to get funding nowadays. However, if the team and the idea is good and the initial business results have been demonstrated, I am sure funding would be easier to come.

Craigslist is very dominant in US, how does OLX plan to compete with it's popularity ?
OLX is more popular in markets outside of the US. We are doing quite well in Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Latin American countries and India. In US, we have been encouraged by the response we have got.

Our differentiating factors are that we are focusing on product and business model innovation. Craigslist charges for jobs, real estate and other categories in certain cities, whereas we are 100% free to post and intend to remain free to post. We feel that charging limits the number of ads on the site which is a detriment to the user experience. We want our users to find whatever it is they are looking for.

From a product perspective, we aspire to be as good in every vertical as the best paid vertical sites. Already we have a number of innovations relative to many of our competitors:

• We have a fantastic mobile version such as http://m.olx.in reachable from any cell phone.
• We allow users to promote their listings automatically on social networks.
• We have a rich WYSIWYG editor allowing users to create colorful postings without knowing HTML.
• We support photos and videos.
• The site is multilingual even within countries with 39 languages supported.
• We have powerful search functions in real estate and cars.

If OLX is completely free, what is the revenue model of OLX ?
We are having text ads (currently provided by Google) as the only monetization option. Our core site will always be 100% free. However we have launched 'Featured Listings' in few countries that allows users to get prominent placement on the site. This is certainly a value add to the advertisers, without compromising on the free listings that one can still post. We do not have any immediate plans to introduce this in India.

Our mobile site http://m.olx.in is also completely free for users. The mobile site has a banner or text ad on top and bottom of each page and is monetized through ad networks.

If you have any questions for Amarjit, kindly leave them in the comments and we would add them in the Part (II) of the interview.

[LinkedIn] The Twitter Success Story

The question which was posted on LinkedIn about Twitter - Success story through Twitter has received excellent response from guys from different geographical locations.

A gist of some interesting answers below -

Story - 1
Just to share an experience on Customer Service and Listening. I have been on twitter for 6-8 months now, I just shouted out about @cleartrip not giving out any offers on twitter. cleartrip listened to my shout out and rolled out the offer in twitter. Now that's definitely gotta make a customer feel good.
Twitter is more about engaging with your customers, to know what they want and more importantly act on it.
Then there are companies in the b2b business finding leads through twitter. So its happening, but companies are more or less just absorbing the stuff which can be done on twitter.
-Rahul Nambiar,Interactive Solutions Architect

Story - 2
Kogi bbq, a korean taco truck in Los Angeles has attributed much of its rapid and recent growth to twitter. http://twitter.com/kogibbq as has Coffee Groundz, a cafe in Houston http://twitter.com/CoffeeGroundz.
-Gary Sanchez, Consumer Marketing Leader

You can check the remaining answers/contribute your success story here

Tribes, we need them ....

All of us know about the famous saying "Birds of a feather flock together", needless to say that all of us are always in search of like minded people i.e. the guys with whom you can share your passion & interest;be it anything- Technology, Movies, Travel etc.The search for the very first like-minded person becomes very critical since (s)he would be backbone of the entire group a.k.a Tribe.

My current read is a short interesting book- Tribes by Seth Godin.As explained above "Tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader and connected to an idea".A group needs two things to be a tribe - shared interest and way to communicate.

The book has some great case studies on the so called Tribal Movement and focuses on "How either a Single person/Tribe or a small group of Tribes or a large group of Tribes can make a significant difference.

Every Tribe has a leader but a Tribe needs followers too.But a follower can be a person who is eagerly following[eg. every blogger would be passionately following Techcrunch since,it has changed the complete blogosphere] or is compelled to follow[eg. A person who has less interest in technology is forced to follow Techcrunch ], a single word compel makes a HUGE difference.The book had a short paragraph[quoted below] on how a single word- Compel can create a difference in an organization.

Any organization needs people who aren't just willing to follow, but are eager to follow.It's a mistake to believe that the best tribe recruits are the blind sheep.Folks who do nothing but mindlessly follow instructions let you down in two ways -

First, they are not going to do the local leadership required when the tribe members interact.They are going to be so busy following the playbook that they will hesitate about engaging in the interactions that make a tight tribe such a vibrant organization.People don't engage merely to remind one another of the status quo.Instead, they eagerly engage when they want something to improve.This micro-leadership is essential to the health of your organization.

Second, they are not going to do a very good job of recruiting new members to your tribe.That's because evangelism requires leadership. Leading someone towards giving up one worldview and embracing yours isn't easy and it is not always comfortable, consider any vibrant group-political activities, nonprofit volunteers or brand fanatics.In each case, it's the microleaders in the trenches and their enthusiastic followers who make the difference, not the leader who is ostensibly running the group.

Tribes are meant to make a difference but the Tribe that really MAKES a difference is the one each one of us need/create !!! To summarize, the title of the book says it all "Tribes - We need YOU to lead US"

Success stories through Twitter [Updated]

Few weeks back, I had posted a question on LinkedIn about "Twitter's usage in Business". Today, I just stumbled upon an interesting presentation[shown below] that not only explains Twitter's usage but also backs it up with a good number of case-studies. BTW, the question is still open here

[LinkedIn] Success stories through Twitter ...

It has been almost a month since my last article & once again busy schedule has distanced me away from my blog Few weeks back, there was an article on this blog about Twitter and since, than I have been much more active on it

Well, we all know about Twitter & it's usefulness for business. However, there has not been [at least I have not read about it] similar news like this one where startup/company has generated sales through Twitter.Below is the question that I have posted on LinkedIn and to answer it, you can leave a comment below or head-on directly to LinkedIn

There would be many more startups/companies [apart from Dell, Sun etc.] generating SALES through Twitter

Twitter, a company that is making news without making any revenue is familiar to all of us. Though, most of us on Twitter use it for personal use; I would like to know about the following:

1. Is your company/startup using Twitter ?
2. If the answer to (1) is yes, how have you used the medium e.g in generating sales, getting feedback ?
3. Is there any success story [apart from Dell making $1 Million in sales through Twitter] where a startup/company has been able to generate sales through Twitter.

PS - I posted this question after I could not gather much information from leading blogs/ websites/newspapers.

Know your customers...

Few days back, there was a post which highlighted "How language barrier could be a hindrance to your business". Today's article came in as an email forward from Alok Padhi that very well explains the above mentioned problem[& would surely bring a smile on your face ].

A disappointed salesman of Coca Cola returns from his Middle East assignment.A friend asked, "Why weren't you successful with the Arabs?"

The salesman explained

"When I got posted in the Middle East , I was very confident that I would make a good sales pitch as Cola is virtually unknown there. But, I had a problem I didn't know to speak Arabic. So, I planned to convey the message through three posters...


First poster
A man lying in the hot desert sand...totally exhausted and fainting.

Second poster
The man is drinking our Cola.

Third poster
Our man is now totally refreshed.

And then these posters were pasted all over the place "Then that should have worked!" said the friend. "What the hell it should!? said the salesman,but I didn't realize that Arabs read from right to left"

Case Study : Customer Evangelism

There is an interesting e-book "Testify-How remarkable companies are creating customer evangelists" which focuses on how companies are winning customers and effectively making each one their evangelist !!!

It is a very interesting compilation, the companies about which I enjoyed reading the most are:

• Uconference - CEO as the feedback machine [Page 23]
  
• Sesame Communications - Turning customers into rock stars [Page 44]
• Techsmith - Concept of "Corporation Evangelist of the Week" [Page 46]
  

You can download the ebook from here

SlideShare's Viral Mantras...

There are a lot of SlideShare presentation embeds on this blog so,wouldn't it be great to know it's secrets straight from the horse's mouth Below is a video coverage of Amit Ranjan[Co-Founder of SlideShare] sharing his ideas about Viral Marketing[at Proto,which I had missed] and it's corresponding implementation at SlideShare.



Some very interesting points from his presentation:

In simple terms,Amit describes Viral Marketing as a combination of Web Analytics & Psychology and he justifies this very well in his presentation.The other interesting part is a term coined by him called "Shared DJs" [guys who are responsible for indirect marketing of the website by spreading it's content through mediums like Blogs,Twitter,FriendFeed,Delicious etc] who are as important as the content creators & both of them should co-exist for the success of the website.

Related Article:
Proto-IV coverage

Small feather in ThoughtsPrevail's cap!!

To start with, I started blogging in the start of 2005 and since than, it has been a roller-coaster ride.The blog which started off as MY personal blog [like a diary] became YOUR [the reader's] personal blog!! I met a lot of wonderful entrepreneurs,startups,technologists through this powerful medium [in short,blog has been a CHANGE AGENT] & hence, I have now decided to end my journey of blogging Oh Oh wait, I was just kidding;how can I give up my second life !!! Now let me now jump to the crux of the story

After few mentions about me & my blog in newspapers, it was the time to take this blog from the print media to the broadcast media.Few days back, there was a short story on blogging on UTVi Business Channel and ThoughtsPrevail [along with myself] got a good coverage on the show [the video footage below]



It was nice to see myself and my blog on TV.On this occasion,I would like to thank each one of you[the readers,visitors & most of all Google ] for bringing ThoughtsPrevail till this stage & the UTVi media team for finding this blog worthy for their show.

Other past achievements:
ThoughtsPrevail enters Guy Kawasaki's AllTop
Rohit Agarwal's TechTribe recognizes ThoughtsPrevail
Winner of "Art of the Start" contest & my favorite
Can a blog get you your Angel

The "Second Life" of Startups ...

Any unconference you attend, you would always come across few guys who would be evangelizing the concept of SecondLife (SL).Though,I am a member of it since a long time,I could not explore much about SL[courtesy of my laptop ].However today I took some time off to explore SL and it is really quite amazing !!! This great first level experience drove me to write this article

Few notable things from Wikipedia about SL

During a 2001 meeting with investors, Philip Rosedale noticed that the participants were particularly responsive to the collaborative, creative potential of Second Life. As a result, the initial objective-driven, gaming focus of Second Life was shifted to a more user-created, community-driven experience.

As stated above, SL always had the collaborative touch since 2001,however SL is much more than that...SL Grid platform provides companies with a virtual experience, which provides the following advantages

• Increased Productivity
• Effective Collaboration
• Improved Communication
• Enhanced Engagement with your Customers or Audience
• Reduced Business Costs

You can read more about SL Grid here and here

However, every application has its upside(s) & downside(s) and so does SL.Many feel that SL is more close to the Tech-Savvy Community.Excerpt from BusinessWeek -

Typically, only tech-savvy customers are open to using a virtual world to go through the architectural design process. But Bouchoud says he has attracted some business precisely because he's using Second Life. His Web site contains a section about Second Life, and if someone visiting his site already has an avatar, she can use the site to "teleport," or be redirected to, his "island"—the equivalent of private property—there. Brouchoud uses an island because it can be password-protected, letting him bar access to anyone other than staff and clients, should he wish to do so.

You can find BW's interesting article on "How startups are using SL to build their brand & grow their business" here and here.Not only SMB's but even companies like Wipro have realized SL's growing importance for it's business.

SL's widespread use is not only restrained to technology; aspiring Filmmakers are using this medium to showcase their talent [Thanks to Prashant Singh for the tip on Pluggd.in] and it's benefits can be extended to other areas like arts, education etc.

Check out this very interesting presentation,that focuses on each and every aspect of SL with respect to business....

Though I am still exploring SL , from the way SL has taken off; we can definitely expect more and more startups [as well as big companies] using SL as a medium to build better customer relationships as well as to cut down costs.

The SHO(W)lay remake !!!

To start with, it has been close to 20 days that I have been out from the Blogosphere and blame it on my bad health condition [a serious problem ] that was the root cause of it all !!! With things looking somewhat better , I decided to again get back on track

Many times when we project our service/product, it becomes very important that we convey the PAIN-POINT and how ONLY after using YOUR service/product , it might be solved !!! This would make the other person realize that "If I am not using THIS product, I am missing something".

In this age of Web 2.0 Marketing, we see lot's of videos that demonstrate the useage of a product/service, customer interviews etc but how about a small animated movie [based on an all time hit movie] that would handsomely demonstrate everything !!!

Have a look at this interesting remake of the Bollywood blockbuster Sholay , which has the Problem answered in a Funny and Interesting way !!!

Video Source : Joke Cricket

The END of the movie says it ALL -

If you are not using MonsterIndia, you are MISSING something

PalTalk : Viral Marketing, at it's best !!!

In some of my previous articles , I have written about Viral Marketing through YouTube, Twitter, SlideShare and other Web 2.0 sites. But how about a marketing campaign where you can sell yourself [as a person, through a prank] and guess what, it indirectly does the marketing for the company whose software was used for creating this prank

Check out this amazing video below which is created through Paltalk and I am sure after watching the COMPLETE video, you would also want to include the same on your blog. IMHO, this inner feeling of showing off this video is what makes it so viral !!!

Source of the Viral video : Scott Fox's Blog

Note:
If you have watched the complete video , than let me make it clear "I still reside in India"

Web 2.0 Product Management

There is always a debate over PRODUCT and PROJECT management and the responsibilities of each of them.Just came across a very informative presentation by Mr. Olsen of Olsen Solutions which was presented at Web 2.0 Expo, San Fransisco.

| View | Upload your own

Key responsibilities of Web 2.0 Product Manager

1. Embrace Web 2.0 marketing aspects of your role.
2. Create customer satisfaction feedback loop.
3. Define the equation of your business.
4. Instrument your site to track key metrics.
5. Prioritize product ideas by ROI.
6. Optimize your viral loop.
7. Learn more about the UI Design Iceberg [More on Slide 45].
   
8. Iterate quickly and continuously improve.

Traditional Marketing : Advertiser - Consumer breakup

Time has changed and gone are the days where you had to spend huge money to advertise on televisions, radios or any such medium.With the advent of Web 2.0, companies especially startups have found a better, easier and faster method of spreading their ideas.You can find interesting thoughts on Traditional Marketing in my previous articles here & here.

Just came across an interesting video [shown below],which demonstrates "Why the big bucks spent on marketing may not be good enough to catch the eyeballs of the consumer !!!"

Source : Marketing Amnesia

If you [does not matter if you are a technical person like me] are interested in Marketing and want to interact & learn from other marketers, do join the Marketing Unconference group called MarkCamp here and here.You would also find the likes of Mahesh Murthy and other industry experts in the group so you can be assured that your first marketing campaign would not end in this way .

Related Articles:
Successful Marketing stunts
Marketing strategies for Startups
Email Newsletters : Cost effective way of marketing
Harry Beckwith on "Selling something that no one can see

Don't sell the website, sell it's uniqueness - Nithya Dayal, Co-Founder of Muziboo

Today, we have a guest article by Nithya Dayal, Co-founder of an online music community named Muziboo. Muziboo is a great example of community building and how effective is Word of Mouth marketing[WOM] in business.

In this article, Nithya focuses on "Mantras of building an Online Community" , something which has been an integral part of the Web 2.0 space.

Web 2.0 [ Of the people, for the people and by the people]:
It is not fashionable anymore to say that Web 2.0 is not as much about technology, as it is about people. When this is an accepted truism to such a degree, it is worth spending some time to analyze the dynamics of such a model [from my experience with Muziboo]

Before you build a website [hence a service] on the assumption and wish that users will come forward to generate content, you need to understand what it takes to drive those users to contribute content.

Mantras of building an Online Community:
Keep in mind the following mantras , while trying to build an active community on­line:

Is your service unique?
During your whole thought process ­ while planning to start, build and maintain a new website­ , if ever this question sounded clichéd within yourself, you are sure to come up with a non-­starter for a service. Unless there is something unique in what you offer, how fair is it to expect people to spend their time in your platform to generate content, when either, they are already comfortable doing the same elsewhere (or) they do not see a new source of satisfaction in your service. This satisfaction as your uniqueness could be in any form for the user – expression, recognition, entertainment, social and business networking and so on and so forth.

Initiating a Culture and Driving the Culture
Once you have decided on what should differentiate your service from similar others, you as the owner should become one of the patrons and initiate that ‘culture’ among users, which will in ­turn give the desired uniqueness to the service. As the first few hundred users go a long way in giving a face and feel to your service, it is vital to have given due thought about your uniqueness at a very early stage of conception of the service. Also, one has to be around constantly, driving it in the positive direction. Majority of users need hand holding while you wait for them to acquire the taste of what you have to offer. This is the only way to bring in the kind of culture [that showcases the uniqueness] that you want to offer. Because if you leave it to the users to bring in uniqueness all by themselves or give them a good idea and not follow ­up with efforts to involve them in building the same, the only guaranteed result is the establishment of a culture characterized by stagnation and inertia among the users. Do not forget that this need for hand holding is not a reflection of the users intelligence – if you can come up with something too exciting that it needs no hand holding, then good for you – read Flickr blog to understand that Mr & Mrs Butterfield had to work hard to establish the uniqueness of Flickr, which is not just a photo sharing site but a thriving community.

Here it is important to note that this ‘uniqueness’ refers to a dynamic aspect of the site, which has the potential for something exciting or which has a proven record of enthusing users to contribute. It rarely or seldom refers to the uniqueness in technology that the site has adopted. And, more often than not, only while enjoying the ‘uniqueness’ will the users be spending the maximum chunk of their time when logged in – even if it is a little peripheral to the main service that you offer.

Unfortunately some websites after getting a whole lot funding, start operating on the premise that marketing the whole service will encourage people to register and generate content. It is not enough to ‘sell the website’, you have to ‘sell the uniqueness’ of the website after establishing one in the first place.

Post ­sign-up
User assimilation is a slow painstaking process. The new user should immediately be made comfortable with an interactive interface. With an interactive interface, one should make easy the process of a user getting acquainted with other members of the community.

Recognizing Users
Most online community members like recognition, [rightly so] either for the content contributed or for participation. Couple of ways to do that would be featured articles and featured users.

Empowering users ­ Democracy
Empowerment is a great form of recognition and by doing the needful on that count, as an owner, you manage to stay away from ruffling yourself with too many responsibilities. By empowerment, I refer to the minimal barriers that you put out for content acceptance. All generated content need not go through great levels of moderation or quality checks before being published. The motivation to contribute from the users end is highly dampened if they get spiked. Also if you shackle users with too many do's and dont's , you will have a lot of fire fighting to be done everyday as the service scales up. Democratize as much as possible. Let most things be decided on user votes and ratings.

Having a balance – So Much Democracy
In the nascent stages, many users come forward with their ideas – both functional and business. Some will always be more relevant than the others, the ‘others’ being the ones that do not align with your vision of the service. It is for the service owner to handle this embarrassment without stepping on toes. You do not want to paint yourself in a corner while asking for ideas, because when not implementing those bonafide suggestions, you are likely to come across ‘rude’ or ‘technically in­competent’ ­ both equally hurtful for your image.

Promoting Offline meets
Promoting local offline meets is also a way to create stronger bonds among the community members. Posting updates about such events on the site can enthuse users from other cities to initiate such activities.

It Ain't Easy [because if it is, then it ain't fun]
Does this need elaboration??....Neah; remember the community is very intelligent and can help make/break your business.

I hope you also enjoyed reading the article, just as I did.Thanks Nithya for sharing your thoughts with us Muziboo has been quite instrumental in all the aspects as a startup and has been covered a number of times in the press, you can find the articles here, here and here.

Other Guest Articles on Thoughtsprevail:
Ten steps to improve your E-commerce business
Financial Management for a Startup Firm

The BootStrapper's Bible

Came across an interesting presentation by the Guru Seth Godin on BootStrapping ....Worth a read !!!

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Off-Topic Content:
There are two questions , which I have posted on LinkedIn and your thoughts on the same are highly welcome & appreciated.

1. Different Revenue Model of Web2.0 applications/startups?
2. What is your impression on BlogCouncil ?
   

The brand "Naamakaran" Process

There is a lot which has been talked about Branding and it's importance , be it Personal Branding, Professional Branding, Organizational Branding .....How much difference a brand name makes is quite evident: An Allen Solly shirt without it's brand will almost sell for peanuts . Hence,what is first seen is the Brand and than the quality or the service so,what everyone sells is the Brand !!!

A good quality without a brand-name may be difficult to sink-in the minds of its intented audience.Sometimes,the branding is there but we loose track on the targetted audience.For example: Take a look at ApnaCircle, the business networking site by Sabeer Bhatia and the first thought that comes to mind is "Why the Non-Indians on the homepage when the name itself is so very Indian?". Compare this with Orkut, which realized the importance of having Indians on the homepage,with the popularity of Orkut rising in India!!!

Coming back to Branding, came across an interesting 9 step process of Branding by Jagdeep Kapoor referred as "Brand Naamkaran Process", which is listed below:

Birth of a the idea :
a. Identification/Creation of the customer's need.
b. Product/Service Janam[Birth]
c. Need for a Brand Naamakaran [Name].

Naamakaran Process :

1. Define Brand Name through Overall Product/Service category.
2. Refine Brand Name, aligning with the Core Values.
3. Refine Brand Name in context of Location of Consumption.
4. Refine Brand Name in context of Occasion of Consumption.
5. Refine the Brand Name keeping in mind The Timing of the Launch.
6. Refine the Brand Name keeping in mind The Brand's Future Map.
7. Refine the Brand Name keeping in mind Competitive Brand Names.
8. Refine the Brand Name keeping in mind Specific Product/Service Category.
9. Refine the Brand Name keeping in mind Customer Segments.

Birth of a Brand :
e. Brand Name finalized !!!!

Detailed description on the 9 Branding steps would follow soon ...

Related Articles :
Dabawalas , building lasting success based on values...
Brand Battles