Competitive Intelligence | Competitive Strategy - Addkraft

Competitive intelligence when combined with strategic content and marketing forms the next level of complimentary fundamentals essential for business success.

In a competitive marketplace, clear, precise and up-to-date information defines the difference between catching up, overtaking or being left behind in the race to achieving success. Acquiring competitive information, and gaining data regarding competitive gap and competitive landscape, and applying this knowledge to the organization’s competitive strategy are critical for the organization’s success irrespective of its stage of business, that is, start-up, growth, sustenance or exit stage. It is imperative that the organization assesses and analyzes its competitors both from a strategic and a tactical standpoint. These activities provide your organization with a razor-sharp focus to proactively move ahead of competition.

Addkraft’s competitive intelligence process uses techniques and methods that deploy targeted and specific questions to gain insight about the organization’s competitors and also recommend optimal competitive marketing strategy for your organization.

For more details @ http://www.addkraft.com/competitive-intelligence/

Content Engagement | Contextual Content | Content Marketing– Addkraft

Context and content are the most important, complimentary basic essentials that form the foundation for success in any business. Marketing and brand narratives are composed of a series of concepts or values. Content gives form to these concepts. AddKraft’s mission is to support you in defining your intrinsic and core values, connecting with your target audience and communicating these values to the audience. Our team of experts has the ability to craft concise and compelling content for your business based on the context. At AddKraft we value content and look beyond the usual role played by content in advertisements or promotional offers that aid your business – we ensure that we provide a continual contextual content engagement, which is critical for your growth and achieving your vision.

What is contextual content? In what way is it the best option for a successful marketing campaign? Contextual creative content has the capacity to hold the attention of your target audience beyond the fleeting attention paid to the usual promotional content. Contextual content first creates awareness among the audience regarding a specific concept or idea and builds interest in the concept through regular content feed. This will help create knowledge about and interest in the concept, without directly marketing the product or service. 

For more details @ http://www.addkraft.com/contextual-content-crafting/

Technology Marketing | B2B Content Development – Addkraft

https://youtu.be/AP_uZ6_2iQc?list=PLeqEomguBqW9JOsnyAMgOTU8DihrmgoL8

Addkraft started with a passion to write laser-focused value proposition for business enterprises. Value proposition and strategic value content are the most critical components for building arms and ammunition to fight in the competitive corporate world.

With this belief and passion, we started addkraft, a business marketing consulting firm, in 2015, with a clear focus on providing business-marketing services for b2b & b2c technology-focused organizations.

Very often the value of original innovations does not reach the target audience or buyers because the relevance of these successful endeavors often get lost among the many intermediate individuals, systems, strategies, processes and technologies. The final defined value hence often does not meet expectations, deviates from the original intent or is masked by layers of thought processes that may or may not be right for the organization.

For more details @ http://www.addkraft.com/services/

Why so cold when it comes to cold calls?

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Promotional phone calls these days are considered nothing but synonyms for desperation and irritation. But business-to-business cold calling are the proverbial troublemakers, with enterprises even placing a no-entry board for such callers way before you can even reach out to them. With such strict resistance to and dwindling popularity of cold calls, how then can you revive a dying practice to gain maximum benefits?

Although there is no specific math or formula you can apply to simplify the calling tactics, a few guidelines might certainly be helpful when the caller is just about to lose the potential listener. Calling for software product marketing is different from calling for software services marketing or an insurance product marketing to a company.

1.       Have it but don’t flaunt it

The easiest way to start with is to have a script as a guide. However the irony of having a script ready for a cold call is that your pitch should never sound scripted. At the same time, you cannot move ahead if you don’t have an approximate map of the route to be followed, but be aware that no one likes to listen up to a bookish conversation. So, it's always safe to strike a balance.

2.       The 10-second window

First impressions definitely matter. Power-packed yet naturally impressive opening seconds of a call can indeed turn the tables. Make sure that first ten seconds of the call compels the listener to continue the conversation with you. Your approach can vary depending on the type of the person you are talking to. A middle-aged business man and a young female entrepreneur require completely different plans of action to ensure an engaging conversation.

Rather than saying “Hello Sir, I am calling from ABC insurance company and I would like to offer some good insurance plans for your employees”, a little innovative strategy can be adopted, such as, “Hello Sir, I am calling from ABC insurance company and I have recently heard about the way you helped the family of an employee who met an accident. We sincerely commend the initiative you took. We thought we could offer you some insights into some interesting insurance plans that can deliver immense benefits for your employees without pushing your budget to a corner”.

3.       Too much too soon

Never bombard the listener with a flood of information. Keep things simple, concise and to the point. Don’t forget there is difference between imposing and impressing.

4.       Hearing works

Unless you listen up to the prospect’s queries and concerns, you cannot make the prospect believe that you can provide help. Never let the dialogue turn into a monologue and this is valid from both sides. Balanced conversation is what you should aim at.

The caller must also be very well prepared for all ifs and buts such that your answers are satisfactory in all possible ways.

5.       Hit the nail on the head, but only at the right time

Timing of the call makes a lot of difference. Nobody would like to be disturbed in the peak business hours but the time the CEO spends while commuting can be well utilized for introducing a new deal. Of course, a little background check of the prospect's routine activities is essential to find out this golden time interval.

It is up to the caller to warm up the cold calls with humor and wit. This talent will always improve with practice, time, and patience.

Thus all it takes is an expert understanding of the details you intend presenting to your prospects and a few tricks of the trade up your sleeves. With some smart communication skills, you can certainly transform any "cold" call into quite an interesting, warm, and crispy conversation that achieves every intended benefit!

For more details @ http://www.addkraft.com/services/

MARKETING – THE KEY INGREDIENT OF EVERY SOFTWARE ORGANIZATION’S SUCCESS STORY

In the present era of constant breakthrough innovations, a majority of the software companies are facing serious challenges in marketing their products, which heavily influences their profits and growth prospects. The reasons are many:

*Organizations are increasingly focusing on creating a ripple in the market with their progressive ideas, without evaluating what their customers require
*Innovations seem to be driven by competitiveness irrespective of the market they need to target
*Software companies manage their marketing function ineffectively, more like an appendage rather than as a hard-core value generation process in their buyer’s mindset.
*Overcoming this lack of focus is one of the major challenges that these organizations are facing.

For more details @ http://www.addkraft.com/marketing-the-key-ingredient-of-every-software-organizations-success-story-2/

Marketing Outsourcing – Working With Freelancers, Specialists, And Talents For Demand Generation

According to surveys by leading organizations, there are almost 53 million freelance workers just in the American market who astonishingly occupy one-third of the total work force. A significant percentage of companies are outsourcing specialized jobs that are part of high-value projects – a study by Truelancer website reveals that the global market for freelancers is worth $2-3 billion, of which India accounts for about $1 billion. The scenario is especially true in the demand generation scenario. However, despite incredible options in the freelance sector, most of the new-age enterprises face several challenges in discovering and utilizing the right creative talents for their specialized needs.

For more details @ http://www.addkraft.com/marketing-outsourcing-working-with-freelancers-specialists-and-talents-for-demand-generation/

PR Strategy for software product companies

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Covering the last mile is often the toughest endeavor in your journey towards meeting your new product release milestones.

In a sense, this stage is the culmination of the time and effort spent in evolving a concept, setting out a product roadmap, and developing the product. Hence, all your focus is on getting the product ready to hit the market. However, somewhere in this process, you fail to pay attention to the most crucial focus area during this phase - getting started on your PR campaigns to deliver on your marketing roadmap. 

The crucial essence of PR is not just advertising the incredible benefits of your new product but also

• ·         Identifying your target audience
• ·         Crafting the value delivered by your product
• ·         Connecting with your target audience and communicating with them
• ·         Zooming in on the low-hanging fruits that will attract your audience

 That's indeed a lot of work! With fast-approaching product release deadlines on the one hand and fast-paced launch plans on the other, getting a sharply defined PR and marketing communications plan can often be challenging.

Here are a few tips that'll help you immensely:

1. Time management: The key to a successful PR strategy for software product is exemplary time management - you must start on your proactive PR plan at least six months before any product launch.

2. Transparent and powerful communication:  Delivering relevant details to connect with your target audience and build a trusted relationship with them forms the first step of holding the audience's attention and engaging with them.

3. Stage-wise scaling up of relationship building: The PR communication ideally follows a step-by-step broadcast itinerary - a highly efficient lead generation tool and software marketing for your brands.  

4. A clear definition of your value proposition: A precise interpretation of the brand and product's value proposition is essential to derive a well-defined PR, Content marketing and context-specific content strategy.

5. A quality-focused funnel content: A robust content strategy is the lifeline of every PR strategy and software product marketing. Planning a content calendar that corresponds with specific stages in the product marketing funnel helps you connect with your audience meaningfully through:

·         Product landing pages

·         Regular blog posts

·         Webinars and product talks

·         Seminars and product roads shows with partners and associates

·         Milestone-based press releases  

·         Knowledge base development: tips, resources, and updates (at least quarterly)

·         Fact sheets or data sheets to help prospective buyers

6. Symbiotic connect between the product roadmap and the corresponding marketing communication: A proactive PR blueprint ensures that the team focuses equal attention on both the product development and the marketing roadmap aspects of the organizational journey.  This ensures that the PR strategy and software product marketing are both timely and relevant.

7. Objective choice of the best medium: With immense online and offline options to deliver effective PR strategies, choosing the right options is always a challenge. Study the various social media and other choices available to you and zoom in on the channels that are best suited for your software product marketing.

8. Razor-sharp analytics: Establish a process for measuring the results of your PR exercises - from target audience feedback to social media or other online channel traffic feedback. These analytics deliver detailed insights on campaign performance and help you take valuable decisions regarding your PR strategy.

PR for any product-focused organization is indeed all about building a strong brand identity for your product and highlighting its values to your target audience. Being proactive is certainly the key to a successful PR initiative, with a harmonious integration between the product and marketing strategies sending out a consolidated message to the audience.

So let's make retrospective, outdated PR practices extinct and adopt a completely proactive approach to deliver successful product marketing campaigns that connect with the right audience at the right time.

For more information @ http://www.addkraft.com/services/