While exhibitions are a gateway to participate in industry affairs, expand the horizon and utilize the opportunities to maximize marketing measures. In an age of cut through competition, every activity needs the right set of communication to get recognition.

If you are an exhibitor in a national or international event like CES, ad tech India, Tech Crunch, Hackathon India, etc., the opportunities available can be channelized into strategic actions in line with your business goals.

Here are the five quick, insightful ways to get the best out of your participation in events

1. Identify the target audience & defined Digital PR objectives

Research is essential in bringing efficiency in the marketing & PR strategy. It accentuates the possibility of targeting the right audience. Communication strategy is then developed to ensure maximum return. Industry analysis, a close study of the participation list in the events aids in optimizing the time at the day of the event.
The next step is to develop a robust communication strategy using traditional, digital, new media and experiential platforms.

2. Drive traffic to your booth:

There are various diverse approaches to attract attendees to your stall, and the event application is an immaculate setting for that. Be vibrant with activities aligned, exciting giveaways, etc.

A plan of action should be ready for the shop floor which shall be engaging and informing. Driving higher footfall at the both will generate talk points for organizations to leverage through communication strategy.

Example:
1) Facebook Remarketing
2) Twitter Communication Planning & having a major share of voice in official hashtags of the event.
Ex: #CES2017 for CES 2017, #adtechIN - For adtech India
3) Twitter List - Create Twitter list to optimize your marketing process. For example, setting up a process with which all the Twitter users will be mentioning the official hashtag can be added into it. You can use services like IFTTT to have this marketing automation.

3.Real Time content dissemination & Digital PR amplification

Content is one of the contributing factors to determine returns from an event. Real-time content marketing adds value to the brand strategy. Beyond networking, quality content is important to attract potential clients.

Content creation: pre-event, during event and post event; content should be different for every stage. In the pre -event stage the focus should be more on building the buzz, during the event real time updates should be disseminated in different formats across platforms, post event the focus on sustaining the momentum through the right usage of the properties developed in the event.

4. Survey for leads:

Exhibitors majorly rely on attendees, exhibitors and participants to turn into potential leads. To maximize lead generation and seize the opportunities, surveys are the way out. It helps in distribution of business information to the potential leads, and simultaneously helps in generation of surveyee’s business details.

Surveys offer better insight of the opportunities and challenges; it allows the company to lay better impressions on the potential customers/clients.

5. Presence across platforms:

Events open the way to networking and socializing, to showcase and analyze, to map the competitors and build on the USPs. The process; from engagement to content curation should be omnipresent for those days. The initiatives should reach out to the TG through, content marketing, influencer engagement, brand advocacy, video marketing, Geo- targeting, etc.

Amazon India cites a classic example of utilizing the New Delhi Book Fair every year. It ensures to reach out to the bookworms across the city and connect with it’s TG through a 360-degree communication strategy. Look at it’s Twitter campaign here.

>> Things you cannot afford to miss about Influencer Marketer and Digital PR.

With the markets expanding, competition has accentuated for industry players across every sector. From one-sided communication, it has now come to an interactive model between the owners and consumers across multiple platforms. Corporates are massively investing on two pillars - Customer attention and retention in their minds. Higher the visibility, greater are the chances to be in the consumer mind. If you are an exhibitor in any event like CES, MWC, adtech India, Tech Crunch Disrupt, Hackathon India etc, then you should keep a knack on all these pointers. Few pre-requisites to get the best out of any events are summarized below in quick points, you can use these tips & easily incorporate it into your existing marketing tactics:

Agenda setting

Agenda setting is crucial to achieving the targeted goals. It has been proved that communication agenda influences public choices. There is an intricate relation between communication – events and agenda setting, different events have different agenda’s, for example: ad tech India's agenda for this year is “Accelerating the Evolution”. With sound media mapping, industry analysis and competition audit the right frame of agenda can be developed and leveraged during the event days. With tools of communication, you can create the right momentum for the brand through effective communication tools.

Plan of Action

Successful implementation calls for a sound plan of Action. The role and responsibilities should be well mapped and designated such that there is no duplication of work, no ambiguity in the roles and no important misses. Every member should have individual targets which would cumulate to the overall business goal. Some of the tasks are as follows-

• Media interactions: Face to face conversation with key media, coffee table with influencers etc. This enables the brand to communicate the brand vision in a personal way to the advocates of the society. PR today is no more confined only to the traditional platform. In the digital age it has given rise to digital PR or Digital First PR
• Release dissemination: Blast the media with brand information. Releases are short crisp and to the point content pieces which communicates the key factors to the TG (target group).
• Social media marketing: To rise and hail in today's populated business world it is vital to have a strong, clear social media strategy. It builds or breaks your image. Right strategy is vital else the traction is extremely low
• SEO: Search Engine Optimization is a gameplay of keywords. The right set of words gets you higher visibility. There are various other hacks to get maximum outreach from any event using SEO like, using event hashtag in bio or title of your twitter profile. We will to a full feature on this in our next post & list down results we received post attending events like CES & Techcrunch Disrupt.

Mapping strengths

Competition analysis is a major step to put the right efforts on marketing. Work on the strengths and highlight the USPs. Previous work, case studies, brochures capturing the business agenda should be handy. Information dissemination should not be stalled due to lack of logistics. Eg. Identifying the right set of key words for increased media visibility.

Steps to map your strengths:

• SWOT analysis: Measure the industry trends with respect to the brand's current standing. This gives an understanding of the competition, the possible threats and the channels of opportunity.
• Past experiences/ case studies: Good work showcases your merit. Carry your past work/portfolio to voice your credibility

To hit the bull's eye, homework is essential. Planning not only gives a fair idea of the future opportunities but also helps map the current weaknesses which requires attention. To know more about the processes refer to the below link. Reference:https://www.advadm.com/using-swot-analysis-strategic-planning-tool-ophthalmology-practice/

Tested Processes

It is safer to play smart. It is good to be adventurous, but the risk attached to it is high. It can always be the flip side. Tested techniques should be implemented to ensure optimization of resources. The event is not the right place to apply techniques which you are not well accustomed to, either does a pilot survey of it or look for consultants in case it looks indispensable.

Create Buzz and Sustain it

The ultimate agenda is to ensure maximum visibility. Communication to the stakeholders is the objective, and the real audience is outside the event premise. There are many events like, CES, adtech India, Tech Crunch etc use the new age techniques like content marketing, video marketing, social media amplification, etc. to ensure your brand trends on every platform. The below mentioned are the techniques to bring lime light to a company’s actions-

• Content marketing: Content marketing is a way to communicate to your stakeholders through different platforms. Event marketing is successful if the content generated from the event is rightly spread across different platforms.

#TeaforTrump campaign is a classic example of core integrated digital campaign highlighting real-time content marketing,  digital PR & social media amplification.  Reference https://armdigital.in/blog/secret-behind-tea-for-trump-real-time-marketing-campaign/

• Video marketing: Graphics and videos attract more eye balls in today's time constraint life, video marketing is a way to talk with your TG with the relevant videos. Video marketing adds in leverage the best of event marketing.
• Visibility on the traditional and digital platform: Communication through different channels and mediums to reach out to the maximum audience. Digital first PR is the new way to build brand image.

You can reach out to us on anasua.mitra(at)armdigital(dot)in for any queries on event marketing using integrated PR.

We are glad to announce that ARM Worldwide has been awarded with another gold. This time, India PR & Corporate Communications Awards 2016 (IPRCCA) for most innovative use of Social Media in “A hilarious attempt by TE-A-ME to "Purify" Donald Trump”. e4m IPRCCA 2016 is the path breaking initiative to salute and recognise the contribution of PR Consultancies and Corporate Communications.

A big cheers for all the team for bagging one of the 16 gold awards @ IPRCCA.

We have been nominated as the finalist of 2 categories, Most innovative use of Social Media & Integrated Campaign.

Checkout our Content Marketing Framework

For the first 72 hours of this campaign execution, a team of 11 members @armdigital were working day & night. The recipe behind the perfect execution of this campaign lies in an exact and opportune mix of timing, audience targeting, distribution channels, amplification, seeding, and cross promotion on multiple platforms. Velocity is what we wanted to achieve = (views + articles + conversations + impressions) / time. Checkout the detailed post on strategy behind Tea For Trump campaign execution.

• Website - https://www.teafortrump.com
• LighthouseInsights - https://lighthouseinsights.in/teafortrump.html/
• PR Moment:
• Mashable - https://mashable.com/2016/07/14/donald-trump-india-tea-bags/

One question that haunts each one of us is 'What do we want to achieve in life?'

Some have the answers for this, and they are working towards it, some think they are on the right way, and the destination is the future that will unravel the mystery, and some don't have any idea, well they are planning for next two years. So, not making it too complicated, as studied in basic human psychology human needs are unlimited. There is a subject that can teach you how to manage that, which is Economics. If you want a two-wheeler today as a kid you think of bicycle; then you would want a bike, a car, 'n' number of cars, mix of cars and bikes, a plane, rocket, a spaceship, an army, a fleet and this will not end ever. Coming back to the question, what do I want to achieve in your life? I ask this question to myself every day, and I get a different answer every day. Recently we went on the off-site of our organization which completed 3 years and the first thing I noticed was a creative standee which said: "Go fast and Go far." Apply this to your any dream, any aspiration, any goal, any plan, and it make sense. Someone in our organization was able to figure this out and made it simple for everyone. It is almost a year since I joined ARM Worldwide as an Assistant Manager - Social Media and now being a Sr. Analyst for Brand Solutions team. I have apparently seen us growing like crazy and not the only ARM Worldwide as one of the sought after Digital Marketing Consulting company but also the people who are making it one. This year the theme for the Offsite was the ideology we need to live by and take ourselves to the desired destination. Hence, Go Fast and Go Far! Two days packed full of lore, fun, exploration, and self-realization were well designed and planned. Insights by the suits, when a startup enters the 4th year, there are quite a lot of important decisions strategically to take, and it is the time where many companies divert and take a different mold. But, some of them stick to the core values and notch them up. ARM Worldwide has always been driven by the energy of its members. Now every organization has business goals, which requires a strategy to achieve them, but if you don't have the right people it can become difficult to move forward. If you recall the question we talked about earlier and take the ideology of Go Fast and Go Far into consideration, you will be able to bring them as a metaphor of spaceship and fuel. Where ARM Worldwide is the spaceship and the people, part of it are the fuel. Now we need to Go Fast and Go Far as individuals as well and as a team. There can always be a gap between a personal goal and an organizational goal, which is not a problem but if you have a bridge to connect them. As an employee, what I liked about this concept was it would help me achieve my personal goals and my organizational goals. In these two days, I learned about pushing my limits in everyday life tasks. We assume a point as our limit, but we never aim wild, which can be crossed as our estimated limits. A key takeaway for me on this offsite was to understand the need for speed in the work I do. No matter if it is a personal or professional. If you're doing more than you did yesterday, you are on the right track. A lot of fun with amazing performances from my colleagues and the stand-up comedy was the best.

Manifest–The Founders Summit aimed to nurture a community of Founders.The festival was a gathering of business founders, created to foster new ideas and inspire actionable results. The objective was to stimulate new initiatives and ventures, build new connections and collaborations, and kindle a community of people who have the desire to be inspired to rise above to achieve great things.The two-day event took place on 29th and 30th July at Vivanta by Taj, Dwarka, New Delhi. There was a lot of buzz on social media about Manifest in the days leading up to the event. The speaker list and details about the event were disclosed on twitter and facebook with a live tweet chat also being conducted with two of the speakers, Dhanya Rajendran, Founder and Editor-in-chief of TheNewsMinute and Swati Bhargava, Co-Founder of Cashkaro.com, giving the followers a chance to connect with the speakers and ask questions. The event kicked-started with an opening note by the two founders of the Summit - .... After the opening remarks by the co-founders , the summit began with inspiring keynotes. #Keynote address1: Radhika Aggarwal, Co-Founder - Shopclues.com on “Follow your Heart when Building an Enterprise” followed by a conversation with Josey John, Consulting Editor – Factor Daily Radhika Aggarwal shared the challenges, the learnings, the regrets and the milestones she faced during the shopclues journey. Radhika gave an encouraging keynote on the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and E-commerce.

'To make deep rooted local connections what plays the most crucial role are relevant influencers.' @Radhikaaggarwal #Manifest16

— Honey Singh (@honeytech) July 29, 2016

 

Beefing up with operations to match the marketing, traffic #learning@Radhikaaggarwal#Manifest16pic.twitter.com/XkcnUL3oxH

— Moksh Juneja (@mokshjuneja) July 29, 2016

  #Keynote address2: Ameera Shah, Promoter, Metropolis Healthcare on “Owning the Belief to Innovate.” Ameera discussed the importance of believing in yourself, in your employees, and building a strong culture within the organization, incorporating everyone involved with the organization. She also spoke on the relevance of building a strong employee culture and focus on quality service delivery, which she considers are the two key pillars of a service-based business.Her speech was followed by an enticing conversation with Her speech was followed by an enticing conversation with Syna Dehnugara, Features Editor, CNBC-TV18.

LIVE on #Periscope: @AmeeraShah @MetropolisIndia at @ManifestIndia #Manifest16 @CNBCTV18News @ShereenBhan https://t.co/rl1lfTfwFc

— Megha Vishwanath (@MeghaVishwanath) July 29, 2016

.@synadehnugara in conversation with @AmeeraShah about her pillars in the making of @MetropolisIndia! #Manifest16pic.twitter.com/bvfS6HxgYR — Manifest (@ManifestIndia) July 29, 2016

  Followed by the two keynotes were a panel discussion and the other speaker sessions planned on the agenda. #PowerExchange: Money and Fintech 1 Moderated by Monika Halan, Consulting Editor, Mint; Jimeet Modi, Founder, Indian Trading League; Ajay A Singh, Founder, 5nance.com; Adhil Shetty, Founder, BankBazaar.com; Vinay Mathews, Founder, Faircent.com; Naveen Surya, Founder , ItzCash A Power Exchange, unlike a Panel Discussion, had the moderator asking questions to get the Founders to share their journey, the vision for the sector and aspiration for their enterprise and how their services are making life simpler for the customer through an innovation or disruptive product or service. What is fintech exactly? What is the scope of this upcoming sector? The discussion revolved around these questions and the founders elaborated on the huge potential of fintech and the opportunities it has to offer.

The Money and Fintech Panel discussion is underway! Learnings Learnings Learnings @ManifestIndia#Manifest16pic.twitter.com/2hKixtIE5r

— Kartik Mago (@kartik_mago) July 29, 2016

    #Special Address: Srikant Sastri, Founder – Crayon Data on “How Big Data is Transforming the World”   A serial entrepreneur, Srikant Sastri is the Co-Founder of Crayon Data. He previously co-founded Solutions Integrated which was acquired by the Publicis Groupe. Srikant talked about the growing importance of data and gave his insight on how upcoming startups and established businesses can use data analysis to grow.

"Data is not just numbers anymore" - @srikantsastri #Manifest16

— Manifest (@ManifestIndia) July 29, 2016

It's easier to setup systems to collect data when you're starting up,than when u've built momentum @srikantsastri@abhishekaggy#manifest16 — Hemant Gaule (@hemantgaule) July 29, 2016  

#PowerExchange: Aggregators Power Exchange on Aggregators was moderated by Saurabh Uboweja, Founder, Brands of Desire; with Kanika Tekriwal, Founder, JetSetGo; Aakrit Vaish, Founder, Haptik; Santosh Panda, Founder, Explara; Amit Agarwal, Founder, NoBroker. The panelists shared their experiences on the challenges they faced and how they overcome them in their journey, and gave an insight how their offerings are trying to solve a problem.

4 learnings by @Uboweja Quality of service Innovative marketing Treat startup like a journey Spend time on product Happy players #Manifest16 — Manifest (@ManifestIndia) July 29, 2016

Really impressed by all the women entrepreneurs @manifest16, really crisp communication and business focus #miraihealth#Manifest16

— Aditi Hazra Ganju (@AditiGanju) July 29, 2016

  It is impressive to note that .... #PowerExchange: New Media Moderated by Roopak Saluja, Founder & CEO, The 120 Media Collective & Sooperfly with Ayesha Sood, Founder, Jamun Collective; Ritesh Singh, MD, #ARM Worldwide; Dhanya Rajendran, Founder, The News Minute & Jayadevan PK, Founder, Factor Daily. This Panel discussion was quite an interesting with the panelists sharing their insight on the scope in different aspects of media. One of the key topics of the discussion was how content strategy is more pertinent now than ever.

Example of velocity time growth @ritzingh was talking about, @teameteas #contentmarketing campaign #Manifest16 pic.twitter.com/vWmEhrrf9P

— #ARM Worldwide (@ARMDigital) July 29, 2016

Digital audiences are not binary anymore, content consumers surprise us via @ayeshasood#Manifest16 — aakashganju (@aakashganju) July 29, 2016

  #Keynote address3: Raghav Bahl, Founder, Quintillion Media on “Revolutionary Thinking in Building an Enterprise” in discussion with Abhinandan Sekhri, Co-Founder, Newslaundry Raghav Behl discussed the media ecosystem in India and also talked about cash flow management.

Discovered intellect can be capitalised, a heady feeling but not to be sold cheap @Raghav_Bahl sound advice! #Manifest16#miraihealth — Aditi Hazra Ganju (@AditiGanju) July 29, 2016

  #Power Exchange: Improving Health Care Power Exchange on Improving Health Care by Ravi Virmani, Founder, Credihealth with Aakash Ganju, Founder, Miraihealth ; Pawan Gupta, Founder, Curofy; Gauri Angrish, Founder, Coral Care Book; Subhashini Subramaniam, Founder, BabyBerry & Akanksha Kapoor, Founder, Oyehelp. The discussion revolved around the new and upcoming advancements with the mix of Heath care and technology, and the future scope of HealthCare in India.

So many interesting #Startups out here in the healthcare panel at #Manifest16 moderated by @Rxvirmanipic.twitter.com/Pz5A5LHPNl — Hemant Gaule (@hemantgaule) July 29, 2016

  The highlight of the day was the final speaker session. The encouraging speech by Dr. Arokiaswamy Velumani inspired everyone sitting in the room leaving all with a thought of self-introspection. The audience rose to their feet and gave Dr. Velumani a standing ovation at the end of his speech. #Keynote address4: Arokiaswamy Velumani on “Unleashing the Potential with Focus at the Core” A. Velumani is the promoter and CEO of Thyrocare Technologies. Thyrocare is India's first fully automated diagnostic laboratory with a focus on providing quality at affordable costs to laboratories and hospitals in India and other countries. Arokiaswamy has worked with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. He is an alumnus of University of Madras and University of Mumbai. Arokiaswamy delivered a splendid speech discussing his personal journey, an expereince through which we can all take out a lot of learnings.

"If can't plan to loose million, you can't make billion" @velumania #Manifest16 @ManifestIndia — Honey Singh (@honeytech) July 29, 2016

And a standing ovation for Mr. @velumania by all the founders! #Manifest16 pic.twitter.com/cDpksa53Rv

— Manifest (@ManifestIndia) July 29, 2016

TAKE BLOODY RISK - @velumania #manifest16 — Abhishek Agarwal (@abhishekaggy) July 29, 2016  

The day ended with a musical performance by the 'Tetseo Sisters' followed by dinner and an open bar.  

'The need of the hour for us is to find a space that allows us to be at our very best' @GulPanag #Manifest16 pic.twitter.com/8LBZrbVp4M

— Manifest (@ManifestIndia) July 30, 2016

Manifest–The Founders Summit aimed to nurture a community of Founders.The festival was a gathering of business founders, created to foster new ideas and inspire actionable results. The objective was to stimulate new initiatives and ventures, build new connections and collaborations, and kindle a community of people who have the desire to be inspired to rise above to achieve great things.The two-day event took place on 29th and 30th July at Vivanta by Taj, Dwarka, New Delhi. There was a lot of buzz on social media about Manifest in the days leading up to the event. The speaker list and details about the event were disclosed on Twitter and Facebook. A live tweet chat was also conducted with two of the speakers, Dhanya Rajendran, Founder and Editor-in-chief of TheNewsMinute and Swati Bhargava, Co-Founder of Cashkaro.com, giving the followers a chance to connect with the speakers and ask questions. Day 2 of the event kickstarted with a special address followed by more inspiring special sessions and power exchange. #Special address1: Yogesh Chabria, Founder, The Happionaire Way on "The Secret Teachings of the Goddess of Wealth and Goddess of Knowledge" Yogesh Chabria is one of the world's most loved and sought-after speakers, bestselling author, successful entrepreneur and founder of The Happionaire Way. He enlightened everyone about the power of knowledge. He ends the session on a happy note asking fellow founders to be happy.

Knowledge and information are different, knowledge is far more valuable invest in it @YChabria #Manifest16 #MiraiHealth

— Aditi Hazra Ganju (@AditiGanju) July 30, 2016

'A entrepreneur is anyone who's enterprising, whether within an organisation or leading it' @YChabria We couldn't agree more. #Manifest16 — #ARM Worldwide (@ARMDigital) July 30, 2016

#Special Session: Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog on "Espousing Innovation and the Need to Celebrate Founders" Amitabh Kant delivered an inspiring session in which he talked about what India needs to do to keep growing the business ecosystem in the country. He also spoke how it is not always the fault of the government and citizens need to start acting responsibly in conversation with Anil Padmanabhan, Mint.

You need smart and responsible people to have smart city. #Manifest16 #Gurugram @ManifestIndia @amitabhk87 @capitalcalculus

— Honey Singh (@honeytech) July 30, 2016

Less policy, urbanisation, infrastructure via PPP, Investment & innovation to lead next phase of growth #Manifest16pic.twitter.com/MZMpI9JHX6 — Shruti Malhotra (@Shruti_Malhotra) July 30, 2016

These two sessions were followed by a tea break and then came the first Power Exchange of Day2. A Power Exchange, unlike a Panel Discussion, had the moderator asking questions to get the Founders to share their journey, the vision for the sector and aspiration for their enterprise and how their services are making life simpler for the customer through an innovation or disruptive product or service. Power Exchange: Social Impact Panel Discussion: The Power Exchange moderated by Vikram Sampath, Founder, Archive of Indian Music included the panelists Shankar Srinivasan, Founder, Inclov. Surabhi HR, Founder, Political Quotient. Deepak Goel, Founder, KarmaCircles. Kanika Pal, Founder, SOCHE Foundation and Harsha Mukherjee, Entrepreneur. The panelists discussed how social entrepreneurship is coming up in India, and how it can benefit the society.

.@7shanks

"Make money - sure. But provide value. We need to build aspirational social impact companies."#Manifest16 — Abhishek Agarwal (@abhishekaggy) July 30, 2016

Need to make social entrepreneurship "aspirational and sexy" says @7shanks at #Manifest16 — Rochan Dayal Mathur (@RochanMathur) July 30, 2016

Special address2 : Aparna Jain, Founder,Zebraa Works on “Are new-age Founders braver than corporate India? Aparna spoke about women-related issues in the industry and discussed what steps the upcoming start-ups can take to practice gender equality and develop a healthy culture in their offices.

'Today's data is tomorrow's bias'- inspired by @Aparna 's speech at #Manifest16

— Madhavan Narayanan (@madversity) July 30, 2016

#Power Exchange2: Money and Fintech Panel The Power Exchange with Money & Fintech Panel was moderated by Vivek Law, Founder, Investonomix with Vikas Sekhri, Founder, CashCare; Nidhi Gurnani, Founder, Cardback; Pranav Manpuria, Founder, CocoaPay. The Panel discussion revolved around the scope of FinTech in India, and how this industry is changing how people use their credit/debit cards.

Neither necessary nor preferred to try & change consumer behaviour,#FinTech can make value chain more efficient @pranavmanpuria #Manifest16 — Hemant Gaule (@hemantgaule) July 30, 2016

.@ritzingh having multiple cards, how to decide which one to use and know its benefits? #Manifest16 @manifestindia

— #ARM Worldwide (@ARMDigital) July 30, 2016 #Power Exchange3: Food Moderator- Rajyasree Sen, Founder,Food for Thought with Foodtech panel having Maulik Mistry, Founder, MojoBars; Rajeshree Naik, Founder, India Food Network; Vikram Achanta, Founder, Tulleeho; Pragati Sawhney, Founder, Chockriti; Ashish Kapur, Founder – Moods Hospitality talked about the scalability in foodtech industry.

Learning is not just about scalability its also about bottom lines and cash flows @Yo_Ash at #Manifest16 pic.twitter.com/ldI4JOuS5g — anup sharma b'harry (@TweetsAnup) July 30, 2016

'Any work that is thrilling is a work you can excel in.' @satpathylive starts session on the importance of respecting privacy. #Manifest16

— Manifest (@ManifestIndia) July 30, 2016

Special Session: Tathagata Satpathy, MP & Founder, Orissa Post on “The Importance of Respecting Privacy in a Complex World” in conversation with Divya Spandana, Former MP & Kannada Actor on “Following Your Heart and Standing for a Cause”

Tathagata Satpathy started the session with a speech on "The Importance of Respecting Privacy in a Complex World" in which he discussed how India and the World is facing a threat of privacy in conversation with Divya Spandana and Madhavan Narayanan.

Divya, Spansana, Former MP and Kannada actor, addressing founders at @ManifestIndia #Manifest16 @KarmaCircles pic.twitter.com/H8G47Fw9Ud — KarmaCircles (@KarmaCircles) July 30, 2016

Never thought a session with politicians could be this engaging as it is with @divyaspandana & @SatpathyLive at #Manifest16@manifestindia

— Nidhi Gurnani (@NidhiGurnani) July 30, 2016

Power Exchange: EduTech The Panel was moderated by Syed Sultan Ahmed, Founder, LXL Ideas with Gaurava Yadav, Founder, Eduace; Phalgun Kompalli, Founder, UpGrad; Rajashree Krishnaswamy, Founder, Catalyze; Maruti Konduri, Founder, Cracku as panelist.

To acquire knowledge one must Learn. To implement knowledge one must Unlearn @syedsultan at #Manifest16 pic.twitter.com/fBUO4wp65u — anup sharma b'harry (@TweetsAnup) July 30, 2016

Two parts of education: livelihood education and life education! Future education would be mostly done online. #Manifest16

— Ravi Kamdar (@ravikamdar) July 30, 2016

Special Address: Anshu Gupta, Founder – Goonj on “Building Value Using the Power of Values” Anshu Gupta, Founder, Goonj gave an amazing speech on how we should stay true to our values, and should give back to the society from time to time.

'Minus to zero is not development. Minus to zero is survival!' @anshugoonj is breaking all self righteous notions #Manifest16 — #ARM Worldwide (@ARMDigital) July 30, 2016

People who pay bribe are bigger thieves than the one taking it - as we do it to save more than that guy @anshugoonj#Manifest16

— Ritesh Singh (@ritzingh) July 30, 2016

Special Address: Ramesh Aggarwal sharing his journey on entrepreneurship Ramesh Aggarwal, Entrepreneur and Activist delivered an inspirational special address to the audience at #Manifest16

Turning challenges into opportunity one kilometre at a time... Inspiring speech by @RameshAgarwalJi#Manifest16pic.twitter.com/TQVrPR6yaq — Shruti Malhotra (@Shruti_Malhotra) July 30, 2016

Closing keynote speaker was none other than Gul Panag, the actor, activist and co-founder, Mobiefit. She talked about “Action, Activism and Activity - A Founders Mantra” She is an actor and an entrepreneur who is one of India’s most powerful opinion makers and thought leaders. She talked about how fitness is important and how the focus is important in our day to day life to get a better living! Here are the few takeaways from Gul Panag session.

Our last speaker wears many hats. An actor, politician and a founder! @GulPanag is here at #manifest16

— Rochan Dayal Mathur (@RochanMathur) July 30, 2016

'The quicker you complete OODA (Observe, orient, decide and act), the quicker you will grow' @GulPanag#Manifest16 — #ARM Worldwide (@ARMDigital) July 30, 2016

#TeaforTrump campaign started its journey from India to create required noise across the globe. The core of digital campaign execution strategy was real-time marketing, turning our content into liquid content & discoverable over the Internet.  The intention and endeavors behind this campaign was to spread the word about the power of tea. ARM Worldwide's strength apart from paid media & technology is digital PR & content marketing. For TE-A-Me we focused on reaching out to audiences in India & US, capturing & curating their real-time responses from the global audience and encouraging everyone to join us requesting Donald Trump (@realDonaldTrump) to #drinkthetea. The recipe behind the perfect execution of this campaign lies in an exact and opportune mix of timing, audience targeting, distribution channels, amplification, seeding, and cross-promotion on multiple platforms.  Velocity is what we wanted to achieve = (views + articles + conversations + impressions) / time.  For the first 72 hours, a team of 11 members @armdigital were working day & night to capture & engage into the real-time emotions and reactions activated through #TeaForTrump & #DrinkTheTea across the globe.

If you are still wondering, this is the Tea for Trump video in which a tea company sends 6000 tea bags to Donald Trump to ‘purify mind’.

As a result of relevant and timely content targeting, hundreds of publications easily discovered the content. In less than 24hrs, we received 1M video views & with organic content marketing activities we achieved more than 3M views in less than three days. Later many internet celebrity figures & NRI's organically joined the #TeaForTrump revolution on digital. So far, Tea for Trump campaign delivered 350M impressions from 80+ countries (lead by india & US) having more than 150000+ digital engagements, 42000+ video shares, 3.2M video videos(in first 72 hours), 22,000 tweets (having 60+ twitter verified profiles) & 710+ stories. We also monitored & analyzed more than 200K tweets(all across the word) in our command-center and observed that Share of Voice (SOV) for TE-A-ME in Donald Trump conversations was greater than 7% during first 48hours of RTM which clearly indicate the successful execution of our amplification strategy. Breaking down any Real Time Marketing campaign, we go by the experience and experimentation. Essentially, there are four quadrants to plan, execute and analyze the campaign.  The RTM Framework is more inclined towards the planning stage but also helps for the overall analysis. The first quadrant is when we list down all those things which we can plan proactively. #TeaForTrump had many scenarios under this piece.

• ORM is critical for any digital campaign, you can not predict the response, but you can think of various scenarios and create a tactical plan for that. We did the same, lot of negative and positive scenarios were created,  anticipating negative comments and we were ready for the action plan if any of those were triggered.

• We constructed a flexible and a sound Media Plan backing it up with the proper audience targeting. We were confident enough to spend the budget as per our Media Analysis and was also ready to tweak to get the objective completed. US media played a critical role as we wanted their attention.

• Nothing is more important other than your plan for  Content Distribution.  A detailed Content Seeding Framework was created along with the Integrated Channel Strategy, and we followed the framework throughout the campaign.

Sometimes, a robust planning is not enough for an RTM campaign; we need to monitor and adapt accordingly. All the activities need to be Proactively planned but in real time. That is the second quadrant in the RTM framework.

• Activities like monitoring conversations on @RealDonaldTrump were essential as any reaction or communication on Twitter could have been a game changer for the campaign. It could have lead to a crisis, and we needed a comeback in the shape of Crisis Communication Plan. The bold nature of this campaign made it ORM sensitive, no matter how much planning we did, there were surprising responses, so we tweaked our tactics accordingly.

• Our timeline for executing the campaign was near the time of  Republican National Convention, and we wanted to leeway the campaign in between that.

The third quadrant is more about analyzing the possible reactions by the various stakeholders.

• We brainstormed the potential crisis that can happen, what would Donald Trump say if he has to comment on it (negative of course). The other part of this quadrant is more about content drivers and strategy. There can be a constant change in the content which was planned according to our core communication.

Essentially when we execute this framework, there is an ongoing evaluation on the scalability at regular intervals. The last quadrant is the most complicated and tough thing to execute on a tactical ground.

• Imagine all your planning is wasted as the face of the campaign turns out to be different as you thought of. We were ready to unlearn everything and respond in real-time to the media reaction.

• We made sure we were patient and ready to take anything on #TeaForTrump managing sentiments and responses to the real-time comments.

Time being the most valued factor, with the help of this framework we were able to manage #TeaForTrump on digital and made it a liquid content. Innovation doesn't need a license, it needs a leader and we found one as Sumit Shah, executive director, Madhu Jayanti International, the makers of Te-A-Me. He was working closely with us in building the real-time strategy to turn #TeaForTrump into a breakthrough, widespread and interactive campaign, day & night. Last but not least, #TeaForTrump is not the end of TE-A-ME intervention but the start of #DrinkTheTea initiative for spreading the power of tea. We urge you all to stay tuned.

Close your eyes. Go on, do it. Now imagine driving a car in heavy, slow-moving traffic. Picture a bike rider coming from the opposite direction, losing his balance & bumping into your car. What would you do? Did you imagine yourself flying into a rage & yelling at him? You’re not alone there, my friend. In fact, you are with the majority here. Have patience with all things, But, first of all with yourself. These words by Saint Francis could not have been truer even if they tried. When faced with an enraging or stressful situation, most of us behave instinctively. We react. It is only when we have had time to process the situation & look at it from every perspective possible that we respond. The corporate world is no picnic in the park. Professionals across industries face unfavourable situations everyday & more often than not, end up reacting. The implications of the same can be quite severe. So, how do we know when we are reacting? And how do we learn to respond? Whenever you feel like exploding, take a pause. Picture the ‘Big Picture’: Think about how this incident would affect you in the longer run. Compose away: A pause gives you a little time to frame & compose your reply. This will take the edge of the reaction off instantly & help you make smarter decisions. A little context goes a long way: Consider all perspectives before you say anything. Logical emotions: Logical decisions infused with the knowledge of its emotional implications are your best bet. Swift introspection: Ask yourself the very key question – “Am I reacting?” And just like that, you’ll be in the perfect position to respond. Choice choice, baby: At times, we react not knowing we have another options. A deep calm breath later, you will find that you have all the time you need to assess all available choices. Mission vision: Look into the future. What are the events that will unfold basis the way you retort right now. Get that hindsight in foresight! Rise to the expectations: In the workplace & beyond, your peers, your seniors & your well-wishers expect you to respond, not react. Consider that for a moment before you go ahead. There are times when you don’t have the option of dawdling on your response before delivering it. Most reactions are reflexes, after all. A good example of this is the situations faced by ER doctors. Their reaction could cause serious, sometimes fatal harm to their patient. With years of practise & training, they have modelled their thoughts to always respond – no matter how much time they have on their hands. How do you emulate that? Simple. Preparation & Thought. Being responsive doesn’t mean that you are slow, it means you are sure-footed, thoughtful & sensible. Study the factors that trigger your reactions & pay close attention to ensure that they are not repeated. Get calm, take a brief pause, then opt for an intelligent, abet compassionate response. It may take many tries but in time, you’ll learn to hold in the reaction & evolve it to a well-composed response. Just don’t be afraid to fail at it. Even if you do, you’ll do much better next time. One tiny step for you, a giant leap for your popularity charts!

Understanding, Knowledge, Wisdom - these are a few things humans have aspired for, yearned for and toiled hard for to make things around them better, to be better. Most of us look at successful people and the first thing we usually come up with is “I wish ...”. We fail to realise the amount of hard work, the time and sweat spent by the one who is successful in order to achieve what he has today. Success is a byproduct of knowledge one would say. Knowledge is a byproduct of learning. Learning involves feedback. A lot of feedback. Whenever we’re assigned a task, we work and toil to deliver the best output. However, as a great man once said. Everything can be made better if we all involve others. You need to be open to learn from other’s experience, look forward to it and accept the insights they have to share. Working and including other’s insights would add to your own experience. Feature this, a guy who has been in advertising for more than 10 years sharing his insights to your project may be that “edge” you were looking for. Add these 10 years of polished experience to your 1 year of hard work and learning, Volia! You just may have a masterpiece in your hands. Accepting feedback is hard. Asking someone to critique your work which you spent hours or days completing is bound to make anyone weary. Asking for feedback can be a steep hill to climb and as nerve wrenching as walking up to your crush and revealing your feelings. A few things that we can take into account if you find yourself fidgeting before stepping in for a feedback/ review.

• Be calm and keep a cool head. The one giving you feedback isn’t there to roast you alive. Managers want to watch you learn and succeed. Success begets Success after all.
• Go in with an open mind. Do not pre-plan situations which may or may not be. Step in with a smile and an open mind. Remember, its about adding to your project, your performance and your knowledge.
• Just Listen. The one sharing feedback may be your peer, your supervisor or the one person you just don’t gel with at work. Hear them out, as Linus Pauling said, the best way to get an idea is to have a lot of ideas! And you never know where they come in from.
• Ask questions. Be attentive and take notes so that you can work on the feedback, There may be a few pointers which may not ring a bell. For them, ask questions, take clarifications. A feedback is not your test to prove yourself, it’s an opportunity to improve yourself and your work.
• Mind your P’s and Q’s The golden rule of etiquette doesn’t let you down here either. Before stepping in think of it as a knowledge session, remember to thank the one who is sharing feedback. This will get your mind off the edge a bit as well.

Remember, giving feedback is a tough task as well. Your managers and supervisors are not there to nullify your efforts but to add to it. Managers want their subordinates to learn, grow and succeed and those who invest time and their knowledge to help you improve are seldom found. In the end, it’s ok to make mistakes, as they say, to error is human, circle back and work on the feedback, keep and use what you like and think can improve your work. As George Bernard Shaw rightly said, “A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” Feedback begets learning. Learnings beget Knowledge. Knowledge begets Success!  

Recently, we underwent an Intrapreneur Training Program to groom us all at #ARM to be 'In-house Entrepreneurs' and to grow at a faster pace so as to take a step towards leading the organisation to desired results. The series of activities there helped us understand how leaders and their trust motivates employees and affects performance.

Leaders as trust-builders

It's very important for the leaders to engage with employees in order to build trust through their behaviour. In a personal experience, the leader builds trust by behaving consistently over time and situations to increase parity, communicate the valuable information, engage in decision making with followers and explanations for decisions and openness. A leader shows concern for the team, act in a way that supports employees' interests while not exploit others. Trust grows between a leader and a follower, where the leader makes a decision to trust based on the follower’s behaviours and their perceived level of trustworthiness. The four key pillars of trust are, Ability – Expertise of Leader in doing a job and carrying out their role. Compassion – Show interest in employees’ needs and being approachable whenever required. Integrity – stick to set of principles acceptable to others encircling fairness and honesty. Uniformity – Consistent actions by Leaders helps in building trust amongst followers.

From trustworthy leaders to trustworthy leadership

The sense of independence, trust, relationship, responsibility, engagement, uniqueness leads to trustworthy leadership and at #ARM I experienced this kind of leadership from the top management. The practise of trustworthy leadership can be summed under four themes.

1. Putting relationships at the heart

Leaders encourage their followers to interact with co-employees within the team as well as beyond as making connections with people in other teams helps to understand business as a whole and generates respect for each other’s work. It helps to work more effectively as a whole and not as an individual resource. Putting relationships at heart is important because it let people to look beyond their job and get instead a whole lot visibility into the big picture.

2. Recognising and developing uniqueness

Leader gives followers a belief that they can achieve things and that they can progress from where they are. Followers must feel a willingness of their leaders and intend to develop them further in their work and capabilities.

3. Enabling mutual responsibility

Leader establishes an environment where responsibilities links both leader and follower, as they share accountability for their work and its outcomes. He/She can induce trust in followers by recognising the shortcomings and accepting the responsibility to address them.

4. Engaging with people

Employees need to feel their leaders are ‘real’. This can be achieved by leaders sharing their personal experiences with team. It’s important for the leaders to connect with their followers on personal and develop a sense of trust. Sharing thoughts, aspirations during casual talks allows real person to emerge and sense of trust among their followers.

“Leaders need to bring to the surface what has remained hidden in order to be perceived as human, personal and relational.”