Actionsble Insights into building habits

Some #Insights into habit building from my own experience. 

How do i bring in consistency in running for now more than 5 years? Thinking Small.

Yes, contrary to what leadership principles tell, first #think #small when u r developing a habit. Just a km or 2, a walk around the block. Walk or little bit of run, daily. Thats it. Try to stick to a common time. Brain has memory.

Second, make it easier to NOT skip it. Change ur #enviornment! Build  triggers within ur enviornment. I bought runners clothes, shoes, headphones. Put them in the drawing room next to my mobile (with morning alarm) in the drawing room; so that i would have to walk across rooms to shut it. Helped!

Third, i linked my habit of morning tea to run. Wake up, make my morning tea and then after having refreshed, go for a run. It worked. #habit #linking

Fourth, started putting my meagre updates of 1-2-3 km runs on facebook, daily! It brought in a few comments from my network on how slow or lazy i am :) Make it #Public

Fifth, started participating in running competitions that invite u for a 5km, 10km run on the weekend. Helps to see others do it with fun; then why i cant! #Networkeffect

And then u hit that threshold before u enjoy. #Compounding catches up and takes ur curve up!

#Habits #Running #Passion #Life

Psychology + Marketing = 6 Principles of Influence

#Psychology & its linkage to #Marketing is a must-know topic for every marketer. Have read recently #Influence by Robert Cialdini and is a must read.

Here is how these principles work in short -

U walk up to a store for cookies; you see 2 jars - one is full and other is nearly empty; you pickup the last 2 cookies from the second jar! Principle of #Scarcity. That's what is at work when u shop (last 2 items left) or deal last 12 min 30 sec.

U are thinking of purchasing a laptop; you filter known brands & specs & price and then buy the one recommended by your followed Tech Influencer - Principle of #Authority at play. The reason why you see whitecoat wearing actors acting as docs in ads for health products!

U love #IPL and want to try a fantasy league app. U are a level headed guy and worship Dhoni; you download his endorsed app. If you are aggressive & expressive, chances are that you would take Kohli endorsed one. That's principle of #Likability.

In a restaurant u finish ur meal, the waiter brings a complementary dish before your bill. The unexpected gesture leads you to put in higher tip than before. That's principle of #Reciprocity. Principle of #Reciprocity is why you see lot of companies giving you valuable free resources at first to drive the desired behavior of purchase when u r looking for a product/service in that domain.

When purchasing products online or trying a new brand; you look at testimonials and reviews to understand whether it is been tried by large number of people. This is principle of #SocialProof. Brands must build enough traction with early adopters & get their endorsement (rating/reviews on playstore) to get this principle going before gunning for exponential growth.

We buy a certain brand and are happy with it. Market throws another brand of similar attributes. We tend to remain consistent with our earlier behavior and stick with the old brand as we are compelled by this principle of #Consistency. Consumers try to remain consistent with their own commitments. Thus if a brand is being referred by u to another person, chances are that next time u will still continue with same brand remaining consistent with ur own made endorsement.

One must leverage these principles in marketing/sales and even your interactions with humans. Yes, workplace behavior or what we call politics is also influenced by these principles. Here is again these principles at play at work -

Ur boss is a cricket worshipper with such a passion that he wears his IPL team's colors to office. Applying principle of Likability, u start talking about IPL matches at work and suddenly u find a soft-corner in ur boss's heart. Bad, if u love Messi! and the game of soccer. Develop the interest now or else u will be left behind.

Ever realized that in a meeting u said the right thing, but no body noticed? Thats because people don't just listen to what you say, people first assess it basis who is saying it! Thus, you need to apply 2 principles of Consistency and Authority to develop a niche for yourself at work. You can build authority by doing a project over the topic, writing a paper or a doc and then safeguarding/tom-toming the same in multiple forums/meetings consistently. Then, one day people will even listen to meaningless things you say in meetings in that domain.

U build your allies at work with constant comradarie and offering for help anytime. You have to be proactive about the same and take initiative first so that the other person feels obligated later via principle of Reciprocity.

Do you have more such examples?

What's your North Star Metric?

 

What's your #NorthStar #Metric?

With advanced Tech, there is progress in scope of measurability (Mktg included) as well as pace of #measurement (real-time/not) of actions in a business. However, it is easier to loose focus and get so overwhelmed with infinite metrics; that ultimately we might forget why we are measuring metrics in first place.

It is thus advisable to work with one/few key metrics called as North Star Metrics which can help align all teams together to a common goal as a measure of progress on that goal ideally key driver of a business. The way to determine your essential metrics is to identify the actions that correlate most directly to users experiencing the core value of your product. For example -

Social Media Platform like #Facebook / #Linkedin / #Twitter- DAU/MAU - Daily/Monthly Active Users. Activity breeds engagement which breeds UGC, Network effect which drives UGC to more users becoming active and driving core value of 'connecting together' + ad revenue.

Mobility players #Uber/ #Ola) - No of Drivers/Riders in a location - Core value of app is to get instant ride on demand, which is linked to availability of drivers; which in turn is dependent on demand (riders).

Accommodation booking players like #Oyo / #airbnb ; no of hotels listed/ and no of reviews would drive the revenue lever forward. 

What's your North Star Metric?

#Marketing #Data #performance #marketingissimple

India, Bharat and Fashion Ecommerce

An online brand now needs to evolveto cater to larger growing population from rural areas who will increasingly shop fashion online.

The split between urban and rural internet users is now more in favour of rural india (~52:48) and thats where the growth in online adoption is. From #internet users, they will eventually become shoppers, currently marred by the quality of physical distribution in bharat.

Thus, most brands are vying up for #D2C routes, #partnerships or via existing ecommerce players who already deliver to close to 100% of pincodes in India.

In my opinion, tech fashion space needs:
👉 More of Visual approach Vs text - More #video than reams and reams of text on detail pages.
👉 More of Assisted shopping models - Voice based tech (#alexa) or human interaction on video
👉 More of Real Shopping experience - Personalized selection and TrynBuy services as a customer associate makes you shop
👉 More of personalized fitting - Tieups across physical stores or tailoring network to get you quick alterations. This is one reasons why sales of bottoms/blazers is lower in online world vs offline (top:bottom ratio).
👉 More of fashion advisory vs just putting up loads of apparel selection - Consumers also shop to get eduacted on how to match, layer, coordinate etc while shopping for fashion.

Additionally mixed models or omnichannel efforts will pave the way for offline online integrated experience to capture this opportunity.

Offline brands offering this thru #WhatsApp chat selling thru catalogues, #video calls and mobile shops. Adaptation to changing #consumer preferences and still keeping focus on key competencies of #offline retailing.

All #salespersons who have a knack of human interaction, of how to traverse through steps of #selling - ice breaking, probing, handling objections etc will still be relevant. The skill of fabbing ( Feature, Advantage and Benefit) of a particular product is more animated than a verbose detail page till tech adapts to dynamically alter level of details sought by a consumer. All those skills can come handy in future on e-commerce as well with video assisted shopping taking shape in future.

You might still have your favourite salesman listening to your queries and offering personalised service, but on a video interface while you shop online. Yeah, but that coffee he offers in store with great reverance to make you feel as a king  while you shop to overhaul your wardrobe, will be missed :)

#fashion #retail #salesperson #experience #skill #jobs

OTT in India - A perspective for evolution in India

Quick Facts around OTT in India:

Market - 

• Indian OTT market is slated to grow to 10 times to $5Bn by 2023. 
• Bulk of the market (82%+) is currently driven by AVOD (Ad based Video on Demand revenue model); however SVOD (Subscription based model) would grow to sizable chunk by 2023.

Players -

• There are 35+ OTT apps available in India; ~70% users have 2 or more apps. 
• Top Players include Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney-Hotstar, Voot, SonyLiv amongst others.

Users - 

• Young Indians, under 35 years of age, account for 89% of the total Indian OTT video content platform users. (Male 79%: Female 21%). 
• Out of 89%, equal cohorts between 16-24 and 24-35 years of age. 
• Salaried employees are the largest consumer group, followed by students, business owners, housewives, etc.

From where they come from? Top 5 metro cities account for 55% of the total OTT video platform users, while Tier I cities ~ 36% of the users. 

Behavior - 49% of India’s youth (< 45 yrs) spend 2-3 hrs; 4 hrs by Millennials & Gen Z. 

Screen Size - 90%+ video consumption on Mobiles & rest on connected TVs.

The tailwinds for the OTT market have become stronger with covid19 fueling entertainment in-house entertainment needs and TV entertainment industry grappling with paucity of new content. Cheap data, cheaper smart phones and demographic dividend of India were anyways big drivers of this exploding industry.

Users & Usage is one thing; revenue is another. For any dominant AVOD model, users growth & engagement on platform is going to bring in the ad revenue. Efforts can be seen to push SVOD model from most players; and with habits changing in post-covid world, things look promising. 

Users Acquisition - Most of the players are thus looking at acquisitions thru bundles with telecom/broadband partners (recently Jio is offering Big 3 together (Netflix, Prime and Disney/Hotstar) in a single plan). This will be a key driver of subscribers growth in India as digital ecosystem grows through smart phone subscribers/broadband users. Bundles contribute to ~60% of users in India.

Traditional approach to woo the consumers via content backed advertising has also seen significant push. OTT players are offering content backed advertising with marquee shows/movies especially when cinemas were closed (Special Ops, Arya, Gulabo Sitabo, Masaba Masaba, The Kargil Girl etc).

With Covid19 impact, we as consumers have changed our long-staying habits (6 months is more than enough time to build habits). A lot of Indians have started subscribing to digital apps Vs using them for free. For eg, Newspapers being read on platforms like Magzter, cricket matches seen on a budget subscription - Hotstar VIP or entertainment watched on mobiles with budget subscriptions by both Netflix and Amazon Prime (Student edition). I see even most of newspapers websites now coming up with thier online/e-paper subscriptions which was a joke earlier.

As more apps join the party; the niches will develop as it happened with the cable/DTH industry where in there were channels for targeted users (Kids, GEC, Devotional, Regional, etc). A lot of parents have this barrier of kids exposed to unfiltered content on OTT and that is why recently a lot of players have come up with kids safe logins or targeted apps (YouTube Kids). Even currently a lot of apps are focusing on regional niches and delivering content basis languages or appealing to regional taste (Sun Nxt in South, Alt Balaji has one third viewership from Kolkata alone).

Usage - To boost the usage of OTT platform, players have realized that exclusive and high quality content is a key lever for engagement. That is why the focus on building partnerships with marquee directors and actors to keep users hooked to OTT. I expect a lot more engaging content getting delivered on OTT before probably things come back to normal.

Building the selection is another key driver to keep the catalogue of content refreshed frequently. Race to get movie rights or even launch own originals is a key factor to get users fixated on one app.

The space is exciting enough like any other digital backed youth opportunity. Lot more apps will get launched and then get consolidated as well to offer a broader selection and target a wider audiences. Ultimately, the game is both ad revenue basis high subscription base and engagement as well as subscription/Transaction based revenue where in users will subscribe to best 2-3 apps basis their needs or leader apps and then may choose to watch a content/movie by paying for that on any other app. 

Story of Keyboards and Inefficient Habit of typing with QWERTY

Habits are difficult to build and to break. This is the reason why, in todays world marketers and product managers are working to build habit forming products.

Habits which can help the users engage more often with the products leading to greater usage/purchases, greater attention (in this cluttered world) and thus making chances of larger lifecycle of the products, generating greater referrals and thus increasing the network (thus building more reasons for people to stay). Its an unending flywheel.

But is it too much to expect from a habit? No. Habits once built with much higher lifetime (continued duration of habit); can lead to such a resistance to newer ways of doing things even if rational. This is that Porter's 5 forces model's 'Barrier to entry'.

Recently came across this story around keyboards. Had heard of QWERTY keyboards that we use everywhere (touch phones, tablets, computers, typewriters) and is in vogue since 1870s when first set of typewriters were invented (currently with minimal modification). But have you heard of DVORAK keyboard? Apparently, invented in 1930s, it is ergonomically designed keeping in mind usage of letters and words in current english language. It is more efficient and comfortable if we use it today. But then why dont we use it?

Habits are difficult to break. Mankind has put in enough and more effort in adapting to QWERTY keyboard and migrating from typewriters to touch keypad. In QWERTY, the letters were ordered so that the keys which were mounted on metal arms would not jam pressed in too rapid succession (which was happening with user friendly ordering of alphabets).

Now despite knowing this fact that QWERTY keyboard is inefficient for non-typewriter era, we continue to see in new products because of this habit of current users. 

All marketers today strive to develop such good expectations or habits which work as a moat around our customers - be it a loyalty program, a UI, a colour scheme, a font, a shipping service thats super fast, an intuitive design which is easier to use and so on.

What you have built, that is building a habit?

Localisation is the new Globalization

#Localisation of your brand is key to winning in any market even in the age of #globalization. Why? Because understanding consumer's values, culture and habits helps you to deliver on her expectations and align to her life better so that your product can add value to her aspirations in life.

#Starbucks has launched a new India made coffee blend and calling it 'Diwali blend'. It is grown from Indian estates and is perfected to taste of indians. The packaging also is very ethnic and carries all celebratory motifs of the festival of lights.

And its not for the first time, we have seen big examples of how #mcdonalds  doesnt sell beef products in India which are actually the most selling ones in US.

#Snickers, the hunger choclate also had to develop a vegetarian variant while launching in India with a prominent green dot on its chocolates.

Copy-pasting your #strategy across countries doesnt work. You have to understand the nuances and then gel well to deliver your core offering in global markets.

#brand #marketingissimple #marketing #consumerinsights

Emotional Story Vs Functional Benefit - Renault Electric Cars

Power of an Emotional story Vs Functional Benefit.

👉How will you communicate an electric car that charges as it descends? Quite nice a feature, right! 🔺An electric car that is extra efficient? 

🔺Save more now with extra smart electric car?

👉#Renault did it superbly with converting it into a story of great leaders who came stronger after a downhill event. Superb! Imagine Steve Jobs coming back to #Apple after being fired from his own company. The brand showcased stories of Mandela, Jobs and Adele in this campaign.

This is the power of emotional story telling. A product feature communicated in a humane way that just takes the meaning to a whole new level than a functional benefit.

Do you remember more such campaign on similar lines? I remember campaign of Maruti "Kitna Deti hai" where it just takes the mileage feature to a whole new level weaving it to India's psyche. 

#storytelling #marketing #brand #marketingissimple #therunningmarketer

Gandhi's way of disrupting the world

Unwavering faith in one thing and consistent action behind it, can shake the world.

Focus on #consumer - her journey, her behaviour, her pain points, her aspirations and dreams; and how can you solve for it for making her life better is all what you need.

Great #brands have become great, because of consistent focus on consumers and backing it up with consistent action be it any brand.

Overnight #success is a multi-year struggle of believing in a vision when no body else can see it but you. And then gathering people to see the same and collaborate to make it happen.

Thats what MK Gandhi did. His journey from the satyagraha in South Africa to non-cooperation to Dandi March to final Independence of India. It took decades to bring everyone to see what he saw - Independence against the powerful with one idea of non-violence. 

#gandhiji #faith #action #struggle #marketingissimple

Runner's Update YTD Sep'20 - 750+ kms, on target for 1000 kms in 2020

This is runner's update after end of another month on the track. 

Sep'20

Kms - 103

Speed - 7:13 km/hr

Calories. Burnt - 5866

Time spent - 12.5 hrs

YTD Sep'20 

Kms - 766

Speed - 7:15 km/hr

Calories Burnt - 42890

Time spent - 92 hrs

Since end 2015, when i picked up running, i realised the joy of running and after effects of run in the form of runners' high; just keeps you going on this habit. Its close to 5000 kms now for me (will touch 5kk in Oct).

And i wonder, how a paunchy lazy non-sport geek was able to pick up running as a habit. I remember the diabetic genes i have and the non-workout sedantry lifestyle of my forefathers - people who just run businesses sitting in a clothing store. And by tradition eating lots of ghee, sweets, fried foods and all. Then, how i was able to break free and move in a different diection to call myself a runner?

It started with making a choice. Not a resolution. Not a goal. But a choice of being a person with an identity of a runner - a physically fit person who can run long distances and enjoys every bit of it. (In runners parlance, if you have stress or muddy mind, just go for a run - that kind of attitude.)

And 2 beliefs helped me on the way - picked up from books. 

1. Power of compounding - Read about it a lot in financial space, but thats something on track helped me. As i waded thru my initial runs of 1-2k to 3 to 4 to 5 kms; i realized that effort spent in increasingly lesser. Running as a skill seems to compound over distances.

2. Beliving in the identity - Read in Atomic Habits (by James Clear); book i always recommend as a life bible - When u want to adopt a habit - move over from a goal, and behaviour to identity. 

Most of the time, we set a resolution, a goal to do sth, say run 100 km a month. 

Then we work on our behaviours, the method of attaining the goal. We start running and keep measuring cumulative kms. But then somewhere in the journey we skip a day, 2 days and then it starts becoming daunting and we give up. We come up with excuses to say, had a beer night yesterday, lets skip today. Or had a huge work pressure or that morning review and lets skip it...i am still doinf better than what i thought.

What can keep us going is the belief of having an identity of the person who can achieve the goal, say the runner here. And ask at each point of giving up, as to how the runner will think. Will he give up a day of practise becaus of a presentation? Will he skip a beer party over a morning run? It starts making easier if you work on the identity piece first.

Long post, but i am proud of myself, having maintained this habit to close to 5 years clocking approx 1000 kms annually (except 2019 - 950kms). This year is proving all right as well.