Monday 19 December 2011

The 5th P

PEOPLE – The 5th P in the Marketing
The social web is now so critical for companies that it’s time to update marketing textbooks, strategies, and approaches.  PEOPLE, and the way the share opinions, recommendations, and personal stories are critical to a company’s success.
The importance of PEOPLE is obvious to most readers of this blog…so why the post?  By looking at how companies treat the other 4 Ps, we can make recommendations on how to treat PEOPLE as the 5th P.
Businesses take action with the other 4 Ps by staffing an organization, investing money, & partnering with other companies.
It often comes as a surprise to those in service businesses that managing the marketing process – and, specifically, the branding process, involves a significant amount of focus on managing people – which could well represent the “5th P” in the marketing mix. Developing standards and processes, communicating those standards and processes, ensuring consistency in such things, for example, as how the phone is answered, “uniforms,” service standards, hand-offs between departments, how employees talk about each other, etc.
Too often as we focus on other important elements of the brand – like the logo, the name, the “company colors,” the design templates, etc., etc., in the service arena we have a tendency to forget about what is most important about the brand (reconcilability, performance and consistency) – the people.
It seems that adding the word “social” to any category escalates its importance. From the Social Customer to Social Commerce and from Social Business to Social CRM, the common thread that weaves everything together is people. It is people after all that are responsible for placing the social in social media. Everything else is just technology. So why is it that businesses still approach social media and the services and channels that connect this very human network just at it has traditional media in the past? Just as in the emergence of connected customers, this inherent behavior is simply part of the DNA. This DNA where perhaps the “D” stands for disconnected represents the very fabric of business and the very essence that requires evolution in order to genuinely connect with tomorrow’s customer, today.
 Thanking you
Atul Sikrai
Founder
Brand Diagonal.

Tuesday 22 November 2011

5000 Page Views Hit .

Big Thanks To All readers we reach 5000 Hits .

Brand Diagonal
16 Feb 2011     1,663 Pageviews
Digital World & Ways
5 May 2011      906 Pageviews
Advertising Strategy
18 Feb 2011     737 Pageviews
The human — God’s masterpiece .
25 May 2011    227 Pageviews
The Digital Evolution
19 Jul 2011        88 Pageviews
 creative-out-of-the-box-advertising-tactics
16 Feb 2011      76 Pageviews
 Mind Blowing Statistics
24 Aug 2011      69 Pageviews

 Old Spice "Woman": Short-Term Laughs, Long-Term Ga...
25 Apr 2011      25 Pageviews
 Exploiting the Power of Brand Diagonal Lines .
10 Aug 2011     9 Pageviews
 Topsy-turvy, hurly-burly Tactics!
21 Apr 2011     7 Pageviews

Pageviews all time history         5,117

Audience       :
India                         1,254
United States                881
Brazil                            291
United Kingdom            214
Germany                       134
Canada                         117
Denmark                       107
Philippines                     102
Australia                          66
France                             52

Thanking all of you .

Atul Sikrai
Founder
Brand Diagonal.






Monday 31 October 2011

Brand Colors

It is really fascinating to think that people react to many things in life (and business) on a subliminal level. People don’t realize that colors are chosen very carefully to invoke specific reactions. There is a true scientific approach to it but all people know is that it makes them feel a certain way.
Remember that you need to keep your target audience in mind when considering colors for your brand. The colors that you choose will be on all of your branding and you need to be absolutely certain that you have chosen colors that make a statement about who you are and what your business represents.
You want your colors to communicate peace and professionalism. If you don’t have colors in your branding that feel that way to other people, they won’t stay with you long enough to find out what you are offering and what you can do for them. The colors that you choose are as important as the words that you impart.
When choosing your brand colors, it is critical to understand what the colors mean and then you can appropriately choose the best colors to highlight your business and to attract people to your brand.
Blue: Tranquility, acceptance, love, understanding, patience, cooperation, security, loyalty, and comfort
Orange: Courage, confidence, friendliness, cheerfulness, warmth, excitement and energy 
Yellow: Caution, intelligence, brightness, joy and organization 
Purple: Royalty, religion and sophistication 
Green: Money, sharing, soothing, responsiveness, health, food, nature, growth and freshness 
Red: Strength, leadership, love 
Brown: Durability, earthiness, primitive 
White: Purity, ease, freshness, goodness and cleanliness 
Black: Dramatic, committed, classy and serious .
Have Lots of colors in your life.
Regards,
Atul Sikrai
Founder
Brand Diagonal.

Tuesday 20 September 2011

Airthmatic of connecting Lines .

Marketing Math…

AWARENESS x REPUTATION = BRAND

Now, I want to adjust this a little…

AWARENESS x REPUTATION = BRAND RELEVANCE

A nice equation.

AWARENESS – Do people know about your product, service or company? Do they talk about it? Do they tell others? Do they know the great things that you do?

REPUTATION – What do people say about your product, service or company as good or bad? What do customers think? Are they satisfied? Do you deliver on your product, service and brand promise?

Brands don't develop in isolation, either. They result from the interaction of thousands of people over a long period of time. Branding requires not only the work of executives and marketing people who manage the brand, but an ever-changing roster of strategy consultants, design firms, advertising agencies, research companies, PR firms, industrial designers, environmental designers, and so on. It also requires the valuable contributions of employees, suppliers, distributors, partners, stockholders, and customers—an entire branding community. It takes a village to build a brand.

Building a brand today is a little like building a cathedral during the Renaissance. It took hundreds of craftsmen scores of years, even generations, to complete a major edifice. Each craftsman added his own piece to the project—a carving, a window, a fresco, a dome—always keeping an eye on the total effect. Like yesterday's cathedrals, many of today's brands are too large and too complex to be managed by one person or one department. They require teams of specialists, sharing ideas and coordinating the efforts across a creative network.

when companies routinely consigned large portions of their communications to a single firm, typically an advertising agency. The advertising agency would conduct research, develop strategy, create campaigns, and measure the results. The main benefit was efficiency, since one person within the client company could direct the entire brand effort. As branding has grown more complex, so has the one-stop shop. Today's one-stop is either a single multi-disciplinary firm, or a holding company with a collection of specialist firms. The advantages of the one-stop shop are an ability to unify a message across media, and ease of management for the client. The drawbacks are that the various disciplines are not usually the best of breed, and, in effect, the company cedes stewardship of the brand to the one-stop shop like Brand Diagonal.

Thanks for all your love .

Blog  views all time history    3,108 Views Till date .

 Always yours

Atul sikrai
Founder
Brand Diagonal .



Friday 2 September 2011

BluePrint Of Brand Diagonal

Diagonal Brand Lines :
Leaning over the balcony edge of massage trends for a better view, I come across interesting stories where Brand business strategies wink at me from behind the curtain of "other business ideas".

Many of my bright bulb "ideas" have been gleaned from unique approaches to customer service, branding and even irrelevant business information that is part of the diagonal  to try to learn and grow my business.
Brand Diagonal". If you've never heard the term don't be shocked, because it's just a speck of dust in the plethora of "ideas" information flying in the clouded face of bewildered brand business owners trying to keep up.
Brand Diagonal is essentially the idea of extending service to your customer by anticipating and directing them to the nearest aide or resource for their needs that tie in to your business or service. It is a kind of conscious effort to anticipate what your customer will want or be aided by while they interact or participate with your business and services. It could mean everything from a link online store where they can buy a version of bolster you carry, to tips from your interior design consultant on how to create a stress free environment. Basically you are aiming to be of ultimate service to you customer.

Now that's some great customer service, and Brand Diagonal is cool and probably something we should talk more about . . . but what came to my brain is:

Wow, who's gonna be the WOM(word of mouth) genius that creates a day package for local businesses that can deliver 15 minute WOM sessions for a daily/weekly/monthly rate. The recipient businesses generate your customer, and you make each business shine. The context is an added bonus for the receiver at no cost to them, but you can negotiate a regular rate from the sponsor business, and introduce your professional services for future use to new customers.You market through being of service, providing the service, and generating future business while you get paid for your time and gain customers AND the local business owner makes good on their own brand of customer service and business retention.

Basically anywhere I've ever had to wait and hated it, and I've just started thinking! This is just the beginning of a strategic approach, the idea of Brand Diagonal takes on a whole other potential to monetize differing aspects of the business you already do!

Thanks to Brand Diagonal watching my brain has brightened once again.

Check out this blog for more info, and let me know what you think!

Brand Diagonal Watching !!

Brand Diagonal

Atul Sikrai
Founder
Brand Diagonal



Wednesday 24 August 2011

Mind Blowing Statistics

Fantablous Response to our Blog from through out the world in very short time.

India                928 
United States   325
Brazil               122
Germany            82
United Kingdom 79
Philippines          61
Canada              43
Australia            24
Turkey              24
 France             19


PostsMore ▸
Brand Diagonal          16 Feb 2011            587 Pageviews

Digital World & Ways 5 May 2011           395 Pageviews
 
The human — God .    25 May 2011         219 Pageviews
 
Advertising Strategy     18 Feb 2011         115 Pageviews
 
The Digital Evolution    19 Jul 2011             18 Pageviews
 
  Pageviews all time history                         2,382 Views

Thanking All Readers.

We are soon coming with Blue Print of Brand Diagonal in coming days........

Always Yours

Atul Sikrai
Founder
Brand Diagonal.

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Exploiting the Power of Brand Diagonal Lines .

Tips and tricks for taking great Brands to new Height.
When I was looking for an image/idea in pix, I came across this shot of a "scarf dancer" (I don't know what her real title would be) . The performer is a member of the family of acrobats that travel with Tino Wallenda and the Flying Wallendas. The thing that struck me about this shot, other than the very symbolic-looking Easter/spring colors (a good topic for another posting), were all the powerful diagonals in this shot. The ropes, her body, the scarf--all have a very powerful diagonal orientation. Even within the lines of her body are several very bold diagonal lines.

In terms of composition, diagonal lines emphasize power, strength and the feeling of impending movement--while horizontal lines, for example, bring to mind concepts of stability or balance, diagonals are better at creating a feeling that things are changing. If you look at a see-saw, for instance, you inherently know that when two people get on it, the balance is inevitably going to shift and the mind picks up on this idea whenever it sees diagonals, whether we realize it or not. You feel the same type of implied motion if you see a person walking up a hill--there is a much more dynamic feel to the scene that if you were to photograph that person walking down a flat sidewalk--yes? It's interesting to think of the psychological implications that something as simple as the direction of a line can impart to a composition and how you can change peoples' interpretations of a scene just by the way that you orient the lines within the frame. And, as with this scene, any time you multiply the number of lines, you intensify those feelings.
Your brand have many jobs, but one of the things that they can do really well for you is to
introduce you to new clients and to help those potential customers feel a connection with you and your business. Alas, many small business owners overlook this valuable
role for their materials when designing them, and so any connection often happens by accident alone.Considering that the Digonal connections that most businesses are making with their brand are happening by accident, these businesses are actually doing rather well. But what could their business growth and sales cycle look like if they could improve the way that they Diagonal connect with their ideal clients?
Happy to help you to connect with your clients.

Atul Sikrai
Founder & Chief Mentor
Brand Diagonal.

Saturday 23 July 2011

Ruck Fules ( I am Your Tool )

love a good challenge. I learned at a young age just how fragile life is. It’s unpredictable and you can coast through it or you can really live it. I think I’ve definitely done this. Through many adventures, snakes & ladders – I found my way to the world of the web. In fact, I was the first person in my “Creative Advertising” program to have internet at home. In the recent years/months/weeks/days I have had the fun of witnessing the pulse of the web constantly changing. To me this means my job as a marketer is constantly changing too. And though some people have made it clear to me that they think I take my work too seriously, don’t sleep enough and should spend more time living living their chosen lifestyle (work 9-5 go home and forget about the job they have no passion for)…
…what can I say? I love working between the worlds of web technology and online marketing. The social media revolution (for example) is as much a part of social studies, philosophy, political science, economics, and business as it is a part of marketing. Social media is exciting because it is changing how we communicate, who we meet, how we build relationships with people that have common interests, people we do business with…everything.
Some people search night and day for a cure, some people paint painstaking details onto canvas, some people like Olympians dedicate themselves to the perfect physique…I happen to like everything related to social media and inbound marketing. So this is an open message to those who say I work too much. I hope that one day you find a career that you are passionate about because you only live once and it must really suck to go to work every day and not be able to put your heart and soul into it and ultimately enjoy the guts and the glory.

For Crazy Brand Ideas
Contact Me

Atul Sikrai
Founder & Chief Mentor
Brand Diagonal.



Tuesday 19 July 2011

The Digital Evolution

Effect of the digital revolution in consumer behavior and marketing

Digital revolution is a massive change in the use of digital tools. Digital revolution is meant here is the use of advanced technology in marketing.
Effect of digital revolution has caused a drastic change to the business environment, this can be seen as follows:
1. Consumers have more power than ever before.
2. Consumers have access to more information than ever before.
3. The marketers can offer more products and services than ever before.
4. The exchange between marketers and consumers will be more interactive and spontaneous.
5. Marketers can gather more information about consumers to quickly and easily.
Consumer Behavior:
Is the behavior of consumers, where they can illustrate the quest to buy, use, evaluate and improve their products and services. Focus of consumer behavior is how individuals make decisions to use the resources they have available to consume a product.
Two types of consumer
1. Personal Consumer: The consumer buys or uses goods or services for their own use.
2. Organizational Consumer: The consumer buys or uses goods or services to meet the needs and running the organization.
Production Concept
Consumers are generally more interested in products that are cheaper. Absolute is known that the object of marketing is cheap, efficient production and distribution-intensive.
Product Concept
Consumers will use or purchase products offered are high quality, best performance and feature-complete feature.
Selling concept
Marketers have the overriding goal of selling a product which unilaterally decided to produce.
Marketing Concept
The company wants consumers to know through research that has been done before, and then produce products that consumers want. This concept is called the marketing concept.
Market segmentation
Dividing the group of heterogeneous market into homogeneous groups of market.
Market targeting
Selecting one or more segments that identify the company to determine.
Positioning
Develop a different idea for goods and services that exist in the minds of consumers.
Providing customer value is defined as the ratio between the benefits perceived resources (economic, functional and psychological) are used to generate these benefits. Gains have been felt in the form of a relative and subjective.
Customer satisfaction is the individual's perception of the performance of the product or service in relation to expectations.
Maintaining customers is how to maintain that consumers remain loyal to one firm compared to other companies, almost in all business situations, more expensive to find new customers than retain existing ones.
 
Warm Regards
 
Atul Sikrai
Founder & Chief Mentor
Brand Diagonal.

Wednesday 29 June 2011

Digital Asset Management – DAM-it !

Brand Stories are powerful.

They are the emotional glue that connects the storyteller with his audience and, more importantly, the audience with the idea the storyteller is trying to convey.

Stories tap into not only our minds, but also our hearts. They’re why we cry at movies, even though we know they’re fiction. They’re why a homeless man could go from panhandling on a street corner to working as the voice of Kraft in a matter of days.

When we were kids, stories were our lives. We’d incessantly ask our parents to read us storybook after storybook, even though we could literally recite the stories word for word. But that didn’t matter, because they connected us with our parents.
As we grew up, we lost our zeal for storytelling. We got our diplomas and put our picture frames in our cubicles, and we stopped telling stories. Visions of what could be were replaced with corporate jargon, features, awards (which were paid for), press releases, and bullet point-ridden PowerPoints. We lost perspective, forgetting about the audience and worrying just about our bottom lines.
The balance of power has shifted. It’s gone from advertisers with deep pockets, throwing money at one-way media, into the hands of the audience members. If they don’t like your television commercials, they’ll fast-forward their DVRs. If they don’t like your radio commercials, they’ll plug in their iPods. They block your telemarketing calls and toss your direct mail in the trash. The age of interruptive media is over, and that’s where brand storytelling begins.

The only messages audiences will see or hear are those they choose to see or hear. They demand to be engaged, valued, and entertained. That’s the way we felt when we were children, right? Begging our parents to engage us, value us, and entertain us. Those emotions we had as children are still within us all. Why would it be any different in business?

Instead, brands need to embrace storytelling. They need to find their inner brand stories and manifest them in ways that are so engaging, valuable, and/or entertaining that audiences want to tell their friends.

Your brand has a story too, whether you’re a Fortune 500 company or a solo entrepreneur. When you unearth that story and spread it in all forms and channels — that’s when your audiences let you into their lives and evangelize for you.

Great stories spread. And those who tell the best stories win.
Want to have a story for your Brand? Then Brand Diagonal  is way out.

Thanking You

Atul Sikrai.

Founder

Brand Diagonal.


Wednesday 25 May 2011

The human — God’s masterpiece .

The human —God’s masterpiece
The human  is ‘ …the most complex and orderly arrangement of matter in the universe.

A group of salesmen went to a sales convention. All had promised their wives they would arrive at time for dinner Friday night. However, the convention ended a little late, and they came tardy to the airport. They all came in with their tickets and portfolios, running through the ails. Suddenly, and unintentionally, one of the salesmen stumbled on a table that had an apple basket.

The apples went flying everywhere. Without stopping, nor turning back, the salesmen continued running, and barely were able to get on the plane. All but one. This one stopped, took a deep breath, and experienced a feeling of compassion for the owner of the apple booth. He said to his friends that continue without him and asked one of them that when he arrived call his wife and explain to her that he was coming in a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal and found all the apples thrown on the floor.

His surprise was great, when realizing that the owner of the booth was a blind girl. He found her crying, with big tears running down her cheeks. She groped on the floor, trying, in vain, to collect the apples, while the multitude passed by, vertiginous, non stopping, without caring for her misfortune. The man knelt down with her, he gathered the apples, put them in the basket and helped her to setup her booth again. While he did it, he realized that many apples had been beaten and they were bruised. He took them out of the basket and put them in another basket.

When he finished, he pulled out his purse and told the girl,"Please, take these one hundred pesos for the damaged we did to you. Are you OK?". She, crying, nodded positively. He continued telling her: "I hope I have not ruined your day." As the salesman was going away, the girl cried loud at him, "Sir..." He stopped and turned around to see those blind eyes. She continued: "Are you God...?"

He stopped abruptly and swirled several times, before heading to board another flight, with that question burning and vibrating in his soul, "Are you God?"

And to you, have people mistaken you for God ? Because that is our destiny, isn't it? To resemble ourselves so much to God that people cannot see the difference. To look so much like God, as we live in a world that is blind to His Love, His Life and His Grace. If we say we know god, we should live and act as he would. To know him is much more that to cite the Gospels and to go to church. It is, really, to live His word each day. You are the apple of His eyes, even though you have been bruised by the falls. He left all and gathered you and me in Calvary; He paid for our spoilt fruit. Let's start to live as though we were worthy of the price He paid!


Being Human is best brand we can built for God.

Thanking You

Atul Sikrai

Thursday 5 May 2011

Digital World & Ways

Brand development has really come to the fore in digital marketing, likely because of the rise of social media, after the long obsession with all things direct response. I think this is a good thing and in line with what matters to us, as customers. So, for my first post on clever part.I wanted to explore some of the Brand Keys predictions further, share my thoughts and see if anyone else had things that they wanted to share on this subject given that “branding” and “brand development” have so often being misunderstood.

First – It’s important to recognize that building a strong brand has always been important if differentiation and avoiding having a commoditized product or service matters to you. It’s not new, and yet the Internet has significantly changed what it means, and how crucial it is to business growth today.

Customers need the “reason to buy at all”, it’s obvious that that any product has to be great value but the point here is the meaning behind the brand, to “me” as a the consumer. Answering the “why should I” at an emotional level. For digital marketers, that means you need to give your audience an amazing reason to visit, to remain on your site, to return, to refer and to give you their contact details. So – think about our Brand Diagonal and if you create lead tools for data capture then ensure that they add value to the intended recipient rather than do the bare minimum. Imagine the impact if you aimed to give 10x the value to visitors, leads and customers at every touch point?

The value of goods and services will increasingly be defined by what’s wrapped up in the brand and what the brand stands for. Though not new, it’s more important when there are potentially thousands of people sharing stories about your brand online. “…true brands provide meaningful differentiation in a world over-run by commodities.

We Brand Diagonal have that expertise to build Brand through Social Media .And if you are reading this blog today shows our expertise to use this medium. At last you have made you mind to use us?

Always Happy to Build Your Brand digitally.

Atul Sikrai

Chief Mentor & Founder

Brand Diagonal




Monday 25 April 2011

Old Spice "Woman": Short-Term Laughs, Long-Term Gain ?

Can your Brand DO standup comedy?

Getting people to laugh is probably even harder than getting them to buy. To me “to make someone laugh is to disarm them.” Deciding to buy is as much a release of tension as laughing, especially when people aren’t buying on the basis of need alone.

People may watch a comedian expecting to laugh, but they still need to be disarmed and won over. It’s a competitive environment, just like business. What does a comedian say after he leaves the stage with the audience cheering? “I killed ‘em out there.” What does a great salesman say after a fantastic quarter? “I made a killing in the market.”

Brands have to do more than just meet expectations; they have to penetrate the built-in resistance to commit. That energy and insight has to be supplied by the performer, not the audience.

Good branding and design, like good comedy, is often the art of sacrifice. You are defined by who and what you’re not for, thus freeing you to excel within the audience that gets you.


Innovation, like comedy, is a messy, often counter-intuitive business. It’s an iterative loop of creation, feedback, revision, rejection, and creation again. Used correctly, research fuels the understanding that leads to real breakthroughs. In the wrong hands, it all but assures the death of originality.

So, I killed some frogs here, but if one more good idea sees the light of day, perhaps they did not die in vain.

When it comes to innovation, the customer is rarely right. At least, they’re rarely right about what they want next. Businesses run on process, and the traditional market research process of concept testing is indeed an efficient process: Nothing kills ideas faster than concept testing. That doesn’t mean research has no place in innovation development; the key is to use it to understand, not to evaluate.

A comedian doesn’t ask the audience what the next joke should be about, he has the skill to tell them. Great comedians are tremendously astute observers of human beings. They know how people think, what experiences we have in common, and how to direct (or misdirect) our attention. They have to be ahead of their audience, but not so far ahead that they baffle us instead of amusing us. Similarly, the best market research is aimed at understanding how customers interact with a given product category, not asking them what should come next.

Regards

Atul Sikrai

Chief Mentor & Founder

Brand Daigonal.


Thursday 21 April 2011

Topsy-turvy, hurly-burly Tactics!

The normal business process is to have a product, start looking for prospects, and make the sale. Guess What? Normal businesses also don't work very well!

Let's turn business upside down!

If you would really love to have a radical change in your business, you are going to have to make some radical changes in your methods.

One definition of insanity that I feel is especially appropriate for business owners to understand is, "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting to receive different results."

If you continue to run your business in a "normal" way, you will always be limited to "normal" results.

If you want to have "exceptional" results in your business, you are going to have to put "exceptional" methods to work for you.

If you are like 99% of internet marketers I know, I will venture to bet that you have a web site & product and that your biggest problem is building the traffic to your site. I will also bet you aren't making very many sales!

What happens if we turn this process upside down?

What happens if we choose to find the prospects first...build a relationship with them...and then find a product that they Dream about?

Everybody online appears to have a product. How many of them have an audience?

It is kind of funny...I always have people coming to me that they have an awesome product they want to sell to the world. They just can't get anyone to visit their site.

I rarely ever have anyone saying, "I have too much traffic and I just don't know what to sell." When they come to me. I can guarantee you that those people are the easiest people in the world to help.

If you have the traffic, all you have to do is ask them what they want. Then, find it for them.

If you have a product, we have to figure out a way to get traffic to your site, set up the sales process, and start making sales.

I am not saying this isn't possible. We do it all the time. What I am saying is that it is the wrong way to do business on the net.

Let's turn it upside down.

Instead of starting out with a product, let's start out by figuring out what it is that you are passionate about. What is it that is exciting in your life and that you have experience and skills in?

What is it that gets your fire burning? Way too many people have decided to just follow the pack instead of being creative and coming up with their own ideas.

Since the rest of the pack seems to be slowly moving away into oblivion (Over 95% of internet sites are losing money), shouldn't you make a change of direction?

Once we figure out what it is that you love, let's decide where you can find other people just like you.

Regards

Atul Sikrai

Chief Mentor & Founder

Brand Diagonal.


Thursday 7 April 2011

Whacky Brand Dressing

Revamping one’s brand does not only maintain a good image, it also repairs a damaged one. As written, no matter how bad your reputation gets, you can always turn it around.

How, then, could you revamp your brand? Here are a few suggestions.

Boost your promotions campaign. Aside from improving your packaging, have some “widgets” or extras to go with your products. You could use “more for less” campaigns. Make buying your product more exciting for your customers by giving free items or services for every purchase.

. Improve your product availability and compatibility with other products. Make sure your product doesn’t get overlooked by enhancing your point-of-purchase advertisements. You can also try tying up with another establishment so you could both endorse each others’ products along with your own.

    Building brand presence by getting product to market faster with little to no investment or inventory risk. 
    Accelerating the ability to gain additional shelf space or enter into new channels or regions. 
    Delivering valuable and steady royalty revenue increasing cash flow and operating income. 

It is no surprise that academics and professionals alike are calling for new approaches to marketing, because the old approaches are inadequate to the challenges. New forms of media are showing up all the time. Consumers are faced with a turbo-charged range of choices, and an array of new technology is available to support marketing decisions and programs.

Marketing is still about identifying needs so that people line up to buy. The change is in how consumers learn about products and services and receive the messages. We are entering a ‘post-mass media’ marketing world.

1. Learn everything about your customers. Understand them at a deep level. Know what motivates them. Know what they aspire to and what they fear.

2. Stand for something important to your customers. Let them know that you share their values.

3. Interact with your customers as if they were your partners. Respect them. Listen to them. Collaborate with them. Co-create new products and services with them.

4. Grow with your current customers. Identify how you can meet more and more of their needs. It is much less expensive to sell a current customer one more thing than it is to gain a new customer.

5. Innovate. Don’t rest on your laurels. Anticipate your customers’ needs. Give them something that they would really appreciate but perhaps had never conceived of before.

Happy2Help you to create Brand People shall Love.

Atul Sikrai

Chief Mentor & Founder

Brand Diagonal.

Thursday 24 March 2011

Why You Wont Use Us !!!!!!

You're about to discover the true
Secrets for advertising now—before it make you Mad...

As every dedicated watcher of Mad Men knows, advertising is built on the genius of ideas. Inspiration can strike from any corner (and in every flashback). And beware: Even the greatest ideas are fleeting.

But every now and then, an idea comes along those changes the game for good. Yes, the campaign generates huge, instantaneous buzz and moves plenty of product--but it also stands the test of time, infiltrating the culture in subtle ways for decades to come.
The Art of Mad Ads
Mad ads are all about fun; it’s about laughing and having a good time. For the rookies, mad ads are a crude form of theatre, though not accepted as one by theatre hardliners. Its genre is mainly comedy. As the name suggests, it’s about mad advertisements. The name's also a bit of a misnomer though, in the sense that it’s not about making your own ads but, spoofing existing ads

A good script is the basic requirement of a mad ads team. Sit down with our team and brainstorm to get those whacky ideas outta ur butts or wherever u've them hidden. Ideas need not always be excellent and path breaking. No matter how bad it is, put it across to the team. Many a times, such flop-ideas lead to the best of the jokes. Before finalizing our script, make sure it makes u laugh in the first place.

Golden Rule: Something u can't laugh at can't make others laugh for a sure!!
As a consumer you’re inundated with literally hundreds of messages on a daily basis so it’s little wonder that when you change hats and become an advertiser you may wonder where to start.

It’s really not that complicated. At MAD IDEAS we’ll start by helping you to identify who you most want to reach. When we know more about their lifestyle, their habits, their likes and dislikes, we’ll help you find the right publication to advertise in or the right channel for a Direct Mail Campaign.

After that it’s all about standing out from the crowd or in marketing speaks achieving ‘good cut through’. Essentially it just means using the right tone and language to really speak to your target market. 

And finally - "My Accountant Thinks I’m Crazy Sale"
This is a tongue in cheek sales letter that talks about your annoyance at your nagging, domineering, penny pinching, scrooge-ish accountant. How he bullies you, pushes you around and watches you like a hawk…but now he’s out of town on vacation for the week and you’re going to have some fun… with the wildest, most generous offers in the history of your business.

How We Can Help You
We'll happily listen to any of your own mad marketing ideas and give you feedback.
Our high quality service and "raving fan" clients are the result of our commitment to excellence. Above all, we never lose sight of the premise that our prosperity is directly linked to yours.

Promise to make you Mad.

Atul Sikrai
Founder & Chief Mentor
Brand Diagonal.

Friday 18 February 2011

Advertising Strategy

An advertising strategy should support the marketing plan, which in turn supports the company business plan.
In the Real World you will rarely be handed a marketing or business plan. So you'll normally have to figure things out for yourself.
How to create an advertising strategy: The first step in the development of your communications strategy could be should be a SWOT analysis.
Properly done, a Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats assessment will give you a 360 degree, full-color picture of the market, the product or service, and the company.
There are two major parts to an advertising strategy.
1) Assessment.
What's going on in the market, what’s the history, the current situation? What are the major trends in the market, what's the future looking like? With the product. With competitors. With consumer attitudes.
2) Action
What should your client do about the most significant opportunities or problems presented by the situation? What should you do with the brand? With direct marketing. The Web site. The way the company is positioned.
A SWOT analysis will help you figure out the "What's going on" part. And figure it out quickly.
The "What to do" part of your ad strategy should follow logically from the "What's going on" part.
Example: Say the SWOT analysis reveals that there is serious and growing competition from price slashes.

Your strategy might be:
A) Position, or re-position the product: "Because you're worth it - worth so much more then the extra dollar."
B) Invest in, create a stronger brand personality - one based on an upscale, character that people will aspire to associate with.
C) Use traditional dm and the Internet / Web site to target and sell younger buyers, new buyers, before they have established a product / service / company preference.
You can see how your ad strategy addresses a business issue, competitive price pressure, in the above example.

You can also see that the ad strategy deals with the big strategic issues: branding, positioning, direct marketing, and media. And it does so with simple action statements describing, high-level, what you intend to accomplish.
Eventually your strategy will influence all the details, down to the copy and design of your ads. But start with an executive summary of the big issues, the big picture.
"OK, Mr. President. Here's what's going on. Big picture. One, two, three.
And here's what we will do about it. Big picture. One, two, three."
That's the essence of strategic leadership and vision.

Always yours

Atul Sikrai

Founder & Chief Mentor

Brand Diagonal



Wednesday 16 February 2011

creative-out-of-the-box-advertising-tactics

One of the most common myths along the lines of advertising is the idea that advertising should be safe and similar to competitors in order to reach and connect with the largest possible demographic. This is a common advertising pitfall you will want to side-step when advertising your business. First of all, keep in mind you are not trying to reach the largest possible demographic. Your advertising should be targeted advertising, and you will need to know who your audience is before placing ads.

Another pitfall new advertiser’s make in an ad campaign is to create an ad that is instantly forgettable. It is better to offend someone (who probably has little or no interest in your business to begin with) than to have an ad that no one can remember. Keep in mind as you create ads to make sure your advertising that stands out and grabs the attention of your target audience immediately. This should be your primary focus.

If you want to create the kind of advertising that stands out and makes an instant impression, and makes someone remember you or think of you when they need your service, the last thing you want to do is copy the competition or create an ad that is similar to your competitors. There is nothing wrong with seeing what works for others in their advertising and using some of that to your own benefit. But that is where the emulation should end. If all advertising sounds or looks the same, people stop paying attention. If you drive down a country road and see a row of mailboxes that are all identical, nothing draws your attention or catches your eye, nothing draws you to stop and stare at any particular mailbox. All the mailboxes simply fall into the background. On the other hand, if there is a mailbox that is a little colorful with cows on it or a strange ornament, you are probably going to take a second look at it to figure out exactly what is going on. It will command more of your attention. You might even get a chuckle out of it. The same concept applies to advertising. Do not be afraid to step way out of the box. That is the kind of advertising that gets people talking.
At the same time, do not get so involved in creating off the wall ads that you forget you have a product to sell. Plenty of small business owners make this mistake as well. They try so hard to entertain their audience that they avoid doing anything traditional because they do not want to come across as just another ad. Keep in mind the bottom line is you are selling a product or service. At some point you have to get across a message. You can and should do it in an entertaining and fun way, a way that has never been tried before, even a shocking or unconventional way. People can shake their heads after seeing your ad and even be annoyed by it, but they must at least know that it was advertising in the first place. Just remember that people today are bombarded with advertising. Make yours a little wacky and unforgettable, and you will create a desire in people to want to know more. Hey, if it is wacky enough, you might even give them a good laugh for the day, but they will certainly remember it.


Brand Guru
Atul Sikrai
Brand Diagonal.

Brand Diagonal

Brand Diagonal

Atul Sikrai : Founder & Chief Mentor
wiTdom     : Promoter & Angel Investor.

About us :
Mathematics of connecting two nonadjacent angles i.e. Producer with Consumer.
Its an Advertising & Marketing Agency.

What we do :
Competitive Analysis, Campaign Designing and Execution, Composing and Updating Corporate Collateral, Web research, Designing Corporate presentations and Social Media Marketing. Pre-Sales activities include Lead Prospecting, Client Requirements Analysis, Product Demonstrations, Managing Key Accounts, RFIs and RFPs and Negotiations.

Content Writing includes Composing Corporate Brochures, Website, Press Releases, Promotional Campaigns &Banner content ( for Tradeshows )
The profile includes a tinge of PR activities like Publishing Press Releases and Enlisting company profile in B2B portals

Regards
Atul Sikrai
Founder & Chief Mentor
Brand Diagonal