My 2 cents on #NetNeutrality

Well everyone in India is going Gung-Ho about Net neutrality. Since the advent of Airtel Zero , My FB, Twitter and blogs are all talking about it. Start-Up groups are the major people raising the issue.

In the midst of all these Flipkart is the sufferer for no genuine reason of theirs.

Take "net neutrality." Basically, this is the broad term for policy and regulation that prevents service providers from favoring some services and applications over others.  Net Neutrality is still in a very nascent stage and even in US FCC is still tinkering with it.

Coming Back to the Indian Scenario, there is a huge furor going on with the Airtel Zero. Now let’s Understand what it is:-  

'Airtel Zero' is an open marketing platform that will allow customers to access mobile applications at zero data charges.

'Airtel Zero' will allow everyone from big marketers to small-time application developers to make parts or their entire mobile app free for customers - thus reviving interest of dormant customers, attracting new potential users and increasing retention. In turn they will pay for the Data usage charges incurred by customer.

How does it connect with net- neutrality? Don’t we have this system already in place for customer support . What are toll-free numbers? They are the same. You call and the company Pays. Similarly you use flip kart and they Pay your Data charge. Is it violating anything. No. Are they providing any preferential services in terms of speed- No (at least till now) .

Another thing doing rounds is OTT Charges. Is it announced? I haven’t heard so. TRAI has called a discussion to understand how we can move forward. There are many developed countries where this has been active since a long time .

Read it on http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/WhatsNew/Documents/OTT-CP-27032015.pdf

Let’s look at the telecom’s point of view:-

Our Infrastructure is still not developed.  Our Internet Speeds are among the slowest in the world. If there is no Investment in this sector then think of the situation.  The investments in upgrading systems are very heavy. No company will invest in a losing cause.

The carrier gets revenue by charging customers for talk-time. Additionally, it sells 2G and 3G services. Carriers have been primarily geared towards selling talk-time. Selling internet services was secondary. They have been slow to react to the potential of third-party internet services. Consumers are replacing traditional texting with Whats App or Viber and traditional network calling with apps such as Skype. There is a very real danger that, in five years, carriers may earn no money from texting and calling.

Carriers argue that internet penetration in India, unlike developed Western nations, is poor. Huge investments need to be made in infrastructure. The revenues from charging the customer for data will not justify making that investment. There is some merit in that argument.

This is still an Open field . I m no Expert but I as a consumer or a start-up don’t think Airtel Zero has done anything Wrong.

Yes OTT like VoiP Call charging is a discrimination but the context if looked into makes it reasonable.

Copied from One of my favorite Bloggers Prof Ray Titus ..

 In my book, Tim Cook's done a Mike Jeffries. The latter did his brand quite a bit of damage with his pin-headed 'plus-size' PR faux pas.

Now Tim cook's done his turn in idiocy.

He just announced Apple isn't in the 'junk business'. What he meant was Apple didn't make phones for the sweaty masses, and doesn't intend to any time in the future. Wow. What an idiot! Its one thing to position a brand to appeal to its target segment, and another to shoot off your mouth, invite bad PR and risk alienating the non-target crowd. Maybe Tim doesn't mind such alienation, as its the masses who aren't his company's target segment who may nurse a grudge; but I say its still a huge risk.

Why?

Probably there's enough sensible people in the 'Apple crowd' to take offense and not engage with the brand anymore. Plus who's to say the alienated bunch doesn't have within its ranks blokes who may want to graduate to an Apple?

My gut tells me Tim's another liberal elitist who thinks his brand is God's gift to mankind. Maybe it is to the dimwits; not to me, and If there's more like me, Apple better be wary.

Social media effect

Logorama

This is a oscar winning short video where the world is taken over by logos. Must watch

The Idea of gifting

Recently a old tradition hit my mind. I was at my friend’s house in Delhi when the neighbour came over with a bowl of Kheer. After finishing the bowl aunty was perplexed as to what she should return in the bowl. This is a perplex faced by most of the housewives across India.

Some will want to send something of equal quantity back. Some will want to send something of equal value back. And then there will be the others who will want to send something of bigger quantity or bigger value back. Just to make a point. Ouch!

Living in a city is all about giving and taking. This is a give and take society. Sending an empty bowl back is not the done thing. It is against our culture of city living altogether. If someone gives, you must give as well.

This giving and taking is not all about the women alone. It is about the men as well. It is only decent to return favors. Someone paid a restaurant bill the last time round and now it is time to do the honors. Its time to fight to pay the bill. Its only decent.

This moves on. In corporate work life, the give and take syndrome transcends from paying a bill by turn to scratching someone’s back because they scratched yours sometime or the other. Favors make the world go round big time in corporate life. Somebody stood by someone some day and it is now time to stand by the person who did it for you the last time round. Never mind the issue. Never mind the situation. Those having work ex must be knowing this phenomenon very well

This give and take life has invaded our lives completely. Corrupted it totally as well.

If you sent a box of sweets for Diwali to Mrs. Popat, and Mrs. Popat did not return a box, it is time to blacklist Mrs. Popat the next time round.

Have you ever wondered about the dynamics of give and take?

If you are visiting the Agarwls, it is time to check out what to take as a gift. And it sure is time to quickly calculate the value of the gift the Agarwals brought home the last time round when they were over. Time to benchmark value and deliver it back. Give and take seems to make the world of city living go round and round. I sometimes wonder if people keep little black-books that record quantum, value and returns.

Give and take city living comes to such a pass that there sure are a whole lot of gift items that keep circulating from home to home, without ever being used by any of the homes they touch down upon. If there is a gift that lands at home which you don’t quite like, or have too many of(or whatever), it is time to buy fresh packing paper, check for engraved notations of name on the gift, and if you find nothing exists, time to pack it all up once again and set it going on its give and take routine.

I have often wondered whether something sent out two years ago by the Jalpaiguri family ever reaches them back as well. And if so, do they recognize it, or do they just set it going once again?

Why am I talking about all this give and take routine? Why am I exaggerating the point this much?

Very simply because it is time we got back to be genuine and real. Time to sit up and literally cause turmoil. Time to sit up and say that you will not simply return a gift because you were gifted something.

Time to get real and genuine once again in our lives. Time to say that I will gift something to someone only f I feel like it. Not because I am forced to return a favor.

Time to stop this charade for sure. Time to get a little uncivil and break out of the monotony of the predictable.

But why?

Very simply because what starts out as simple exchanges of Kheer for Pindi Chhole, rather quickly morph to boxes of sweets and vases and chalices and favors as well, a bit too fast.

City living seems replete with favors that are not done, but favors that are exchanged. I have nothing against favors being done to people. What I have my hackles up is against the exchange of favors altogether. At times, one favor does not deserve a return favor. Unfortunately however, we tend to forget this all the time. And that is the crux of the issue.
If you scratched my back the last time round, I sure do have to scratch your back the next time round dude! Never mind what the issue is all about. I am obliged to. ouche!

Sustaining The competition

Marketers have a lot to worry these days. The market is flooded with similar products and offerings which has created a huge clutter of brands and products. The situation is worse in markets where the entry barriers are low. Added to this is the entry of private labels by retail giants to cash in on the consumption opportunity.

Take the case of the soft drinks market in India. The market is flooded with desi and foreign brands with similar flavours and product properties. This summer is witnessing fights over mango and lemon flavours. The brands are segmenting and micro-segmenting the market with every possible variable.

For a marketer, this situation has multiplied his marketing expenditure. The focus is on outsmarting the competition by grabbing more share of voice. To standout from the crowd, marketers are using every possible trick. Multiple celebrity endorsments are increasing to get into consumer's pschies. Consumers, on the other hand, are overwhelmed by this plethora of brands. Instead of simplifying the purchasing process, brands are now confusing consumers by choices.

For brands, the abundance of choices creates a huge problem of differentiation. Differentiation based on product features has become a difficult task with competitors taking no time in copying /adopting that feature. Differentiations based on incremental product improvements /features have become difficult to develop and sustain in the market.

In an era where companies expect brands to be successful with in three months (quarter) and brand managers being evaluated on their quarterly performance, creating sustainable long-term differentiation strategies are not in vogue.

The current economic situation has now forced many marketers to rationalize their portfolio and cut the flab. It is time for Indian marketers to go back to the basics of creating sustainable differentiation strategies for their brands.

Invest in R&D

India is a R&D and product development hub for most of the MNCs but seldom Indian marketers were able to create breakthrough products for the Indian market. Tata Nano has shown the world what Indian minds can do when inspired. A project which was labelled ‘ Impossible’ by many analyst is now a reality. Nano is a lesson to all marketers. This product was created from a need and backed by conviction and support from the top management.

It is not easy and the Nano example shows the myriad of issues one can face when venturing into creating something original. But the effort is well worth the results. The market is moving in a direction where only those brands will succeed who can innovate

Protect the Differentiation

An important determinant of a successful differentiation is the brand’s ability to protect the differentiation. Patented features are powerful differentiators. But it is very expensive and time consuming process to patent features. In the case of FMCG products like soaps , such kind of patents are not a viable proposition.

Smart brands use ingredient branding to protect their key differentiators. Ingredient branding is where a particular product feature or an ingredient is branded by the company. There are two kinds of ingredient brands.

One type is where the ingredient is owned by another company. Intel is a pioneer in ingredient branding. Intel has built ingredient brands like Pentium, Celeron, Atom etc .These are not standalone products but ingredient of computers. By creating powerful ingredient brands, Intel has successfully created a space for itself in the consumer’s mind.

Another type of ingredient branding is where the feature/ingredient is owned by the company itself.Bajaj has a powerful ingredient brand DTSI ( which is also a patented technology) which it now uses for all of its two wheeler brands.

The ingredient branding strategy helps firms protect their critical innovations or even benefits. These ingredient brands can be copyrighted which will prevent competitors from copying these innovations.

Connect to a Relevant Need

Creating a sustainable differentiation is possible only when brands become customer focused. Most differentiations that we see in the market are product oriented. When products become standardised, it is important for marketers to create differentiation focusing on consumer needs.

Brand laddering is a strategy that can be used by marketers to create differentiation on a need rather than on a product feature. Raymonds is a brand that has created a space for itself by effectively laddering up to a customer need ( Complete Man). The benefit of such a strategy is that competitors will find it difficult to copy the differentiation since it is based on an intangible attribute. The brand has created a unique powerful image which is sustainable over time.

It is also important for the differentiation to be relevant to the consumers. When connecting to a need, marketers should ensure that the need is highly relevant and will fill in a very important gap in his life.

Long Term Vision through Brand Charter

Brands will take time to establish and marketers should be able to give some breathing space for the brand to discover itself and connect to the consumer. It is important for marketers to create a brand charter which will spell out the long term vision for the brands, its differentiation and positioning platforms, guidelines and strategies.

Such a brand charter will guide the future brand managers to create tactics which are in line with the overall brand vision. If a brand chose to create intangible differentiation opportunities, there has to be a consistency in the brand’s positioning and differentiation strategies. Brand Charter will help bring consistency which will inturn facilitate create a sustainable differentiation. A very good example is Hero Honda Karizma. The bike when launched was a major failure but the company had long term vision to build the brand and the success is there for all to see

A Short Story on the Power of Persistence by S. ANTHONY IANNARINO

A Childlike Determination
Too many salespeople believe that persistence means putting their dream client on a quarterly call list. That isn’t persistence. It isn’t enough to be meaningful, and it is too easily ignored.

Persistence is a lot closer to a child asking for candy; they keep asking until they wear you down, completely unimpressed and unmoved by your objections. It isn’t simply that a child doesn’t give up; it is also the frequency with which they make their request.

As Relentless as the Rain
In the early 90’s, long before there was any real sales force automation for small companies or individuals, the great Harvey Mackay released a software package called Sharkware. I loaded it on a big, old, heavy laptop, recognizing the value of being able to systematically keep my prospect and client records. It had the Mackay 66 (requires registration) questions built in, but I mostly used the software to track my calls to prospects, ensuring that I maintained a great consistency calling my dream clients.

One dream client that I was calling on was a relatively small telecommunications company. I had the right contact name, and he was absolutely in charge of making the purchasing decision on buying the service that I sold. One day I called the contact, and after weeks of trying he answered his telephone. He said: “Listen, you must have called me twenty five times now. Haven’t you?”

I looked at my Sharkware screen, and reported the real number: “Actually, this week makes 76 weeks in a row that I have either called you or visited your site.” He said: “Really? Seventy-six weeks, huh? Well your persistence has finally paid off. I have a problem and I need some help.” I literally packed up and left to meet the client that afternoon. And, as you might suspect, I came back to the office with his business.

Sometimes Timing Is Everything
What if I hadn’t called that day? What if another salesperson from another company would have called while my dream client was experiencing the dissatisfaction that caused him to change? Although I had left my number and mailed and dropped off business cards, he wasn’t then picking up the phone to call me. Sometimes it is simply persistence and determination that opens the doors to opportunities . . . but only if you persistently keep calling.

What I Learned
Your Dream Clients Are Keeping Score: They don’t respond. It is unlikely that you will get a call back simply because you left a message (I know, it was a great message!). But subconsciously, your dream clients are keeping score. They remember who calls and how often. And they know that most of the salespeople that call them, if ignored long enough, will simply give up and go away.

And, in most cases, they underestimate how often you call!

Consistency Counts:
You have to have something valuable and compelling to say when you get your dream client on the telephone. You also have to demonstrate that you believe what it is you are saying. If you feel strongly that you can make a difference for your dream client and their business, and you call once each quarter, your not all that resolved, now are you? The lack of urgency and the lack of consistency ensure the client that you aren’t determined and that your message is one that can easily be ignored.

Conclusion
Persistence and determination are essential attributes for success in any endeavor, especially sales. But too often salespeople believe that persistence and determination are the result of quarterly calls. Being persistent requires the grit and determination to make the calls, and to make them with a frequency that is meaningful enough to be effective.

Though its a copy paste but we all can learn a lot from it
Cheers!!!!