Ayushman's Blog

Our mind and body run on patterns of thinking and doing. The aspects of the mind and body we use frequently are the ones that have the maximum growth. When we go to the gym, we use specific muscles to the point of breaking them. That's when they repair, and our muscles grow. Not doing that makes us lose the growth. And even though we have muscle memory, it doesn't change the fact that we lose it, and it's a lot of effort to get it back. The same applies to the mind. When we stop learning, stop solving problems, and stop thinking critically, we lose growth in those aspects of the brain as well. And it's not just the mind and body. It is relationships, skills, and almost everything there is. If we don't use it, water it, or work on it, we lose it. Sometimes if we've really been unfair, there can be irreparable damage. And we have to do the best we can with what we have left. Saying that, we get ample opportunity to do the right thing, and we cannot take that for g...

The story we tell ourselves makes a difference. The words we use make a difference. Here are two statements: "I had to reach the office early, but I'm stuck in traffic." "I had to reach the office early, and I'm stuck in traffic." Very similar statements, and yet so different. The first statement uses "but", and it ends up paralysing us. We had to do something, but now we can't. That's it. There is a connotation of helplessness and bitterness in this statement. The second statement uses "and", and it ends up empowering us. That statement feels incomplete because it raises a question at the end, i.e., "What now?" There is a connotation of opportunity. The words we use to tell our story make a difference. It influences and determines our worldview. Mindfulness of speech becomes so important. (Originally written on 26 Apr 2022)

Marketing is storytelling. With every strategy and tactic we execute as marketers, we are telling a story. We are communicating to the audience about who we are, what we do, what our values are, and who we serve. Sometimes these stories might require us to do some hard things. Saying “no” is one of them. “We have premium pricing because we have a premium product. We make you feel things, and we increase your status. We give you things to talk about with your friends and family. We build relationships, and we care about you. If the price is a decision-making factor and all you want is the bare minimum, then sorry, we are not for you. Because that is not who we are. But here is another business that can do this for you and whose worldview matches yours. Please do reach out to them.” The ability to say no, because it is not aligned with our positioning, is essential. Everything we do and every step of marketing we take needs to be aligned with the story we tell ourselves and the people we...

Human beings feel. It is part of the human experience. Some feelings are pleasant, whereas some are quite difficult to experience. Stress and anxiety are feelings that fall into the latter category. They are emotions that people generally tend to run away from. But is running away, or trying to not feel, the best approach? If human beings are built this way, to experience a diverse array of emotions, then is it fair to selectively feel? I believe not. No doubt it's uncomfortable, but before deciding on an action, we need to ask the question, "Why are we feeling stressed and anxious?" We experience stress and anxiety when we care about and are pessimistic about the uncertain future. The more certain we are of the negative result, the more intense is the feeling. But surely, most of the time, none of it's true. It's our body giving us a danger signal. It's our body telling us to deal with the situation so it can relax, and it's aggressive in its communicatio...

We make decisions all the time. Some decisions are more important than others. The aspect that makes these decisions more important is the commitment and time it requires. Decisions that require you to take something new up, like deciding whether to work or study for a major exam, whether to start that fitness regime, whether to start with that diet, and so on and so forth. These decisions take commitment because we aren’t only doing an action, but we are aiming to build a habit. Automation of actions is our endgame. And it is also very important to stress the fact that we don’t want to quit or fail on our decisions because if we do, that affects our self-confidence and makes decision-making harder in the coming times. We tend to not factor in the long-term repercussions of this. I believe self-confidence is if we can keep the promises we make to ourselves, and that’s what we do when we make a decision. It’s okay to quit. In fact, it’s preferable. But you’re only allowed to do it befor...

In economics, sunk costs are incurred costs that cannot be recovered. And during decision-making, these are treated as bygone and not considered when deciding whether to continue on a project. Sometimes we do things, not because we want to do them, but because we had invested in and made decisions in these lines prior, that now we feel we have to. This investment that we made is a sunk cost. This is a beautiful concept I came across from the marketing legend Seth Godin. Happiness comes from knowing that we don't have to do anything and that we have the freedom to do whatever we want. Sunk cost is a gift. It's a gift that our past self gave our present self, thinking it'd be beneficial to us. But our present self gets to decide if we want to accept it or not. Because we know better. If we make decisions based on sunk costs, we get stuck deeper and deeper into doing something that we don't want to do. Changing our minds is okay, as long as we don't go back on our deci...

Suppose we have a product that needs to be launched in the market. And let’s say this product is a major change for our customers because it is a new way of doing things that are already working fine. (Something like Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Teams vs. Slack). So, how do we position ourselves to make our audience accept us and make the buying decision? We can approach this in two ways: Change is difficult, but if you don’t buy our product and continue with the alternative, then you’re not doing the right thing because it’s not good for you in these many ways. You have to come on board with us. Change is difficult. Here is how our product is different and a better choice for “you” than your current alternative. We will be with you throughout the change process, and we promise you will come out better at the other end. Would you want to come on board with us? Now, both of these approaches are putting some pressure on the customers. But they are still different. In the first approach...

One of the major aspects of SEO is off-page SEO, or backlinking. What it essentially means is the number of referring websites that link to us and are relevant to our industry shows how much credibility and authority our website has. Makes sense, as it is a great indicator of the trustworthiness of a website. But the question to ask is, what is the driving principle behind this approach that even organisations like Google had decided to integrate? Simple – “People like us do things like this.” This is a great perspective put forward by the marketing legend, Seth Godin. You can read his detailed take on it here if you’d like to. What “People like us do things like this ” means is a group of individuals that are part of a community do things a certain way, work with a certain type of people, buy a certain type of product, and trust a certain type of business. This is the driving principle behind culture and how a community works. And this brings to light two very essential questions th...

I firmly believe that we can only be at peace when we feel that we have a sense of control of our lives. Our happiness depends on this peace of mind. One of the reasons that material possessions make people happy is because they are things. Things don't question you. They aren't difficult to deal with. They are constant, and we know for a fact that operating them a certain way will make them act a certain way. They are predictable. This gives us control, and that makes for better peace of mind. But material wealth is just one aspect of a happy life. Another aspect that isn't so easy but is necessary for a happy life is relationships. That's what we, as humans, struggle a lot with. The reason is we don't have that sense of control. And striving to feel that is frustrating and futile. No matter what we do, we cannot control how a person would react. We cannot force a person into how they should act and feel. Trying to do that will only make for an unhappy and toxic re...

We, as human beings, always want things to be a certain way. The idealistic way (whatever that means for us). And we want it right now, in an instant. Not having that can be frustrating. But sometimes we forget that nothing in life is really sudden. Everything in life had a gradual and incremental process behind it, some we are aware of and some we aren't. If we think a certain way, that's because of the stories we've told ourselves time and time again. If we love a certain way, that's because of the actions of love that we have acted out and have been acted on. And if we buy a certain product that solves a very specific problem, that's because of the extent to which those problems were problematic for us, individually. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that something is wrong with us as people. It only means that it is our nature. Our experiences and internal stories influence our decisions. Our decisions make us who we are. This makes us and our thinking uniq...

Coffee is undeniably a favourite for most people. We start our days with it, and we probably cannot even think about our day without a cup of coffee. Yet, for something so ingrained in our culture and everyday lives, we don't necessarily look into the whole process behind how we get that coffee in the first place. But any person smart enough would know and tell you that it all starts with the coffee beans. Anything after acquiring the beans is just improving on something already great. Because if you get the beans and the roasting wrong, no matter how great the latter part of the process is and how many changes you make, it won't be good. Now I believe we humans like to complicate really simple things, but it's so unnecessary. And that is what we do with marketing strategies. What holds true for coffee very well holds true for strategies. You get the beans right, and you have a great cup of coffee. So spend your time selecting the best beans and in the roasting process. You...

I was recently having a conversation with someone who is a really skilled doctor and has been in the industry for quite some time. He doesn't have any online presence for his practice because he is one of those people who is very cynical about persuasion and influence. Consequently, he considers marketing an unethical practice. He had his own reasons and rightly so. Our conversation ranged from the importance of online presence to competency versus marketing. This didn't make much sense to me because I see them as the same thing. But then I thought about it. It's a fact that there are still so many SMEs and local businesses out there who have these negative perceptions of marketing that it's not ethical, not effective, an unnecessary expense and so much more. And there are reasons for that. Not just one, but I believe there are many factors that come into play here. Now, some people are cynical, and that's their personality. No matter how much we try, we can't h...

The internet is made up of a billion conversations, and these conversations are driven by people. People from different cultures, backgrounds, and different ways of looking at life allow them to make sense of their world. As marketers, I believe it's our responsibility to influence this culture and make change happen, which is beneficial for them. Not only is it ethical, but that is what a marketer signs up for. The people we serve have a storyline in their minds, and we need to make sure our product and our brand fit into this culture and this storyline so that we have the best chance of helping them. This view in itself implies certain things. We cannot market to everybody because everyone is not part of the same culture, so the people we serve need to be very niche. I guess that's where the concept of an ideal buyer persona comes in as well. It also means that as our target audience changes, our marketing strategy needs to change drastically as well. And most importantly, we...

90% of agencies have fewer than 50 employees, meaning the majority of agencies are small and medium-sized organisations. And the fact that the digital marketing industry is booming right now makes it all the more important for an agency to function efficiently and give the best quality of service that they can provide. Decentralised Organisational Structures To achieve the objective of smooth functioning and work process, there needs to be an organisational structure that allows for a clear line of communication and quick execution of strategies. Decentralisation is a type of organisational structure in which daily operations and decision-making responsibilities are given to middle and lower-level employees, which allows the top management to focus more on major decisions. For small businesses like digital agencies, growth may create the need to decentralise to continue efficient operations.  Why Decentralised Remote Structures Work Well for Digital Agencies? Some of the main reaso...

The world has changed drastically since the Internet came out. Currently, there are 3.5 billion smartphone users worldwide, and information and access to any product or service are available to them in a matter of seconds. As the customers have evolved, the way business is being conducted has evolved as well. What does that mean? It means if a business doesn’t have an online presence now, they are pretty much no competition. Present Scenario Of The World Roughly 75% of the 3.5 billion smartphone users expect to get immediate information while using their smartphones. Currently, there are a total number of 1.95 billion websites on the internet. And it’s estimated that by the year 2040, 95% of purchases will be through eCommerce. The trends clearly show that internet usage and digital growth are only going to increase in the future, and any business, whether small or big, local or multinational, needs to be a part of this growth to be successful.  The industry leaders understand that...