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Tag: SOCXO

  • Weekend Unwind’ with: Socxo CMO Ajit Narayan

    Weekend Unwind’ with: Socxo CMO Ajit Narayan

    Mumbai: With another weekend upon us, it is time to unwind with the latest Q&A edition of Indiantelevision.com’s Weekend Unwind — a series of informal chats that peek into the minds of corporate executives through a fun lens in an attempt to get to know the person behind the title a little better.

    In this week’s session, advocacy marketing platform & brand advocacy solutions provider Socxo CMO Ajit Narayan opened up the windows to his thoughts. Socxo is currently planning to launch its new product, Socxly, a one-of-a-kind smart linking and affiliate marketing product suite.

    Narayan runs everything’s marketing at Socxo. He built the entire brand framework: visual identity, visibility, demand generation, and the rest of the marketing playbook.

    With over two decades of experience in the marketing services, technology, and advertising industries, Narayan has extensive experience in brand, CRM, and experiential marketing at companies such as OgilvyOne Worldwide, Wunderman and Bates CHI, and Sercon. He understands the practical and implementation aspects as well as the big picture, strategy, and ideas.

    He enjoys experimenting with new ideas. His belief that ideas are what make life interesting and engaging stems not only from his own but also from strong collaborations and teamwork, as well as from inspiring his team and others around him.

    Narayan has a bachelor of commerce degree from the University of Calcutta. He is also a Google Adwords, Mobile, and Search certified professional.

    He began his career in traditional marketing and has a thorough understanding of what distinguishes brands, in addition to hands-on experience with digital branding, performance marketing, social media, and analytics.

    He built integrated communications tools and strategies around B2B and B2C marketing communications at Bates CHI and Sercon, and many of the projects resulted in campaigns that won various international awards such as the PMAA-Dragons of Asia awards, DMA Awards, B2B Marketing (UK), and so on.

    So without further ado, here it goes…

    •     Your mantra for life

    “Life is Hard. Get used to it.”

    •     A book you are currently reading/plan to read

    None. I don’t read books too frequently.

    •     Your fitness mantra, especially during the pandemic

    Your dog is your best friend. He makes sure you get your backside moving and it is fun. Play with him. A couple of hours on the trail is always a weekend away.

    •     Your comfort food

    Sambar rice and poriyal. Also, daal chawal and aloo ki sabzi.

    •     When the chips are down a quote/philosophy that keeps you going

     Either of the two. Depending on mood.

    1. Keep your head down and ignore the noise. Work away at your skills.

    2. Even this will pass. So, chill. 

    •     Your guilty pleasure

    Rumali roti, galouti kebab, and dal makhni (provided it is well made).

    •     A life lesson you learnt the hard way

    Extremes of wealth (bankruptcy or opulence) are harmful to one’s health. I have been through the former. On the latter, I have a deep realisation of what’s enough for me. I wouldn’t know what to do with it.

    •     What gets you excited about life?

    New adventures, new things to do. Or there are times when nothing to do is exciting.

    •     What’s on top of your bucket list?

    Where is the bucket?

    •     If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?

    Be wise with your money. Otherwise, you will become poor at the benefit of your so-called friends.

    •     One thing you would most like to change about the world

    The level of fakery surrounding us is so high that a couple of hundred notches lower would be better.

    •     An activity that keeps you motivated/charged during tough times

    Three things: playing the bass guitar; playing with my dog; and taking a long bike ride.

    •     What lifts your spirits when life gets you down?

    Any one of the three above.

    •     Your go-to stress buster

    Old Monk.

  • When pandemic strikes, trust keeps brands, agencies going

    When pandemic strikes, trust keeps brands, agencies going

    MUMBAI: Trust plays an important factor when you can’t see the other person, and now the whole world is running on trust, as the whole world remains engulfed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Never has trust between advertisers and agencies been more apparent than now.

    Dentsu Aegis Network India CEO Anand Bhadkamkar says that trust builds if one acts responsibly and delivers in time. “Trust, definitely, is quite critical during this time. Clients or colleagues need comfort in regular interaction, which builds trust amongst teams. Yes, the challenge remains of not being able to see the person physically but, the current phase is a passing phase. Thus, as long as the deadlines are met, commitments delivered and there is constant engagement, the trust keeps on building,” he says.

    While most of us have always seen work from home as a convenient way of working, it has its challenges and limitations, too. It comes true for the advertising industry, where agencies and brands were used to physical meetings either in offices, coffee shops, board rooms, etc., which has now been converted into virtual meetings. According to industry experts, in these difficult times, teams have adopted the new way of working quite effortlessly via virtual meetings and teleconferences, etc.

    Bhadkamkar says that DAN had already planned this out. “For the work to continue smoothly, we provided alternative sharing sites and a secured VPN line for better communications and data access. There are some small challenges but that’s all part of the teething and learning process. Efficiency has not dropped that much. Yes, the work is slow but not hampered completely. As a daily practice, teams have regular check-ins – daily/weekly as per agreed duration to plan, review and execute. The working pattern also varies from team to team. Frankly, people are responsible and all the more support each other in these times.”

    Socxo CMO and program head Ajit Narayan says, “Business friendship is one of the most powerful drivers of the business, so educate them, help them and over service them. Forget the inane content of handwashing (they are already getting bombarded by it.) They would appreciate if you stepped back on the sales pitches to them and helped in whatever you do for them. They will remember you and do more business with you once they get their side of the business going well.” 

    The Mavericks founder and CEO Chetan Mahajan think that COVID-19 has impacted every human being and every brand globally. Agencies now have become geography-agnostic and are doing everything possible to support the brand's communication needs. Trust is derived from the transparency of relationship and commitment to the outcome and during these trying times, one has to have 200 per cent commitment. “Our teams are separated by corona yet together with purpose with unprecedented resilience, commitment, camaraderie, and focus to be solution-oriented and be together in spirit as well as action. Our clients have been appreciative of our efforts so far and the show must go on.”

    Adding to this, RED FM national marketing head Rajat Uppal says that he has always considered a brand-agency relationship as a partnership based on trust and faith in each other’s abilities and alignment to a common objective of delivering work par excellence.

    One of the major challenges of working from remote locations like home is the brand-agency team co-ordination issues and delays in work. This can be addressed with advance timeline planning. If one is more considerate about the limitations of the current setup of WFH, brands can actually get more quality work out of the agencies.

    Uppal adds, “For us at RED FM, last one week has been pretty productive and we have been able to get some good work going with our creative, PR and digital agencies. Briefs have gone out on time and agencies have delivered work with greater responsibility. With most brands prioritising work effectively, work has not really got affected. In fact, being away from the workplace and not getting occupied with the routine and hygiene work only, has given our brand team the time to think strategically and take on jobs and projects which were part of the wish list and never got the time to be taken up. On the flip side, WFH has surely extended the work hours for everyone, as everyone is accessible anytime and there are no stringently scheduled work hours. The need of the hour is for the brands and agencies to collaborate well and deliver quality work till we all move back to our workplaces and I am sure we all will do it well.”

    WATConsult VP – account planning and strategy Sabiha Khan  feels that the most important thing to do to ensure trust is to communicate with each other and be honest in communication, which means – be frank about the good, the bad and the ugly.

    Agencies should proactively keep clients abreast of trends and how the situation will impact and change behaviour among the audience and for the respective sectors/ industries.  They should seek to work towards the next quarter keeping in mind the presence of consumer fears and the change in behaviour and possibly even preempt an indoor summer and work towards campaigns accordingly.

    Brands on the other hand should consider agencies as partners whom they can trust in such turbulent times. Brands can keep an agency in the loop about their ongoing situation and the business operations to enable the agency to make informed plans and suggestions that can benefit the brand not just in the immediate term but for the long run.

    Technology has been a big enabler during this time. Brands and agencies are communication via platforms like Zoom Cloud Meetings, Google Hangout, Slack, Google Duo for both internal and client meetings. If things go fine, maybe we are looking at a future where more companies will provide work from home options.

  • Treize Communications to handle PR and Communication mandate of Socxo

    Treize Communications to handle PR and Communication mandate of Socxo

    MUMBAI: Treize Communications, a Mumbai-based 4-year-old communication consultancy and public relations firm, founded by Sonam Shah wins the mandate for online and offline PR for Socxo.

    Socxo is a brand advocacy marketing platform, based in Singapore and having offices in Illinois and Bangalore. As part of the mandate, Treize Communications will handle the entire PR strategy and implementation which includes personal branding, corporate news, developing the growing brand advocacy space in India.

    Speaking on the same, Socxo CMO Ajit Narayan said, “We are glad to partner with Treize Communications for managing our PR duties. PR is an essential marketing tool in today’s time as it brings with it third-party endorsement and earned media value. We at Socxo strongly believe that brand advocacy as an important medium for marketing and we are glad to find the support from the team at Treize in creating awareness about the same. We were impressed with the agile marketing support and ideas coming from Sonam to help us in this journey towards building our brand and business.”

    Speaking on the association with Socxo, Treize Communications founder and CEO Sonam Shah said, “We are glad to have Socxo onboard with us as we grow in the business of PR and Communications. Socxo is a start-up in a niche yet fast growing market of brand advocacy in India, thus making it exciting and challenging for us. We look forward to providing them path breaking PR solutions. It’s an interesting challenge for the team here and we look forward to our association with them."

  • Socxo releases an e-book on Holiday season marketing – Time for buzz marketing with the Mango Man!

    Socxo releases an e-book on Holiday season marketing – Time for buzz marketing with the Mango Man!

    Mumbai/Bangalore: Socxo, the Bangalore based brand advocacy solutions start-up, has today launched an e-book for marketers to gear up this coming holiday and festive season. And this season in most parts of the world is a full quarter – October to December.

    The e-book guides marketers in leveraging word of mouth marketing this holiday season for their campaigns to maximize awareness, engagement, and trust at a time when the marketing world is ablaze with product launches and promotions, seasonal festive offers, and deals. This approach is proven to act as a sweetener to the deals that are already being flashed. And the real deal is a trusted deal.

    The key steps towards building an interesting holiday campaigns include:

    Getting the right technology

    Planning campaigns and selecting the right platforms

    Select the nano-influencers

    Buckets around which campaigns should be built.

    Measuring and optimizing.

    The e-book highlights the importance of using nano-influencer and brand advocates as the channel for building trusted reach. Not everything can be sold by celebrities and actors and brands end up missing the countless nano-influencers who aren’t actors, rock stars, who have thousands of loyal followers and may not be target of hate mails and messages. It’s time to think beyond celebrity endorsements and get into building your brands loyal believers.

    Speaking on the e-book, Ajit Narayan, CMO & Program Head, Socxo, “Brand advocacy has huge potential, provided its used strategically. It goes beyond celebrities internet or otherwise and focuses on leveraging the brand’s believers. The key to people who actually have a stake in the brand and business. Employees, Customers, Partners and Fans. It’s time for brands to shift their thinking and efforts towards the Mango man (Aam aadmi.) The common man as a network is far more powerful than any celebrity alone."

    "It is an untapped tool by marketers, and holds strong potential in building campaigns, especially during the festive season. With the current quarter being all about festivals and holidays, we conducted this research on how nano-influencers can be capitalised and used smartly. The e-book is designed as the guide on how to think and execute content marketing initiatives and campaigns around nano-influencers", he further added.

    Socxo is a SaaS and mobile based Brand Advocacy Marketing platform, based in Singapore, Bangalore and Kochi.

  • Whitepaper by Socxo unveils insights into salespeople beliefs on social selling

    Whitepaper by Socxo unveils insights into salespeople beliefs on social selling

    MUMBAI: Socxo, the Bangalore-based brand advocacy solutions provider, has released a whitepaper which gives a direction on what sales folk are seeking. Today, marketing and sales integration are a burning need. Before social media, there was always a marketing vs sales departmental tussle. But with the advent of social media, and the audiences, in general, being present in social, it’s become imperative that sales also does marketing and vice versa too. The room for the divide is diminished.

    Keeping this in mind, Socxo, a SaaS (desktop and mobile) based employee & brand advocacy marketing platform, conducted a month-long campaign on Twitter. Socxo’s circle mainly comprises of marketing, social media, and mar-tech folks based in the US and India.

    What social selling promises to deliver is a boost to business connections, leads and conversions but are the actual users (sales and marketing people) convinced about it yet? Does it really work to deliver on targets? While industry data points to success in numbers, Socxo decided to test this hypothesis in the market on what marketing and sales folks thought about the system. And the results were surprising.

    The research highlighted interesting insights from reasons for doing social selling, to source of content, to belief on the system, to choices of learning. One major point that stood out was that social selling is a massive business opportunity both ways – for the guys creating the market for social selling, as well as for businesses looking to leverage social selling.

    Socxo co-founder and CEO Sudarsan Rao said, “The idea of the study came because I was having a difficult time to get my own sales team to get into this mode. And therefore, we looked at the problem and decided to find some insights around it. The why of it. This clearly points towards the potential of the industry around training on the subject. And we have many famous trainers as early adopters of this method already. This will probably get into an organised business soon enough.”

    Socxo CMO Ajit Narayan said, “Buzz words are generally buzz only. And they are marketed. If anything has been marketed extensively, it only points in the direction of something being pushed and not organically adopted. So we wanted to find out what about the buzz was stopping adoption. This book will tell you: what people think about it; what they seek from company leadership; where they go to for content; and much more.”