I did the above prelude to set the context for what the companies, its executives and brand stewards should be doing in today’s challenging times and very importantly what they should not be doing. I do agree that these are extraordinary times and no one has an idea and clear picture of what we are in for, how long is it going to take. It is made far worse because there seems be none among all the world governments and central banks who seem to have a good idea of how to handle this. My point about things like this that are not in our control is that one should not lay too much emphasis on what is not in their control and focus more and more on what is in our control. And be prepared to change as the macro environment changes. Atleast you would be doing something and have the satisfaction of having done something than sounding helpless.

Coming specifically to communication, like they say in a sandstorm one should not bury their heads in the sand, it is in times like this that companies need to come out and communicate. Communicate even more than they did in good times. For, in good times, as everyone is doing well and everything is hunky dory, the fact that you communicated or not becomes secondary overshadowed by the enthusiasm and cheer all around. However, when the shine goes and the clouds set in, like now, then people are more aware of what is being said, by who and what. If silence is all they hear, they make their own conclusions and in dire times one does not need a psychology masters to figure the nature and type of those conclusions.

Now, let me make an important clarification. I am not saying be loud and say things are good. That is surely going to backfire. Instead what I would recommend is clear communication that sets out what the management thinks the impact really is, what is has done about it and to manage it, what impact there might be on each employee or department or division or unit? and finally what it expects of each of its employees in these times. This crystal clear communication if done well and in person if possible does very many things positive the impact of which will be felt even beyond the tough times.

Stepping out of the internal domain, companies need to communicate to the media as well. Media like any other arm of society is influenced by what it sees and hears. If companies stop communicating, there is a message that is sent out loud and clear. A not so positive one which leads the media to paint a picture of gloom which inturn affects sentiment and the cycle just goes on. I am not sure if exciting products have stopped being churned, if companies have stopped taking initiatives or that every company and executive is sitting in their chambers with the towels thrown in. Life has not stopped and it will not. It is a cycle and we will need to ride out this cycle how long or short it may be. How worse or not worse it will be? Again here, a word of caution. This is not the time for overoptimistic projections and plans without fundamentals. Speak what is still happening in your business, what is being done about it from a positive perspective and the need to be mature and last the storm. Am sure the more companies do this, the more journalists and editors who feel things are not as bad as they are made out to be and we see a balanced message emerging. This is good in these conditions.

To summarize, look internally and focus on communicating with employees and reinforcing your internal brand and continue to engage media in a balanced manner. The twin shall surely help us last and emerge stronger and all set to ride the wave when the tide turns the other way. As we all know and have seen, it is just a question of time before it turns.

This is one of the articles which have their roots in personal anguish. Over the past 18 months during which, the firm I run has started moving away from traditional, plain vanilla media relations into being a customized communication solutions firm there is one phrase that I hear (and now live in constant mortal fear of hearing again and again) from clients –“You are a PR firm and a PR firm is not supposed to be a specialist beyond media relations.”

Few days back had a potential client who is a start-up spend a lot of time in our office. Our creative head who is a two decade veteran in advertising and I took him through our portfolio and explained to him the process we adopt. He could also see that we had a full fledged team with graphic and interactive capabilities inside. So, we thought it is all sealed and done. Day after we got a call. The board of the company was of the opinion that PR firms are not good at design or anything to do with it and they asked the mandate be split into PR and brand identity development. We of course would get the “PR” part.

Few months back, we were interacting with a leading mobile services firm which had clarity that they need to do new/social media. We proposed and we thought so logically that the same firm handle both offline and online media so that there is synergy and consistency. We also showcased our understanding and said though initial days we know what we are doing. We also sent across couple of case studies which we thought were relevant interms of brands using social media in India. The response was along the typical lines. “We feel as a PR firm you must be good at media relations but social media it is better to go to a specialist firm.” That the flurry of new/social media firms that have sprung up all over the country were doing the same experimentation and may not have the same rigor or understanding of the fundamental communication process, was lost.

Let me cite a third instance before I move onto what happens with potential employees. We were talking to a senior person in corporate communications in one of India’s leading IT services firms and we were talking about our content and social media capabilities. Well, but then you are not a PR firm and you need to seriously relook at changing your name, he opined.

Potential employees are ones I equally dread. Most of them seem to think, the ability to speak well, track papers and know a few media, is all that is needed for a career in a PR firm. Ask them to handle an internal communication campaign or newsletter or an EDM. Pat would be the answer, “We didn’t know a PR firm was supposed to do all this’. The intensity of the pre-conceived notion struck most when a new joinee from a leading PR firm preferred to go back within 5 days of joining since she was very uncomfortable with some of these additional capabilities being asked of her. Many existing employees are no different and often require huge amount of training and constant goading before they even accept that a PR firm should and can be doing these things.

This is a paradox I am unable to understand. On one hand many in our industry keep talking of how PR has evolved and has today become strategic and beyond media relations. If so, my simple question is, in areas beyond media relations what is the benchmark? Is it just saying we do this also or doing it so well or having expertise that is comparable to specialized firms.

There is another macro question that begs an answer. If the current and new crop of employees comes into PR thinking this is all that is to PR and restrict their skill focus, where will the talent reservoir that we need to tap into for delivering “more than media relations” come from?

It is time we unbox “PR” and “Communication” in our country. It needs to be communicated that it extends beyond media relations and increasingly there are many many good reasons why it has to. From the growing limitations of editorial coverage to the need to engage a customer in new ways.

Until we do that, fear we will continue to speak big in forums where the audience laps it up but in reality there will be a hotch potch attempt. The bigger concern I have is that as the space of marketing and branding evolves and spreads in new and multiple directions, how will PR hold its own and be the leader of the pack? Or are we destined and content to be one of the important BTL tools?

Though it was tough, we took the plunge recently whole hog positioning ourselves as a customized communication solutions firm and said we will remove “PR” from all of our collaterals and messaging except in the name. And I can bet with you the repeated frustration with popular mis-conception and having to hear repeatedly ‘You are a PR firm’ was surely among the biggest triggers.

(Xavier Prabhu is Director & CEO of a customized communication solutions firm. He can be reached at xavier@prhub.com)

Since the topic touches and will touch raw chords and nerves let me at the outset categorically state that the views are those of a seasoned communicator looking at the current scenario dispassionately.

Being a not so regular TV watcher and my mother tongue being Tamil end up watching commercial TV in Tamil mostly in the evening prime time slot. Over the past few years have consistently noticed that big retailers (guess there are tens of them out of Chennai and elsewhere) and most regional FMCG brands almost entirely depend on TV commercials for their sales or marketing or communication with customers. It also dawned on me that festive season after festive season, collection after collection, product after product, this formula remained largely untouched.Get a hummable tune, hire some pleasant and known faces (mostly actresses of the small and the big screen), get a film maker to do a slick execution and run it non stop across leading TV channels on prime time and hey presto it is a success. To the credit of this approach it must be said that it ends up attracting attention and the thronging crowds (the rare few times have been to TNagar) are proof that it works. However as a seasoned communicator this has often stuck me as contrary to fundamentals of markets and consumers. In that markets and consumers are complex and there can be no eternal surefire ways to success in the marketplace. Then I started noticing the chinks and small as they are I felt it is matter of time before they blow up to be significant forcing a change in thinking and approach. Hard and painful though it will be.

Last September went looking for a specific mobile handset at the biggest of these retailers in T Nagar housed in a mammoth multi-storied building and buzz with milling crowds. They were supposed to have lowest prices and the best range. Not only was the model not available the sales counter person made no effort to understand my need and suggest me an alternative. The manner was a put off and that was not to be the end. Did pick up a few little things for my children and as I went up to pay the bill it was not only cumbersome but chaotic as well. And then as I made my way to the lift realized it was overcrowded and one needs to wait. Also, it stuck me that there was no attempt to know or understand “me” the consumer even though there is a logic considering the crowds and wafer thin margins of the model. The big retailer in question had another older building outlet on Ranganathan Street and the experience when I had shopped there 4 yars back was no different. Only this time the building was new, was more glitzy and the range had increased. That night as I walked out of the shop, was categorical will never ever step in again. Being a marketing person it set me thinking. Probably I was not the target audience they were focused on and the loyal customer base is fine with these things etc. It seemed to me that many of these retailers think it is enough to build these bulky shops, advertise heavily and keep the prices cheap and customers will keep coming. Customer experience, convenience and engagement being dispensable. But as we all know globally all it takes is for the sands of market and consumer behaviour to shift for such supposedly foolproof business models to run into trouble. The last strain was when I heard many of my friends in Chennai tell me that they mostly don’t go to such shops except few times and the low price also meant low quality.

Let me now move to regional FMCG brands (with some notable exceptions) where I see a similar approach. Most of them are all focused on creating great commercials with catchy jingles again with the same formula of known and pleasant faces. If not stars then it needs to be cute looking children. Very little attempt to categorize and engage the consumer. And worse, little thought to building a strong characteristic to be associated with the brand which needs consistency and a certain kind of rigorousness. Again here most of them are doing well and consumers are not seemingly minding it as many of these brands are selling. The trouble again as I pointed out above in the case of retail stores is that things could change albeit drastic.

Another factor that I found (though not supported by hardcore market research) is that if one were to take a timeframe of 10 years and place all these brands onto it and see how many lived through and grew, chances are there will be very few. Business success in the FMCG marketplace is also about longevity since that allows some residual brand awareness and loyalty which can be nurtured and extended or expanded as the plans demand. In which case many of these brands then lived and then faded away by the TV spots. The sad irony is that many a time, the consumers remember the commercial but the brand itself does not exist anymore.

The danger in both the cases is not just of future challenges and market shifts. It is of complacency that sets in because of a tried and tested formula that seems to work. The logic is not arguing against the sheer reach of regional TV channels in South which on festive days reaches a high and thus provides a majority of the potential consumers on a platter. It is asking for brands and retailers to think out of the box (literally) or what they do with the masses regional channels deliver. Here are a few thoughts from my side:

- Try direct customer outreach activities that allow them to understand the consumer even more besides allowing for quality
engagement with the brand
- Let the advertising take a different tack like “Sakthi” masala does in positioning itself as a socially conscious brand
- In shop increase ways and means through which a consumer is understood and engaged bit more
- If they have multiple stores, they can look at certain areas within the outlets to be targeted at a different segment of a consumer (obviously they cannot hope to be end to end but a segment consisting of consumers at the fringe)

In seeking the answers and trying out such and more initiatives, I feel lies a new journey for many of these brands and retailers which will not only take them newer places but allow them to know who their consumers are even better and thus engage them effectively. It will also lead to better product development and innovation which will spur a cycle that is known to be more long lasting. Here is to a life beyond TV spots for retailers and regional FMCG brands.

(Xavier Prabhu is Director & CEO of a customized communication solutions firm. He can be reached at xavier@prhub.com)

Social media is the in thing nowadays. There is not a single day that passes without a story on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube or the stars of the social media space making it to the airwaves or the ink. The success of Obama and our very own Pink Chaddi campaign is fresh in our memories and already spoken to death in social media conferences and seminars. On the other side, every other day, witness a new venture or foray into the space. If one adds up all the hype, then social media should have already arrived from a brand communication and marketing perspective. Well, not really. Here is my take on what it will take to get social media which I agree is hot and presents profound new ways of touch, communication and engagement, can get there.
Need to go beyond piecemeal and one person service providers
Yes, it is the most democratic medium or platform. Yes, the young are more comfortable with the Orkuts, twitters and facebooks than the old and yes there is no geographical constraint as internet is universal. But let us not forget that brands or the process of branding (except for a few categories) is not something special or separate for social media. Social media needs new ways of adoption and customization to suit its’ unique ecosystem and ways but it is not that the branding process itself, is in for a radical change. What this means is that truly successful social media initiatives will happen consistently over a period of time only with firms or players who have both for social media to go beyond few success studies and excited experiments it needs to one stop solution providers who have an understanding of how brands and the branding process work and then combine it with social media expertise. While social media is powerful, combined offline and online campaigns will create higher impact.

Need to go beyond tracking or listening
Am not sure how many know this. Software or tools that are meant for listening in social media are growing in abundance and at last count had 18 such URLs or names in my database. Am talking only of players who are visible and this number by itself seems to be growing at a brisk pace. While it is useful, let us understand that it is only the first step in a formal process a brand needs to undergo in social media.

Need to go beyond blogs
There is an urgent need to look beyond blogs, though blogs show a lot of promise, what with mobile blogs, video blogs and more. Am saying this more from the perspective that there are evolved tools like Twitter, Maplib, social bookmarking sites, besides the Facebooks, that truly offer immense potential. For example a friend of mine had done a campaign for a movie using twitter and maplib that was both creative and engaging. Recently also saw a website which was a wiki with the feeds on YouTube and linked. A great idea, simply because these two tools have combined reach which is smartly being utilized. Heard someone recently tell me that Dell extensively uses Twitter for its global customer support.

Need to break the myth of complexity
Social media is not as techie or geekish or complex as many think or make it out to be. There are couple of thumb rules which work fairly well for starters. For example just focus on starting a blog and then use all the social media tools available to promote it. Also social media is not about just getting in but using it smartly to be heard and be visible.

Need to experiment
Let us be clear that all that is happening in social media is experiments and there are bound to be successful and bad experiments. The best is to learn from it and move on, as the space itself is exploding fast and learning is the most precious commodity around in the space. Much like a battle scarred veteran who wears his scars on his sleeve.

Need to be choosy
Not all brands and companies are suited for social media since it is a different world out there. While it is exciting and great for some, it will be out of bounds for many. A company and its entire organization needs to be ready and be prepared for what social media entails and can assure of a surefire disaster if one is not prepared and goes around thinking it is like advertising which one can control. Even firms who play in the space would be well advised to do the diligence as too many failures or bad starts is bound to speed derailing enthusiasm, to adopt the media.
There are many more need to do lists and hope what I have said and listed makes for a good start and gets us cracking into a cracker of a space called social media.

(Xavier Prabhu is Director & CEO of a customized communication solutions firm. He can be reached at xavier@prhub.com)

It is the time of Onam in Kerala when it starts wearing a festive look and wallets open for practically endless shopping. It is also the time brand managers of every possible consumer name start working overtime to get their brand and its promise persuasively to catch the shopper’s eye. Predominantly what most brand managers/brands end up focusing on is racking their grey cells to figure the most attractive or creative way of riding this festive wave. Very few take the trouble of not taking the not so beaten path of being able to immerse your brand into the festive scape. Allow me to explain.

In merely trying to place their message before the consumer, brands get into a clutter vying for attention amidst a thousand others. This simply and often means highly expensive commercials and outspending other brands interms of sheer noise levels. While there is short-term sales push the mute question that begs an answer is whether the brand has gained in sustainable and significant manner out of this investment which is large and significant by any standards. Another equally important question that needs to be answered as well is whether the brand has gained or established any differential emotional connect with the consumer?

The answer according to me is a clear no. Since the consumer is engaged in a transactional manner it would be illogical to expect them to form any deeper connect with the brand than mere value or need based one. Considering that this is the predominant approach one might be tempted to ask then what is the alternative that we are speaking of here.

The alternative that I propose to brand managers is to spend more time to understand what the festival means to the consumer? And then figure how their brand can play a role which immerses it into the festive occasion or makes it an integral part of celebrating the festival or the occasion? This is, beware, tougher path as it means more rigorousness on the brand manager’s part, more investment in understanding the culture and the consumer behind the festival and finally being able to figure a way of meshing in seamlessly into the festive scape.

This has powerful spill offs if done well and in a sustained manner. The biggest is that you are not part of the clutter and vying for attention amidst thousand others. Next is that your brand by immersing itself into the festive scape has the opportunity to establish a deeper emotional connect than possible through mere commercials. Last, if done well and smartly, it means less investments in trying to place your brand before the consumer in the most appropriate and effective manner. Think of it, here is an alternative where the RoI is higher and the long-term spin off greater only if the brand could take the trouble to dig deeper into the consumer/cultural psyche. Are there examples – let me share two though there are many more.

2-3 years back Medimix as a brand had put up sign posts and resting places for devotees making their annual Sabarimala pilgrimage by foot. Just imagine, the devotee is taking this arduous journey and guiding as well as resting is something that he needs and the sheer amount of goodwill that the brand receives is incomparable.

Or just what Tata Coffee did a decade back in Tamilnadu. Tie-up with Kalyana Mandaps to place the Tata Coffee name on appalams being served at the marriage banquet. The deal was if you agree to serve it the appalam comes free. The dish is integral to any lunch and the volume is in millions as during the marriage season all halls run full and by culture marriage is an occasion where missing presence is read into and is an issue among the near and dear ones.

Or even what mineral water brands do during Kumbh Mela, the largest human congregation on the planet by having water pandals at the venue for the thronging and thirsty devotees.

Just wanted to leave this thought – instead of pumping more commercials on prime time in TV or full page print advertisements in color saying Onam sale or Onam offer, just a little thought and you could be closer to the consumer than you would otherwise and establish a connect more lasting too. Call it win-win or plain smartness, the choice is yours.

In my limited experience of being a branding and image consultant for a lot of IT, IT services and IT-enabled services companies, there was one constant challenge. With the exception of a few, the business model/content of communication of majority of companies in this space is absolutely indistinguishable. However, there was always a lingering question, which begged an answer and, answer to which I thought would be the basis of differentiation for a whole lot of players in these sectors.

Every organization must be unique in a real sense, in some way that even its founders, its employees and even its consumes or target audiences may not be aware of or fully ignorant to. How can one go about identifying, discovering or digging this uniqueness out and leverage it? The question assumes increased relevance today, as the industry becomes truly global and companies face the challenge in the external context. For lack of any better word, or for lack of some originality from my side let me call this the DNA* of an organization. In the ensuing paragraphs, I have tried my best to throw some light on various aspects related to the discovery and importance of this DNA primarily from a corporate brand perspective. For reasons of clarification, let me define DNA as an unique characteristic, aspect, nature or delivery of any organism from which springs the uniqueness of that organism and one which influences how the organism evolves.

DNA. IT WORKS.
Be it Infosys or BMW. Though both are rooted in different market, environments and industry, they and many others who have discovered their DNA are telling examples of how it can lead to a success from both organizational and market perspectives and how (in Infosys case) if done in a nascent industry with great promise, it could even lead you to become the darling of masses, customers and the government.

DNA. THE DISCOVERY PROCESS.
Today’s reality is that not many organizations are even aware of their DNA. So, a good starting point would be history. Go back to your roots. Your first clients. Some of your old associates. Early feedback on your work and delivery. Is there any historic and social context to the birth of your organization? Is there a thread you can pick-up or a characteristic that seems to keep coming up. Like BMW, which discovered that, its DNA lay in great engineering due to its origins as a manufacturer of mission-critical parts to aircrafts.

The discovery led to their repositioning as a maker of automobiles, which are machines that are ultimate driving pleasures.

If you are a start-up, look beyond your business plan. Look inside individuals who have come together to start it? Dig some common personal characteristics or leanings? Or was there a common and really fundamental inspiration? Is there a promise to your venture that will live beyond or is completely different? Is the timing of your venture laden with any social or corporate happening, which created tremors?

DNA IS WHAT IS IN THE BODY OF YOUR ORGANIZATION AND NOT TO BE FOUND PACKAGED IN A CONSULTANT’S SHOP OR AGENCY BED.

This again could be done in many ways. Through personal interaction with some of these audiences. Through administered questionnaires which capture the essence without overemphasis on the tangible. Through a search on information archives of the company. Or by hiring a consultant who just does that for you.

Since brands are such an important assets and one wrong repositioning could spell disaster, it is recommended that you go about doing some internal and external ramification after the DNA is discovered just to validate it and see if it needs some more fine-tuning. This actually helps you later in creating accurate imagery when targeting end customers.

LEVERAGING THE DNA.
Now, you have hit paydirt. You have found something underneath that is really unique. Take care from now on, like an archelogist does upon a discovery. Use carefully right tools, protect and keep chiseling slowly and painstakingly to understand and absorb what has been discovered.

Once that has been done, see if you could package it in such a way that it could be communicated, translated into organizational processes and more importantly, a true testimony of what that uniqueness is.

Manufacturing critical aircraft parts which are fitted real-time on the original part’s failure needs great engineering skills.
With great engineering skills one can build great machines.
Great machines make driving a pleasure.

Now, go back and compare that with the promise of a BMW? Getting any triggers?

After the DNA is discovered, seamlessly and ruthlessly reorient your business strategy and organizational processes in alignment with the same. Every touch point needs to reek of it or smell of it.

AVOID TEMPTATIONS.
I will tell you the biggest problem after discovery is not having the faith and commitment to the DNA. If your DNA cannot sustain you, what else can? Though often companies change their DNA amidst business pressures and to please markets, it is often the DNA that would have not been the issue. It would have been the failure of the management or the company to translate into a workable promise or failure to make it relevant and current or even failure of commitment. These temptations, which seem worthwhile at the time of changing, often result in bigger disasters later. Avoid temptations, stick to your DNA but make all efforts to make it current, relevant and of value.

Archeology has a way of opening our eyes to new thoughts, new facts and unexplored possibilities. The process of discovering and leveraging your DNA has the same portents for your corporate brand. And like archeologists will tell you it is all there, hidden, waiting to be discovered. So, when are you starting to explore? Best of luck.

In the last article we spoke about broad outline of how to differentiate between employees and co-owners and some broad outline of what can be done to motivate and retain them. In this article we will focus on some specific activities that can be done to develop a strong glue between the firm and the co-owners.

Back them up to the hilt during rough times
There is a fire on an account or a key customer relationship is on the rocks. And one of the co-owners is in the thick of it. Do not get into the battlefront right in the beginning. Allow them to start fighting the fire but make sure at the back-end you are there for them every minute and they get the feeling that you have absolute confidence in them and their ability to overcome the phase. Once you come out of the fire successfully, celebrate together and share with everyone around how they were instrumental in the resolving of the crisis. This creates a sense of being together and a bond that is hard to forge otherwise. Watch out for overdoing this though. It completely backfires.

Let them know you know of their initiatives and you are differentiating both tangibly and intangibly
One of the biggest drivers for a co-owner is their sense of ownership, the satisfaction that they derive from going beyond what they thought was their capability, discovering something new etc. While they do feel the need to be recognized, the manner and tone of the same makes a lot of difference to them. For example they would shy away from asking anything monetarily but would definitely know if it has been inappropriate. And if it’s purely monetary also they may not be that excited.

The challenge really is to find a way of consistently letting them know that their little or significant progress is being noted of, undertake little gestures of appreciation which they would not have expected (with a personal touch it just becomes a tad more better) and slipping in the right monetary incentives at the right time. Now, do not just leave this to the HR department. Participate in it yourself and be there. It lets them know in unstated words that they are important to you and you are going that extra mile.

Do some creative tasks or time-outs together
There are a little quirks and sensitivities to all of us and co-owners are no exception. Like most people, to know theirs, either you need to be a friend or a smart/keen observer. Now office situations are not the most conducive one to observe as they are less likely to be their natural self. Take time out and do some freewheeling brainstorming on an idea or a business opportunity. Let the setting be informal and make sure you do a lot more listening than speaking. The trick is to get moments when they realize they have hit upon a cool idea or activity or both of you hit upon the same thing instinctively. Once you hit a couple of high notes and a couple of time outs later you will actually find them opening up more and you will see their little quirks slowly and subtly visible. Make a note and ensure you factor that in many things you do with them at the workplace. Without uttering a word or hinting at it visibly. You would begin to see a certain comfort level that would develop and evolve over the years which is what great teams are made of.

At this point, working together actually becomes a pleasure and one actually misses or looks forward to meeting or working together.

Allow them time to do something they are passionate about
They have a hobby they like or a skill they would like to acquire. Help in as little ways the business allows you to (without going overboard). Doing something they like, makes anyone more cheerful, passionate and you will see them charged when they come to office. And greatful to you for the thought that you had and for the initiative that you took.

Over and above all these, ensure you keep a constant dialogue going, that you keep the channels of communication open all the time and that you find little opportunities of interest to them.

If it has not already dawned on you, this requires skillsof a true leader which is what you need to be to attract, hold and retain co-owners. Passionate and visionary one at that with your own little quirks and a warm attitude towards people.

One of the continuing questions posed by any entrepreneur running a growing organization is what would really make them successful in the long run and what they need to do right now and in the near future to lay the foundation for the growth to come. The question is important since its answer as perceived by the entrepreneur often leads to the strategy he or she will adopt in the marketplace and which inturn decides or causes the success or failure of the venture. While there are no simple, structured answers to the question, it is increasingly evident that the core team that the founder is able to assemble, their bonding and their commitment and belief in the venture’s potential and the duration of their sticking together would be a critical success parameter. In this article we are not going to focus on why this core team is important since that has already been written and discussed about. Rather, would like to focus on some of the things the entrepreneur can do to build and retain this core team.

Just for clarity, let me define this members of the core team let they be confused with employees. Any organization has two kinds of people on their rolls – one set which is driven by the infrastructure available, salary, perks, benefits and is focused onto the job or task or role allocated to them. They are called employees and they would any day be the majority. The other set, which is a dwindling minority are a set of people who believe in the company’s vision as their own, are excited by the potential and the challenge and do not have the salary or perks as their top criteria for satisfaction. The issue with the employees is that they cannot be relied upon in crises time to stay back and help you wade through the troubled waters. While employees are required for the organization to function they on their own volition would not play a role beyond and their mind is always in the take mode. Leveraging new business opportunities or extracting extra flexibility incase of crises or pressure cooker times is also difficult. More importantly

However, the other set which for lack of a better word, I will term as co-owners, would go beyond their role, willingly lend their hand in crises and best, be thrilled to fight alongside you in the competitive marketplace. Since growing companies often encounter turbulence and had to wade through troubled waters often, this second set of people are crucial. Also when the company is keen to leverage new untested opportunities which it cannot invest in the beginning, it is the co-owners who would offer themselves and are ideal candidates to drive the same. The challenge moreso in today’s overheated job market is how do you build and nurture this co-owners???

Spot them early
This is absolutely important since this tribe is a minority and dwindling in its numbers. If you chance upon one working in your venture, tell yourself, you will never let go of them and that their satisfaction, growth and nurturing would be a top priority for you.

Give them ample challenges and work with them in overcoming
Ensure they have a challenge before them at any given point and more importantly let them know and feel that you are fully behind them. The challenge will keep the excitement levels sustained and your support and backing will constantly assure them that you are around though you may not be involved or physically present.

Constantly
This is a really testing one since often there might be times when you personally may not feel like it or they might be looking to you for motivation at the wrong times. Just remember that it is your duty as an entrepreneur and your personal situation/state is a lower priority over this duty and pull yourself up to pat them on their back with a smile. No exceptions allowed until and unless it is extraordinary.

Build loyalty
Understand them well, where they come from, why they do what they do?, their sensitivities, their quirks, their fears and their limitations. Without being pushy or being intrusive play the role of a concerned and responsible mentor to them. Stay the distance but ensure you are at arm’s length when the need comes to reach across. Trust them and the moment they feel it and truly understand it, you would have built a certain level of loyalty which would be crucial in their staying back. Never let them down and again your priorities are secondary and balance is achieved all the time.

Let them free
Give them clear goals and let them free. Allow them their little quirks or what many call personal space. Do not hold it against them or bring it into the table when appraisals happen. Since they are not working for money alone this grows the comfort levels and morphs into a glue over a period of time.

Listening to the various presentations made at the recent ICCO Global Summit and also while perusing recent media reports about separate tracking service for blogs launched by a global leader in PR, one key insight stuck me. The process of communication the way the PR industry has looked at for the past many decades is undergoing and will undergo a rapid shift in the days, months and years to come. And this kind of shifts or disruption as they say famously in the Silicon Valley presents the biggest opportunity for the Indian PR industry. The article outlines what this shift is, what it means and why it represents a big opportunity for us in India.

Linear to non-linear, it is a new ball game
As communicators we have always used and refined the art of mass communication in a linear fashion which flows out of a company’s brief and thereafter through controlled messaging to the mass media and finally reaches the customers or the intended target audience. The explosion of blogs and wikis has led to this linearity being significantly disrupted with information and communication often emerging out of unexpected quarters and companies having to respond or react or do last minute incorporations into their communication. For example, months before a technology giant rolls out its new offering, there are many blogs or portals where one can not only get information about the product but also user comments on its pluses and negatives as well. Or where certain blogs break a scoop which gains traction and soon enough, the mainstream media picks it up and the story circulates.

This disruption or shift has some fundamental implications for the PR fraternity:

• Loosing of control is no more an option before companies or PR firms, it is a healthy component of the new strategy they need to deploy to address and manage the new and diverse and often anonymous news sources
• The communication is truly becoming two-way or interactive and instead of treating any such inward communication (versus the outward communication model that we are so familiar with) with disdain, suspicion or as trespassing into our domain, if we can start engaging thoughtfully and carefully, it can turn into a great forum for early and relevant feedback for the new product or early warning signal of a certain customer perception or issue therein. Most importantly we the professionals have got to get into a whole new suit where are more listeners and amplifiers than purveyors (the later role which I believe we have gotten very comfortable playing)
• Understanding of technology and ability to leverage technology in delivery of communication is going to become more and more important and it will be quite disastrous not to be tech-savvy. And, let me emphasize that this is not relevant only to those dealing with technology firms. It is equally relevant for retail, healthcare and property or firms across other sectors as well.

Now, where is the opportunity?
India is widely known has having the best of technology talent. And we can turn this shift into an opportunity by either training these techies in communication fundamentals or training communication professionals in usage or delivery of these tools. Or even create teams where both types of professionals intensely and closely collaborate.

In this we might have advantages as below:

• The business of interactive communication is maturing in India and we are growing interms of what we are doing and are able to do in this segment from a global perspective
• Unlike developed markets like the US and UK which have decades of history and piling up in the traditional mode of communication, the Indian PR fraternity which is relatively young, can just leapfrog or adopt better to this shift (like it happened in telecom where our backwardness became an advantage and we went directly to GSM in mobile telephony)
• Unlike traditional PR this can be done out of India and does not require much physical intervention except the client interfacing periodically which can be easily or effectively addressed

I also believe this opportunity to be important because it allows India to take leadership in an area that is of growing importance to companies across the world. And it will be very difficult to replicate in traditional areas as it will take us quite a while to catch up. We can lead the way globally and that would be a truly proud moment for this comparatively infantile but fast maturing industry.

Thought the headline was an editing mistake that someone allowed to slip through. Not really. As the economy grows and demand rises across sectors, there is inevitable growth that every organization irrespective of its size witnesses. With growth come new customers of all kinds, hues, sizes, expectations, requirements, work processes and quirks. The easiest thing and the most logical thing in this situation for any SME firm which is hungry for business and ambitious about its business to do is to accept all the customers with open hands. While they might be new customers and can drive up revenues the true situation down the line may be entirely different, if there are no criteria applied to the acceptance of customers. In other words, even if someone wants to utilize your firm’s services, you need to start applying some formula on them to assess whether you need to accept that opportunity or not. This is done well and right, can lead to a healthy and stable business which still will grow minus unnecessary hassles. Here are some reasons why a firm has to do that?

There needs to be some common ground between the client and the customer if ever there has to be a partnership or relationship. In the services business this is all the more important and critical. If there is no common ground or shared beliefs, it is often difficult to ask for trust or resolve issues. This often results in extra time and effort to convince and protracted issue resolution/management sucking out valuable executive time and bandwidth. The value and cost of such time and bandwidth is enormous in services business since it is intangible and the only tangible a person has is time. This also spills over into internal employee morale and often teams on such accounts are under constant stress impacting their work on other customers and clients. If one adds up the total cost of this, it is entirely possible that the particular account or customer instead of adding up to the business/revenues has actually been a drain. Worse, since services business is all about people, their motivational levels, this results in job dissatisfaction among employees leading to some of them even leaving the company.

The second aspect one needs to assess is that is the relationship and its terms fair. Often companies trying to be very smart play it hard and make their vendor/partner agree to conditions which are either unreasonable or plain unviable. Due to business pressures many a company falls into this trap and accepts the business. Once that happens, the client further gets emboldened and starts increasing his demand and since the service provider would have invested resources and time, he would be unable to pull out. This results in a vicious cycle of exploitation with only one end result. Of the service provider suffering losses and undergoing anguish.

Best is to spot such clients in the beginning and either make the terms mutually fair or just walk-out. Ultimately business is about making margins and not assisting another business to make what you are not making.

Thirdly the client or the customer has to have some respect for the firm that provides the product or service, its capability to do so, its understanding of the business. If a client understands and respects your offering and recognizes its value, it results in a healthy relationship where the team on the account is motivated to give their best or take the extra step. They know that what they are doing is valued and the customer respects them for it. Now this is a positive cycle and the more such customers you have, happier employees you will have internally. Now, for a moment step back and visualize the scenario in reverse. With people becoming central to businesses, this is one concern or area that cannot be overlooked.

While the above three are criteria that one should definitely adopt, there is one more that can be asked from the perspective of growing the firm. This is to ask seriously and honestly, is the client bringing something to the table which is more than money? This is again very important, since today most businesses are about knowledge and for most firms, clients or customers are the biggest source of knowledge/learning and best practices. If there are more clients whom you can learn along with, the more valuable your offering becomes. Inturn leading to increased revenues and better value realization.

Ask yourself. It is finally your business and that business needs to be profitable and you need to enjoy the challenge of running the business. Challenges or issues should be business-driven and it should be empowering to overcome them. If it is not, then what is the use of having a customer? Think about it and be smart and selective in your customer addition.