Marketing in a Nutshell

When we think of marketing, the first thing that pops up in our minds are those advertisements, especially videos that we have seen in a TV or a website about a company. But the term Marketing means much more than advertising. With its limitless powers, any organization can transform into an unsurpassable giant and always stand ahead and apart from their competitors.

It doesn’t matter whether:

·         You own a petty shop to sell magazines around the corner of the street or one of the Fortune 500 Companies in Silicon Valley

·         You sell Products or Services

·         You sell your products and services once or twice a year or 24X7

·         You sell them online or through Retail shops

·         You aim at end users or large enterprises

·         You sell commodities only in a particular region or Globally

 Marketing is of at most important. It can never be ignored.

Organizations are marketing their products and services in such a way it can be mutually beneficial for both the company and the receivers, at the same time, most of them cannot even be recognized as marketing, we believe that it’s more of a Complement or free, For instance:

ü  Think about the last free eye checkup, dental checkup or health checkup you took from any hospital

ü  Think about a visit to your hometown with a company provided Backpack

ü  Think about a free shampoo packet which you received for free along with a Weekly Magazine

ü  A movie ticket you got because of the credit points you earned through your credit/debit card

What is marketing?

To put it simple, any action can be categorized under marketing if it does some or all of the following,

Ø  Attracts Customers

Ø  Increases Sales

Ø  Retains Customers

Ø  Promotes Brand visibility (awareness)

Ø  Improves Customer Relationship

Ø  Improves Company’s Reputation

Ø  Increases traffic to your Company’s Website (!!)

Ø  Improves Revenue

And as you can see, most of these points mentioned above are interdependent.

Why do we need Marketing?

Though I have mentioned the reasons above, check out the info graphics stats about marketing in 2014 below from web dam, source (http://www.webdam.com/2014-marketing-statistics-infographic/)

Types of Marketing

There are several types of marketing strategies which different industries use, find below all of them

Video Advertising

§  In TV

§  In Streaming sites like YouTube and other social media sites

§  In the Company’s own websites

Look at the Impact of Video advertising, Source: Mixpo (http://multiscreen.mixpo.com/videoblog/post/mixpo.co/VideoAdQuality)

Audio Advertising

§  In Radios (FMs) and other sites such as Sound Clouds

Banners and Flux Boards

Pamphlets and Flyers

Images and New Letters

§  In Newspapers and Magazines

A new and now becoming the most important type of advertising is Content Marketing.

It’s very rare or never have you seen a video advertisement about an IT Organization, almost all the IT firms in the world do this Content Marketing, and there are several types such as

Content Marketing

§  Online Presentations

§  Brochures

§  Case Studies

§  White Papers

§  In-Person Events

§  Blogs

§  E-News Letters

§  Articles

§  Social Media

As you can see these are very important nowadays, let me explain about them a little bit,

Online Presentations:

Advertisers prepare a power point presentation and uploads it in general websites such as “Slideshare.net” so that others get to know their competency in that particular subject.

Brochures

Every Company will have multiple Brochures available in their company websites and in other social media sites, some brochures talk about all of their services as an overview and they will also have specific brochure for each and every service they provide

Case Studies

Case Studies are excellent way to show off the accomplishments of a particular company, the general structure of a case study comprises of description of a problem, solution offered by this company to solve the problem and the methodology used. It’s like an interior designing company having a catalogue which is a collection of their previous projects.

If the customer is satisfied with any of the solutions provided to some of the previous customers who faced the same problem, current customer also can demand the same solution.

White Papers

This is a bit tricky, I would say this is a combination of a Case Study and a Brochure. White papers will explain the problem in depth, various solutions available for the problem, pros and cons of each and every problem, along with how a company chooses and applies a particular solution to any problem and the factors they consider while doing so.

Unlike Case studies, which explains a specific solution to a problem, white papers give a broad spectrum of choices to the customer and as every components of any problem is explained in detail, it is a best way to establish the proficiency of the service providing company about any subject.

In Person Events

This involves physical presence of the advertiser himself or someone from his organization. It can be a general meeting, free workshop on a particular topic or a live on-stage presentation.

Blogs and Articles

Blogging becomes a new and useful hobby for most of them out there in the Internet world. It’s a simple yet an efficient way to share knowledge. It can be created for any purpose, entertainment, share information, attract customers or for any of the above mentioned advertising strategy.

Normally blogs will have articles on different topics, categorized for intended usage.

Who does it?

There are millions of Ad creating as well as distributing companies out there, the way they advertise becomes innovative. The amount of advertisement increases day by day and so does the price for advertising.

But for Content writing, as it requires subject matter knowledge as well, most of the companies hires professionals internally to do so or they assign a freelancer to do that.

If you are a good writer who the capability to understand complex technologies and explain it in simple English, you are a perfect fit for Content Marketing.

Feel free to leave comments.

P.S: none of the images above are created by me, credits go to the respective creators.

Ancient India and Future Technologies

India, the seventh largest country in the world. Its history is full of mysteries. The two great epics “Ramayana” and “Mahabharata”, the story about “Vikramaditya”, numerous happenings which are similar to recent scientific experiments and a lot more have made India a land of Myths. Most of them, however are proven real (can be related to present technology), there are always secondary thoughts revolving around other unproven myths.

Find below some of them,

1)      “Dwarka” the city where lord Krishna lived (according to Indian Epics) was found along the coasts of India and estimated as old as 10’s of thousands of years. Archaeologists are stunned at the blue print of the city and its usage of metals such as bronze and Iron. It’s still a puzzle, how a group of people lived so long ago, had such a sophisticated but complex technologies to create such a perfect and bilaterally symmetrical City.

2)      According to the Epic “Ramayana”, Lord Rama built a bridge (with rock and Sand) between India and Sri-lanka which was discovered from satellite images during the last ten years. However, scientists have a different explanation as that sand got aligned due to the continuous and varying ocean currents at the tip of Indian peninsula. They also explain that the sand gets solidified as time progress.

3)      The sequence of  the “10 Avatars” of Lord Krishna, matches exactly with Darwin’s “Theory Of Evolution”

4)      Long before we discover that earth is round, it itself revolves and revolves around the sun, numerous temple were built in India with “Navagrahas” these are statues depicting the nine planets in our solar system with sun at the center. The best part is about the colors of dresses wore to those statues. They match with the actual colors of the planets

5)      It’s only a couple of decades, doctors found out that a child in its womb can respond to external light, sound and vibrations. But Indian epics written thousands of years ago talk about the same

 “Abhimanyu's education began while he was still in Subhadra's womb” (source: Wikipedia)

6)      Flying machines called “Vimanas” are described in several literary documents, some can take off right away by giving thrust and some need to run on land (with the help of horses) before they take off

7)      Weapons similar to missiles, which can  be launched from a distant place targeting a specific location out of sight were also described as “Astras”

8)      Gandhari, the Queen of Hastinapur was unable to hold a child in her womb. So a wise sage suggested that her children be incubated in clay pots. 101 such clay pots were impregnated with fetuses and finally burst open to produce the 100 Kaurava boys and one daughter. Not only is this a miraculous birth in Hindu mythology but also the first reference to test-tube babies
(courtesy: boldsky.com)

9)      To talk about organ replacement, Lord Ganesh the hind god with human body and elephant head, legend says that they beheaded a baby elephant and gave life to lord Ganesh.

10)   It’s today’s satellite system when Sanjay can view and explain king Dhritrashtra about the War that was happening elsewhere

11)   It’s only in the early 1800’s scientifically we discovered “Atom”, but Tamil poetess “Avvaiyar” praised another poet “Thiruvalluvars” writings as

"அணுவைத் துளைத்து ஏழ்கடலைப் புகுத்தி
குறுகத் தரித்த குறள்"

Which means

"Pierce the atom and pack within it the seven seas of the world” 

12)   The “Siddhas” saints of ancient India, said to be possessed 8 different powers called “Astama Siddhi” which are

1.       Anima (shrinking) -- Power of becoming the size of an atom and entering the smallest beings.

2.       Mahima (illimitable) -- Power of becoming mighty and co-extensive with the universe. The power of increasing one's size without limit.

3.       Lagima (lightness) -- Capacity to be quite light though big in size.

4.       Garima (weight) -- Capacity to weigh heavy, though seemingly small size.

5.       Prapthi (fulfillment of desires) -- Capacity to enter all the worlds from Brahma Loga to the neither world. It is the power of attaining everything desired.

6.       Prakasysm (irresistable will) -- Power of disembodying and entering into other bodies (metempsychosis) and going to heaven and enjoying what everyone aspires for, simply from where he stays.

7.       Isithavam (supremacy) -- Have the creative power of God and control over the Sun, the moon and the elements and

8.       Vasithavam (dominion over the elements) -- Power of control over King and Gods. The power of changing the course of nature and assuming any form.

13)   One of the oldest temples in “Thirunallar” for “Lord Sani” is so special that even NASA is stunned about its location

A few years ago US sent a satellite which kept revolving round our globe &
whenever it crossed right above the spot of Thirunallar (East Coast
Divine place of Tamil Nadu) it staggers, moves forward very slowly for a
while! NASA observed it and was puzzled! It is also said that during the
SANI- PEYARCHCHI, a most sacred festival of the place, say once in 30
months, a very dense UV rays falls from the Space on the place (it seems
there is always a greater flow of UV rays compared to the quota received by
any other part of our earth at that place; and during the said festival
the density gets more!) No explanations from the Scientists. Just accept it
as a miracle. It is not a fiction.

(Source: tamilbhramins.com)

14)   A Tamil Saint called “Agasthiar” was also a surgeon and he found numerous medicines from plants which can treat even cancers. One of his unique compound named “Boopathi Kuligai” is capable of even bringing back the dead from life.

15)      “Parthenogenesis” a modern science, a kind of asexual reproduction was explained in Mahabharata as Karna was born to his Mom even before her marriage as a result of her love towards Sun.

  

Much more like “Goddess Meenakshi” implying the Go-Green concept, the cosmic dance of “Lord Natraja” implying the universe...

It's just that the creators of all the above mentioned things, haven't left any notes about how they attained so much knowledge.

Feel free to add comments about thing you know as well.

Why English is a Confusing Language?

I have friends who are communication specialists in various corporate companies. Still, I’ve always had difficulties while trying to understand English Grammar. Those rules which are contradictory to each other, those exceptions for rules, same word implying different meanings, different rules within a similar concept such as degrees of comparison, singular & plural, and most importantly, revising the dictionary with more words (both noun and verb) every now and then and calling English as an evolving language!!! Offff!!! So tough for a beginner to avoid confusions.

Let’s consider Rules of subject verb agreement

First confusion,

How many rules are there?

The highlight is, these people have their own set of rules for Subject verb Agreement, check the links below:

20 Rules:

http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/sentences/20-Rules-of-subject-verb-agreement.html

12 Rules:

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sv_agr.htm

18 Rules:

http://www.buowl.boun.edu.tr/students/grammar/writing%20guides/SUBJECT%20VERB%20AGREEMENT.htm

All right, let’s discuss about the first rule which is common in any website you might see and the rule goes like this

Rule 1: Singular subject takes singular verb and plural subjects take plural verb

The confusing point – Plural subject has ‘S’ at the end (not all the time!!), but singular verb has ‘S’

Boys, rests, goes, girls, monkeys, eats, temples, builds, roads, flies, rhymes, sings, songs, plays, balls

These words mentioned above have both singulars and plurals, subjects and verbs, try to find them.

OK let’s see some examples,

1.       Boy goes to school (subject and verb both are singular)

2.       Girls go to school (subject and verb both are plural)

3.       I go to school (subject singular and verb plural)

4.       You go to school (subject singular and verb plural)

Though sentences 3 and 4 does not satisfy the rule, for our amusement, all the four sentences are correct.

But how?

There is an exception for Rule 1, if the subject is a first or second person the verb takes the opposite form (singular for plural and vice versa)

Moreover we have this nasty concept of one word replacing two different words in varying tenses,

Linking Verbs (Present Tense)	Linking Verbs (Past Tense)
Is, am	was
are	were
Has, have	had

Note that both “is” and “am” replaced by “was” similar to “had” replacing “has” and “have”.

“So do we still have to discuss the remaining rules?” nope, this is more than enough.

Singulars and Plurals

Let’s talk about singular and plurals.

Do we have rules for this also?

Yes! We do and I am not sure how many and based on what logic, let’s see some examples and you count the rules yourself!

·         Boy becomes Boys

·         Mango becomes Mangoes

·         Leaf becomes Leaves

·         Life becomes Lives

And the worst part,

·         Child becomes Children

·         Person becomes People

·         Man becomes Men

·         Mouse becomes Mice

 Words with Multiple Meanings:

 This part is a cherry on the cake, there are hundreds of words in English, which can be a noun/pronoun and (or) a verb

·         I May get a car in the month of May

·         Fly flies and Flies fly

·         I want my intimate friends to intimate me about the work

·         During the Lab session, we subject the subject to a series of tests

·         The police can lead us, if they get a lead from the crime scene

·         He was too close when I was about to close the door

·         I saw a dove and it dove into the bushes

Degrees of Comparison

·         Tall, Taller and Tallest

·         Beautiful, More Beautiful and Most Beautiful

·         Good, Better and Best

·         Many, More and Most

·         Little, Less and Least

Words with same sound

There are words which you can identify only with reference to the context, if pronounced alone, both words have same sound

·         Two, Too

·         Gene, Jean

·         Die, Dye

·         Lie, Ly

·         Write, Right

·         Ant, Aunt

·         Billed, Build

·         Know, No

·         Knot, Not

These words are called as “Homonyms” in English.

There are much more other concepts, but due to the size factor, I am stopping this here. Add your own thoughts in the comments section.

Finally, this is me, when other correct my Mistakes

Cloud Computing in a Nutshell

What is it?

Well, there isn't a proper definition for this terminology, it depends on the way you see it,

Some definitions from famous sites,

Cloud Computing (Wikipedia):

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility (like the electricity grid) over a network (typically the Internet). 

Cloud Computing (Vangie Beal through Webopedia):

Cloud computing is a type of computing that relies on sharing computing resources rather than having local servers or personal devices to handle applications.

Cloud Computing (IBM.com):

Cloud computing, often referred to as simply “the cloud,” is the delivery of on-demand computing resources everything from applications to data centres—over the Internet on a pay-for-use basis.

What it really is?

In plain English, “Cloud” is just a metaphor. It indicates that cloud (information/resources) is accessible from anywhere in the world and it (information) can be of any shape and size, just like the cloud. Of course, multiple people can view (access information) a single cloud (information/resource) at the same time.

And don’t think it’s a complex technology and hard to use, if you are using Emails, Google drive, SkyDrive, social network sites (instagram, Facebook etc.) then you are already using cloud computing. Let’s say, you upload a photo that you clicked from your mobile to Google drive from India and using the same login credentials, you brother can view the same photo using a laptop in the U.S. and that’s cloud service.

Where Can I get it?

Similar to Internet service providers, mobile service providers and Cable providers, we also have Cloud service providers.

Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Google, SAP, Oracle and Salesforce are some of the famous and major cloud service providers in the world. Some of their services are free and most of them involve cost depending up on the usage.

Why do we need Cloud Computing?

They call it as “Elasticity”, the main reason why almost all companies are using Cloud Services. You can increase or decrease the service you get according to usage, just like your Internet plan. Say you own a website where students can check the results of a particular exam conducted once every year. AT least for one week from the date of result announcement, the traffic to your website will be remarkably high and you web server cannot manage the entire traffic. Now you won’t be ready to own a new server just because you need it for a week, will you? That’s where cloud service comes into play. You can lease a web server from a cloud service provider and divert half or even 90% (cost may vary) of your web traffic towards that server and once the traffic is reduced, you can end the lease. End result, you have satisfied all the customers who visited the website, at the same time it’s really an economical solution to the problem.

Note: This is just one among the millions of services possible.

There are multiple other benefits such as reduced capital costs, ready made platforms, reduced cost on infrastructure, universal access, data replication and backup, scalability, security, reliability, improved flexibility, pay for what you use, less maintenance and much more. 

What do I need to use cloud?

“Internet” is the first word I can think of, any device that can make use of internet and that’s all you need. If you are the owner of an IT organization and want to make use of the most complex services offered you need money along with Internet.

Types of Services Offered:

There are different types of services offered by providers, out of which the most famous ones are:

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
• Platform as a Service (PaaS)
• Software as a Service (SaaS)

However there are other types of services as well such as Communication as a Service (CaaS), Network as a Service (NaaS), Data as a Service (DaaS) and much more. As a matter of fact, there is a new term getting its shape in the field of cloud computing is XaaS which means “Everything/Anything as a Service”!!

Types of Clouds:

While service differs based on what you get, Cloud differs based on the type of usage, most common types of clouds are:

• Private Cloud
• Public Cloud
• Community Cloud
• Hybrid Cloud

In case you need more details on a particular topic, feel free to leave comments.

Top 10 Shortest Horror Stories

I woke up to hear someone knocking on glass. At first I thought it was the window until I heard it come from the mirror again.

                *******************************************************************

The last thing I saw was my alarm clock flashing 12:07 before she pushed her long rotting nails through my chest, her other hand muffling my screams. I sat bolt upright, relieved it was only a dream. But I saw my alarm clock reads 12:06 and I heard my closet door creak open.

                *******************************************************************

In all of the time that I've lived alone in the house, I swear to god I've closed more doors than I've opened.

                *******************************************************************

A girl heard her mom yell her name from downstairs, so she got up and started to head down. As she got to the stairs, her mom pulled her into her room and said “I heard that, too”.

                *******************************************************************

My wife woke me up last night to tell me there was an intruder in our house. She was murdered two years ago by an intruder.

                *******************************************************************

I always thought my cat had a staring problem – She always seemed fixated on my face. Until one day, when I realized that she was always looking just behind me.

                *******************************************************************

There was a picture in my phone of me sleeping. But I live alone in my house.

                *******************************************************************

And the last two stories, give me nightmares

#################################

Husband kills his wife while their 5 year old son was still sleeping. The weird thing was that kid didn't ask his mom even 3 days after she went missing. Father said “Is there something you want to ask me?” and the kid replied “I just wonder why mom is always standing behind you?!!”

                *******************************************************************

I begin tucking him into bed and he tells me, “Daddy, check for monster under my bed” I look underneath for his amusement and see him, another him, under the bed, staring back at me quivering and whispering, “Daddy, there’s somebody on my bed”.

                *******************************************************************

How to Improve Thought Flow and Fluency

What are they?

Those are two among the most essential components of an efficient communication. Effective usage of these two components will certainly make you stand apart and ahead of others in the same filed/job like you.

Thought Flow:

“A sequential flow of ideas (thoughts), well-organized and explained in a way others can understand it easily”

Fluency:

“Ability to communicate the ideas one have in his\her mind without deviation or unnecessary interruptions at the same, without boring the target audience”

Who will need it?

Everyone including but not limited:

• A school student who wants to win a prize in a speech competition
• A high school student explaining about his\her project to others
• A college student involved in a paper presentation
• A school teacher
• A lecturer or a professor
• A philosopher
• A Salesman
• Any corporate employee (Independent of the grade and Profession)

Why they need it? / What if they don’t have it?

If I may use this phrase “In this competitive world,” communication plays such an important role needless to say. If I point a finger at something else when you are looking at me, I have communicated something to you. If I blink my eyes or raise my eyebrows, any micro reaction in my face or body can tell my thought(s) to you. Communication must be handled with at most care. With such critical importance, you read or write something and if you can’t express your thoughts properly, you lose. So organizing your thoughts in a proper sequence and delivering them without any interruptions is always a need of the hour.

I thought if you've got the first one, you've also got the second one:

I would say that is a myth. Of course Thought flow can help you IMPROVE your fluency. But it can never help you to achieve 100% fluency.

May be your perception changes after looking at these examples below, If you have ever been in any of the following scenarios, you had the former but not the latter

·         You completed a wonderful presentation with a good thought flow, but after using so many verbal and nonverbal fillers (aah, hmmm, like I said, you know, etc.)

·         You know the complete answer for a question, your  teacher asked, but you forgot the third point and got stuck

·         You were telling an excellent story to your kid, but he\she wanted to watch their favorite program in TV

·         You had a severe cold, which made you sneeze and cough once in every two minutes during a delivery of a business presentation

·         You forgot to turn off your mobile and got a call during a presentation

·         You were unable to talk properly because of a bad throat

·         Your audience can’t stop laughing at the last joke that you said

·         Your boss got a call when you were explaining something important

Unlike Thought Flow, Fluency can easily be affected by external and physical factors. You are solely responsible for your thought flow, but not for your fluency.

How to Improve Them?

Thought Flow

Improving thought flow is very simple if you find answers for some/all of the following questions related to your topic of intent:

1.       What?

2.       When?

3.       Where?

4.       Why?

5.       How?

6.       Who?

7.       Advantages?

8.       Disadvantages?

9.       What if it is not there? /Why do we need it?

10.   It’s past and Future?

11.   Anything, similar to this?

12.   How this is different from others that are similar?

If you look at the structure of this article, my topic of intent is “Thought Flow and Fluency” and I have answered some questions from these above mentioned 12 questions.

Let’s discuss two different topics of Intent, DOGS (Very Simple) and Cloud Computing (Advanced), now try to apply these questions in out Topics:

What (Dog):

It’s a four legged domestic animal; it has also got a Tail.

What (Cloud Computing):

It is a latest technology that makes digital information to be available and accessible from anywhere in the world

When (Dog):

Several centuries ago, dog was the first animal that started to live with man and help man mainly with hunting and protecting man from other animals

When (Cloud Computing):

The term originated in the late 1980’s and became widely famous and useful for the past 8 years

Why (Dogs):

Dogs are raised as pets for multiple reasons, it can guard the house, help you in hunting, helps blind people as a guide, act as a symbol of status, they are cute and friendly.

Why (Cloud Computing):

People need not carry a physical device (with the data) wherever they go, even if the information is huge with hundreds of millions of Gigabytes. They can access it with any device from anywhere with the help of Internet

Who (Dog):

There is no age restriction or gender restriction in terms of who can pet a dog. A dog can be a perfect friend to anyone.

Who uses (Cloud Computing)

Business people who always keep travelling, large enterprises that handles enormous amount of data, enterprises that are distributed globally and wants all of its employees to access common data etc.

Who Provides (Cloud Computing)

There are many companies that act as cloud service providers including Google, Amazon, IBM and Microsoft

Advantages (Dog)

Companion, Friend, Stress Buster, Guardian, Shepherd and Guide

Advantages (Cloud Computing)

Data is replicated in multiple places – Reliability

Can access complex data using a mobile and simple device – Compact

Most of the simple cloud services are free – Emails, Share drives etc.

Disadvantages (Dog)

Maintenance, clean them, provide food and space etc.

Disadvantages (Cloud Computing)

Cost Increases as the complexity and amount of service increases

Maintenance is a recurring Task

Cloud service providers become the receiver’s boss (Very few and rare scenarios)

As you can see, it’s not mandatory that you must answer all the questions and it’s also not mandatory that you must only answer these 12 questions, These are 12 general questions that I can think of, which can be matched any topic right from a simple topic such as a stray dog, street lamp, signal light to a highly complex topic such as rocket engineering, big data, IT and even Quantum Physics.

The last, but important step, ARRANGE the points in a sequential order and put yourself into the shoes of your audience and check whether you will be able to understand it. That’s Thought Flow for you.

Fluency

Now, with the Thought Flow taken care of, it’s time to gear up fluency.

Know your Audience – It will be easy for you to decide the choice of words

Know the Time Limits – You can add or delete some points, thereby need not rush up towards the end (Completing the delivery within time is Important)

Know your Environment – Get to know the place from you have to deliver (this is not possible in all the cases)

Set proper expectations – I always do this, I will give my audience a general two liner about what is the intent of the delivery and I would ask them not to use mobiles or not to move around

Maintain Energy level – You voice is the key, have some water before you start

Maintain proper pause and stress – A long pause might interrupt fluency

Check the Equipment(s) – In case you are going to use a Mic or Headphones

And last but not the least

Practice - Practice and Practice.

Everything mentioned above are my own thoughts gained out of experience and I always respect your views as well, feel free to comment