Interruption marketing is well and truly out in a digital world: Nalin Khanna

Interview with CEO, Vertebrand

There is no effort to build true and sustained two-way engagement between the brand and the consumer; which is why permission marketing has not brought in the desired dividends, Nalin Khanna tells Alokananda Chakraborty

With Amazon and The New York Times, we have just witnesses how a damning article can challenge the reputation of a much admired company. What are some of the mistakes business leaders are making in terms of not fully protecting themselves or keeping tabs on what's going on with their reputation?

Companies and top management often forget to protect their reputation. But in order to protect their reputation, they must first consciously build a reputation. Often, there is a big mismatch between the public face of the company and the real, on-ground happenings within. To stretch the point a little, if a company's vision is to build a leadership culture, but actually ends up building a 'snitch culture', it could be very dangerous for the reputation of the company. It will come back to bite one day, like it has perhaps happened in the case of Amazon.

Reputation, therefore, has to be built with honesty, it has to be done according to a plan and consistently, using a mix of online and offline reputation management techniques. Some effective offline techniques are PR and organising thought-leadership events/conclaves/seminars. Online too, a company or business leader has to work on the most relevant channels for that particular business domain (choosing from Youtube, LinkedIn, Slideshare, Facebook, Pinterest etc) and consciously maintain a positive consumer-connect throughout the year.

Every brand today wants to be a publisher and there is obsession with tying content to revenues -or, tracking whether people who are consuming your content will eventually buy something from you, and putting a hard number on each piece of content you create. Do you think that's misguided?

Yes, it is partly misguided. Which means that while some of the content that brands put out (in the form of targeted campaigns from time to time) can lead to direct conversions, a lot of other content cannot. It would be pointless for brands to aim for a conversion with every piece of content they put out. A lot of content that a brand generates should be to help it build a reputation among its target audience. The end objective of this is to build an emotional connect with the target audience. This will lead to conversions over a period of time, though it will be very difficult to measure this.

Some writers say content marketing is the only marketing left. Do you subscribe to that?

No. Content was always important for any brand. In this era of multiple online channels and potential for large-scale virality though, it is becoming even more important. Which is why, a lot of marketing on online channels is based on content. Still, traditional channels of marketing will continue to co-exist with content marketing.

Also, proponents of content marketing should not forget that the brand's identity should be the fulcrum of all marketing efforts. There is a tendency to do content marketing merely for the sake of it. Marketers must identify the essence of the brand first and then ensure that it reflects in all forms of marketing.

There is a new trend of 'permission marketing' that marketers are trying to muster. Has it evolved the way marketers expected it to?

Permission marketing hit the headlines in the early days of the internet. Today, it has become even more relevant for marketers. Internet has placed unprecedented power in the hands of consumers. People today are running away from anything not relevant to them or which they see as being intrusive. Instead, they are honing into messaging that adds value to them. 'Interruption marketing' is well and truly out in the digital world. Unfortunately though, many companies, especially in India, are still not executing permission marketing well. While they are putting out content and aiming to reach audiences, they are doing so sporadically and with a one-shot 'Yes/No' kind of approach. There is no effort to build true and sustained two-way engagement between the brand and the consumer.

How should social figure into the branding and recruiting strategy of corporations today?

Since an increasing number of people are navigating their lives through digital media (especially social media), corporations should focus on building a consumer connect on social media. In fact, every corporation should give importance to a digital engagement strategy.

Even now, most corporations focus on talking about their products and services and hardly transmit messages on their work culture. This should change. Posting on social media about their best people-management practices, positive feedback of existing team members, events and happenings, select memos written to employees by senior management, etc. will all help build a positive image about the corporation.

What metrics best measures the fact that a brand or corporation is doing work that matters?

From time to time, cultural values shift in every country/society. Companies have to be aware of this and must keep revising their 'corporate blueprint' accordingly. In order to be a good corporate citizen, a company must pay attention to the four Ps: Profit, People, Purpose and Planet. While 'Profit' is obvious, 'People' refers to the employees and stakeholders of the company. 'Purpose' refers to any higher-order cause of issue that the company advocates/fights for. Finally, 'Planet' refers to how ecologically sensitive the company is, in conducting its operations. Increasingly, people across the world are booing companies that run afoul of any of these four Ps.