Theodore Roosevelt:

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

From a speech given in Paris at the Sorbonne in 1910

Every where people are talking about the hike in oil prices. They are so concerned about it.

Here are some things I anticipate are going to happen:

If oil prices increase, in auto industry, the prices of hybrids will increase and are customers who are coupled to saving money on fuel prices will pay more than the value of the car. These customers also are spending less time doing outdoor activities with their families and are reducing any discretionary expenses like vacations. For auto-makers, this is a time to project themselves as fuel efficient and environment friendly and committed to improving peoples lives so that the customers. Imagine! Creating an opportunity for customers to keep up to family traditions of long drives and trips to the beach.

So, are you ready for Hybrids???

Many times we make excuses for not taking care of our bodies.The same body that helps us to get to work, gets us to vacations and take care of people we care about. So, the same body needs to be strengthened and kept healthy.

I guess I am just another person preaching to the choir to work out or go for walks. You have heard sermons to work out and probably have a natural mechanics to switch off to any unwanted advice.

If you are a person who loves to work out chances are people believe that you enjoy working out and it entertains you so you are always at it. And it is true to some extent. But then there is a long day at work or you change your career or some family problem hits and you find yourself slipping from your work out regime. And a few months go past, a few years go past and then you find yourself out of shape and stamina. You are reminiscing how fit you used to be and then life just happened…

And then you are convinced that you are too old to exercise and then diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure sets in and few years pass by. You are now living on strong medications and have medical expenses rising up. You are tired at work, tired to keep up with kids….just tired.

Here is my proposal:

Exercise is not a fun to do activity. It is a discourse. You do it no matter what. Tired after work- try yoga and avoid the TV. In the middle of career shift or going through hell try taking the treadmill for 30 mins - you will find yourself in a mood of passion. You lost money in business, try to go for a swim and re-strategize your life…it is the natural way to fight changes in life.

And if you have been told you are a fanatic about exercising…think to yourself…they don’t know what they are missing. I know that exercising is not always fun. Sometimes it is needed because it is just like brushing your teeth or taking a bath. It is part of your life. Many days I find myself making excuses but it is my body taking me for the walk…I find myself hating myself for getting in my track pants and dragging myself to the gym…but here is what my body is telling me…invest in me OR ELSE!!!

You invest in education - so that you have a great career.

You invest in children - so that they grow up to be good individuals.

You invest in your finances - so that you don’t have to work when you are old.

So, YOU need to invest in your body - Or else - what career? what finances?

Everywhere in this world, celebrities get huge some of money for endorsing products.

It makes me wonder how come the superstar batsmen and captain of Indian cricket team, Dhoni, endorse from hair gel to shopping malls.

The India Bollywood superstar, Hritik Roshan endorses Acer laptops, Coca cola and cellphones.

While I was in India a few weeks ago, it was amazing to see in remote rural areas Karina Kapoor on billboards.

I am amazed at the social networking sites partnering with celebs to get the traffic on their sites. Myspace is popular for its rockstar profiles.

And the star Trek captain, Captain Kirk, (William Shatner), promoting priceline.com.

But the point is that I would never buy Acer Laptop because some film star was paid to sell it to me. I wonder whether these stars ever use the products that they endorse. My Acer laptop gave me grief many times. I had to give it up when the LCD screen died on me.

So, what does this mean for the consumers. The superstars get paid to be in these advertisements and are never held accountable for the user experience. They don’t bother to check in with consumers if they are satisfied with the products they are endorsing.

Some of us believe anything they endorse…as if it is cool to drink Pepsi just because Shah Rukh Khan thinks so.

Honestly, we have to understand these stars are working for Ad networks and not for consumers. So, why do celebs sell?

Marketeers keep doing the same campaigns with very little result.

Students pursue the subjects that they do not enjoy.

Job seekers continue the same search tactics and get more frustrated.

Entrepreneurs keep making the same offers that customers don’t accept.

There is a fundamental problem with our society. We are so influenced by the entertainment industry where ‘Tough Guy, Never Quits’.

And so when we find ourselves in a situation where we are hitting a dead end over and over again. We try to stay optimistic and keep doing the same things over and over again…

The definition of insanity is ‘ Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result’.

Here are some criteria to look into if you hit a dead end:

1. Is the project/task building your expertise?

2. Is it taking care of your long-term career and personal goals?

3. You are convinced that you are right?

If you answered’ No’ to any one of these, then you have to reconsider your decision.

Afterall, why not focus your current energy, money and time on something that will give you better returns. Any time you spend the current project has a huge cost of lost opportunities…

So, why not just quit….And become an expert on something different.

Marketeers! here is sequence of events that brought forth the domain of business - Marketing.

1. Nature came into existence. It taught us to be in harmony. Trees, river, sky, birds all live in harmony.

2. People built houses and civilizations grew over the banks of rivers.

3. From there grew the domain of business, where men transacted for goods.

4. And then came MARKETING. Men devised ways to attract attention.

Stakes are high when you are BIG. No doubt, Technology WINS…but it only gives you a short on Marketing. You just hope that people will adopt your technology and then talk to their friends about it.

What made Google work – Some marketing decisions…

Here are 2 marketing giants:

1. Word of mouth – This is organic growth. People talk about you and you are part of their conversations.

2. Relevant – This is when revenue is based on what people are looking for. In the marketing world, it is called permission marketing i.e. selling to people who want to be sold to. In this case, the beauty is that you don’t need the overhead to have a salesforce - no sales people.

Google was able to succeed on both the levels. But there is more to it.

They are Remarkable :  This simply means when you are going to make stuff which is worth talking about? Worth making a remark about…you will have people remark about it. To the extent that you will invent a verb in people’s language.

They make you feel special. Avergae products are for average people… they love what they are selling…and they care about the fact that you find it…

People don’t surf the net…they poke around.

On the internet, make something worth talking about. They will tell it to people who care. They are the ones who interrupt their friends.

Me is the favorite person…Are you making products that are ME centric???

In today’s web 2.0 environment, we are now finding a world where we touch and influence each other differently.

So, what does this mean for marketing???

1. Companies need to move to user experience and strive for more action or engagement from consumers.

Ex. from menu driven static websites - we are moving to more dynamic and interactive platforms.

2. Each micro-interaction of a brand is changing how the consumer thinks about this brand.

Ex. Google has an eco-system of micro-interactions : Google Talk, Google maps etc.

3. Web is the new Desktop

Ex. Small companies are moving documents to Google Docs.

4. Social experience is a sum total of micro-interactions

Ex. People can self public, broadcast live, twitter…

5. The media technology is changing

Ex. conversations on twitter, widgets…etc.

The new marketing is direct marketing on the foundation of engagements or microinteractions. Building a loyal customer base.

If you haven’t checked..do so. Chances are your customers are buying your products because of your impeccable customer service.

Customer service is the NEW Marketing

Customer satisfaction is now more than meeting expectations…

Are you giving unique solutions to your customer?

Keep your business in the center of conversations.

Don’t kill it by outsourced call centers, trouble ticket systems and FAQ.

Some simple suggestions:

1. Keep it simple

2. Do what you promise

3. Keep on checking in

4. Love your evangelists

For your blog, there are many ways you could do linking. There are many indexing search sites that invite you to post your articles. This is a great source to find new audience and increasing the links and reach to your blogs.

Here are few:

1. Twitter : Inform your friends of a new article or new service. You can keep them posted on what you are doing and even post article.

2. Digg: This is great resource to submit original articles. You even have a choice to put a thumbnail picture which I believe is a great place to build your brand identity.

3. Facebook:Here you have applications that post your articles directly from your blog to your facebook profile.

4. Delicious: This is a social bookmarking site. You can post articles and tag them as well. Your bookmarked articles are available for search when people look for your company name.

5. Ma.gnolia: This is another site where you could discover, share and discuss the best of web sites.

Have a great day!