Skip to main content

Practicing the preaching

"I am connecting Anil with you for he needs some help" was a crisp message from a dear friend.
Anil is a seasoned professional who decided to go on his own after a very rich and long experience in marketing at companies to die for. Anil started his journey a couple of years ago with stars in his eyes trying to solve the marketing problems that are all around us in all scales of businesses.
Anil had a long chat and the basic point was that he is not able to get the kind of scale he envisaged. On exploration it came out that he was shy of going out and talking about his expertise and garner business. He found it was not appropriate to "beg" for business. 
Is Anil managing himself as a brand just like he did to his brands in the role he played as an employee. A few questiones followed -
- Is Anil a well known brand? If not, what has been done to build the brand?
- Has the brand been positioned clearly - what does Anil stand for? What will Anil deliver as a promise to a potential customer? What is the true value of brand Anil - functional and emotional?
- Are brand building tools used in job being used as a new business?
- Is Anil getting the testimonials in support of his brand promise?
How many professionals (especially marketing professionals) treat themselves as a brand/client? It would be very valuable to build own brand right from TODAY.
What is stopping us?
Am I doing it?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Unsaid speaks louder than words

The message was clear. US is facing a financial crisis. Americans need to contribute to get out of "conveniences". But the statements like "it will get worse before it gets better" without a timeline and references to a time of slavery etc are not comforting. American era may be ending faster than anticipated. Obama's inaugration speech was truly indicative of a man under pressure from the start. As any sportsman will confirm, it's all in the mind and followers just follow the leader and Obama has not set the bar high at all. My view is that it is heading south fast...... Contrast this with the situation in India. All that leaders are talking about is security and resolve to protect Indian at ANY COST. Economic issues are tackled with a view, yes it is a slowdown but we will still beONE OF THE BEST IN THE WORLD. No talk of worsening things, less spending by government. News headlines are all talking about shrinking bottomlines for profit and NOT LOSS issues....

New addiction

The Golden Quadrilateral and more roads

Over the last couple of weeks I had a chance to travel by road in five north Indian states. What a pleasure? The road network is becoming really fantastic. I started on National Highway 8 and then on to NH 1, 21, 22, 70,72 and 88 apart from many state highways. It is not the roads only that impressed me but also the new flourishing enterprises it has generated alongwith is the key to the trip. Many a voillages and towns that were cut off from nearby larger places are now well connected. Movement of people and goods is leading to a greater economic involvement and is helping in the inclusive growth mantra. I was also witness to an amazing incident - towns of Rahon and Samrala are barely tens of kilometers apart but could take upto 5 hours by road a few years ago and now less than half an hour. I could see a stretch limousine (a genuine one and on top of it a Lexus) in a small village wedding in the prosperous "Doaba" region of Punjab. On being generously invited (despite being...