Author: Shoebahmed Shaikh

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The Opinions

The Consequence of Message Timing

‘The diffusion of good content’ graph (for enterprises, good = business impacting) follows a similar curve to its older sister graph – the diffusion of innovation. When OpenAI (in production for over a decade) released ChatGPT, it took the first-generation internet gatekeepers by storm. Many sleepless nights later, the verdict was unanimous – the phenomenon was here to stay. Future generations may wonder how we survived before Generative Pre-trained Transformers came into our lives and lifted us from the dark ages when we had to do stuff manually. You cannot spend 15 seconds on your timeline without thousands of self-proclaimed AI prompt experts who want to make you believe that without AI, you are falling back in your career, not being a good parent and are about to get replaced by everything—much yawn. 

Timeline of Diffusion of Content Model:

Every day, consumers demand more, and brands are presented with opportunities to deliver. The exaggerated and hyperbolic timeline suggested in the content graph is designed to help readers of multiple generations reach orientation faster. 

Think of any recent digital content trend that every brand jumped onto. Still, from the PoV of the consumer –  The Zomato Blinkit hoardings (cringe), we envisioned the future of our industry with Dall-E (every picture looked like Skynet had taken over) or looked at our cute avatars in our metaverse (glitchy). Now, chart your journey from the first sighting to when you wish you could erase them all and not see one more post about it – content relevance is a cruel mistress—brand managers who are accustomed to the challenge of getting the content timeline right – iykyk.

The 3-Pinch Content Model:

I make an assumption we all have used maps on our phones. It takes us three ‘pinches’ to get our bearings right – door address > street > locality. With each pinch on your screen, the complexity of information increases, but you get more information, direction and context. 

In the era of fast-moving digital timelines, the format of storytelling can make all the difference. The content equivalent of the 3-Pinch Model works similarly – tell the story in 3 words, 3 paragraphs or 3 pages. Let’s see how:

3 Words:
Be the first to tell it immediately – worry about the consequences later. The limited word filter is all about the urgency of the moment. Did you see Apple’s new store facade in Saket, Delhi? Are we rewriting history? The magnitude of the milestone should match the frugality of the message. 

3 Sentences:
Give more context. Early customer communication, reporting of news that goes beyond the obvious, and a chance to add meaning to the dialogue are apparent benefits. A bit of planning, brainstorming, and original design go a long way toward creating dialogue and context with your audience, irrespective of the adoption curve. 

3 Pages:
Not literally content over 3 pages—the idea here is to use the longer format to its full force. The extended format content manifestation possibilities are the best for a well-worded CEO blog or a full-length feature with an influencer. However, with today’s decreasing attention spans and higher mobility ranking, long format need not be a one-time exercise but the continuation of a deep-rooted brand thought.

So, how do we solve this content conundrum? 

By viewing Content as a Parallel Product, your company is building. A hyper-inflated content economy can be toxic to brand value very quickly. Keeping pace with a generic audience is easy, but not with the demanding customer. Brands that help the audience view the product’s promise in the shortest time possible will win. But before that happens, only those brands that make the audience find relevance easily will even get a chance to tell the product story.

Shoebahmed Shaikh, Ideosphere.

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Featured News

Is Your Client A Good Culture-Fit For Your Organisation?

By Shoebahmed Shaikh, Director

“How many times can we expect to see ourselves on the front page” used to be the PR equivalent of the graphic design client who asked you to “make our logo bigger”. No one misses those days. The agency-client relationship is sometimes the corporate world equivalent of a sadomasochist relationship and unless consultancies want to be a glutton for punishment, it doesn’t end well.

Here’s the next billion-dollar idea – a filter that accurately predicts the cultural fit of a candidate in your company. Think of how much attention recruiters pay to ensure that candidates can seamlessly integrate into the cultural fabric of their organization. The rationale is sound; efficient and productive teams should be able to bring their A-game to work (or from home) despite their backgrounds, diversity markers, education credentials, and work experience. The case is being made for organizations, global companies as well as startups to amplify the diversity quotient within ranks to create a delicious fondue of innovation. So, why shouldn’t the client be cut from the same cloth?

A good place to start is to study exit interviews with departing colleagues which indicate client related reasons as an influential reason for their decision to leave. ‘Recruiting’ clients as a means to your organization’s growth deserves as much attention as recruiting team members.  It’s easy for any consultancy to draw a line between ‘green zone’ and ‘red zone’ clients based on ease to work with, collaboration which leads to business outcomes and an empathy layer to understand the day to day challenges. It is not hard to guess which type of client the teams will naturally push harder and consistently for. 

You spend a third of your day working to ensure client success. It seems fair that there is a camaraderie that leads to collective success. Here’s a quick guide to ensure we don’t get into an “it’s not you, it’s me” situation:

1. Assign the right teams – The most understated method to ensure long term client success. Yet, agencies often prioritize the availability of resources over anything else. When’s the last time you pulled a servicing or content executive from an account for another because they were a better fit for a new challenge? Matching client personalities is also an art for operation managers to master.

2. Learning to say no – There are few teams whose default mode is to settle for mediocrity. Everyone wants to do more, achieve more, and set a high benchmark. This often leads to your team being predisposed to saying yes to everything a client has to suggest. A higher premium is set on catering to client requests despite their validity which inevitably leads to failure to deliver.

3. First impressions – The pitch stage is a window into the future of the client relationship. Repeat this statement over twice. Pushy clients don’t miraculously accept the virtue of patience to see long term results. Hard bargainers will think twice about campaign budgets. Opportunistic clients will think that they can poach your best performers to begin a glorious era of in-house teams. Pick them at your own peril.

4. Adapt to client platforms – Collaboration is a keyword that defines agency and client success. It can be as simple as the chat platform that both partners use to communicate (Slack versus Whatsapp, OneDrive versus Google Docs). This seems trivial on paper, but understanding and adapting to this early can make a world of difference.

A lot of these observations seem to fly in the face of the market dynamics agencies face today. But the long term implications that a toxic client will have on your team’s mental and professional well being are far more impactful.  It is not easy to say no business that comes knocking at your door. A lot of times leadership sets the tone on how a client relationship evolves as teams will follow suit. This is why it is important to catch early signs, set expectations right, and be able to keep pace with the required aggressiveness of the market that your client inhabits.

Categories
Blog

Mergers and Partnerships

By Shoebahmed Shaikh, Director

“Mergers are like marriages. They are the bringing together of two individuals. If you wouldn’t marry someone for the ‘operational efficiencies’ they offer in the running of a household, then why would you combine two companies with unique cultures and identities for that reason?”

– Simon Sinek, motivational speaker and organization consultant

The communication services industry has entered the fray after playing a fringe role for a long time. As brands are tripping on each other to craft differentiated story narratives to engage consumers, communication and marketing professionals are in the driving seat to lead clients into a new customer-centric era of communication relevance.

This necessitates us to be able to understand and leverage various verticals, channels operating at the cusp of creativity and technology to paint the larger picture of long term engagement. But let’s face it, agencies acquire expertise and technical know-how in limited areas as business demands and market opportunities present themselves. Here’s where the old adage – 5 fingers individually, but a strong fist when they come together, applies.

In an era where digital and offline have enmeshed to a level where campaign elements are almost indistinguishable, partnerships between agencies with differentiated skill-sets is an increasingly common trend. PR firms are increasingly retain digital agencies to bring finesse and impact to digitally led campaigns. Luckily for us, our digital partner – Ourbit – has been by our side throughout our entire journey. Borrowing matrimonial parlance from the mercurial Simon Sinek, we had a chance to fall in love, live-in and eventually marry our digital partner.

As one amalgamated entity, our already seamless insights, content and amplification approach now even blurs the lines of culture and team collaboration. As our people fuse together PR, digital and offline strategies together, we see our clients enjoying a two pronged benefit. Firstly, there is a more robust strategy towards integrated communication which is more business outcomes oriented. And secondly, execution efficiency through teams wired towards message and audience while being medium agnostic.

As we embark on this journey, we realize that it will be equal parts bliss and blithe. Cultures, personalities of people and customer obsession show large spectrums of variations, irrespective of the size of the agencies. Merging companies should forecast challenges that might affect clients before-hand and ensure that the merge does not result in a purge of clients. We are already experiencing the highs of integrating cultures while jumping over process hurdles in a bid to marry our strengths together. Baaratiyon ka swaagat hain!