Author: animeshjmathur

Negativity – all around – count your blessings – take affirmative action

Affirmative action, arrogance, Karma, mindset

The second wave of Covid19 in India is really taking its toll. To every person you talk there’s someone close to them who’s down with Covid19.

If we switch on the television, all it will talk about are the challenges with patients not getting oxygen, Politicians are at their best doing what they do , by blaming the ruling government for all the ills being faced.

I am generally a very positive person and try to find something which will give me a reason to be positive. But I couldn’t get myself to do that. All the conversations I had today had some tragedy about someone. I was not even being able to think of what I should write in this post.

But I started writing this blog and then started thing of all the blessings that I have in my life. All the reasons for me to be grateful that I can continue writing this post.

Then I thought I could continue to being a spectator or I could also help in some way. So I thought the government is facing a challenge in getting hold of oxygen. now I can’t make medical grade oxygen, but I can help the government in whatever small capacity in helping them get the equipment which can make the oxygen. So I went and donated money to the PM-CARES fund. I decided to stop just thinking but took some affirmative action.

As John Paul Dejoria says – and I am paraphrasing it – Success not Shared is worthless. If you don’t know who John Paul Dejoria is do a search on Google. He is a few billion dollars worth, but such a soft spoken gentleman, with absolutely no arrogance, who has contributed so much.

And suddenly the world is not so bad. Yes things are not rosy, but human beings have the resilience to find solutions. I am sure we will find solutions to handle this pandemic. I also did my little bit again today. I always feel terrific after donating money. I also believe in Karma and after donating I feel I have sent out a positive message into the universe.

What’s your view, please put in the comments section.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Integrated Product Management

differentiation, Marketing, Marketing Ecosystem, Positioning, Product Management, single target market

I learnt a very important concept yesterday while watching a video of Brendon Burchard from the ilovemarketing mastery program by Joe Polish.

He was explaining about how he strategizes a book launch. A book launch is another form of a product launch with the product over here being a book.

I have been in Product Management for quite a long time and some of the concepts that he spoke about were standard.

However one thing which got me thinking and which you also need to understand if you are into Product Management is differentiating between ancillary products / services versus next set of products / services which are higher up in aspiration but are however part of a common ecosystem.

As per Brendon an ear phone, phone cover are ancillary while the iPhone, the iPad and the Mac all part of the integrated product set which Apple sell all the 3 items to their customer base all the time.

So even though Android is there with the so called “open” environment with a huge ecosystem, with full fledged interoperability and there are so many companies who sell more phones than Apple but no company makes as much money whether its with phones, tablets and computers.

This got me thinking. If you look at other companies who are really have ruled a lot of industries – the integrated product suite does come to mind.

IBM had their set of products and services which were generally all integrated. That was the biggest value to large customers who did not want the hassle of integrating products from different vendors. Customers could easily buy another set of products with a clear knowledge that they were safe because it was IBM. So even though a lot of companies came out with so called “open-systems” and individual discreet products, IBM had their clientele clearly defined and have been making a lot of money.

This has got me thinking. While we do think in terms of the next set of products/services that we should have in our suite, to clearly have an integrated suite where the customer has the comfort as well as the aspiration to take the next product from us needs to be thought off. We also need to clearly differentiate between ancillaries and next level of products so that we have 2 sets of revenue streams.

Pls tell me if you have had success with this kind of an integrated product suite. I would like to know your inputs in the comments section below.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

B2B messaging – Using Triggers – 2

B2B, Business, differentiation, Marketing, messaging, persistence, single target market, Triggers

Yesterday I wrote about one of the best triggers that I have found in B@B messaging, when someone joins in a new role from outside the company in the executive position.

There are multiple other triggers that can be used based on the environment the company is operating in.

  1. New regulation / compliances in the industry which everyone has to comply with especially if followed with a time limit
  2. Going out / End of Life – of a license/regulation – again if there is a time limit it is even more critical
  3. Entry of a new competitor in the market
  4. Entry of a new technology
  5. Impact of an event on a competitor and how it can apply to them
  6. Global crisis and many more….

The reason I addressed the “new joinee trigger” as an independent post yesterday was because I have found that to be the most effective. With the above triggers the challenges are seen as more long term and people may not react to your messaging immediately.

Apart from the timing issue the other challenge is again related to targeting the right person in the organsiational matrix with the messaging for the above.

If you have been following my blog, I have given so many tactics for messaging whether its with dissonance or now with triggers or earlier with pain areas and aspiration areas.

The reason you have to test for so many different types of messaging is because you don’t know what kind of messaging will invoke a response from which prospect. You have to keep persisting with trying various options continuously.

So keep testing.

Till next time then

Carpe Diem!!!

B2B Messaging – Using Triggers

B2B, messaging, Triggers

I have written a lot of posts on B2B Messaging. Here’s one more.

The reason for this is that while the database is critical, once you have identified it , there’s no more variability. On the other hand you don’t know which message will resonate with your audience. Here you have to try multiple iterations and improve on each “control” by changing one variable at a time.

One item which I have observed work for my team a lot of times is “triggers” especially when someone new has joined at an executive position.

If you can track the priorities of the CEOs when they take over and/or other CXOs, then you can figure out if your solution can fit into their priorities.

If you send out a consistent set of messages after that, then you will end up building a recognition so that when the CXO is willing to work out on the priority, they will definitely ask their staff to “check you out”.

That’s when you get a chance to make an impression and wow them with your commitment to service.

Does it always work. No. But it does work a considerable amount of times. So its worth trying. Let me know if it works for you as well.

Till next time then

Carpe Diem!!!