4common Sense

e B.O.L.D

Be B.O.L.D. 4 Common Sense Ideas to Build Your Brand Online ( plus 1 free! )

An Industry initiative brought to you by Google India

India is online. Latest research seems to put that number anywhere in excess of 4 crore people. The average Indian also visits the Internet almost everyday for upto a half hour at a time. So, of course, you want to build your brand on the Web. This is often easier said than done. It certainly doesn’t seem easy - not everyone understands exactly how to do this; there seem to be so many new things to learn, so many different rules. Plus, today’s economy certainly doesn’t make things easier. What if we told you, it’s actually simpler than you think? To prove this to you we present 4 common sense ideas that will help you get started towards establishing a powerful brand presence online. Sometimes all it requires is for you to Be BOLD…

Sources: Comscore | IRS 2008, R2 | Comscore World Media Metrix | First study of Internet usage in India tracks users across India for May 2008

Be BOLD 4 Common Sense Ideas to Build Your Brand Online

Build for Efficiency Operate to Acquire Lead with Experimentation Design for Engagement

How to use this booklet This booklet is divided into four sections, one for each of the four ideas of Be BOLD. Each idea is further supported by two marketing insights. These marketing insights show you how to actually put the Be BOLD ideas into action. Each marketing insight is broken down as follows: Marketing insight

Research data

Marketeer check list

Advertiser insight

Tools you can use

1. Build for Efficiency Catch trends before they become trends Save money the old-fashioned way… Don’t waste it

Catch trends before they become trends

Did You Know? More Indians online are comparing prices and purchasing products online today than in 2005*

"The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.” - Malcolm Gladwell, Author

Ask yourself:

No one knows exactly when the next big thing becomes just that - the next big thing. The problem, though, isn’t being able to predict what the next big trend, fad, best seller or killer product might be. It’s often not being able to read the signs in time. The trick is to catch these just as they start to form not when they’re near tipping point.

Do I get regular and accurate feedback on what my customers feel about my product/ services? How long will it take me to respond to changes in my target group or market?

1. IPL Final Match 5. IPL Final 16. Manish Pandey 19. Zoozoo wallpapers

Google Hot Trends indicates the Top 50 most searched for terms on www.google.co.in the day of the IPL final

* Google India Benchmark Study | May 2008 | Google India, Netpop Research

Think about using : Google Trends Google Trends allows you to see how often people are searching for different things on Google. It also shows how frequently certain topics have appeared in Google News stories, and in which geographic regions (in India or the whole world) people have searched for them most. With Hot Trends you can see the fastest-rising searches for different points of time. For example: you can see a list of today’s top 100 fastest-rising search queries in India. You can also use Google Trends to get insights into the traffic and geographic visitation patterns of your favorite websites! Find it at : www.google.com/trends

Save money the old-fashioned way, don’t waste it

Did You Know? The impact of online ads is equivalent to TV and greater than other forms of offline advertising*

Ask yourself: Do I know which of my marketing campaigns are working and why? Do I have a way to get the information I need to make better marketing decisions?

“If brands are built over years, why are they managed over quarters?” - Leonard Lodish, Wharton Business School In the 2008 IBM Global CEO Study, CEOs rated market factors (48%), people skills (48%) and technological factors (35%) as the three external factors that would most impact their businesses. As more and more marketers move from intuition to science, tracking and tweaking their campaigns using increasingly complex models, the future will undoubtedly go to the more diligent. And this is, perhaps, where the digital medium rolls up its sleeves. What makes the digital medium such an incredible marketing channel are the robust campaign data it gives marketers. When you embark on a marketing activity, especially one that aspires to wield the enormous power of the Internet ensure you have the tools at hand to accurately track if your campaign objectives are being met. Think about using : Google Analytics Google Analytics is a free tool which can help you improve your marketing ROI. It shows you which sites, search engines and search words are sending traffic to your website. It also shows you how long visitors are spending on your site and which pages they seem to prefer. Find it at: www.google.com/analytics/

Custom Reports Create, save, and edit custom reports that present the information you want to see organized in the way you want to see it.

Source : India Benchmark Survey | May 2008 | Google India, Netpop Research

2. Operate to Acquire Reach Wide but Target Narrow Find the People Who Want to Find You

Reach wide but target narrow

Did You Know? 53% say the Web/ online is how they prefer to learn about new brands

Ask Yourself : Do I know the different themes that could be relevant to my brand and brand message? Do I know which sites are the most relevant for me to be present on and why?

"Customers buy for their reasons, not yours.” - Orvel Ray Wilson, Author And that may be truer today than ever before. Estimates indicate that the average person will have access to some 80 million commercial messages in their lifetime. Research also indicates that we’ll now produce more information in just one year than has been produced in the last 5,000 put together. With so many options for information your consumers now have a multitude of places to get their information. The converse is also true-your brand now has more places it can be heard. It’s important that you know where to reach your customer effectively.

Think about using : Google Content Network Advertising on the content network allows you to be present at multiple consumer touch points. Google’s Content Network allows you to tap into the advantages of display advertising and make contextual targeting work for you. By advertising on Google’s content network your text, video and image ads can be exactly targeted to different websites and their content. These ads are so well matched that readers find them useful. Find it at: www.google.com/adword/containnetwork

Advantages of the Google Content Network Brand Reach - Up to 70% of the India’s Internet users Brand Awareness - Over 400 million chances every month to show your ad across a range of BFSIrelated websites alone Brand Re-inforcement - Over 25 billion unique page views every month Brand Association - Tens of Thousands of content specific sites on which to show your ad

Source: India Benchmark Study May 2008 1005 online interviews Google India, Netpop Resea

Find the people who want to find you

Did You Know? Over 80% said online ads increased their interest in the brands or products advertised; 40% said they “greatly” increased their interest

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Ask Yourself: When my consumers look for me online, can they find me?

One of the Internet's strengths is its ability to help consumers find the right needle in digital haystack of data.” - Jared Sandberg, Wall Street Journal More than half Indian Internet users polled indicated the first thing they did on the Internet was go to a search engine2. Data also indicates that consumers prefer to do their homework online even if they’re eventually going to purchase offline - even among in-store purchases, search engines are key: 97% of in-store purchasers use search engines3. The implications are clear-no matter where they hear about a product or service or where they’re evenutally going to buy it, consumers seem to prefer going online first.

Think about using : Google Adwords Google Adwords allows you to reach your target consumer by putting control entirely in your hands. Change an ad anytime you want, set your own budget and accurately track your ad’s performance Find it at: See details on Pg 19 to find out how to get started

Source: 1. India Benchmark Study | May 2008 | Google India, Netpop Research 2. I-Cube 2008 | Online Content Report | 4.9MM users in 30 cities | MRB 3. India Retail Survey | February 2009 | Google India, Netpop Research

3. Lead With Experimentation Redefine the rules of the game Get more from what you already have

Redefine the rules of the game

Did You Know? Indian internet users view blogs and forums as good sources of information and an excellent platform for publishing their own views to the

"I still observe executives exhibiting the same lack of courage or knowledge that undercut previous waves of innovation.” - Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School

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Ask Yourself: If I just changed where I used them, would I be able to make my campaign creatives do more for me? Could the Internet easily prove a more costeffective extension of my branding and PR activities, if I just tweaked my internal resources?

When it comes to communicating your brand message, building associations with your offline campaigns or simply creating and sustaining a true first-mover’s advantage, the trick is knowing how to make your advertising work for you, whether this means finding a new way to say what you want to or picking a different channel to get the same message across. If you’re going to change: experiment early, iterate quickly and innovate boldly.

Think about using : Blogger, Google Maps Blogger.com is Google’s free publishing service that allows you to customize and publish your own blog on the web instantly to communicate with anyone on the Internet. Google Maps offers user-friendly interactive maps of India and the world. It also allows individuals and businesses to create a custom map for personal use, to mark a business location, service provider and more Find it at : www.blogger.com local.google.co.in Google maps could provide a powerful way to reach out to your customers. For eg: By clearly marking where your ATMs/ bank branches offering specific services are located in the city

Sources: 1. I-Cube 2008 | Online Content Report | IMRB 2. Google Internal Data; 3. Google Zeitgeist

Get more from what you already have

Did You Know? Photo/Video sharing has emerged as one of the activities Indian Internet users do most every day*

“Investors and analysts often prefer that firms maximise shareholder value by ‘sticking to their knitting’.” -Mary Benner, Wharton Business School

Ask Yourself:

This holds true for both your customers and your content. Imagine the kind of brand engagement you could generate if your ad went viral - 1 person sends it to 10, who send it to 100, who send it to 1000... And what if you discovered that all it required for this to happen was an easy way to show other people that video?

Are my TV ads the kinds that people would readily pass on to their friends if I simply made them more accessible? Do I have campaign video creatives – both global and local – that I can easily use online to extend the life of my campaign?

Better yet, what if we said you don’t even need to ‘create an ad’. Remember the new credit card ad with the funny guy dancing in different parts of the world? It all started with a video called ‘Where the heck is Matt?’ (find it on YouTube)

Think about using : YouTube YouTube allows you to use the combined advantages of the Internet & video to extend the ways your brand and messaging interacts with your target consumer. Today, over 15 hours of content uploaded onto YouTube every minute2. In 2008, YouTube was the fastest rising search term on Google India, and was also among the top 5 most popular searches for 2008 after Orkut, Gmail, Yahoo and Google3 Find it at : in.youtube.com

* I-Cube 2008 | Online Content Report | IMRB

4. Design for Engagement Don’t underestimate ‘Word of Mouth’ Force Your Brand to Listen

Don’t underestimate ‘Word of Mouth’

Did You Know? 78% of consumers trust - either completely or somewhat - the recommendation of other consumers

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Ask yourself : Do I know what my consumer is saying about me? Do I have a way of talking so they listen?

“While it may be true that the best advertising is word-of-mouth, never lose sight of the fact it also can be the worst advertising.” - Jef I. Richards Consumers influence each other as easily as they are influenced. They talk, when they like something and especially when they don’t. With social networking and the Internet, they’re no longer talking to just their friends and family. Today, when they talk the whole world can listen in.

Think about using : orkut Research indicates that Indians spend 2 Billion minutes on social networking sites every month.2 When you build an online community on orkut, you could access some 14 million+ unique visitors and about 2.5 million daily visitors in India alone. Over 80% of orkut’s audience in India is between 18 – 34 years in age. You can now also advertise on orkut.3 Find it at : www.orkut.com

MTV India uses Orkut to create 260,000 new Roadies faster & cheaper

Sources: 1. ‘Trust in Advertising Global Report’ | Nielsen, October 2007 2. Comscore 3. Comscore for India, July 2008, Comscore Media Metrix, Oct 2008

Force your brand to converse

Did You Know? 55% of consumers want an ongoing dialogue with brands

“The consumer isn't a moron. She is your wife.” - David Ogilvy

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Ask yourself : Do I know what is most important to my consumer? Do I know how my consumer feels about me or my branding message? Do I have a way of listening when my consumers talk?

Your consumers and how they feel about different products, prices and their favorite brands are always changing. They are influenced by tens of thousands of messages, videos, chats, commercials and so much more. What’s more, consumers no longer want to be talked to or told what’s good for them by brand propaganda. Today’s consumer is changing faster than she ever has. And for any brand hoping to talk to their consumers it’s important to know what to say and in a manner that they will listen.

Think about using : Google Insights for Search Google Insights for Search allows you to know what your customers are thinking. Get insights on what people were searching for in Mumbai, India or around the world today, yesterday or in 2004. For example : You can use Google Insights for Search to learn that people in India have been looking online to ‘buy iphone’ since 2006! And the most interest is from Delhi & Gujarat! Find it at : www.google.com/insights/search Google Insights for Search indicates how the only time the number of people searching for information on Harbhajan surpassed that for Dhoni was in April 2008 - the time of the controversial Sreesanth slapping incident

Sources: 1. ExPO TV Survey (administered to influential consumers on the ExpoTV community) | 2008 2. Comscore Matrix: Community India for Oct 2008 3. Comscore for india, July 2008, Comscore Media Metrix, Oct 2008

5. Know what works and do more of it

Know what works and do more of it

“Any company that cannot imagine the future won’t be around to enjoy it.”

The only way to succeed is to stop talking and start doing.

- C.K Prahalad & Gary Hamel, Management Authors & Gurus

“The key question is, “How do I accomplish growth and cost efficiency at the same time?” Our strong point of view is that a ruthless and disciplined focus on ROI is the only answer. ROI should be the key yardstick by which you measure how you invest your precious resources going forward. And the Internet can deliver these efficiencies. The Internet is measurable and provides precise control over how your marketing investments get allocated. There is no more efficient media channel available. Period. At the same time it is also the Internet that can help you grow by: 1) Reaching relevant customers in India and around the world 2) Converting these prospects into revenue efficiently 3) Enabling you to grow along with the fastest growing medium in the country” Shailesh Rao Managing Director, Google India

Supercharge your brand now

To understand how to implement these four ideas for your brand, please schedule a customized presentation:

Finance Pavan Varma +91-9987521735 Technology & Telecom Manish Tahilyani +91-9953591223 FMCG Ashwin Venkatraman +91-9611897125 Auto Gaurav Kapur +91-9810158071 Travel Manan Singhi +91-9818411908 Education Ajay Malhotra

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