Prayag anchors CSAT studies for a few clients and a valuable lesson learned is the importance of working closely with your customer when the initiative is in progress to ensure the desired results.  Running a CSAT initiative required detailed planning and faultless execution – after all you are dealing with your client’s customers. So, it makes sense to involve your client every step of the way to make sure the study goes through smoothly.

One area especially where client support really matters is in getting responses from the end users – your client can be really useful in reaching out to their clients and urging them to respond to the questionnaires.  While you will continue to follow up with the target audience (client’s client) to gather  feedback, we need to remember that too many follow ups are not acceptable and can work at cross purpose. Here, if the account managers from your client organization pitches in and convinces their client to respond, chances of getting responses are higher. Why is it important for the account managers to collaborate? Couple of important reasons why –

1. Opportunity to show the target audience that you care for their feedback
2. Demonstrating your commitment to customer satisfaction to your organization

On the flipside, not being proactive leads to the unwanted conclusions such as fear of negative feedback or reluctance to engage with the client and so on. In fact, one of our clients has made it a practice to identify account managers who have not managed to get their clients to participate in the CSAT few times in a row. This list is then analysed and shared with the CEO underlining the importance placed on customer feedback in this particular organization.

The point is, we need to work in partnership with the customer during a CSAT study – we have found this to be a good approach given the sensitive nature of this exercise and also provides some comfort to the end client.

Popularity: 14% [?]

We  have been pretty much been taken over by social media – both at a personal and professional level. I’m sure that youhave  a presence in at least one of these – Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin or some such. We are used to a world where you can stay updated on what companies are up to if you choose to. When there are important changes/announcements from a company – for example, when quarterly results are announced, you get to know what the results are and reactions to the results from both industry as well as your social circle in very near real time.

No questioning the power of social media and it’s here to stay. Here are a few examples across spheres where it has worked beyond expectations in my view:

Kolaveri – Within days of its release, this song got close to 1.8 million views on you tube and is one of the most searched videos.  Somehow, the song was able to connect with the audience and thanks to the viral effect managed to set a record. What a great way to promote a movie and all of this almost free! Yup! we had a blog on this too – http://blogs.prayag.com/latestbuzz/general/viral-power-makes-it-look-so-simple-but-is-that-so/.

Kinaxis: A supply chain management company, Kinaxis has achieved great results through its blogging efforts.  Apparently, the company experiences a 7 fold increase in website traffic, 3.2 times increase in conversion, and 5.3 times increase in blog traffic in 2009 compared to 2008. How did it manage this – through a thorough understanding of their target segment and their areas of interest, With this, the published relevant blogs including those from industry experts and positioned themselves subtly as leaders.  Some of our readers may recall that we covered Kinaxis sometime back because of their series of entertaining videos (http://blogs.prayag.com/latestbuzz/general/whacky-video-competition-will-it-blend-will-you-win/).

H&R Block –the tax consultants based in the US had such a simple strategy and that was what was so impressive. They did not opt for any of the jazzy tools and instead focused on timely content to their target audience.  There is a case study on their efforts & results available at http://smartblogs.com/socialmedia/2011/06/09/andys-answers-how-hr-block-uses-social-media-to-help-customers-through-the-stress-of-tax-season/

Will be great if you can share some of your personal favourites too!

Popularity: 24% [?]

Off late, I have been having wondering about the volumes of content floating around – newsletters, RSS feeds, social media updates and what not. How much of this content is actually read and used? Taking my personal example, I wondered what made me select content to read and mercilessly delete the rest? Here is my list – please add what you think works for you as well.

1. Catchy headlines – by this I don’t mean the fluffy ones- but something like this catches my attention and makes me click on the link provided. Example: Today’s headline in Economic Times “Struggling to keep pace, Infosys faces a tough time ahead” or from a newsletter I have subscribed to –  “6 Steps to Getting Started With Google+”. These headlines succinctly captured the essence of the content and I did not have to spend time going through the article to figure out what it was all about. Takeaway – convey the meaning crisply and in simple terms.
2. Keywords in the summary of the content – if I come across keywords that am interested in, it definitely makes me want to read more. A high-level or vague summary discourages you from exploring it further.
3. Timing of the content – I found that during the middle of the work day, am not inclined to check out what updates are being published. What works for me is catching up either early in the morning before the rush starts or probably just before wrapping up for the day. So, maybe we should look at what time these updates are published?
4. Nature of the content – I have found that the more serious updates and announcements work well during the week – probably got to do with the frame of the mind. Over the weekend, I do not mind trivia and lighter content. Again, trivia interspersed with the serious stuff is welcome during the week too – good to take a break!
5. Content quality – if the content is laid out well with enough substantiation, I find it lot more worthwhile to spend my time on it rather than take part in a guessing game. Take this article for example in today’s Mint – this was a good one I thought – http://www.livemint.com/2012/01/22222627/Wipro-is-getting-back-on-track.html. Notice the url too – gives you a good idea of what the article is all about.

These were some quick thoughts on what makes me pick and choose from the tonnes of the online content available.  Let me know how you pick your content.

P.S Also – what did you think about the title?

Popularity: 33% [?]

Why this kolaveri di? A” bordering on the inane” song from a soon to be released tamil movie with music composed by a young 21 year old debutant has opened a whole new debate on the power of viral marketing.
This is why- as I sit down to write this blog, the song has been downloaded over 2 million times on youtube within a week of its release, it has been trending on twitter for the last six days and has over a million shares on facebook- the song has not only become popular in India, but also across the globe.
I first heard this song on the day it was released officially as a single- I found it was strangely appealing and showed the video to my teenaged daughter and she loved it. She has it on her ipod and has promptly marketed it to her friends! In the next few hours I saw many of my facebook friends, including one or two of Prayag clients, sharing the video. I said, alright, this song is really making an impact. Before I know it, it is everywhere.
Of course, there are some detractors, but there is no doubt that it has become a huge rage. I see some comments on facebook saying- oh, all this is the power of viral marketing. Being in the business, I thought to myself- I wish it were so simple!
For any content to go viral, it needs to appeal to a wide cross section of audience. And to achieve that is not as easy as it seems, believe me! The interesting thing about kolaveri is that it did not set out to impress this huge audience. It is a simple, unpretentious attempt to create a fun song that would appeal to tamil youth- what it has ended up doing is catch the imagination of youth all across, as the lyrics are in “a version of English”,  and also win over older people because of its honest and fresh approach.
The team behind the song has been clearly taken by surprise, but is now going all out to make the most of it- online chats, prime time interviews, exclusive video interviews, front page on mainstream and business dailies- you name it and they are there.
To me the biggest takeaway as a marketer is that content should be honest, and be right for the audience. Also don’t try too hard. But, be ready to cash in if the viral effect does kick in.
PS: My writing was interrupted by a call from my mother- she said, what is that song, kolaveri, I pestered your sister to play it for me. And, on twitter Junior Bachchan follows his father in acknowledging the song.
Is there a need to say more? Instead, go watch the video if you haven’t already

Popularity: 36% [?]

When I was studying communications 12 years back, my Professor often said, “Questions are never stupid. Answers are. So ask.” Today when I have lots of questions, I feel stupid. Maybe I need someone as strong as my Professor to help me find the answers and make me more confident.

So here I go.

Do IT marketing teams really do marketing? Or focus on branding and corporate communications? I am confused.

As I understand, building a brand is all about engaging and involving every touch point inside and outside the company using a broad set of communication vehicles. And this can include both strategic and tactical activities. Most initiatives like PR, analyst relations, events, internal communications, ad campaigns etc can all be part of the broader umbrella of branding. Be it building an online presence; demonstrating thought leadership; developing internal campaigns; advertising or even CSR, these initiatives are towards enhancing the brand image and perception of the company. Well, each company may look at brand building in their own way based on their priorities.

While the default remains visibility and awareness, sales enablement still remains a gap. Is sales enablement the most difficult thing for marketers? Does this require marketers to get out of their comfort zones?

Some of the marketing folks have often said that branding and communications is all about sales enablement. While it is essential to help the sales organization communicate value and differentiation in clear, consistent and compelling ways, do the marketing folks believe that the right information is being delivered to the right audience in the right place at the right time to help move the sales opportunity forward?

Some marketing folks I know have often said that sales don’t need us. Does it mean that the age-old sales and marketing love-hate relationship is responsible for marketing to focus more on comfortable pieces of branding and communications?

Help me with answers. I am confused.

Popularity: 27% [?]

Well, when it comes to best practices in business writing, the list is endless and possibilities, infinite. So I am forced to break up all I want to say into short modules. As Ranbir Kapoor keeps reminding me (quite irritatingly!) “Keep it simple, silly!”.

I think there are basically four phases to creating a piece – whether it is a 20-page whitepaper, or a one-page flyer – understanding the context, preparation, the actual writing and finally, the review phase.

Let’s delve into the first phase today: understanding the context. This involves, firstly, deciding what the objective of your marketing piece is going to be. And don’t say – “Duh, to market, obviously!” For, there are nuances within this – you can aim to persuade so someone buys your product or you can simply be looking to educate the market, for instance. See the difference? In a similar manner, decide on your targer audience, the manner in which the piece will be used, where it will be used, etc.

The next step involves focusing on your audience – only when you have a thorough understanding of your audience will you be able to write copy that appeals to their needs and desires. So you really need to learn to profile your audience. Now to understand what we mean by ‘profiling’ your audience, and what it involves, you need to attend our business writing workshop!

Once you have arrived at a complete understanding of the context that your piece will be set in, you are ready to move onto the next step – preparing to write – but that, of course, is the subject of my next blog!

Popularity: 25% [?]