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Today, for brands, presence online not only means interacting with consumers and being where the consumers are, but it is to get quantitative results. Must brands leverage digital media only for ROI?
The brand utilizes, from a plethora of options - social networks, mobile applications, video marketing, viral marketing, rich media tools, direct marketing, search engine marketing, analytics among others to engage with the consumers to build lasting relationships.
Lasting relationships cannot be built based on an interaction or being present where they are. Neither can you get consumers to fulfill a transactional goal.
Picture this – a ‘wholistic experience’:
To create a wholistic experience which results in qualitative conversions, the brand should define the business objective and what results it expects from engaging with the consumer. The brand must know its attributes and pain-points. It should have an enticing narrative story. It must define the competitive edge it has over the others and what makes it unique. And, most importantly the brand must know how it is perceived by its audience. This I call ‘context’ with respect to Consumer.
The ‘consumer’ is an existing user or the segmented audience. Reaching out to them means understanding their sentiments towards the brand, their needs & expectations and their search insights, to in turn provide them with a dynamic user experience. The offline consumer’s perspective helps in understanding the brands presence beyond web.
The contextual ‘content’ that the brand uses to showcase itself on the web, including powerful copy, empathetic design, simplified IA and rich media assets form the content strategy.
Part of content creation is, arriving at an appropriate channel mix for marketing, i.e. identifying channels to seed and spread the communication. SEO and SEM strategies can be deployed at this stage making the experience relevant and cost effective.
It is the relevance of the context in which the brand reaches out to its consumers that is called Brand Communication.
By developing content for the consumer, the brand connects emotionally and evocatively to create a memorable experience.
Content creation is - innovatively packaging customer sentiments.
The brand now has a platform that the consumers can trust and engage with. Working with the 3 key elements of engagement – context, consumer and content, guides the brand towards achieving Relevant, Memorable and Innovative engagement.
Creating this wholistic experience ensures definite return on investment and help brands create lasting relationships with the consumers.
www.MalavikaSarukkai.com
It didn’t take me more than 2 meetings to say ‘no way’.
I have met him more than twice and I realized I didn’t have to say that. Some people u meet by accident is no accident. I have hidden more than he has shared. I have always been unsure of him around. I shut the door before I even realized. And most often when I think I need to talk, he would call out of the blue. When I felt I needed advice, I just needed to turn around. I closed my eyes, and he would say to me – u have it in you.
Yea, something was wrong. I obviously was pre-occupied and he was thinking way too much abt me. But he grew on me. I wanted to share the smallest, the silliest. He heard me out. I never understood why he was excited, why he said a few things and repeated it… I called him Popat! I used him as my sounding board. I didn’t realize I was using him….he was around.
There were moments when I was happy and in bliss with my surrounding, but a thought would cross me, reminding me of him. I did something new and I wanted to tell..talk..yak. Who knew id known him for over a year. Time flew.
Neither of us expected anything from each other. I made my side clear. Obviously I didn’t want THINGS to happen.
This guilt of not letting him know why I wasn’t IN for anything and what was I pre-occupied with kills me.
He has no attitude, he is plain simple. No quirkiness. Not MY types for sure... but I only say this after over a year :)
Rahul and I are from Bangalore. We're travel addicts who believe we're born for one cardinal reason - to explore. Explore places new, old, nearby, faraway, in the house, outside the country, neighbor's house or a different planet… you get the point - Just about any place possible or impossible.
Our Travel Plan
This journey is a 'tribute to the Western Ghats'. The plan's to caress the innumerable curves offered by the Sahyadri from head to toe. With the rich flora and fauna reborn after a much needed shot in the arm from the monsoons, the timing couldn't be better. Hop on with us and experience pure indulgence in celebrating life - A journey you shall not forget! Our route plan- Mumbai - Pune - Belgaum - Dandeli - Sirsi - Sagar - Shimoga- Theertahalli - Sringeri - Agumbe - Bhadra - Chikmaglur - Mysore - Chamrajnagara - Sathy - Coonor - Bandipur - Kabini - Madkeri - Mangalore - Udpi - Karwar - Goa - Pune – Mumbai
What you got to do?
Vote!! http://www.greatdrivingchallenge.com/application/1246702329968001/
Is that a choice? The economic uncertainty has certainly seen stress levels rise in all of us. Projections say by 2011 it may better. That is another goddamn 2 yrs or more!
The slowdown first touched me when I was in London. The family of 5, I was staying with had already lost 2 jobs. The youngest son was trying hard to get employed. Women in the family were juggling both emotional and financial support. They ran a laundry. Work never ended till late evening when actually London stops work at 5!
Not knowing what the ‘credit crunch’ had in store for India, I convinced dad to invest in an exclusive property in South Bangalore. But exactly 6 months later we started to hear about job losses, salary cuts and the price cuts.
On my quick trip to Singapore to handle management issues I heard from every cab driver what a struggle it was and no one knew how they would emerge out of this. They were frustrated and their anger was fierce. I didn’t think that I might not visit Singapore for a while, post that trip. The clients had tightened their purse strings and the tourism business by itself had crumpled. When I spoke to an insider in the Singapore Tourism Board, he mentioned how they were trying to promote education and no more ‘destination tourism’ was their key focus.
Marketing strategies changed. Business propositions were tweaked. Offerings were more focused with keeping the downturn in mind. Plenty of advices from industry leaders on how to survive the slow down started to trickle in.
Greeting people starts with ‘Has the downturn touched you’? ‘Have you cut down on your traveling?’ ‘Oh yes, its definitely stopped me from thinking about getting married!’ was something. I haven’t met anyone who has smiled it away or even didn’t worry about it in the near future.
A Malyali in office working away form home decided to look for a match. His folks back home obviously insisted the girl be from their village in Kerala. After a long search for over 3 yrs he approved of a girl.
Within 2 months of the engagement he got a frantic call from the girls side with a zillions questions on their mind. ‘Can you support the girl with the current economic scenario?’ ‘We need to talk to someone who can take responsibility and be responsible for the wedding?’ I couldn’t stop laughing. Poor he. They eventually got married though.
Did this bring about a lifestyle change? I have seen friends; the big spenders watch every move of theirs. Late night dinners in star hotels, afternoon brunches every Sunday or even simply catching up over a drink every evening after work -not happening anymore!
But really, it is a reality check. If not for this period the gap between segments of people would have widened and there would be no end to expectation. This period gave each one of us time to sit back, realize and plan. The fear of when its going to end and the worse that can happen stays on.
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