Appco Group India: Brand equity Or Product attribute??

An era of advertising, which we live in, has opened the doors to brand building as never before. Today a particular product is better known with its brand image or brand element more than the actual product’s attribute itself. In a market situation like this, brand equities of different products will soar and fall in a flash. What remains is the brand awareness that the consumers have in their minds which is responsible for forming its equity.

However as the brand equity increases (classic/big brands), does the real attribute of a product get sidelined due to the marketing gimmicks, image and other advertising gimmicks! As a brand matures in the market, consumers start associating the product with its brand value or brand image. It’s no surprise that a food product gets identified with prefixes like ‘instant-meal’ or catchy phrases. The whole image of the product gets in the background and what survives is the brand association- all the factors that are associated with the brand like consumer’s perception, brand image, brand loyalty to name a few. The rise and fall of many brands have been a result of these factors.  We also come across many levels of a brand’s life cycle which is quite contradicting to that product life cycle. An age old or consumer favorite brand prevails irrespective of its market-age or even competition.

However many a brands falter in their lifecycle owing to many factors like competition, newer trends, market value etc and what impacts the brand equity more than anything else is the failed perception of the brand in the eyes of the consumer. Because it is the consumer ultimately who builds and collapses the brand equity in the market. In the long run, as far as the hype surrounding brand equity is concerned, it is up to the strategists to turn the tide towards the consumers and associate the product to their perceptions and preferences.

It can be fairly concluded that firms should revolve their strategies and focus around the brand and its association with the consumer for it serve as an effective medium to capture the consumer’s mind by recognizing the necessities and demands and recalling of the brand through various initiatives.

“A brand is as mature in the market as it is in the consumer’s mind”

Appco Group India: Strategize your Brand Awareness

A brand is what holds the most important aspect when it comes to advertising a particular product. All that the product advertises culminates as the brand image. Hence it becomes extremely important to form the brand’s pathway in the market and amidst many strategies that work and those that don’t, one thing is clear, companies would need to create an aggressive brand building atmosphere putting consumer as the king and the various strategies as the pawn.

Some of the leading ways to form brand strategies are as below:

·        Know your product well before understanding its brand value:

o   Always understand the positives of the product, the attributes which can form the foundation for its brand image

·        Know your consumers well:

o   You cannot sell a product to the wrong audience. That’s a kill-situation for a brand. Understand the audience well and closely. Segregate them and understand the current buying patterns of the target audience. This is one of the areas where firms lose the focus.

·        Choose the right marketing channels and tools:

o   Decide on the budget and choose the marketing mode which will directly link your product to the target consumer and your awareness could be more appealing and visible to the target.

o   Rely on the current marketing tools to provide a good reach to the target consumers.

·        Engage the audience:

o   Engage your audience through the various marketing initiatives that can build a positive outcome for your brand.

·        Keep a tab on the competition:

o   Always keep an eye on the competition and the competitors activities. There may be an opportunity you can pounce on.

All in all, we can conclude by understanding the fact that a through product, consumer, market and advertising analysis would ensure a brands stands upto its promise.

Appco Group India: Role of Strategy in Business

For large and small business, Strategic innovation is the need of the hour! The pressures on the strategic front has off late increased and expanded to an extent that growth is being associated with the outcomes of planning. Earlier companies put emphasis on the short term goals and objectives to meet the business targets. This ideology, in today’s demanding ecosystem, doesn’t fit enough and why? The reason behind many business failures today has been a lack of vision and the proper direction to execute the same.

Take the example of product launches. The automobile sector in India is the perfect example of businesses struggling to make a blockbuster impact on the consumer. In India, on an average, 3 different models of the same company are launched in a year. Yet how many of them succeed in registering sales. The lack of vision and future sustainability is the result of such poor strategic direction. The real essence of Strategic planning comes with a blend of innovation, operational planning, directional planning, growth forecast and risk/crisis management. Many a times, due to growing market competition and change in market trends, some of the aspects of traditional strategic planning gets lost. In the wake of budding entrepreneurial environment and unplanned acquisitions and mergers, the company objectives fail to get conveyed to the expanded team. This creates a huge gap in understanding the real motive of having a strategy in business planning. FMCG/consumer goods industry has been a classic example where the throat-cut competition has generated some great products and equally led to the failure of the classic age-old brands.

The mantra for successful strategic planning comes from having a clear understanding of the business plan and defining the objective clearly to the managers and the consumers. And a clear and crisp understanding of the objectives comes from strong research and analysis. And it is no surprise that companies are now investing in research and business intelligence to tap the potentials the market has to offer.

Positively the downside of the current falling economy is the advent of many opportunities that companies can tap into and create long lasting impact on the market.

‘Real strategy comes from an insightful research that has tapped the untamed potentials of the market’

Appco Group India: Leading ways to form Sales Strategies

While there are many definitions, strategy usually refers to organizational processes involving the determination of goals and the means to attain those goals. This entails the marriage of two factors- external factors relating to the environment and industry, as well as internal factors, such as capabilities, values, motivation and trust.

The most effective sales strategy opens the door in a direction where the professionals achieve their targets with minimum risks. Industry leaders have listed out many such approaches to sales strategies which can be the ultimate solution to trigger hard hitting sales.

1.   Determine your target: Never underestimate the potential of target audience especially in sales. Analyze the demographics and be always clear about the target. Once you have determined your target, create a list of the same and calculate the potential of the target group. This will form the basis of your research.
2. Determine your mode: Once you are clear of your target, now is the time to determine the mode of approaching the target; be it cold calling, direct marketing, networking, promotions or a mix of approaches.
3. Know your questions: Always prepare yourselves for the sales appointment/meeting with the client or prospects. Always pre determine what would be the winning questions that you can question the prospects so that they are attracted or triggered to buy. Always understand- Preparation is the key.
4. Build relationships: Once you engage with the prospect, try to build a relationship with them. Don’t go overboard yet try to mingle more with an interesting conversation and make your product/service the centre of your conversation. Be a pitch initiator.
5. Monitor your sales performance: This is one of the critical steps that the professionals miss out. Always self monitor and correct yourself from each failure and analyze an alternative solution. Take a look at the previous month’s sales and measure your growth. This will help as a motivating factor too.
6. Small motivations: Always motivate yourself and your team through the general small motivational factor that you may come across in daily life. Seek motivation in the one deal that worked rather than the 5 pitches that didn’t. Ultimately your hard work will be defined by the number of deals acquired, not the deals that didn’t work.

And the most important point is REPEAT. Repeat this process and cultivate it in your strategizing activities. Adopting it over and over again will not only bring in good numbers but will also enhance the strategic abilities in an individual.

Appco Group India: Surpassing targets, yet maintaining performance

Business targets are an essential part of the whole business terminology where the emphasis on achieving the targets surpasses the other management essentials. Experts have claimed that performance is many a time linked to achieving targets but the questions lies in the very fact that in a situation where good performance guarantees target achievement, do such targets guarantee a good performance? 

The whole essence of targets and achievements gives rise to a competitive environment where the sheer pleasure of performing well and consistently disappears in thin air. There is a matter of discrepancy when determining an over performer and an accurate performer which further more creates a gap in employee development. Target achievement is equally important for an employee as it is to have a consistent performance over time. Performance on the other hand is defined as an amalgamation of various elements like targets, averages, good conduct, development ratio and alike. Targets are one of the significant steps in having a benchmark performance which an average employee substitutes as performance. In sales, at the start of the career, an ambitious employee gets drawn towards factors which will lead to achievements of targets rather than developing his skills and learning and development. In the short run, his objectives become target based while in the long run, this creates a lag wherein his development takes a setback. This can disrupt the learning phase in an employee’s career to a considerable extent. The beauty of learning and developing the skills get secondary due to which a new employee gets branded as average and can have a hard time for development due to change in priorities and job responsibilities later in his career. The strategic and management ability in an employee remains undeveloped due to which he can experience problems in other responsibilities like leadership, team building etc. 

In a business environment where achieving targets become an extreme necessity, there should be a hint of skill development practices where apart from achieving targets, an employee gets exposed to the other functions of management. This can provide assistance in the long run for both the employee and the organization in terms of better career prospects and organizational growth alike.

Appco Group India: Factors influencing employee performance

The importance of having a good performance is well debated across various platforms and even in companies from different backgrounds; the complete understanding of having progressive performance holds the same value. However, many companies and employees fail to realize the essential factors that influence the overall performance of an employee finally contributing to the overall performance of the business.

Of the many general and known factors that contribute positively to an employee’s performance, motivation holds the utmost importance and is an intangible factor that can go a long way. Motivation can come in various forms and through various sources however many employees lack the attitude to take motivation in their stride positively. Having clarity of individual and business goals and objectives will add a huge momentum for an employee to do better and contribute to the overall performance. The company needs to be clear of the goals and the objectives for the current situation and future prospects for ensuring a seamless atmosphere at the workplace.

Leadership and team building again are the important influencing elements where an employee forms trust with his peers and a sense of confidence is imparted. Arguably, an employee performs better in situations where he feels confident, supervised and led with a direction. However, this concept is not well executed in many organizations due to various factors involving ego, unfavorable working atmosphere, unsorted business hierarchy etc. 

Various organizational policies also go a long way in influencing and motivating the employees and giving them a sense of oneness and integrity. For example, a good HR practice which may involve handling grievances or addressing an individual or team issue. Having good policies and rules regarding employee safety and provisions to manage the same gains the trust of the employee and considerable makes the working environment favorable. 

While many companies aim to practice such measures to ensure employee satisfaction which directly leads to better performance, be it any function; yet few fail to attain the objective.   

Appco Group India: Impact of Business on the Society

Gone are the days businesses and society as a whole had nothing to speak in unison. Today the social elements are not hidden from the corporate world and business as an entity has evident direct and indirect ties with the society. Businesses today have realized the advantages of having a positive social impact and are coming forth to incorporate this into their core business strategies.

Business decisions and its outcomes have a huge impact to its internal and external stake holders. It influences the employees, customers, vendors, competitors and changes with different business outcomes. In various countries abroad, the society as a whole expects businesses and organizations to have a positive impact with their outcomes. The most crucial impact an Organization has on the society is on the economy through various factors like the salary an employee gets, the prices charged to customers, the expenses that get incurred in the supply chain, distribution etc. An example of having a positive impact on the customers is through the companies giving them a good value for the price they pay for their products or services.

Effective corporate governance practiced in an Organization can ensure a moral and ethical impact on the society. Effectively monitoring and auditing the operations of an Organization can reduce corruption within and can curb the malpractices which may directly or indirectly affect the external environment. Additionally companies work upon huge data transactions and information which is easily accessible to the masses. Jeopardy in such situations can cause a loss of trust among employees and the customers alike. Businesses can be affected if there is a lack of trust and a negative image is created in the eyes of the people due to bad business practices.

Apart from the social, moral and ethical factors, a significant area of impact a business has is on the environment. Companies are directly responsible for the environmental hazards that are caused on a daily basis in terms of the energy consumption, waste etc. Companies that undertake measures to manage the waste, implement policies which can reduce the energy consumption and develop a sense of responsibility within the employees to contribute, will have  a very favorable impact and contribution to the society.

Best practices adopted as a part of the business thinking will directly guarantee a positive image for the company and corporations need to incorporate these healthy activities to maintain their status and manage crisis.