Maruthua Pharma- a brand revitalized

A brand that had an impact in the minds of Malayalees long ago through its ads; that’s Maruthua pharma for me till some months ago. But it has totally changed my attitude towards the, once almost forgotten brand through its complete re branding exercises. It’s a nice thing to see a pure Kerala brand resurrecting like a phoenix and placing in a better way.

The new logo is really good that it will provide a refreshing look. They have come up with new products like Maruthua for Men and Insta Cappi.  

But more importantly it’s about the new venture they have come up with, that I should be talking about- the Ayurvedic clinic named Maruthua For Better life. The company website says, ‘Maruthua For Better Life aims to provide quality service to those in need of revitalization of the body through full body hot oil massages and steam baths. It also offers therapeutic services for beauty care’.

many Ayurvedic clinics are coming up in Kerala with different USPs and so much blabbering about their characteristics. I want to see how Maruthua For a Better life is going to stand out from the clutter.

Occupy Wall Street movement and India

When the movement against corporate greed marked one month I was thinking about the Indian scenario. On October 15^th 82 countries showed their anger to the corporate tyranny and supported the movement; but none in India. Is it because we don’t have too much of greedy corporate or we are not yet under their octopus hands?

I think the reason why Indians didn’t have to worry about the Occupy Wall Street movement is the following things.

1.    Banking is not a fully privatised sector- one of the main reason of the ongoing protest is the anger towards the banks in America and Europe which loot people. Indian government is still keen on keeping banking to public sector and thus protecting the public interest. It was also one of the main reasons that kept banks safe from recession.

2.    Tata and Birla or the angel corporates- you may wonder why I put a point like this. But just take a moment and think about the two companies. As we all know these are the two Indian corporates that’s been there for years. They always kept their tradition and the Indian heritage of Charity which compelled the other corporate who emerged in the 80’s and 90’s.

3.    Indian government policies- India has always been a country of values. Still in some ways or other we try to keep it with us and hand it over to our coming generations. Our government has recently brought an idea of making CSR compulsory of all corporate companies. Such an initiative will surely persuade the companies to look at the society from which took all it resources. Giving that society something back will certainly make the common man happy and it will cater the poor with his basic amenities.

Crusoe: a great example for positioning

This is a very nice example and even a case study by which you can understand the effects and results of a great positioning strategy. This is about an undergarment brand which was nothing before one year and became a great brand with their EBOs all over India.

I started to notice the hoardings of Crusoe one year back when they came up with cool creatives in which they positioned themselves as a brand made for adventurous men interested in surfing, hiking, or scuba diving or what ever sports that are considered to be adventurous for men. This image suddenly caught many of the youngsters mind and the under garments became a hot topic amidst us. Even some of my friends considered buying it as a symbol of positioning themselves as adventurous.

Anyway what I was trying to tell that a simple positioning strategy with some seriously cool creatives made a just another under garment makers into great brand that could create the necessary buzz.

But the one area they missed is the online platform where they can create more WOM with even simpler activities. Their social media activities are very poor that it won’t be enough to attract the young audience. I’m sure once they start active online branding Crusoe can succeed over the current giants in their segment.

Changing tastes and emerging fast food industry in Kerala

Years back it was the Dosa shops and ice cream parlors that were the favorites of Keralites. But now the scenario has changes and many indigenous fast food brands have emerged.

Malayalees are becoming fast food addicts and as a result we have so many so many indigenous food brands and restaurant chains. First if it was just a Chick King, now in Cochin we have more than five fried chicken shop (I’m deliberately forgetting KFC). Giving tough competition to CCD, every day new coffee shops are sprouting with different USPs and new tastes. Some of the examples are Coffee cube, Kahava and Fort Café and Café Cochin.

If we think of restaurants we have NBC which is establishing as a chain and others like Itty’s, 14 Avenue and Parampara which offers delicious food and very innovative and charming interiors and ambience. Even if the price list looks costly, it seems like people prefer these places as a good destination to spend time with family of friends or their loved ones. That’s why the restaurant people are strict in making the ambience exceptionally good.

But one sad fact is that many of the coffee shops and restaurants opened with hi-fi facilities had to close down due to financial problems (I don’t want to mention the names). So I think the people for new ventures must be a bit careful before getting on the band wagon.

But anyway for the food enthusiasts it seems like they are going to have a tasty time!

The three Cs of social media

For the past one year I’m learning social media and still it is going on. From what I have seen and learned and did I figured out the three key words that decides the quality and potential of a social media plan. In social media marketing it’s all about positioning the brand in the perfect way amidst the target people. But since we have a larger audience in the web we have to make sure that whatever stuff we prepare it does not gain a bad image from anyone. So here are the three things you should watch out for when starting off with your marketing strategies.

1)        Content: this is the basic. Without content you will never be able to move on. Now you may think where to get the content. It’s very simple and it takes only a little contemplation on the company or the product or the place it belongs to or even on its name. If it’s a consumer product all you have to do is to constantly update the changes and trends with the products and the company and general trends in the category of the product. If you are dealing with a resort something like that then you can for the place and the heritage and tradition of the place. In some cases you can even utilize the name in a very effective way to position the brand before the online netizens.

2)        Conversation: this is the most important C in all the three. Without proper and planned conversation no page can retain people and bring the desired effect to your business from social media. In fact conversation is the best part of social media marketing since all the other marketing channels are one way. With conversations we can engage people pamper them and even sell your products. The customer will surely feel proud about and attached to your brand on receiving replies to their dialogues. The best pert of social media conversation is that it is casual and no need of any kind of formalities.

3)       Creativity: at last we have to pour a drop of creativity into everything we do or all our efforts will be down in a much unexpected moment. Creativity should be visible in such a way that it attracts the category of people who are actually not your target group. So that’s an extra pie. And creativity will surely help you to brand in a way that doesn’t take much effort from your part. If your pages are really awesome that it attracts the social media observers who are waiting for something to talk about then they will talk about your pages and that’ll be a serious achievement for your brand and this will bring much more traffic than you expect.

A bad (not so good) caption

Few days back there was an ad on the front page of The Hindu news paper of the new Nissan Sunny. A half page ad. I looked at the car and then all I saw is the caption which says ‘It’s not just a car... It’s a caaar’. That’s it. I put the paper down and thought about it for a moment. How could a company like Nissan come up with such a bad caption for such a beautiful car?

We have seen thousands of captions of different products of different companies. Some are good some are bad. Some really strike. Many I forget. This one actually made me feel like ‘what a pity one’. All I thought is about the creative agency which brought this idea of caaar. I don know for how many people this caaar concept will be digestible. Not for me for sure. May be because I work in a creative marketing agency or may be because I watch ads very closely. But above all I’m also a reader or even a prospect for the company and I’m sorry to say they have failed to impress this prospect and attract to their Sunny.

I’m sure anyone could have come up with a better caption and attracted more eye balls. I hope next time when Nissan launches their new car they will have a beautiful caption for their car and not just some caaar…

Some basic social media thoughts

This article is only aimed to provide some very basic thought on how to become an expert in social media marketing. This is purely meant for those who are at the planning stage to pursue a career in social media. Since we don’t have any specific theories or rules or laws in social media, it’s always our choice to become a maven in the new media world where everything is created and destructed by the mass.

I used to think how the experts become in a level where they could control the current social media thoughts and make people follow their words to pursue the new business puzzles. As in every science or art, it’s the constant observation that reveals the secrets. There is no other easy way to catch the magic. But to attain the heights, we need to follow some very simple steps.

I figured out 4 things that you need to observe to create your own rules of the game. By constantly observing these 4 factors you will reach a level where you’ll be able to stand and speak to the world what to do and how to do.

1) Observing the Sites: this is the very basic step as it sounds. You need to thoroughly look at the social networking sites to understand its marketing opportunities. The major factors that you should carefully observe are the features, members, spending options and spending patterns and updation of the site.

Let’s consider Facebook and you know the features facebook provide. But how many of you actually know to look at the insights and understand what the graphs say? Or have you ever thought of using facebook as customer care tool to answer the customers’ doubts and complaints. While learning about facebook, learn about the apps that can be utilized very effectively to attract and entertain fans on your page. Sometimes I wonder there are avid social media users who still don’t have a clue about creating a page and promoting it.

You need to consider the member type of each social networking site. Facebook have every kind of people in it while LinkedIn is for professionals and twitter is for people who want their voice to be heard. Spending options differ based on country and demographics and interests. Normally one will wonder why he should spend on Facebook credits while a poker crazy will do anything to buy credits (as well as earn). Its important to be updated about the changes happens to the site.

2) Observing the Statistics: I always look for the figures because they tell the truth and give credibility. Be aware of the basic statistics around the major social media statistics like number of members, countries, demographics, already proven businesses in each sites etc. These data help you to understand better and create clearer plans.

3) Observing the Trends: this is important because in social media nothing will stand for ever, including the sites. Nobody knows when the world is going to dumb facebook and go after a new site. So it’s important to keep track of the new sites on way and be aware of their features. There are chances that a SNS that we consider bad today may come up with innovative features tomorrow and will grab the attention. It is very simple if you think about Orkut. There is no point in learning and talking about orkut. Most of the people have started deleting their orkut account. May be after some years facebook will also face the same intensive situation.

It is also important to understand which major site has higher rates of increase in membership and higher frequency of usage. We all consider Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Youtube as the 4 major players. But at one point of time one site will be more influential than other site. It differs based on geography, demography, lifestyle, security options etc.  

4) Observing user Behavior: ultimately like in every business a small amount of psychological understanding id pretty inevitable. Users’ general perception on a site, attitude towards a particular option or features in a site, general online behavior of a particular demographic, responding styles etc should be well observed and understood before you leap to start speaking about social media.

If you go through these 4 things you’ll start to understand how the social networking sites actually became a paradise of marketers. Now try this and I’m sure you’ll be writing better blogs tomorrow on how to create social media strategies. While doing these things never forget check out the latest social media news and happenings. A little general knowledge will not harm you anyway.

Social media marketing: right time to hit Kerala market

Until some months back, googling with the key word ‘social media marketing in kerala’ would not give you accurate results that you would look for. Now the scenario has started to change. At last, our god’s own country has become a market for the so-called social media marketers like me.

                       

There is one very reason why I right this now. The reason is nothing but a newspaper column I saw some days back. It was nothing good for me. It was a kind of threat to my profession. It was absolute and pure criticism to the new trends in social networking and its after effects including some facebook addiction disorder. But whatever it was in the paper it really made me think for a while. I sat in my chair and thought for a moment. “is there a better time to hit our Kerala market with the techniques and strategies of social media marketing”.

If the new generation has really started to take facebook and twitter so seriously that it has even become a disorder then we should foresee the shift in the trends in social networking. We see a general trend that as people learn about something they start using it. Then once they feel like they are experts in it, they make it a lifestyle. So here, there are enough reasons to believe that social networking has become a lifestyle to the youth of Kerala.

However, what one should really analyze before leap is that whether the companies here are well aware about the potential of social media tools to influence and impress people and do the magic-conversion (from visitors to customers). Even though social media marketing is a proven marketing tool in the west as well as in the metros of India, in Kerala it is still under dust.

The major reasons for this hesitation being lack of big players emerged from the domestic market and the reluctance of our own customers to make online purchases. As I said, the total system is poised to take the big shift whether it is in lifestyle or purchase style or even spending style. In my observation, there is no better time to enter the Kerala market and to explore the opportunities waiting. To cope with the competition we must adopt the newer styles of marketing and everybody does that. Now social media marketing is the latest in the array. So catch it and try it.

When customers become marketers

Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, which allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content."

Following this definition, we have keep in mind a very fundamental principle; content in social media is full of user generated content unlike other media and that’s the one reason people engage in spreading this content. So when thinking about utilizing the potential of social media in your business whether for brand awareness or brand loyalty or even conversion (sales) always ask this question yourself; ‘how can I make my customers create and spread the message I want’.

As I told, people will be interested in watching or reading the content generated by their friend rather than something created by a third party (companies, agencies etc.). We are seeing it daily in Facebook and other social networking sites. I’m so happy to share a video made and posted by friend rather than a video by a company or some other community.

So it’s become inevitable to create the content that our prospects or target customers like. Think about the chances of making our customers create viral content (or content that can become viral) for us. Don’t you think those contents have a better chance of being passed on? Regardless of your business and industry to which you belong, it is possible and this can bring more brand name to your company.

For this to work out you need to follow some step by step procedure.

1.   Decide what message you want your customers to propagate.
2. Create an environment in which your customers will be intrigued to learn about your product and service profiles. This can be achieved by bringing competitions that require people to write or learn about your product profile. Once our customers are interested in this competition they’ll start learning about your company.
3.  Now is the action time. They will start creating the content according to your strategies, whether it is write ups or reviews or videos or whatever.
4.  Along with your company’s postings, all those contesters will also post these contest in their page. You bet! This will get more clicks and likes than your postings.
5. Here what becomes viral is your content and your brand name, wearing a cloak of your customer which will never hide your face.

It’s time to reinvent your social media strategies!! Turn to the right experts and gurus. Sell more! Grow your business.