Paresh Nanda

Former President Bill Clinton is quoted as  once saying, “Follow the trend lines. Not the headlines.” The New Year is almost here and with it comes the opportunity to set exciting New Year’s Resolutions to better ourselves and our businesses. Digital marketing is fluid. It is always changing and brands have to be able to adapt to that. As 2017 enters its final phase, it's the perfect time to look ahead and predict the Digital Marketing trends of 2018. i have a few predictions on what digital marketers can expect in 2018. So, what’s the next big thing?  Google never stands still, so neither does digital marketing. Here's what you need to know in 2018. As 2018 approaches, there are a number of new marketing trends poised to make a significant impact on go-to-market strategy. Here are 18 of the most important trends to look for in the coming year. Rise of the Chatbots: Chatbots have become part of the mainstream for at least some of the population. Ordering basic prod...

Loyal people are those who have these characteristics. 1) They care about success - of the team, of the boss, and their own 2) They tell you what you needed to hear, not necessarily what you want to hear 3) They do not disagree with you in public, and support your decisions publicly 4) They worked hard and are dependable To earn their loyalty we must 1) Take their problems as our own 2) Be there for them when they need us 3) Defend them even when it is not easy for us 4) Create an atmosphere of appreciation and mutual trust 5) Never patronize them, never criticize them in public 6) Create opportunities for them, not rules An employee's fiancee got really sick. His boss not only gave him time off, but also personally called a medical doctor, a world renowned specialist in liver diseases and used his personal influence and connections to get the employee's loved one to be seen and cared for by this expert. That boss changed companies a few times, th...

It was the time then I decided to stay away from things that not only demotivated my employees but also that hurts them deeply. As a boss, I am responsible for the progress of my employees and for leading them in a direction that will indeed bear fruits for my small business. There are a lot of different ways to keep employees motivated but not every style work with every employee. At a time you have to share your vision with the right people at the right time, sometimes you have to appreciate them for their work and so on, but one thing that goes well for all is the “verbal communication” between you and your employees. Whatever the situation is, even when you are at the peak of frustration, you do not have the privilege to say something impromptu. Apart from monitoring your tone and being rude without even realizing it, there are certain things that you should never say to your employees. So, all the bosses keep in mind these 7 things - 1. “You Must do What I Say because I P...

It’s important to not get overwhelmed by your ambition to create wealth and cut back on necessities on a regular basis. Going on spontaneous holidays, binge shopping, or filing your house with unnecessary gadgets: which one of these impulsive acts is stopping you from getting wealthy? Most people guilty of overspending either end up blaming their stars or the fact that they don’t make enough money. Well, none of those two can make you rich. What will? Finding ways to save more money, spending less, and being disciplined and committed to your money goals can help you build wealth. We’re in the early days of a new financial year. Let’s take a look at some thoughts to explore to help you stay on track with your savings goals. Set money goals first Ask yourself the question: what are you saving for? Once you know the answer, you then start thinking of ways to save effectively. You pick your investment instruments as per your goal. While long-term goals such as life after ...

It’s the early 2010s. I had just been hired at a technology startup, and the website needed a radical overhaul. The look and feel needed to be upgraded and the copy needed to be rewritten. But the biggest problem I saw was that the focus of the site, and specifically the home page, was all wrong. As the new kid in town, I didn’t want to give the impression that my barrels were ablazin’ and I was looking to shoot down everything in my way, so I came up with the idea of creating a “heat map” of the home page to make my point in a logical and unemotional manner. Creating the heat map was easy. I took a screen shot of the home page and pasted it into PowerPoint. I then deconstructed the page into a color-coded wireframe by covering each section with a box using the following color scheme: • Red for company content and links • Yellow for product/service/technology content and links • Blue for customer-oriented content and links • Green for lead generation...

The data that you see in Google Analytics is wrong. As I explained in a recent presentation , Google Analytics code is a client-side JavaScript snippet that is inserted into the front-ends of websites. Whenever those code snippets are blocked or otherwise do not execute, Google does not obtain any information from the session that is occurring at that moment. That data, however, does remain in the server log, which is the only collection of data that is one hundred percent accurate in terms of how search engines and visitors are crawling and using websites. (For more information on how to use this server log data for IT operations, business intelligence, and marketing, I will refer you to my MozCon presentation, notes, and links to explanatory material.) But based on the popularity of the platform, online marketers would not seem to know that Google Analytics shows faulty data. According to W3TECHS, Google Analytics is used by 55 percent of all websites and has a traffic ...

The rise of cyberthreats means that the people once assigned to setting up computers and email servers must now treat security as top priority In the Appalachian mountain town of West Jefferson, N.C., on an otherwise typical Monday afternoon in September 2014, country radio station WKSK was kicked off the air by international hackers. Just as the station rolled into its afternoon news broadcast, a staple for locals in this hamlet of about 1,300, a warning message popped up on the screen of the program director’s Windows PC. His computer was locked and its files—including much of the music and advertisements the station aired—were being encrypted. The attackers demanded $600 in ransom. If station officials waited, the price would double. The station’s part-time IT person, Marty Norris, was cruising in his truck when he got the call that something was amiss. He rushed to the station. “I immediately pulled the plug on his computer,” says Mr. Norris. In a quick huddle, the po...

On May 12th 2017, a ransomware of WannaCry or Wcry started spreading like wildfire starting from NHS system in UK. It spread to dozens of hospitals from where it spread to 6 continents affecting more than 100,000 machines! It caused chaos at hospitals, schools and universities, manufacturing shutdowns, and overtime for cybersecurity professionals.  Reports have confirmed malicious activity in Europe where the attacks began, US, China, South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan. Servers that weren’t updated after March 14 with the MS17-010 patch were affected; this patch resolved a vulnerability called ExternalBlue. It was a closely guarded secret by NSA but was leaked last month by a hacker group last summer. The most important part is that the ransomware did not spread because of people clicking on bad links as it is exploiting the vulnerability in windows OS and the only way to prevent it was to have the update. What is WannaCry Ransomware? WannaCry, like many other ...

My WhatsApp journey has been different from the majority. Initially like everyone I downloaded WhatsApp for just chatting with friends. One thing I realized that no matter how busy I was, I never skipped messages that contained stories. That made me think that there might be many people like me who will also enjoy reading stories. So I decided to share short and inspiring stories via WhatsApp. The response to the idea was good and soon around 200 people joined to receive stories on daily basis. The initial plan was just to share 101 stories in 101 days. But by that time, there were around 800 people in the list and they requested me to continue with the story initiative. It was difficult to send stories every day so I started sharing it on alternate days. Till now I have shared 190 stories and there are around 2,200 people who have signed up to receive them. I receive around 250 messages on personal chat (stopped counting unread messages of groups) on a daily basis. In th...

Google runs the world's largest and most profitably online ad network, but the lion's share of ad dollars still go to TV. The search giant is looking to change that by associating online ads with purchases in the real world — your purchases. Google has partnered with companies responsible for tracking purchase data, which gives it access to about 70 percent of all US credit and debit card transactions. This all comes off as a little creepy, but Google is adamant that it's not creepy at all. Right now, Google and other online advertisers lack the data to draw a strong connection between online ads and purchases in real life. Google has the tools to track what you buy online, assuming you remain logged into your account and choose to share your browsing data. Offline, Google can do little more than track your location to guess at what you're buying and peek at data from Android Pay. Google's hope is that offline purchase data will confirm that the ads you see on...

The Coming Death of Indian Outsourcing. I found myself on the receiving end of a deluge of hate mail on a scale that I have never encountered before or after. I am known as a relatively balanced, objective, and fair commentator on the state of the industry. I don’t sensationalize issues unnecessarily. This article, that I thought was sound in its logical analysis, triggered an immense defensive reaction. Let me familiarize you with my argument first, before we get to the issue on hand: India is riding high on outsourcing. Information technology and IT-enabled services will employ 4 million people in 2008 and account for 7% of gross domestic product and 33% of India’s foreign-exchange inflows, according to Nasscom, an Indian IT industry organization. The death of this industry is far from anyone’s mind. However, the reality is that wages are rising in India. The cost advantage for offshoring to India used to be at least 1:6. Today, it is at best 1:3. Attrition is scary. ...

You are your own Resource: Why Depend on HR? In recent times, while travelling, I found a number of conversations from strangers (among themselves) are surprisingly filled with references to HR. The other day when I was travelling from Hyderabad to Ahmedabad, the girl next to me was on her cell phone for almost 20 mts until the doors closed. I could hear the word “HR” several times loudly, filled with emotion. The other words in conversation slows down but whenever she uttered HR it was loud. In another group of youngsters, the other day at Pune airport were repeatedly talking about HR and having fun at them for doing some gafla in recruitment, posting and incentives. It looks today most people are concerned about HR and depend on them for recruitment, placement, offer letters, injustice done in fixing salary, change of jobs, pink slips, blue slips, no slips, transfers, vacation, change of boss, KRAs, incentives, accommodation, postings and so many things. In all this, HR see...

Sometimes you feel like quitting everything and do nothing. Depression plays an important role in that moment and you feel helpless. You can’t concentrate, you can’t think of anything else but only that one thing that troubles you and takes your half-life. People say move on, but you can’t. They don’t know what is going inside you as only you and you can feel the pain, see the rough patches in your path and fight with your own mind, body and heart. Nothing can release your stress. You just blame yourself for everything. Feel as if it wouldn’t have happened. You feel like crying, screaming out loud, shouting at the mistake, but nothing helps. It’s probably your biggest mistake of your life and the so-called “bad day of your life”. It becomes hard to believe the reality and your acceptance level reduces. You resist yourself from accepting the fact and the truth. You feel like going back to the past and rectifying the mistakes, but it’s life. Life has not given us the opportunity to...

Regulating the internet giants The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data The data economy demands a new approach to antitrust rules A NEW commodity spawns a lucrative, fast-growing industry, prompting antitrust regulators to step in to restrain those who control its flow. A century ago, the resource in question was oil. Now similar concerns are being raised by the giants that deal in data, the oil of the digital era. These titans—Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft—look unstoppable. They are the five most valuable listed firms in the world. Their profits are surging: they collectively racked up over $25bn in net profit in the first quarter of 2017. Amazon captures half of all dollars spent online in America. Google and Facebook accounted for almost all the revenue growth in digital advertising in America last year. Such dominance has prompted calls for the tech giants to be broken up, as Standard Oil was in t...

These days, one of the best ways to get a return on your investment in social marketing is to partner with influencers. The strategy is often referred to as “influencer marketing,” and it’s generating a lot of buzz because it works. Here’s the short of it: 1.    A creator has an audience with whom he or she has established trust. 2.    You partner with that creator to share your brand. 3.    Your brand gets exposure to a targeted audience through a vetted medium, which can result in sales, a lift in awareness, goal-completion, etc. You might be thinking, “I don’t know… this influencer marketing business sounds expensive.” Yes, if you want to partner with Taylor Swift, it will be. But the truth is… there’s much better value – at a fraction of the cost – elsewhere. Who Are Millennial Female Micro-Influencers? A new infographic from AdWeek neatly summarizes some of the key traits of female micro-influencers, whose prima...

Thinking about becoming a freelancer? You’re not alone. Many people around the world are sidestepping their fears, ditching the 9-to-5 lifestyle, and setting out to make money on their own off of their skills and passions. Now’s the perfect time to do so – the demand for creative freelancers has never been higher. According to CNBC, the number of independent contractors has increased by about 27% more than payroll employees over the past 20 years. A lot of that is thanks to gig work apps and freelance sites. I’m a fan of small-scale freelance businesses you can start for (almost) free from your bedroom or anywhere else, armed with just your passions and skills. I share ideas for freelance businesses with people everyday and I’ve started and had success with a number of them myself – from when I started blogging from my college dorm room in 2007 to when I launched my Digital marketing company, nandaparesh.com. Here are 55 of my best freelance business ideas for you – f...