Dialogue Is the New Marketing Paradigm

Whether they like it or not, every small business has a digital footprint: who they are, what they do, where they are located, and how customers feel about their products and services. Dialogue is in the air: Google’s newly announced focus on real-time search (read: search of dialogue), and the rumors of a possible acquisition of Yelp (one of the key consumer-focused local dialogue repositories) both bear witness to the increasing prominence of consumer chatter on the web.

As we wrote recently (“Local Search: A Solved Consumer Problem”), Marchex has turned search and data mining technology on its head to help SMBs understand and leverage their digital footprints. And activity in the beta program of our reputation management service has revealed some pretty critical insights. Here are three notable observations about the ways small and medium size businesses are interacting with customers online.

Engagement.. In focus groups, we saw SMBs filter, slice, dice, and dig into how customers describe them. On average, beta users are spending upwards of 9 minutes per session, with initial visits much higher. Given the ability to filter by affect, dig into statistically relevant phrases, and understand discrepancies in listing data, SMBs are actively engaging with their footprint, most for the first time ever.

Competitive insight. The most frequently used feature is the ability to compare key phrases and aggregated opinions with a specific competitor. In their day-to-day operations, almost all of the SMBs we spoke to have specific competitors against whom they benchmark their business, and this is reflected in their use of the product to actively compare how they stack up in the minds of customers.

Operational Decision Making. In surveying beta users, we learned that one of the most useful features of reputation management was helping SMBs make better decisions about how they operate their business: Is the new chef well received? Is customer service up to par? Do customers like the selection of brands we carry? Etc.

Most of all, what we’re realizing as we watch and learn from SMBs is the increased need for delivering products that engage and deliver real, actionable insight into how those SMBs are perceived in the minds of customers. As we all know, to market and operate effectively, the ability to understand your customers is a must-have information advantage, and technology should—and can—help us.

Delivering clicks, calls, and profile pages, as we’ve learned from our own business, is a necessary, but by itself insufficient way to serve the full marketing needs of the SMB. After all, if customers don’t like the new chef, are made uncomfortable by the supercilious store manager, or find that projects aren’t delivered on time and budget, what’s the point of driving more leads?

To keep its leadership position in search, Google will need to increasingly invest in real-time search of consumer dialogue on the web. And to serve the SMB as broadly as we must, our industry will need to invest in products that transform customer chatter to actionable marketing and operational intelligence – what we’re calling an information advantage for the SMB. Otherwise, it’s all just clicks, listings, opinion and noise

Today's Motivational Thought

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

RED FM’S CLIENT STRATEGY: WE GO THE WHOLE HOG

What makes 93.5 red FM one of the most preferred radio channels on air today? and what are the issues bothering its management team?

19 years back, any plebeian in India who’d turn on the radio, would sing to the tunes of one channel - the All India Radio (AIR). It was the business and life for all radio listeners. The opening up of radio waves resulted in private FM channels taking up the lead in the FM space in no time over AIR. And there are some that outshone the majority. If one were to mention the favourites amidst a host of radio channels, 93.5 Red FM would be one of the chosen few amongst the top three. Flagged off in 2003, the radio station now has the reputation of being one of India’s most contemporary music stations. Red FM has taken full advantage of the fact that most radio stations have done little to stand out amidst the clutter; differentiation in program content has been key. Red FM’s ‘bajate raho’ attitude has been key to the marketing. B. Surender, Senior Vice-President and National Sales Head, 93.5 Red FM tells 4Ps B&M, “Initially, Red FM was present only in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, and 46 other stations across as many locations, were known by the name SFM. Once we decided to re-brand all 49 stations as Red FM, we came up with the ‘Bajate Raho’ concept, which worked magic for us. It appeals to the youth, explaining Red FM’s fan following amongst teenagers...” The concept has two elements. One is the functional element, which involves playing super-hit and contemporary music round the clock. The other is the emotional element. Adds Surender, “We call it the emotional element because people actually connect to it. Moreover, this emotional element is also what differentiates us from other radio stations.” Everything that is happening with the channel is a deliberate attempt to capitalise on gen-next. About two months back, Red FM repositioned itself as ‘Aaj ke zamaane ka radio station and not baap ke zamaane ka’. The move explained Red FM’s newly discovered positioning strategy without a doubt. Says Nisha Narayanan, Senior Vice-President - Programming & Projects, RED FM, “Through our innovative promotions on and off-air, Red FM has been able to strike the right chord with its listeners and has established itself as one of the most differentiated brands in the Indian radio industry.” It is not just the listeners who are happy with Red FM. The advertisers too seem to be seem to be savouring Red FM’s glory. Recently, Nokia tied up with the channel to celebrate its 15th anniversary. “Whenever we get into commercial innovation, we make sure that it’s not just our clients who are satisfied but the listeners too. In the Nokia campaign, we asked listeners to share their Nokia moments with us. Since Nokia is a brand owned by most of us, everyone had something to say,” says Surender. The campaign was a huge success. In fact, with this campaign accounting for the maximum number of live callers on a single day, Red FM is all set to enter the Limca Book of Records.

Even the launch campaign of the new Maruti Suzuki Wagon R was noteworthy. Red FM became Blue FM for three days prior to the launch. Says Surender, “The very fact that a radio station changed its name created a lot of buzz.” As far as Red FM’s expansion plans go, a lot is expected from the next phase (Phase 3) of growth of India’s radio industry. The expansion will result in 700 new stations being added the picture and this gives the Red FM management a lot of hope. Says Surender, “Phase 3 will do a lot of good to us, but certain basic issues have to be addressed first.” Even Nisha agrees with him. “There are two main hurdles. The first hurdle is an extension of licensing fee from 10 years to 15 years. The second is that of music royalty. We are pleading with the ministry to find some solution soon. The stations in the smaller cities are unable to survive because of the music royalty which goes up to as high as 40% to 50% of the revenues”. Issues indeed, but the seamless integration of the channel’s sales, marketing and programming departments, complemented by its integrated & multi-functional approach to business, definitely seems to hold many promises for the 93.5FM radio giant.

“MARKETING CAN MAKE OR BREAK NISSAN IN INDIA”

Nissan is surely one of the least heard names in the automobile space as far as India is concerned. Perhaps not in the near future. Just having realised the potential of one of the fastest growing economies in the world, this Japanese auto major is now running very hard to make a mark for itself. In an exclusive interaction with 4Ps B&M, Abhijeet Pandit, VP – Sales, Marketing & After-sales, Hover Automotive (Nissan’s India partner), reveals the company’s aggressive marketing plans and talks about the challenges ahead. Excerpts: With the launch of Micra, Nissan has just started marketing aggressively in India. How do you plan to take it forward? Micra is the first CKD (Complete knock down) production model in the country from Nissan and as such our strategy for it is different from the one we had had for our previous models. It’s a model that will bring in high volumes for us and our motto is to increase the awareness of the brand Nissan in the Indian market through it. In fact, we have already started the process by roping in Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor as the brand ambassador for Micra and the response is great. People have started recognising the brand Nissan with Ranbir being there in our ads. Further, we have also tried to price our cars very competitively which has got us a tremendous response so far. In terms of distribution, we are focusing on the A and B category to ensure that we reach out to the maximum. We are also implementing the global Nissan standards in India. This will make sure that the sales and dealership personnel are at par with their global counterparts.  Globally, Nissan does not favour the brand ambassadors for their automobile brands, in general. So, why is India an exception in this case?  You are right. Globally, Nissan is not known for roping in brand ambassadors to ensure success. But the case with India is unique. As Nissan is virtually the last player to enter the Indian market, so, obviously, Nissan in India requires a brand ambassador. Further, keeping in mind the bullish targets of the company, both in terms of volumes and market share, the strategy requires a brand ambassador who can take the awareness level high instantly. The Indian consumer knows Honda and Toyota very well but not Nissan. Some people even ask that whether Nissan is an American company or a Japanese company. Therefore, we had two options to choose from: movies or cricket. And we zeroed in on Bollywood, and eventually Ranbir. In fact, the response has been great so far. Micra got close to 2,000 bookings even before its official launch and is now moving towards the 3,000-mark. All this has been possible because of our aggressive marketing efforts.  Before GM and Ford moved into the small car segment, they had an expanded distribution network in place. But in the case of Nissan, you still have only 20 dealers across the country. What is the reason for this cautious approach? We are targeting a rapid growth in our sales and distribution network, but you need to understand that on the way we need to ensure that the dealership has right infrastructure and right processes in place. We don’t want to compromise on Nissan’s global norms. We are very strict when it comes to sales and services standards. However, we have a target of opening 100 dealerships by the end of FY2012.

Can you throw some light on the overall ATL and BTL activities taken up by Nissan? In terms of our ATL activities, we have moved very aggressively after the launch of Micra in the Indian market. Apart from outdoors, we currently have a TV and print campaign running for Micra. As far as BTL is concerned, we are using exposure marketing as a tool. Regarding the wired mesh Micra, we have already done it in the metros and now we are moving on to the other cities as well. We also have a direct mailer campaign in place from our CRM team. In fact, we are focusing on doing more things online and will unveil many exciting things in the weeks to come.  Is there a plan to launch a standalone campaign for brand Nissan to raise its awareness in India? We will be using our complete portfolio and not just Micra to make the consumer aware that Nissan is not just a small car manufacturer. Nissan is not known as a small car company globally unlike and as such we will be using our CBU models as well to make the consumer aware of the brand. As far as the standalone campaign for the brand Nissan is concerned, we are not planning anything such, at least not in 2010. However, we are certainly working on a plan to introduce Nissan’s brand value through interactive marketing. We are also planning an innovative activity around the 370Z.  In a nutshell, how important is marketing for the success of Nissan in the Indian market? Marketing, in a way, can make or break Nissan in the Indian market. Unless we use marketing as a very important tool we will not be able to establish ourselves in India. In the later years, when the competition hots up with Honda and Toyota also launching their respective small cars in India, I don’t think there will be much room left for Nissan if we don’t differentiate today. Having said that, there is already a clutter in the Indian market and breaking it is the biggest challenge as of today. In fact, how wisely you spend your dollar to get the right ROI is the most important task for the success of any automaker.

Today's Motivational Thought

Don't waste your life in doubts and fears: spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best preparation for the hours or ages that follow it.

Are You a Mentor

To teach, you must be willing to learn. I have learnt more as a mentee than as a mentor. Mentoring is not about ‘I give, you take’. Mentoring is about effective communication. Mentoring is about speaking your heart out and it is a skill to develop. A mentor may not even know that he is being considered as a mentor. A mentoring relationship can last forever. If people take your experience as a learning opportunity for them, you’ve already mentored without a formal process. All of us are mentors and all of us are mentees. 

Mentoring is more of a practice than a theory or a concept. It cannot be ‘perfectly’ defined. Mentoring can be used by organizations to increase their ability to deal with people. If it is positioned as an HR initiative, it wouldn’t work as effectively as it would as a people’s initiative. In the corporate sector, mentoring is understood as a tool to develop leadership within the organization. It is a process of the senior and more experienced members of an organization guiding and helping the junior and less experienced members in their career and personal development. Mentoring is a process of building mutually beneficial partnership to help develop skills, behaviour and insights to reach the partner’s goals which a mentor has no stake in the outcome of. Mentoring is a relationship where two people involved are always together at power in the learning process. 

A mentor has several roles to play. He is a Coach, a Counsellor, a Netoworker and a Facilitator. As a mentor, you have to learn to respond without giving solutions. As a mentor you don’t even have to tell people what they have to do as they will never do it. Direction can easily slip into becoming a solution, so as a mentor you don’t even have to ‘direct’. Mentees come for answers but the mentor comes with questions. Mentors find it difficult to hold back solutions and mentees find it difficult to hold back expecting answers to their problems/questions. Mentoring is about listening with intent. Even silence can be used effectively. A basic human skill is to convey what you feel, understand and think. A mentor can never judge his mentee and a mentee is never wrong especially while sharing emotions. A mentor must encourage mentees to hone their skills at what they are already good at. There is research evidence to say that when you appreciate, productivity goes up. 

Do not encourage the mentee to use your name for personal gains. Don’t try to put a ROI on mentoring. Mentoring provides you with the opportunity to develop your leadership skills. It builds your reputation as a good leader and helps you network better. If you learn one skill i.e. to reach out, more than half of your problem would get solved, the skill to reach out. If you have the basic human skills, you can handle almost all your problems. “To get people to become humble” is what mentoring is all about. 

Today's Motivational Thought

Skill and confidence are an unconquered army