writersrinivasan

When the child is born in the hospital (nowadays, most of the time it’s happening in the hospital), she starts crying. This is the first step in the marketing world, she is saying very proudly that “ I am there”. The product by itself says through’ that sound.

The first cry of the newborn baby tells many stories for us in marketing.

Personal Branding has been MADE! The product Rightly marketed by itself!

To this world, she says through sound’ (SOUNDS GOOD, right!). She exhibits through that. Without that sound, we never realized that it still exists in the world. Isn’t it?

In Tamil, we used to say “ The Child with the Mouth will survive”.

This is the first lesson in “the marketing”. WE ourselves are the products in this world.

The self-promotion is really needed in each and every step of our life.

When you are selling yourself, you have to be alive. That’s proof for your customer.

That is, you are going to solve their problems. That’s what the expectations of the people.

Because people are selfish. They care about themselves. They don’t care about your knowledge, experience, etc.

They would want to solve their URGENT problems more than the important one.

Whenever we are going with our product to the customer, we have to open up ourselves with the features of the product.

That is, they have to believe that this product is going to solve their problem.

Here, the first cry of the newborn baby solves the very URGENT problem of their parents and she’s announcing herself like a product to the world that “I AM ALIVE”.

What do you think?

Srinivasan Ramanujam

“He doesn’t want to see you and he’s not interested to have any kind of discussion with you”

This was the message I have got.

I laughed at reading this message and replied to her immediately saying “Thank you so much”

I was really not in anger or in any other resentment by looking at this message. Even I didn’t have a feeling that I have got humiliated.

Instead, I was thinking about how come one human being is refused to meet another human being.

That too, we were born together, eat together, sleep together, laughed together and I know what’s his root. Even he knows that.

There could be only one possible reason to refuse to meet me. His EGO. Because He has given so many promises to me and he didn’t do anything at all!

So, this is the point where I got pushed from my comfort zone. I expand from this point onwards.

I have already thought of doing something in my life. These words have changed me a lot.

I have seen a lot of people in my village. In their life “the one word” changed them a lot. Be in the positive or in the negative side of their life.

Because of one word, there was an old woman in my neighborhood, she never spoke a word to his husband until her death. Because her husband scolded with a bad word sometime back.

The word has power in itself.

I am seeing this as a positive. I can do it more and I can make it more in my life. I can achieve whatever am thinking now. I can reach my goal without fail in my entrepreneurial life. Even if I fail, that doesn’t matter. Still, I can do better after that.

This is what I was thinking after seeing that message.

Trust me. I never got angry seeing that message. If I would have got angry, I might be ended up working somewhere as an employee in the US itself.

Thank god that I have that maturity to read the message and took it in a positive sense.

On the other end, what I thought was he didn’t see my value. He doesn’t have generosity. I wanted to create both these things by doing something more valuable to society.

Maybe my mind and soul are waiting for this kind of motivational trigger.

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What are Sales funnel in Digital Marketing?

Very often this question has been asked by every student or new entrepreneur. This is an important step in the sales and marketing of any organization.

Definition of Sales Funnel:

According to Wikipedia, the definition of a sales funnel or purchase funnel is:

The purchase funnel, or purchasing funnel, is a consumer-focused marketing model that illustrates the theoretical customer journey toward the purchase of a good or service.

In a layman term, we can describe this:

The process of getting the customer into our sales process (the funnel) and then purchase is happening after the decision has been made by the customer.

So it depends on the products and the services of your firm and how you are planning to market any product and the services to your customer.

This has been made by a typical formula called “AIDA”.

What is the AIDA formula?

In 1898, E.St.Elmo Lewis developed a model that mapped a theoretical customer journey from the moment a brand or product attracted consumer attention to the point of action or purchase. St. Elmo Lewis’ idea is often referred to as the AIDA model in marketing. (Source: Wikipedia)

Acronym for AIDA:

Awareness:

So, if you have any product or service, first you have to make sure that you are exhibiting yourself in front of your customer.

There’s no use if you have a product or service and you are not going behind your customer. Ultimately any customer never minds about any products or services.

Because they have their own mindset and their own consumer mentality. We have to go and acquire them by showcasing your products or services. Then only you can move to the next level of attraction. That is, you can create interest in your products and services.

So, you have to make them aware of your products and services by any means. That is the first process in the sales funnel.

https://writersrinivasan.com

I was there in New Jersey for almost six months and the stay and everything has been taken care of by my sponsor. At this point in time, I had to thank my sponsor and his friend and they have taken care of me very well.

After three months, I almost got an offer to join one of the companies over there however they did not mention any timeline for the joining.

This is the period where the transformation was happening in my mind like still how long I have to work as an employee and is there any benefit staying out of the family for a certain period.

There were lots of questions which I have not got any answer. For example, If I calculate my paycheck and the expenses in the US for a family which is of nowhere I am going to save anything. But there are other benefits for my family members (like the new landscape, places to visit, the lifestyle and other cosmetic things which any NRI will think that would be the great offer), for me, it’s the same normal, routine life.

Whereas in India, I have the freedom of thoughts and the freedom of living and the worst-case scenario, I can live my life in my own way. This can not be in the NRI’s case. If you are living in the US, that too as an employee, there are so many things to consider-reconsider, think-rethink, wired-rewired things will continuously happen.

Why I was thinking like this because this is not the right time to be landed over in the US having such a great experience in my career. I will get very normal remuneration here in the US compared to India and that too I have to share some percentage with my sponsor for H1B.

You can question me here why don’t you think before going over there. Obviously, I had given a thought on this part, however, to be honest, and to be frank…these things were at the least priority when I have got the stamping for an H1B visa in my passport!

Now I have got relieved of something from getting the job offer as I have got the confirmation from my employer saying the joining date will be intimated soon. However, still was attending a lot of interviews.

Also, my feeling and question of why I have to be an employee as always’ was increasing day by day. I thought of writing down all the desires what I wanted to be in life.

I couldn’t write any list and it’s not so easy to write the list too. Meanwhile, I have got my driving license, my bank account got opened and now am ready for the same old race which anyone coming from India or any other countries to the US.

I hated this kind of life. I can not live life like this and I can not end my life like this. I strongly believe that I am not born to live like a slave be it in India or in the US. Wherever I am, I am going to be the boss. I am born to give jobs to others. I have a lot of potentials to live like an employer and I wanted to be an entrepreneur!

I have arrived at this point after three months. Yes, I would like to do business. I don’t know what to do. However, I have to do something on my own.

How to do that?

This was the point I got stuck into.

Moreover, I hate this kind of mentality, the attitude of a person, and also I hate the dependency at this age. I know what I am doing right now. That’s all I was thinking.

But, recently he’s not well and I planned to meet him just for the sake of asking how’s the health.

I didn’t have his residential address and I was just texting him to get the same.

He didn’t reply to my email or my text but I have got a reply from his wife (Sister-in-Law).

“He doesn’t want to see you and he’s not interested to have any kind of discussion with you”

How to generate leads for your business?

Lead generation is an important task for any business to grow. In fact, many companies invest more money in this part. Their marketing & sales team working hard to generate more and more leads through a lot of channels.

This article is mainly focused on small and medium businesses and how they can plan for their lead generation method for initial and further growth.

These are the tips that can be utilized for B2B and also for B2C depends on your products and services.

1. Building up your user/customer base:

The first and foremost thing, any business owner needs to do is collecting the data of your target audience. Ultimately, we need to focus on our target audience.

Also, we have to focus on their demographics, interests, and other details to put a clear strategy. To be precise, who they are, where they live, how much they are earning, what is their lifestyle, personality, etc.

We are collecting these details because to put a clear marketing plan and how we can reach them easily. This is a complex task for any business and it’s a mandated process too. Without this information, the business is not able to run their show.

After collecting this data, you have to build the user community for your products and services. Because having a community group for your services, you can easily sell yourself and grow very fast. Also, the community helps with “word of mouth” marketing for your products or services. This is very important to grow very fast and also you can retain your customer.

This step can be done by the following method:

  If you have the website for your company, you can have any third party application inside your website to collect the user’s email. There are lots of products that are available in the market these days. You can avail of this.

If you don’t have any website, you can have landing pages for your products and services and with the help of this, you can collect their emails.

After collecting the emails, you can send out very nice emails describing your products and services. You can automate this process too.

2. Promoting your products and services to your customer

Now, you will have a better understanding after collecting the customer data. Based on your marketing plan or ideas, you have to choose a medium to promote your products and services.

In the first point, we have already covered one method of promoting your products and services. That is email marketing.

Use your social media business pages and if at all needed go for a paid method of reaching out to your customers.

You can have a webinar speaking about your products and services or have a video on YouTube

You can conduct or participate in industry events

Customer referrals

The traditional advertising

You can have a blog or website, in that you can explain your products and services

3. Developing/Creating a Sales Funnel

This is an important step. I have already covered the first point itself. That’s one of the sales funnels which we need to be focused to have their contact information.

Happy Entrepreneurship!

Have a good day!

Part 1 – How did I start my business?

Setting the expectation:

In this title, I would like to let you know about my journey to the business. Like, how did I start, why did I start, what am going to do with this entrepreneurial journey, what are the challenges, facts, figures, calculations, what is  B2B, what is B2C,  and so on.

It’s not merely an autobiography. However, it seems like I am telling my story. It may help you whoever wishes to join this journey as a businessman.

So, How did I start this journey?

It’s not happened overnight, however it was in my mind since from the year 2014. I am thinking of starting as a consultant in the space of “Soft Skills”. In fact, I have started the company in that year itself but it didn’t get through well as I never put any thoughts around this.

Because at the time I was working in a software company as a Manager and I couldn’t spend much time on my new venture. Also, my environment, my family members, and the situation was not right at that time. Even, I was not in tact with my vision and my goal.

I just started it and after some time I have closed it immediately because of a disorganized mentality.

That was my choice to close that one because:

To simply put, I didn’t start anything. I didn’t do any hard work for that and there was no regret. Most importantly, I didn’t invest anything in this business.

No idea. No hard work. No focus. No business!

Then I went back to my comfort zone and I used to work in a 9 to 5 job. I was happy. I had nothing in my mind. No big dreams. Focusing on my kids and my family. The circle became square now.  I stopped thinking of starting a business.

But, I was sure about one thing. That is, I was thinking and my mind was always in this: “I have to start something BIG in my lifetime”. I was not sure about what is “BIG” means. It could be anything.

After three years, in 2017, I have got my H1B visa stamped. I was in a dilemma whether I continue here or go to the US for work.

After thinking a lot, I planned to go to the US with my H1B. This is the decision that I took and planned to take a risk after a long time in my career. Planning to Move from a COMFORT ZONE.

Because this is the sponsored visa. So, I had to resign from my current company and then after going to the US, I have to find my job.

Literally, this was the situation.

Still, I was not sure how did I make this choice. My sponsor had given me the assurance that for sure he will get me the job and he’s having a lot of networks. This was one of the reasons I had to move further.

Actually, that was not the case. He didn’t have any and the time I was there in the US, was not in favor of H1B visa holders to get a job smoothly.

So, now, I have arrived in New Jersey and after a long time, I had to carry my RESUME and search for a job in the US soil.

I was not prepared mentally and physically for this kind of challenges in my life, I struggled a lot in the US.

And that too, I was in a very comfortable life in India. But in the US, it’s not the case.

I came to the US many times starting from the year 2008. That was on a business visa (B1). It was a short trip and my company had spent a lot on me. There were no issues at all times until 2017.

This time, I know for sure that I can’t make it to live over here in the US. There’s one more strong reason for this aversion.

Thanks!

Srinivasan Ramanujam 

Starting from ZERO:

I had ZERO knowledge when I have started my business in 2017. I had the subject knowledge but I didn’t have knowledge of how to sell my services.

I haven’t gone through any marketing or sales seminars or books etc., . However, I got into the field along with my services.

The marketing field was really tough to manage by me. That was TRUE. I am not the person to deal with the people. I am the person to deal with myself. So, I had to face lot of people and their EGO.

But, I had to tell you this! I had a preplanned mindset. That is, I am going out of my usual way (Out Of  My COMFORT ZONE) and this is not going to be a “White Collor” job anymore for me. Anything can happen in the field of Sales & Marketing (because when I start my company, I was the only person to handle everything). So, I have done some homework to prepare my mind to adapt to certain things.

These are the things I had set up in my mind. That is, I was setting an expectation to myself. If I start my business, these are things that will happen for sure.

As I expected, I had to face all the above experiences in my life. Those are new challenges for me. So to adapt to the entrepreneurial life, it was quite a nightmare.

But, there’s no way to quit and back to my comfort zone. So, what to do now?

Here’s the quote by Robin Sharma:

“When you go to your limits, your limits will expand”.

I strongly believe this thing and I have faced many instances in my life before. For example, I don’t know anything about computers or Softwares when I completed my Engineering Degree in 2001.

But one thing I have decided that I have to get a job only in the software field. I have done my degree in Production Engineering.

In 2001, I almost learned all the front end and back end tools that were available in the market at that time and I finally ended up with SAS (Statistical Analysis System).

So, it happened only because I expanded my limits.

At that time all my friends were kidding me like anything. Because during my college time I was least bothered about computers and its mechanism.

So, a similar situation for me to switch over from a highly paid Software Job into an entrepreneurial one.

As I expected, all the things happened in my business life (quoted above bullet points).

So, I am not bothered at the time of humiliation. Am not bothered when it comes to the worst situation. I had predicted that all the things will happen to me. I knew it very well.

But, how to manage these kind of situation without any damage to our personal life or professional life? That will lead into another blog post and will discuss it later or in the next post.

So, you have understood at this point in time, What’s the BUSINESS meant to me?

I love what I am doing. At the same time, I am earning. Not only this, but I am also giving back to this society what I have learned.

Am feeling happy and trying to make this statement very boldly.

FEELING HAPPY!

This is what a lot of people searching for these days, right?