Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Thought
It never ceases to amaze me at the number of opportunities out there to be a successful entrepreneur. What is difficult though is taking the plunge. The fear of failure itself is one of the biggest deterrents.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Random branding 'gyaan'
Whether we like it or not, branding in a larger sense plays a critical role in our professional and personal lives. Knowingly or unknowingly it guides our decision making and the choices we make.
As humans we all share a fair amount of aversion to do something that is unknown or unfamiliar and in the process worry about adverse consequences. The degree of this aversion obviously varies and changes from person to person and depends on numerous factors including familiarity, frequency, and one’s risk appetite. However, we try to find ways to minimize the risk. More often than not, we tend to decide our course of action or choices after thorough consideration of alternatives, past experiences, repercussions, opinions and recommendations of people we trust and respect for their knowledge, experience and expertise.
Even in our personal relations, we associate ourselves with people who we relate to, in terms of values, outlooks, opinions and interests. Over a period of time through regular and positive interactions the acquaintances could blossom into friendships. In the process what have we done? We have developed trust and the same behaviour is exhibited with products (brands) that we buy frequently.
We even brand people and their personalities based on aspects such as appearance, behaviour, friendliness, knowledge, outlook, beliefs, attitudes, etc. and as an extension we look up to famous personalities and brands who share these values and inherently want to be seen in the same light.
People generally associate branding with visual or tangible aspects such as the ‘cool’ looking logo, the colours, the product packaging, advertising or the design. While they are important, and are tools meant for identification, communication and expression of the concept of branding, the actual exercise of branding is that portion of the iceberg which is unseen and hidden.
As a start up, do not ignore branding. It has and will continue to be a sustainable differentiator that will set you apart from the competition and over time drive sustainable competitive advantage, earning you goodwill, loyalty and ultimately profits.
If branding is ignored in a world that is ultra competitive, you increase the chances of your disappearance. The problem with most SMEs is that they wake up to branding as a last resort and by then it’s too late.
Unless your offering is completely unique, pioneering, not substitutable, impossible to economically replicate and of course can satisfy a need, the chances that there are more than a handful of competitors, vying for the consumer’s share of wallet is rather very high.
As a start up brand, look hard at your potential customers; understand their needs, concerns, perceptions and pain points. Identify ways in which your business can add incremental value in the short run, but redefine value in the long run. Become one with your customer.
In a larger sense identify a cause or a collection of causes that you can work towards, that will ultimately win you loyal consumers and profits. Ensure that this cause or set of causes are your guiding lights in every transaction, interaction, communication, agreement, partnership, and recruitment that you enter into. Every time you approach a rocky shoreline, these causes should guide you through safely.
Today, most consumer durable brands, luxury fashion labels outsource manufacturing. Are we even concerned about who actually manufactures them? What we are ultimately bothered of is that we bought into what ‘Levis’, ‘Nike’, ‘Louis Vuitton’, ‘Apple’ , etc stand for and how they make us feel. Remember winning brands have from their inception strived towards being singularly customer centric and in turn brand centric. At a basic level they satisfy a physical/tangible need or utility, but more importantly they satisfy an emotional need. Iconic brands have successfully achieved this consistently.
Today’s consumers are tech savvy and leverage the world wide web to research brands and their offerings, prices, customer opinions and experiences and in a sense these also play a role in shaping their perceptions of brands. As an entrepreneur one must not ignore this facet, as your brand is what the customer thinks it is, even if you say it isn’t. Customers are an intelligent lot and know what they want and would trust another customer’s opinion more than an advertisement.
It is critical to ensure that there is a brand centric coherence in all your decisions, actions and communication that is in line with your brand’s promise and cause. This should flow through the organization and be demonstrated at every customer touch point consistently.
Ever increasing demand across categories has led to numerous products or services that vie for the customer’s attention and then hopefully, his or her spend. It’s got so severe that brands compete just to be seen on store shelves!
So how will you influence the customer to buy your product or service from the multitude of choice? Is advertising the answer? Is marketing the answer? Is price the answer? Is the product the answer? Or is there something else? I’m afraid each one is not an answer on its own. However the combination of these factors could give an answer. Why do I use the word ‘could’ you wonder? A winner will emerge only if the product, the positioning,F the advertising, the marketing and customer servicing is in sync with the bigger idea of the cause and will realize into sales only when it’s ‘in sync’ with the cause (needs, concerns, problems) of the person who wants to spend his/her hard earned money.
It’s about working on every aspect of the business model to drive coherence across operations, to ensure that they are all aligned at each and every stage with the ultimate cause, vision and mission of the organization and its brand. This according to me is branding and brand strategy. Though it sounds simple, it requires a sustained and focused effort consistently over time.
Organisations, to succeed in a world where learning curves are getting shorter at a faster rate than in the past, will have to be collectively passionate about their brands and customers. They will have to be collectively creative and agile in finding solutions to meet specific demands. Every employee will have to be a ‘brand champion’ in its truest sense, with his ear to the ground and an eye on the horizon.
To sum it all up, I would like to quote a few lines from Subroto Bagchi’s book The High Performance Entrepreneur - ‘A brand is often what you leave behind. Products change, services change, methodologies, processes, tools, people – everything changes, but it is the brand that lives on to attract customers, employees and suppliers over time and help create value.’
As humans we all share a fair amount of aversion to do something that is unknown or unfamiliar and in the process worry about adverse consequences. The degree of this aversion obviously varies and changes from person to person and depends on numerous factors including familiarity, frequency, and one’s risk appetite. However, we try to find ways to minimize the risk. More often than not, we tend to decide our course of action or choices after thorough consideration of alternatives, past experiences, repercussions, opinions and recommendations of people we trust and respect for their knowledge, experience and expertise.
Even in our personal relations, we associate ourselves with people who we relate to, in terms of values, outlooks, opinions and interests. Over a period of time through regular and positive interactions the acquaintances could blossom into friendships. In the process what have we done? We have developed trust and the same behaviour is exhibited with products (brands) that we buy frequently.
We even brand people and their personalities based on aspects such as appearance, behaviour, friendliness, knowledge, outlook, beliefs, attitudes, etc. and as an extension we look up to famous personalities and brands who share these values and inherently want to be seen in the same light.
People generally associate branding with visual or tangible aspects such as the ‘cool’ looking logo, the colours, the product packaging, advertising or the design. While they are important, and are tools meant for identification, communication and expression of the concept of branding, the actual exercise of branding is that portion of the iceberg which is unseen and hidden.
As a start up, do not ignore branding. It has and will continue to be a sustainable differentiator that will set you apart from the competition and over time drive sustainable competitive advantage, earning you goodwill, loyalty and ultimately profits.
If branding is ignored in a world that is ultra competitive, you increase the chances of your disappearance. The problem with most SMEs is that they wake up to branding as a last resort and by then it’s too late.
Unless your offering is completely unique, pioneering, not substitutable, impossible to economically replicate and of course can satisfy a need, the chances that there are more than a handful of competitors, vying for the consumer’s share of wallet is rather very high.
As a start up brand, look hard at your potential customers; understand their needs, concerns, perceptions and pain points. Identify ways in which your business can add incremental value in the short run, but redefine value in the long run. Become one with your customer.
In a larger sense identify a cause or a collection of causes that you can work towards, that will ultimately win you loyal consumers and profits. Ensure that this cause or set of causes are your guiding lights in every transaction, interaction, communication, agreement, partnership, and recruitment that you enter into. Every time you approach a rocky shoreline, these causes should guide you through safely.
Today, most consumer durable brands, luxury fashion labels outsource manufacturing. Are we even concerned about who actually manufactures them? What we are ultimately bothered of is that we bought into what ‘Levis’, ‘Nike’, ‘Louis Vuitton’, ‘Apple’ , etc stand for and how they make us feel. Remember winning brands have from their inception strived towards being singularly customer centric and in turn brand centric. At a basic level they satisfy a physical/tangible need or utility, but more importantly they satisfy an emotional need. Iconic brands have successfully achieved this consistently.
Today’s consumers are tech savvy and leverage the world wide web to research brands and their offerings, prices, customer opinions and experiences and in a sense these also play a role in shaping their perceptions of brands. As an entrepreneur one must not ignore this facet, as your brand is what the customer thinks it is, even if you say it isn’t. Customers are an intelligent lot and know what they want and would trust another customer’s opinion more than an advertisement.
It is critical to ensure that there is a brand centric coherence in all your decisions, actions and communication that is in line with your brand’s promise and cause. This should flow through the organization and be demonstrated at every customer touch point consistently.
Ever increasing demand across categories has led to numerous products or services that vie for the customer’s attention and then hopefully, his or her spend. It’s got so severe that brands compete just to be seen on store shelves!
So how will you influence the customer to buy your product or service from the multitude of choice? Is advertising the answer? Is marketing the answer? Is price the answer? Is the product the answer? Or is there something else? I’m afraid each one is not an answer on its own. However the combination of these factors could give an answer. Why do I use the word ‘could’ you wonder? A winner will emerge only if the product, the positioning,F the advertising, the marketing and customer servicing is in sync with the bigger idea of the cause and will realize into sales only when it’s ‘in sync’ with the cause (needs, concerns, problems) of the person who wants to spend his/her hard earned money.
It’s about working on every aspect of the business model to drive coherence across operations, to ensure that they are all aligned at each and every stage with the ultimate cause, vision and mission of the organization and its brand. This according to me is branding and brand strategy. Though it sounds simple, it requires a sustained and focused effort consistently over time.
Organisations, to succeed in a world where learning curves are getting shorter at a faster rate than in the past, will have to be collectively passionate about their brands and customers. They will have to be collectively creative and agile in finding solutions to meet specific demands. Every employee will have to be a ‘brand champion’ in its truest sense, with his ear to the ground and an eye on the horizon.
To sum it all up, I would like to quote a few lines from Subroto Bagchi’s book The High Performance Entrepreneur - ‘A brand is often what you leave behind. Products change, services change, methodologies, processes, tools, people – everything changes, but it is the brand that lives on to attract customers, employees and suppliers over time and help create value.’
Saturday, October 25, 2008
F&B Retail in India; Think National , Act local- A strategy worth considering
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Even after a few years of the entry of large organized F&B retailers, the small ‘mom and pop’ grocers who have been around for a few years and the smaller sized local supermarket chains that have their roots in the ‘khirana heritage’ have survived and flourished. Why is this? The answer is simple and is centered on the concept of customer centricity. These chains are highly localized; understand what products, variants, price points and sizes to stock. Over a period of time they have even mastered their inventory cycles. I often keep probing relatives and female colleagues about their experiences with and preferences for organized national chains and the consistent response I get is their preference for their trusted khirana store or local supermarket cause it stocks what they want. It’s the small things that matters to them. They will invariably get their regular Taj mahal Tea or their Haldirams in any of the national retail brand but what sets the small guy apart is in addition to stocking the fast moving popular generic national brands he stocks his customers’ favorite brands of toiletries, spices, pickles, snacks cleaning material (cloth/mops),etc. As a result of which these women prefer going to their local trusted store and save time instead of wandering the aisles of 3 different organized retail brands to complete their weekly shopping needs.
Secondly, one must realize India is a country that is highly diverse in its food habits and culinary culture. Each state has its own unique culinary culture and this high degree of diversity breeds region specific culinary cultures within a state too. An example would be Coastal Karnataka vis-à-vis northern Karnataka or Central Karnataka. This diversity and concentration trickles down even to localities and suburbs within a city.
Let me use the example of Karnataka. Food culture varies across the state’s region. Coastal Karnataka has its own unique culinary culture vis-à-vis the rest of the state and in the same vain a typically Brahmin locality of Malleswaram in North Bangalore predominantly consisting of Tamilians and Konkanis will have different needs from the grocer vis-à-vis a Bengali dominated locality in the same city. I am not saying that F&B retail chains may have to devise a strategy that requires a high degree of customization in their store wise inventory, but if they want to beat competition and differentiate this is definitely a very interesting option. Now this is exactly while the small stores and department chains still mushroom and thrive irrespective of the presence of the Spencers, Foodworlds, Fresh @s and the Reliances.
The national chains may have to think national but act local if they want to grow beyond profit margins of 1% or 2%
Thursday, October 16, 2008
branding....
is not a logo....is not advertising....is not package design.....they are all vital components r rather spokes in the wheel of branding..there's more to branding than what meets the eye!!!
Thoughts on franchising
Anyone and everyone who thinks they own a unique, successful AND SCALABLE business or business idea wants to develop it into a franchise. There’s no harm in that ambition. There are both positives and negatives. I am not going to dwell on what they are as there’s enough information available on the internet.
What I want to stress on in the Indian context is that Franchising is not about using an established ‘brand’ name to scale operations. Franchisors that have a myopic view of their businesses driven solely with the intention of earning a quick buck will not last long and franchisees associated with them will pay a heavy price. After all how far can a brand ‘name’ take you? A consumer maybe a fool to trust the established brand once, but not twice if the first experience was substandard or bitter. There are enough options out there for him or her to try
Franchising is not about mindlessly lending one’s name, logo and equipment for a fee. It involves a lot more. It requires a more serious investment of time and operations of the franchisee to ensure that the brand promise that the consumers expect is consistently delivered.
Potential franchisees, beware of those franchisors that are out there to make a quick buck at your expense. Don’t be fooled by the impressive marketing stunts and financial projections. Listen to what the layman has to say…listen to what your potential customers feel about the product! Partner those who are willing to support and sustain the brand promise that they communicate to the end customer.
What I want to stress on in the Indian context is that Franchising is not about using an established ‘brand’ name to scale operations. Franchisors that have a myopic view of their businesses driven solely with the intention of earning a quick buck will not last long and franchisees associated with them will pay a heavy price. After all how far can a brand ‘name’ take you? A consumer maybe a fool to trust the established brand once, but not twice if the first experience was substandard or bitter. There are enough options out there for him or her to try
Franchising is not about mindlessly lending one’s name, logo and equipment for a fee. It involves a lot more. It requires a more serious investment of time and operations of the franchisee to ensure that the brand promise that the consumers expect is consistently delivered.
Potential franchisees, beware of those franchisors that are out there to make a quick buck at your expense. Don’t be fooled by the impressive marketing stunts and financial projections. Listen to what the layman has to say…listen to what your potential customers feel about the product! Partner those who are willing to support and sustain the brand promise that they communicate to the end customer.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
I Say....
Sucessful and Strong brands listen to and deliver what their core customers want and not what stock analysts demand.
Personal View
Barring all the technical explanations and at the risk of sounding simplistic ... the current economic scenario in Investment Banking sectors in USA and the potential national bankruptcy of Iceland can be attributed to a combination of two factors: greed and sentiment, the lack of a balanced approach to sentiments. The bane of capitalism. Where has the TRADITIONAL approach to FINANCIAL DECISION AND RISK TAKING DISAPPEARED?
The principles OF CONSERVATISM, RISK AVERSION AND RATIONAL THINKING.
In greed, critically risky mortgage bonds were invested into and the driver for it was the superficial sentiment of global boom and the rising of the Asian tigers...
Is globalisation good? It is but when done in a tempered, calculated and rational manner.
I'm not surprised if young, over ambitious and greedy Investment Bankers did what they did. It's the system that has to be blamed. We are to be blamed...our greed , our desire for more, our dissatisfaction with what we already have and our lifestyles, our need to spend beyond our means...
I may not have structured this post well and may have also not articulated it well...but do think over what I have to say...
The principles OF CONSERVATISM, RISK AVERSION AND RATIONAL THINKING.
In greed, critically risky mortgage bonds were invested into and the driver for it was the superficial sentiment of global boom and the rising of the Asian tigers...
Is globalisation good? It is but when done in a tempered, calculated and rational manner.
I'm not surprised if young, over ambitious and greedy Investment Bankers did what they did. It's the system that has to be blamed. We are to be blamed...our greed , our desire for more, our dissatisfaction with what we already have and our lifestyles, our need to spend beyond our means...
I may not have structured this post well and may have also not articulated it well...but do think over what I have to say...
Saturday, October 4, 2008
your brand...
- must be relevant
- must be different
- must stay loyal and true to its brand values
- must stay loyal to its core consumers
- your employees must buy into the brand and believe in it and in time be it's advocates
- must be different
- must stay loyal and true to its brand values
- must stay loyal to its core consumers
- your employees must buy into the brand and believe in it and in time be it's advocates
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