Why going LONG is LIFE?

Going LONG is the most undisputable law of Life!

Here is why, we are told-

1. Don’t setup goals but a system. Don’t wait for irrational motivation, build habits for the long haul! Daily habits will take it over from you for auto mode for long term.

2. Don’t invest for short term, good companies take time to deliver. Invest diligently month on month via SIPs for long term.

3. Don’t expect all personal finance advice to deliver in short term, plan for long - buy term insurance, health cover, emergency fund, pension, PF all from a perspective of long term sustainable and power of compounding to help.

4. Between right and wrong, shortcut or long; choose the path that is helping you develop yourself into a principle led judgement system for decision making through life (long term).

5. Build your body with habits on a daily basis for a long sustenance - through right food, exercise, meditation and the works. Fast food vs Slow food, sprint vs marathon, and so on.

6. Meaningful conversations vs like/comment ones on social media. Instant gratification on social apps vs deep slow insightful conversations. Long courses with case studies vs crash courses. Test match vs T20, one is boring vs super exciting.

So, Time my friend is a friend that can help you develop for long term - be it wealth, health, learning, value & belief system and so on.

Wherever in life I look at, I increasingly find a fight between ‘long but difficult, untasty stuff’ vs ‘ fast & tasty shiny stuff’.

It’s up to you to condition your mind and help it to determine, which one wins.

#thinkingbytes #life #wealth #health #long #short

This connect with the thought that power of compounding is applicable in life everywhere. Find my post on that here -Eighth Wonder - Compounding

Laurels of Past - Relevant?

Basking in Laurels of distant past - Justified?

A lot of brands continue with decades old campaigns thinking that customers remember them for that and hence they should keep doing the same thing.

Eg - Onida's Devil, Flipkart's kids playing adults.

Apart from instant recognition, do you think there are downsides of such elongated repetition?

IMO, few aspects one should consider-

1. Is the idea still relevant?

Neighbour's envy Owner's Pride by Onida was a classic line in 90s for a TV market with few brands. New wave of liberalisation was bringing consumerism in people's lives and importantly what brand of color TV u own. And those days, people used to frequently mingle with neighbours.

With current times, that bonhomie is over. Millenials and later gen spend time more within themselves.

Flipkart made its point super clear of "kids kind easy way of shopping online" decade back with thier campaign. But at times, they still show it despite being #1 ecommerce player today & that too in same markets where consumers frequently use thier app (they understand its easy). Why we stretch too far without much freshness?

But others do it well in retaining legacy or great ideas. For eg, Daag Acche hain by Surf Excel. I dont know, i am seeing it for at least 15 yrs and they keep refreshing the context. And idea is still relevant!

2. Do mascots still work?

With media mix changing from large screens/Print to smaller forms, consumer directly clicks logo to land wherever you want him to. The mascots were emotional/human symbols for brands to convey retention of the story. Does it lose to clicks or QRs? Relevant?
Dont remember mascots in recent times other than kids categories where clicks/devices are away.

What do you think?

#brand #mascot #consumer #marketing  

Power of Will?

Just do it!
Where there is a Will, there is a way!

Lot of such slogans or sayings, exhort us to simply move ahead and accomplish any task.

The ability to control oneself to determine one’s actions is powerful. Base it on training, we call it discipline. But do it because you simply can, that’s raw power. Also, called as “Willpower”.

Heard of Marshmallow Test? Where kids were locked in a room with a marshmallow and given a task of delayed gratification (u can eat this marshmallow now or if u wait for 15 min and don’t eat it, you get one more). The test told the world that kids who passed or ‘gratification delayers’ were far more successful in life throughout. There in that test again it’s about willpower - to delay gratification.

But, when I try this in my life, I realised that my resolve to not have that unhealthy food/drink, when it’s sitting in the kitchen isn’t uniform all through. I can easily resist in first half and eat that apple but in evening I give in to cookies. The willpower is gone.

Willpower has a battery life, it drops through the day, and needs recharging with downtime.

Heard of “Eat that big frog first thing in the morning”? Essentially, manage willpower and use it in the morning (when it’s full) to do most important & difficult stuff.

In this book, “The One Thing”, author suggests evidences how decisions made by judges drop to easy/default verdict as the time passes through the day, essentially suggesting dropping willpower. “Take best decisions early or we drop to default/easy levels of decision making”.

Do you feel you have the Will to accomplish, but you give up thru the day? Manage your willpower like a mobile battery. Make important calls earlier on, when it’s full :)

#life #learning #productivity

Productivity Hack - Self Whatsapp Group!

Self Whatsapp Group!

This happens to all of us:

1.We browse, we find important links, we bookmark or use apps like pocket.

2.Important PDF you got on a whatsapp group, you download it; but its difficult to find later.

3.Download images from linkedin, get saved somewhere else.

4. Key thoughts or insights that u get while reading...write in phone notes.

But this all can be done with a great tip, i found thanks to Ankur Warikoo.

- Make a self whatsapp group, add a friend and once done, remove the friend. Pin the group to the top and viola! You have your own SELF whatsapp group to keep putting what all you find important - links, pdf, images etc.

Do share your goto productivity tip or tools?

#productivity #hacks #life #ideas #tip

Book Review - Big Billion Startup (Flipkart Story)

Finished this book on audible recently - Big Billion Startup by Mihir Dalal. Its actually is like an action packed thriller!

If you are interested in indian startup space and want to go down memory lane on how 2 young IITians built this behemoth, its a must read. And it has lot of learnings to pick from.

Listing some of my key takeaways -

1. Never trash a sounding unrealistic idea (because its against conventional wisdom) - When one of the senior folks at Flipkart floated the idea of exclusivity (as a marketplace); it was laughed at. But later it became a mega trend with Motorola and Xiaomis where phones got sold in lakhs in minutes!

2. Self-belief and confidence of positive feedback from customers can give immense power to founders in this case to not exit early! Bansals were given cheap exit offers (though good prices) but they stuck thier guns.

3. Vision enables you to take bold bets. Due to Sachin's vision and trend spotting in data (that bulk of shopping will move to app) led him to declare an app only strategy which was ridiculed at that time.

4. Having one day as a non-operations day where thinktank just debates future is a plus. Else, most days and nights in a startup goes in firefighting.

and many more. 

I thoroughly loved it.Recommend!

#flipkart #ecommerce #book

Book Review - No Limits by Mukesh Bansal

No Limits – A book on performance optimization of our lives with tools & maintenance manual for the billion dollar body – body, mind & soul.

If you are always intrigued about how to pack a lot more productivity in your days and are tired of tracking & testing hacks that listicles & gurus keep sharing; this is your encyclopedia.

Mukesh Bansal, founder behind Myntra & Cure.fit; at least packs 25+ good book learnings into this one in a bid to decode a manual to draw max out of life.

And its not just around health & fitness (diet, habit building); it also addresses mind & soul with mindfulness, meditation, creativity & purpose search. A simple read with at least 50 productivity hacks peppered across text for people who want to skim through.

Here are some gems from the book –

Ø Thoughts around plasticity of brain & body – Humans have spent 90% time on earth as hunter gathers & 10% working in agricultural fields; thus to believe you are too old to pick up a musical instrument at 40 is naïve. Your mind is plastic to learn at any age.

Ø What's needed to max performance – Deliberate Practice, Ignition, master coach, mindset (growth), will power, creativity & meaningful purpose.

Ø In life, in every sphere you can apply Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey – aspiration, odds, evil, effort, coach, right path, victory.

Ø Deliberate practice is all about those 10,000 hrs narrative to master anything.

Ø Ignition triggers our practice – inspiration from an idol, environment, parents etc.

Ø A master coach often shortens your journey with correction/feedback on practice.

Ø Strong mind & body together work to boost your muscle you flex most (to make it stronger).

Ø Sleep is a key maintenance process to boost performance.

Ø Meditation helps us to attain higher freq of brain activity associated with bliss.

Ø Mindset decides whether we work on ourselves to grow Vs believe its all about innate talent and stay stale.

Ø Will power keeps you going despite distractions during deliberate practice. It is cultivated with 3 drivers of sleep, fitness & food.

Ø One needs to taste, read & experience different things/fields to boost creativity.

Ø By understanding and channeling all the power of your mind and body into your true purpose, you can make magical things happen in your life.

New Email Marketing 101 - courtesy Zomato

In today's times of social media's organic reach diminishing day by day; its important that brands work on their email marketing and website which are true Owned channels for securing future. Zomato has been upping its Email Marketing Game with superb content marketing as its lever.

Stories which are engaging and relevant to its audience - either around the category, target audience's life or topical trends. And while telling stories on the above themes, it keeps a razor sharp focus on the soul of the story - brand essence. The content creator thinks - "how would the funny savior of hungry/bored souls - brand Zomato" would interpret a particular trend/event? And that's where the tone of voice, the quips, the wits, follows! This is super evident in its creatives across channels - social, email, digital etc. This is the power of Content Marketing done right from a Brand. 

Here i am putting 4 Great examples of unexpected pieces of content in Emails from Zomato -

1. Slice of Customer Life X Zomato

Subject - Leaked! Zomato WhatsApp Chat
Creative - This long chat inside.
Content - Topical & Customer Life X Zomato

What i loved was that email didn't even talk about food/food delivery (category) in this long chat. It hits the topical mark and is full of brand attitude even without talking about what brand is or does! Its funny and enables a great connect with "working audience" which is the TG. This audience goes through such life dramas daily in work groups, brought beautifully in this creative by Zomato.

2. Bollywood X Zomato

Subject - Agar tumne aaj order nahin kiya toh...
Creative - Red & White + Dialogue + Code
Content - Bollywood X Zomato

Inspired by Bollywood dialogues, Zomato has sent many emails with a quirky subject line forcing a bollywood fan to open the email. And within email, lies the complete story + incentive. A great way to push open rates and also to drive traffic with coupon codes; a new way to help businesses get rid of those transactional coupon code emailers.

3. Music X Zomato

Subject - Tere bin nahin lagda 

Creative - Red & White + Food image + Code 
Content - Music X Zomato

Here using Music as another lever; Zomato flips uninteresting "Miss You" Emailers into interesting ways to connect with consumers.

4. Fun X Zomato 

Subject - Our copywriter is on leave this week

Creative - Red & White + Story completion + Code
Content - Music X Bollywood

These are genuine ways to tell funny stories. Why would a consumer expect such an email from a brand. And that pushes the curiosity to open the email.

I have just selected 4 of such emailers that i keep receiving from Zomato; but most of the times, they ensure that i try to open the email. Opening emails from them definitely brings a chuckle, whether i order or not. But many a times when i order, i open Zomato by default. Such is the connection, a brand can establish with focused efforts to push a metric; here for example is Open Rates. And the levers used are - Content Marketing anchored in Brand essence and yet always being relevant to target audience. 

Conversely, you receive umpteen emailers on festivals, New Years written exactly the same way by many brands across categories - "This (Festival Name), celebrate with (Brand Name) & get (Offer)". I have also been a culprit in initial years of my career, there :)

- Please note that its not a paid partnership :). I am a Zomato Pro/Gold member for years and this is an honest confession by a customer/marketer.

-Nitin

Marketing Books read in 2020 - #1 "Hooked" - Key Takeaways

2020 had been another great year where I read more books rather than just buying them. Read some insightful books on business and Marketing. 

Here are quick takeaways from "Hooked" - by Nir Eyal; a superb book on understanding what is needed to be coded in products to make them habit forming for consumers resulting in high LTVs and high loyalty. Must read for folks in #Marketing or #Product Management.

The habit loop has been covered in many books earlier, but the investment leg in the loop is something worth noting as to why with time an app or product becomes more sticky!

Loved Nir's earlier book as well 'Indistractable' which was on how to keep urself focused and not distracted by habit forming products.

Key Takeaways -

Which Marketing/Business book you recommend?

#books #marketing #brands #consumer #psychology #productmanagment 

Why Kelloggs Upma or Maggi's Poha make perfect sense?

#Kelloggs Upma or #Maggi's Poha make perfect sense!

The brand known for being no 1 Breakfast brand with its cold breakfast offerings - corn flakes, muesli; launched Upma recently in India. This drove a huge wave of Indian-proud #memes that the #brand which wanted to change how Indians have hot breakfast had to change itself :)

 But thinking 1 level deep, for a brand like Kellogg's or say Nestle's Maggi who has established good #DISTRIBUTION over decades of existence, known for international standards of #QUALITY & nutrition as well as #EQUITY for its brands; does it not make sense to enter new adjacent category? For Kellogg's, its still its own breakfast category!

 If the choice is between lesser known brands like Mom, Mother's and popular ones like MTR, Kellogg, Maggi in a supermarket; chances would be that one would pick the more familiar one! Power of first 3 factors mentioned above.

Kellogg's also would score high #brandequity on 'Fit & healthy' - the same elements that a consumer is looking for, when he is looking for Upma apart from AUTHENTIC #TASTE which brands have to really pass test on.

Maggi we swear by, or Bata we believe as Desh ka Joota are both foreign brands. Only time will tell.

#Marketing #Consumer #Foods #India

Follow #therunningmarketer for my updates

What you achieve in life depends on how you treat your TEA!

What you achieve in #Life depends on how you treat your #TEA

Time. Energy. Attention

#Time - How do u spend your daily 24 hrs have a direct impact on what results you get. Do u spend large chunks of time getting sucked on your phone watching photos on fb/reading watsapp chat? Spending much time on your couch vs a workout/book; then blaming OTT? 

👍Tip - Keep track of your time that it goes where u want. Guard ur time and time block ur schedule.

#Energy - In the finite time we have everyday, we can get more done if we have higher velocity enabled by loads of energy.

👍Tip - Add an active life element (choose a physical workout - gym, run, yoga etc) + better food habits and stick to timely food. It will work wonders to your energy while u crack ur tasks.

#Attention - Attention is precious for you to focus on whats at hand. The precious zone of flow, that u enter when working on something u enjoy. But sadly, this attention goes for a toss due to calls, notifications on ur phone, mind that opens chat or opens email again and again.

👍Tip - Block all notifications on phone. Practise mindfulness. Are u experiencing what u r doing or just losing time? Enjoy what u r doing. Be present.

Do u have more #tips to boost ur #productivity? Share. #work #wfh 

#therunningmarketer