Strong Fundamentals

Nobody can take away the favourable tailwinds that are fuelling this growth. India is a huge market, its economy has been growing and hence, backed by increasing disposable income, the demand for products and services is on the rise. For a foreseeable future, this trend is irreversible. Consumers are equipped with smartphones and are comfortable transacting digitally.

At the same time, our academic institutions have been encouraging entrepreneurship. The risks associated with start-ups are no more a forbidden territory for a significantly large number of families given the economic prosperity in the environment. Failure of an enterprise or a job loss as a consequence is not as taboo as it was in the past. These social changes have been strengthening the tailwinds for the development of the ecosystem.

Most importantly, finding investors, mentors and employees is no more a Himalayan task. The norms around investments are getting established. There is no dearth of innovative spirit in India. USA and China are the markets which have more unicorns and decacorns than India. If we can keep the policy framework up to date and provide high-quality education on a sustained basis, India could well be the largest start-up ecosystem in the world.

Sustaining the goodness

Though India has taken long strides in developing the start-up ecosystem, we have to sustain the pace and preserve the spirit. Else, the danger of losing the plot is quite imminent. The challenges could emerge from government interventions in the area of labour laws, income tax regulations, foreign investment policies, company law provisions and the like. For example, the idea of reservation in employment by private enterprises can deter the ease of doing business.

Non-availability of the right talent at the right time is an important enabler for the development and rapid growth of our start-ups into unicorns and decacorns. Not only the government bodies but also the private enterprises have to come forward in keeping the supply at pace with the demand. A close collaboration between the efforts on the supply side and the demands of the employers is crucial, going forward.

Leadership practices and governance are typically the hallmarks of the long-standing enterprises which have stood the test of time. For start-ups, most often, the leadership team does not have the depth of experience that the CXOs of large enterprises have and hence could find themselves at sea when faced with challenging issues. They need to acknowledge the gaps and use the necessary reinforcements in the form of seeking input from coaches and mentors. They need to use interim staff or freelancers to take up specific challenges and solve them rather than trying to do it themselves. Employer brand takes a long time to build and no time to crumble. Hence, careful crafting of leadership practice is essential.

Innovation at the core

Indian ecosystem of start-ups has the tailwind advantage; however, at the core of every thriving start-up is a unique idea that solves a problem in a superior way to the others. Copies of an idea do not work if they are deployed in the same market at the same time. The uniqueness of an idea brings a set of customers who stay loyal or advocate the brand. The solution has to be unique or the execution of a known solution has to be unique. Examples are: Flipkart and Amazon, Swiggy and Zomato and many more. Their solutions are greatly the same, but they thrive because they continue to differentiate in some ways and have been able to hold the attention of their customers.

Secondly, the timing of launching the brand is an equally crucial factor that differentiates a winner from an also-ran brand. If an organisation does not leverage an opportunity for merger or acquisition or investment at the right time, it could cease to survive in the long run. Spotting the right opportunity and seizing upon it at the right time is a critical success factor!

The post #GetTheBestOutofUs: The Unicorn Rush in India appeared first on CIEL HR.

Cut attrition or Raise retention?

Organisations and their leaders are worried after seeing attrition numbers higher than ever before. Instinctively, the HR team thinks of ways to cut attrition. Most commonly, one reviews the salaries and benefits to introduce features like retention bonuses, variable pay and stock options, engage in various reactive steps such as career conversations, training and development programmes and team-building activities. Despite these efforts, one does not see a drastic impact on curbing attrition in the long term.

Rather, one should think of efforts to boost retention by understanding the drivers better and making interventions for those drivers. These typically provide a long-term impact and make the employer brand stronger. We know the set of factors that drive employees to keep staying in an organisation; however, in recent times, there have been a few major shifts and the leadership team has to take cognisance of the changes.

For example, factors like flexibility, competitive rewards and leadership behaviours have become more significant than ever before. Hence, we have to work on all these factors rather than working on solutions that we used in the past.

Triad of Purpose, Values and Leadership Behaviours

As socio-economic changes have been taking place in India, most families are no more worried about the basic needs of living. Their needs are now anchored on factors like creating an impact in the society, having an enriching and meaningful relationship with colleagues at work, getting recognised for one’s contribution and potential and winning the trust and confidence of others at work. In this context, leaders need to take a hard look at the way their organisation is delivering on these aspects.

Youngsters irrespective of the job role and level in an organisation are asking and wondering if their organisation is creating an impact in this world, building a reputation and earning accolades for the products and solutions it delivers. Organisations normally have a tagline describing their purpose and they define the values which act as the guiding rails for them while they go about fulfilling their purpose. We must go to the employees and enquire if they know why their organisation exists and if the purpose is inspirational. If many employees do not relate to the purpose and feel inspired by it, the writing on the wall is that the organisation would not go the distance.

Values are very important decision criteria for employees today. They are looking for clear values and a consistent experience around these. An organisation could be collaborative while another could be competitive, though both of them are in the same space. Similarly, one can be innovative while another could be process-centric. An employee looking for an innovative environment will find it hard to work in a company which thrives on discipline and rigorous implementation. Do companies at the time of recruiting, take care to check for alignment of the prospective employee with the organisation’s values? Similarly, at the time of promotion, do companies check if the person is well-aligned with the company’s values and demonstrates them consistently?

Consistency and alignment of leadership behaviours

Organisations have multiple leaders across levels, functions and locations. Hence, it is not easy to get all of them to behave consistently with a high degree of alignment. In current times, some employees work remotely, some in a hybrid manner and the others distributed across multiple locations. Moreover, the workforce is a blend of permanent employees, outsourced, contractual, casual and gig workers.

Given these complexities of the workforce composition and their expectations of alignment with the company’s values and purpose, it subjects an organisation to a very high order of challenges. The leaders have to demonstrate the values of the organisation through their behaviours consistently.

The post #GetTheBestOutofUs: How Employees are Looking for Value in a Job appeared first on CIEL HR.

Brands are evolving

Consumers have started purchasing online, trying out the products through AR/VR (augmented reality/ virtual reality) sets and getting their queries addressed through a combination of channels such as web chat, phone call, email, chatbot enabled systems, online help booths on the Apps and social media channels apart from the traditional methods of walking into a store or a counter to seek help.

Customers are seeking quick answers and solutions; their tolerance for lack of seamlessness across multiple communication channels is practically non-existent. Quality issues of any kind surface quickly and get amplified due to the presence of digital platforms. While there are concerns about cybersecurity and an increase in online frauds, we see consistent growth in online payments.

Brands have been evolving to take these developments in their stride and adapt. Companies led by smart leaders can respond to these with agility; sometimes, they pioneer innovations to wow the customers and steal the show from the competition.

New thinking

Traditionally companies and their leaders believed that every channel of sales has to be effective and hence, the performance metrics for each channel were defined, measured and analysed separately. People were rewarded accordingly and thus, there was competition among the different channels to outperform the other. As a result, the channels operated as different silos and they competed against the forces of other channels within the same company. While the top leaders knew about it, they allowed this to continue because the friction yielded competitiveness and better results at an overall level for the organisation.

In the current context, we see customers seeking seamless interactions across channels and hence, companies have to think omnichannel. Different channels in the company have to operate collaboratively to deliver a superlative experience to the customer and leverage one another to maximise the opportunity for the company. This calls for a paradigm shift in the thinking process and necessary changes in structure, systems and processes.

Continuous process

The changes in thinking followed by the changes in structure, systems and processes are not a one-time activity. It is a journey to continuously discover the changes happening around us in terms of competitor activity, the development of a new sector that can affect us and the shifts in customer preferences and expectations.

After these changes are tracked, we have to invest energy in analysing the implications and making suitable changes. Some companies invest their energies in tracking the environment and collating the trends; but they fail to instal the changes on the ground and as a result, they lose significantly and have to follow the trends rather than setting the trends themselves.

Digital is passe now! Phygital has been the new reality for the last few years and hence, brands have to adapt fast.

The post #GetTheBestOutofUs: The Importance of Phygital Presence for Brands appeared first on CIEL HR.

A competitor comes up with a new trick, supply chain springs up a surprise, a key resource comes up with an absurd demand, some new regulation has to be complied with or a new tool comes up that presents an opportunity to increase efficiency and at the same time, could disrupt many things in the system. We hope, these situations do not come our way, but they do appear every now and then! We never can wish the storm away and get a quiet environment.

Someone has said, “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass… it is about learning to dance in the rain.”

Brave the Rain

Companies and their leaders are facing dynamic situations in the market. Consumer tastes and preferences have been evolving faster than ever before. Segments of the market are behaving differently. The carpet-bombing approach of advertising in mass media is showing low returns on investments (ROI). While new methods such as social media advertising and influencer marketing are better targeted than mass media advertising, still the ROI is below expectations.

The followers targeted in the process do not convert enough into sales because the followers know that a post or an event is promoted in exchange of a sponsorship amount. Sometimes the targeting parameters on social media are not sharp enough. Artificial intelligence and analytics have surely added strength to the social media analytics, yet they are not able to influence the buyers to buy or recommend the product or service.

We have to change our perspectives of the market and get the rain in.

New Possibilities

Micro-influencers have a small set of followers compared to celebrities and stars; however, their followers find them genuine and sincere. They present their personal experiences and showcase methods in their posts. These messages come in multiple formats such as blogs, vlogs, and emails in a range of channels starting from social media, networking sites, company emails and special-interest media platforms.

Micro-influencers are able to instil trust and confidence among their followers. Secondly, the messaging can be quite focused and customised depending upon the interests and behaviours of the group of followers. The investments of marketing dollars on micro influencers give good ROI since the cost involved is comparatively lesser than celebrity endorsements or mass media advertising; secondly, the messages are focused and the audience finds a high degree of authenticity in the messaging, thus giving rise to a high degree of conversion into a sale.

What about the challenges?

We have to choose the micro-influencers carefully and engage with many of them unlike the case of using a celebrity and working with their media managers. Tracking the impact of the investments made on each micro-influencer calls for rigorous execution.

Influencer marketing is not only about sales but also for branding, attracting talent to a brand, adding new business partners to enrich the supply chain or engaging the local communities. Micro-influencers can be deployed for any of these objectives to generate responses from a micro-market. We need meticulous planning and rigorous execution to get the best out of our marketing efforts.

I like a quote by Isaac Asimov: “Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, else the light won’t come in.” so, we must challenge ourselves by questioning our assumptions and changing the direction as required.

The post #GetTheBestOutofUs: Leveraging Micro-Influencers appeared first on CIEL HR.

1. Do Your Research

Before you even pick up the phone, make sure you know as much as possible about the person or company you’re calling. This will help your conversation flow more naturally and give you a better idea of what they might be interested in. You can also use some of the information to set up a more in-depth call if it seems like they might be interested.

Researching your leads is one of the most important steps in any sales process, so don’t skip it!

Don’t just focus on the company website – look for their social media profiles too. This will help you get a more complete picture and learn about their interests.

You can also find out who the decision-maker is at the company by looking into the public information around them. This will help keep your call personalized and relevant to the person’s job title on the other line.

2. Be Concise and Clear on Your Call To Action

When you’re introducing yourself, follow a simple script so that your potentials know exactly what to expect from this conversation. If they don’t understand how their involvement could help their business, they’re not going to be interested in talking to you. Keep your goals clear and concise so that there’s no confusion on either side.

Be sure also to have a specific call to action prepared so people know what you want from them. Do you want them to visit your website? Request a proposal? Set up a time for a deeper call? Let them know so you can reach your goal.

If you’re following up on a previous conversation, be sure to reference it in your introduction. This can help jog their memory and show that you’re knowledgeable about their business.

3. Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Following Up

Once you’ve set up the call, follow-up is just as important. Don’t let your leads get lost in the shuffle!

Be sure to send a thank-you note after your initial conversation that includes some helpful information for them if they’re interested. You can also include links to other relevant content or social media profiles so it’s easy for them to get in touch without needing your information again.

Follow up regularly if they don’t respond right away, and be sure that you’re providing something of value each time you reach out. If they like what you have to offer but still aren’t interested, maybe it’s not a good fit for their business after all. But you’ll never know without following through.

4. Call Again and Again

According to a study by Gartner, salespeople call on average 18 times before even connecting with a prospect. That means you can’t give up if they don’t pick up the first dozen times.

The more often you call, the higher your chances of a successful conversation with a real lead who’s ready to buy. Never give up on cold calls too easily. In this profession, persistence is key.

5. Keep Questions Open-Ended

To keep your conversation natural, avoid using questions that can be answered with a simple “yes” or “no”. Instead, try to ask open-ended ones so they have the opportunity to share more information.

This will help you stay engaged in the call and gather valuable details about their business needs for later steps in your sales process. You can even use their responses to steer the conversation in the direction you want it to go.

Enlist Professionals

From the tone of your voice to the quality of your script, a lot goes into the perfect cold call. And while you can always practice and improve on your own, enlisting professional cold calling companies(y) is another option that will help you take things to the next level. If over-the-phone sales are important to your business model, enlisting experts will get everything up and running more quickly, and with considerable results.

These are just a few tips to help you land more sales through cold calling. By following these simple guidelines, you’ll be on your way to more successful conversations with potential leads.

Written By, Sierra Powell, Email ID: sierrapowellwriter@gmail.com

The post 5 Cold Calling Tips to Land More Sales appeared first on CIEL HR.

A distributed workforce is empowered to work anywhere convenient and productive for them to do so. Away from the enclosures of the traditional workplace, 77% of remote workers say they are more effective. About 74% of employees say that working at home will make them want to stay in their present jobs.

While remote working provides many benefits, there can also be some challenges, such as the evident difficulty of securing the engagement necessary for effective collaboration. Here are some ways to keep the communication flowing and keep the dialogue interesting and relevant to your dispersed team.

How to Engage Your Dispersed Workforce

Tip#1: Build relationships

While this may seem like a no-brainer, this is something most often overlooked by managers and executives. And yet, without any real relationship, you will not be able to exert the necessary influence to get your employees on board.

Suppose your staff knows that you genuinely care about them and are not just concerned with the figures that they can produce. In that case, they will feel more motivated to make your agenda their agenda. But, ultimately, they know that you are interested enough to also look out for their own needs and aspirations.

The question is, how do you do this online? Making a simple phone call (even without any video!) checking in on how they are is something they are sure to appreciate. Make an effort to make it light and not include business topics in your conversation as much as possible. You will be amazed at the ease of how your staff will open up once they are comfortable with you. With restrictions being lifted and vaccination rates rising, pretty soon, you may feel confident enough to invite your team to have a casual coffee conversation.

Tip#2: Remember to be S.M.A.R.T.

The difficulty of online communication is that you cannot accurately gauge if someone in your team did not get the message right. This is why it is of the utmost importance to be precise. In fact, over clarity should be the standard for online communication so that nothing is misunderstood. Just imagine the repercussions of a wrongly interpreted message. The consequence can be simply annoying, like a routine and generic report submitted late. Or there can also be graver ones, such as someone crafting a confidential executive review that ends up in the wrong channel.

S.M.A.R.T., a mnemonic for “Smart, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely,” is not just for setting ideal goals; it can also help ensure that expectations are clear and better managed. When there is less confusion at work, there is less probability of frustrated feelings and overwhelmed emotions. The clarity in communication can reduce conflicts and help create a favorable atmosphere for your employees at work.

Tip#3: Speak in ways they understand

When communicating with your employees online, speak to them, like really talk to them and not over their heads. Online platforms are cold platforms. You have to do all you can to ensure that your staff knows that you are conversing with them and not just with their monitors.

How do you do that then? First, try injecting humor into your discussions. Whether your joke is funny or corny, it will almost always elicit a smile from your team, and they will be highly appreciative of your effort to make them feel at ease.

Don’t sweat the small stuff. There may be times when a team member makes a minor mistake. Let it slide. You need not be in constant audit mode all the time. Choose the worthiest battles. Your being gracious will not go unnoticed by your employees, and they will respect you all the more for it.

Tip#4: Be quick to listen

Before any meeting, ensure that you have the protocols to maintain security in internal communication. You never know who might be listening in on the conversation and stealing valuable company information from discussions within your internal teams. Knowing you have protective safeguards in place will give your employees the confidence to talk openly, even on sensitive issues.

Once that essential requirement is done, encourage your employees to speak up. Ask open-ended questions to allow them to expound their thoughts. And once they speak up, don’t be hasty in sharing your own thoughts and opinions. Allow them to express themselves without fear of being judged or criticized. You might just be pleasantly surprised by the insights that you may hear.

At the start of your meeting, establish a courteous tone so the rest of your team will be able to pick it up and follow suit. To avoid dialogue overlapping and unnecessary disruptions, encourage your team to say or give a clear signal that they are done talking. Because time lags can happen during virtual meetings, allow a pause for about five seconds between speakers.

Final Thoughts

Engaging your dispersed workforce may be challenging but not impossible. Put in the extra work and time to get into their world, be clear with your communication, speak in a language they understand, and be ready to have a listening ear. The payoffs in enhanced relationships and increased productivity will be well worth it.

Written By, Regi Publico, Email ID: rpublico.blogging@gmail.com

The post 4 Internal Communication Tips To Engaging Your Dispersed Workforce appeared first on CIEL HR.

What are NFTs?

Non-fungible tokens are unique digital identities connected with an asset and are issued to people or organisations to mark their ownership over the asset. An NFT owned by a person on an organisation is unlike a currency note or crypto because the NFT is unique and owned; the rights can be transferred to someone else at the will of its owner. This is like someone’s home, mobile phone, jewellery, book, collection of music, email account and social media profile. Some of these assets can be transferred or sold in exchange for money or a consideration only at the behest of its rightful owner. Legal systems of the State ensure that the transfer of these rights is governed fairly and uniformly.

NFTs have been in use for a few years now; however, they have not been quite common in our discussions until recently when the Founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey monetised his first tweet (“just setting up my twttr”) by auctioning its NFT for USD 2.9 Million and at an auction at the Christie’s, an American digital artist, graphic designer and animator auctioned a piece of his digital art by its NFT for USD 69 Million.

Who is using them?

The point is, NFTs are new and there are enough fans in the world who want to be first-movers and pioneers in their circle. Hence, there is a demand for NFTs now; companies like Microsoft, Coca-Cola, and Nike are among these pioneers to have introduced NFTs.

Imagine a situation where Nike develops a limited-edition logo that entitles its owners certain privileges such as meeting some of its brand ambassadors as an exclusive event and life-long passes to premium booths in the sporting events it sponsors around the world. This super-exclusive club can be digital, by an auction among a curated list of participants and the winners of the auction are issued personalised NFTs. The value of the membership status of this unique club can keep appreciating and the fan club gets stronger over time. Nike will get the impact of the positive influence that the Fanclub members create on its brand, amplify the impact over time and can draw many other secondary benefits from these NFT-based memberships which can be transferred from the first owner to the next owner and so on.

How different it is from the traditional methods of marketing?

Firstly, NFTs are personalised and cannot be copied or faked unless there is a new technology that can break into the blockchain level of security. For example, a rare painting of Van Gogh can be copied or printed; however, the situation can change if there is an NFT of the painting and the museum sells just a few of these tokens. These NFTs will represent the original painting, an extremely precious asset and create significant revenues for the museum. As a part of the NFT, they can offer some special privileges for the owner to the museum, events celebrating Van Gogh’s greatness and public acknowledgement of ownership if the owner permits. This can make the owner of the NFT truly special.

For this situation, we cannot create a marketing program using the traditional methods to generate a similar impact. Hence, the NFT market is fast-growing. People are increasingly interested in buying NFTs for digital artwork, music, photos, multimedia, rare moments in history, video games and so on. Going forward, companies can issue NFTs to their customers and fans who contribute to co-creating products and influencing communities; engage with the society at large to raise money for charities and influence policies. It is a new line of thinking!

The post #BuildingTomorrow: How Brands can use NFTs to reshape Digital Consumerism appeared first on CIEL HR.

Know the customers

In our frenzy to grow and acquire new customers each day, sales and marketing teams keep looking for greener pastures and do not draw enough from the insights of the teams who are selling to the existing customers and servicing them. As a result, the organisation loses an opportunity to penetrate deeper into the cohorts of existing customers. One has to learn more about the cohorts and define them better so that their behaviours, experiences and unmet needs can be better understood. Sony, Apple, Xerox, P&G and many others have been able to deeply engage with their customers and innovate accordingly.

Discovering greener pastures is an important priority for organisations looking to grow and prosper. Hence, this programme must be aligned well with the requirements of the prospective customers. The cost of acquiring customers will continue to go down if the service offerings are designed well and the methods of communicating the value proposition are efficient. To achieve this, we need proactive efforts of understanding our target customers.

Trending expectations

One wonders if customers are looking for just one or two things when they buy a product or service. In fact, they are looking for multiple things in any buy that they do, right from the best price to personalisation, flexibility, post-purchase support, esteem and functionality. Can one say which one is more important than the others?

Every organisation has to make multiple wheels to move in sync to make sure that their offerings appeal to the buyer along various dimensions. Their offerings have to be reliable, affordable, flexible, scalable and futuristic. Every leader understands these and finds it extremely hard to translate them into action on the ground.

For example, a buyer needs the product features to be futuristic, scalable, flexible and customisable; accordingly, the pricing should be structured. This is not easy for every organisation to deliver in reality. If we are building an organisation for the future, we have to revamp our existing ways to fit into these expectations of our customers.

Are we talking about more choices?

Google as a search engine captured the market in the early 2000s because of its simplicity. It did not ask us to classify our searches and kept its page amazingly simple. Steve Jobs captured the attention of the world when he launched the iPod saying that we can carry 1000 songs of our choice in our pocket and listen to them any time anywhere. And more such examples exist in various product categories.

Customers are looking for simple interfaces, just enough choices before them so that they feel that they fairly evaluated various choices and picked one based on what they looked for and at the same time, not too many choices which can confuse them and make them anxious if they are evaluating right. We have experienced the agony and anxiety when we go to buy footwear or clothing from a brick-and-mortar store, order food from a long menu card, pour through pages of reviews while choosing a hotel at a vacation destination.

Online sellers are able to customise their store; brands are running loyalty programmes, customised promotions and information campaigns based on the customer profile. With the advent of IoT (internet of things), VR-AR (virtual reality – augmented reality), AI (artificial intelligence), newer methods of software development and infrastructure management, brands have to become more digital in their approach and address the trending needs of customers.

The post #BuildingTomorrow: Understanding the Buyer’s Mind appeared first on CIEL HR.

We live in a hyper-connected world and hence, receive a huge number of messages and reactions each day. Naturally, we form opinions quickly; also open to change those opinions more often than we did in the past. Companies have to factor these ground realities into their thinking of winning customer loyalty and advocacy scores. Brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Samsung, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Nike and many more have got this right. These are companies across sectors – high tech, consumer goods and services; they have been able to adapt to the changing realities and lead the markets by their actions.

What hasn’t changed?

The fundamentals continue to remain as differentiation, communicating their value proposition to the target customers and the outcomes in terms of customer preferences and purchases. As times have evolved, brands have been able to change their value proposition, their communication and the media used for the dissemination of their value proposition. They invest in listening to their customers and keep making changes in their strategy and tactics over time. However, certain basic tenets of a brand remain unchanged because they are identified, nurtured and invested upon. For companies with a long history, leadership teams change; however, their basic values remain deeply ingrained in the company like the DNA of a human being and flow through the generations clearly and transparently.

Bajaj Auto had the iconic campaign of ‘Hamara Bajaj’ and a scooter company. The company’s leadership team has changed; it has transformed itself into a motorcycle company. Their spirit or the core has not changed. They continue to value engineering, innovation and speed.

3M, a Fortune 500 company started in 1902 to mine a mineral ideal for making sandpaper and grinding wheels; it has transformed its purpose and is now a materials science company catering to a myriad industry sectors. However, its spirit of innovation and diversity is legendary.

We have countless examples to underline this argument. So, leaders have a big role to play in terms of being aware of their core beliefs, live by them consistently through their actions and spread them throughout the organisation across generations. Consistency is the key!

What needs to change?

Over time, we see technology play an ever-increasing role and customer habits have been changing; new ways of doing things are evolving. If companies like Kodak, Fujifilm, Nokia Mobiles, Blackberry and many others saw these coming their way they would have transformed quicker than when they finally did. Hence, companies have to continually keep discovering the changes happening around them and adapt their actions accordingly.

Research shows people unconsciously respond hugely to the colour, size, shape and message in an emotional way. Hence, the brand identity in the form of the size, shape, colour and texture of the packaging of a product, its communication on social media, emails, phone calls, the behaviour of the employees, logo, the advertising campaign and so on. Ref: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/your-brand-name-upper-lower-case-terry-wu-ph-d-/

People involved do make a huge difference

Multiple variables determine the quality of impression brands leave on the minds and hearts of the customers and prospects. Many of them such as the packaging, messaging, choice of the media, user experience on the digital platforms, pricing and display at the point of purchase can be the result of careful research and rigorous execution. However, there are a few other factors that create a significant amount of variability in the market. At the root of the variability, lies the choice of people who are involved in interactions with customers and prospects.

Organisations have to pay a lot of attention to the kind of talent they attract as employees and business partners, the assessment processes they use to select talent, the onboarding and induction processes they follow to bring the new actors into the business and the way they integrate and manage their actions in the normal course of business. We can see that there are a huge number of points where things can go wrong or stay right.

The legendary brands like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Coca-Cola and Nike have been able to get their people and culture practice right and hence, have contributed to making them stay as top brands for so many years. We have a lesson here to learn!

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The case for Influencer Marketing

We may be looking to try a new brand of skin cream, try out a new salon, dine out in a restaurant, exchange your dishwasher, go on a holiday, pick a dentist for a consult, evaluate schools to finalise the admission of our child or recruit a personal assistant. We keep in mind our past experiences; rely on the insights of people we look up to and make up our minds on what we need. As internet penetration has been on the rise, social media will have nearly 3 billion users and thus, their habits of consuming information are changing.

The traditional methods have been to gather information from print, electronic media, friends and family. Over time, we are shifting towards the internet, emails and social media. We hear from brands directly; the marketing managers are putting a lot of effort to make sure that they communicate the value proposition of their products and services effectively to their target customers. They feel that their communication appears authentic and the brand is being perceived as reliable.

However, the customers have started relying on the feedback from users and the view of the experts. There are several platforms dedicated to gathering customer feedback; for example, employees go to glassdoor to talk about their experiences with their employer and thus, a potential employee builds his or her perception about the company to decide if he or she should sign up. Similarly, there are platforms like mouthshut, productWiki which give user reviews. Popular social media like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook have loads of content talking about a product or a service.

Seth Godin rightly says, “People do not buy goods and services; they buy relations, stories and magic.” Brands have to bring stories to their prospective customers either by themselves or by the people trusted by their prospective customers.

How do we go about it?

We have to find real people who are passionate about our brand and have the experience of using our brand. Celebrities may have a huge influence on the target audience, however, in today’s world, especially social media, one is looking for genuine reviews and first-hand experience with the brand. Even if a celebrity endorses a product, the opinion might come across as a piece of review that lacks authenticity and genuineness. Consumers could feel that the message of the celebrity is sponsored by the brand and hence, not genuine. So, we need to find real people who have a large influence, for example, a blogger or a vlogger in the related field.

Employees of an organisation can be strong influencers when they share their real-life stories and talk about their first-hand experiences on a social media platform. Sometimes, an employee could be an expert in a particular field and the opinions shared by him or her could be highly valued. And it is important to organise real-time interactions with the followers. We have to encourage the employees to keep sharing their stories on social media platforms and recognise their efforts to help our brand positively. We have to amplify the voices helping the brand.

Customer testimonials are a great way of influencing prospective customers. However, the feedback of the customers must be real-time and relevant; else, the brand could appear outdated, inconsistent and unreliable.

What about the traditional methods?

A question arises if the traditional methods of advertising and digital marketing to create the pull are irrelevant now. Influencer marketing will pick up in the days to come; early adopters have been the brands that are modern and new. In the days ahead, we will see the traditional channels adapt to the new developments and bring out innovative programmes for brands to leverage their reach.

The post #BuildingTomorrow: Role of Influencers for a Brand appeared first on CIEL HR.