Sudhir Ahluwalia's Blog, page 8

What are some things I can do to make my gaming business grow?

Gaming business growth campaigns should begin by looking closely at the customer. Study your customer and seek answers to the following questions:

What are the demographics of my customers- age, region, profession, and gender? You can find most of this information on Google Analytics.Where is my customer located, and when are my customers most active?Which are the preferred gaming products?

The information should be used to able to profile your customers.

Step 2 studies your close and more successful gaming business competitors and their customers. A comparative analysis between your customers and that of your customers will help you identify where you are lacking and what your strengths are.

Step 3 will be creating a marketing campaign targeting your customer profiles. Your campaign should have a mix of organic and paid marketing. I normally recommend that 80% of your marketing effort be organic (unpaid marketing). You achieve sustained long-term growth with organic marketing. It helps you build your brand and helps in brand recall.

Paid marketing campaigns are also used to build brand awareness for the gaming company. Generally, if you are not in a hurry, I recommend using organic marketing for awareness building for their products. Marketing dollars should be focused on achieving quick and enhanced conversions during high-growth periods.

The choice of marketing channels – social media, email marketing, Google, Bing ads, influencer marketing, and even traditional marketing is linked to customer profiles and preferences.

If marketing campaigns for your gaming business are not leading to the expected sales gain, you will need to look at your business strategy and business model. Strategy analysis will require you to map the activities of all components of your company and the inter-relationship. Comparative mapping of your close and most successful competitor. Compare this map with your company map. It will help you identify areas where competitive efficiency loss is taking place. You will have to fix the weaknesses.

Strategy planning is effective when seen along with the business processes and organization model. It is the combination of the three with the business model that will help you in the process of putting your company on the growth path.Similar Posts:

What are the main reasons for why business fails?What is more productive organic or non-organic marketing?How did Starbucks emerge in a tea loving country?

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How to prepare my business for the impending recession?

Recession and inflation both cause the depletion of asset value. Smart business leaders prepare themselves for the impending recession by cutting costs, conversing cash, and focusing on those products and services with the highest margins.
The mass layoffs in Meta, Amazon, and others are all cost-cutting measures. According to news reports, Meta’s investment in building futuristic metaverse research products has been drastically pruned. I suspect many of these companies will bear added focus on the highest ROI segments of business, like ads.
Recession will lead to a drop in discretionary spending that will start soon. It will include cutting travel costs, bonuses, and wage hikes will be pruned. Fresh hiring will be cut down drastically. We will soon be seeing a rise in jobless claims.
Individual businesses should take a close look at their business strategy, examine individual components of their balance sheets and prune wherever they can. I do not envisage inflation to hold for too long in 2023. By the second half of next year, economic activity worldwide will have cooled down substantially, demand will drop, and price drop across the board will be seen.
Smart business leaders should use the recession period to become lean and strong. Every effort should be made to improve operational efficiency. Automation and induction of new technology that will help conserve general costs and reduce recurring costs are good measures. Low-cost IT outsourcing companies will see a rise in demand for their low-cost technology implementation services in the second half of 2023.
Companies with good cash reserves will find good bargains by the second half of next year. Enterprises unable to withstand the downturn or inadequately prepared for the impending recession will see overstretched balance sheets; high recurring costs will become available for acquisition. M&A activity will see a rise.Similar Posts:

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How did Starbucks emerge in a tea loving country?

Starbucks’ business growth is not attributed only to its storefront but is an outcome of several factors. Synergistic action of strategy, business model, innovation, and adaptation help the brand stand out amongst its peers.

With its collaborator TATA in India, Starbucks provides the consumer with a five-star hotel experience. In Singapore, the coffee and the food are of consistent quality. In America, efficiency and consistency have led the company to stand out.

A brand like Starbucks’ business growth is aided by its ability to adapt to a country and region’s local tastes and preferences. While doing so, at the core, the company sticks to its core strengths. Its strength lies in its value chain. The value chain includes all the backend support systems critical to the company successfully maintaining a competitive advantage over its peers.

The customer only sees the storefront and the service delivery processes. The storefront requires the support of a host of other support segments like food, consumables, beverages, advertising, marketing, financing, accounting, supply systems, logistics, human resources, storefront designing, uniforms and branding, cleaning, and more.

The brand has built and perfected its business processes and the relationships between the business processes through hard work, innovation, and technology support. Compare the value chain I have just described with their closest competitors. You will observe that the Starbucks value chain and delivery processes give the brand its competitive edge.

The brand also continues to outperform competitors because it focuses on customer experience and satisfaction. Look closely at the changes and innovations it continues to make to meet evolving customer preferences. It is not about it just being a coffee brand; it is much more.

Competitive advantage is secured with a combination of strategy, business model innovation, marketing, advertising, and branding supported by technology. It is the outcome of all these elements coming together to delight its customers.Similar Posts:

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Apple’s business success can be attributed to what reasons?

Apple’s business success is attributed to its founder Steve Jobs’s design-focused, customer-centric approach. He provided leadership and enthused his team to create innovative, unique products and offerings. When internet access moved from desktop to mobile, he focused on building mobile devices and wearables.

Other competitors to Apple continued to be rigid to what they thought was their core sector. A one-time competitor in hardware, IBM was pushed into near irrelevance as margins in desktops and laptops had become razor-thin.

Jobs continued to design elegant and user-friendly products in each category. These included the iBook, the iPod, the iPhone, the MacBook, and the iPad. The iPhone and the iPod swept the market and became category bestsellers.

Apple re-invented the way we consume music. The original iPod was designed to hold around 5 GB or 1000 songs. It was far more than any other mp3 player at the time. iTunes store enabled people to download songs at a price point much lower than buying a CD.

Steve Jobs helped create innovative and unique products. He reached out to early adopters who drive the mass of consumers to follow their trends. Apple enchants Technology enthusiasts and visionaries. These people become the standard carriers for Apple. He made devices simple. Buttons were eliminated, software was made simple by removing features, and interfaces too were simple. Jobs was a master of putting together ideas, art, and technology in innovative ways. All these added to the user experience and resulted in building a dedicated following for the brand.

Apple has consistently targeted the middle to affluent-class market. These are people who will pay a little extra for a better experience. Millennials, professionals in the media and design fields, and music lovers are Apple product users. They like to experiment with new technology, slick design, and the great experience of Apple products. The average age of an Apple customer is 35 to 44. (Gaille, 2015).

Apple’s business success, in a nutshell, can be attributed to innovation in design and a customer-centric approach. The company’s organizational structure emphasizes design and is the company’s spearhead to success.Similar Posts:

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Gymnema sylvestre – medicinal properties

Gymnema sylvestre – medicinal properties

The common name of Gymnema sylvestre is the Australian cow plant. In Ayurveda, the plant is referred to as gurmar.

The leaves of the plant are bitter and are also called by the name ‘sugar destroyer’ in India and China. The plant is mentioned for the treatment of diabetes in Ayurveda, African, and Traditional Chinese Medicine systems.

Beta cells in the pancreas produce insulin. Gymnema sylvestre extracts help in the repair and regeneration of beta cells. Insulin levels in the serum of studied patients rose. (Baskaran K et al., 1999; (Shanmugasundaram, E et al., 1990)

Obesity is often a co-condition in diabetic patients. A tea made from the plant helped in containing obesity. This Gymnema tea contains organic acids called gymnemic acids. Obesity reduction, gymnemic acids, and diabetes appear to be linked. (Kanetkar P et al., 2007)

Gymnema sylvestre medicinal properties also include the ability of the plant extract to lower cholesterol. The study notes a positive impact on the metabolism of experimental rats. (Preuss, H.G et al., 1998). A safe and effective weight loss formula contains optimal doses of hydroxycitric acid, niacin-bound chromium, and Gymnema sylvestre extract. The recipe was safe and effective. This formula also helped promote a build-up of healthy blood lipid levels. (Preuss H.G., et al., 2004).

You can learn more about plants with anti-diabetic medicinal properties in my book – Natural Solutions for DiabetesSimilar Posts:

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What are the main reasons for why business fails?

A company sees business failure when customers do not buy its services and products. To prevent failure the first action for any business is to understand customer needs and preferences. Begin by answering the following questions:
Who is the customer for the products of my enterprise?
Who else is selling these products and services, and at what price points?
What features of the products and services the customer needs the most?
I am asking you to create customer profiles for prospective customers. I am also asking you to conduct industry and competitive analysis of your products and services. I want you to undertake a pricing and cost analysis for the products and services you are taking to the market.
Next, examine closely the organization, skills, attitudes, marketing, and servicing techniques of the most successful businesses in the genre of the products and services you take to the market. As you study these, you will gain insights into what makes successful companies successful.
Let me illustrate this with an example. Let us say that your company owns a cafe chain, and you are sourcing the best coffee available. Your coffee is competitively priced, and you have hired the best baristas to prepare that excellent cup of coffee that customers would love to buy.
Still, customers prefer to go to the Starbucks coffee outlet next door, ignoring your restaurant. Analyzing the organization, skills, attitudes, marketing, and servicing techniques mentioned above may reveal that these are not aligned with customer needs and wants.
In summary, business success depends on a company’s business strategy, business model, organization model, business processes, and marketing strategy. Failure of any one of these leads to business failure. You can enhance your business performance and reduce the chances of business failure with the use of digital tools that will help the enterprise achieve higher levels of operational efficiency and excellence.

All the best!Similar Posts:

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Business growth fundamentals

I responded to a question posed by an entrepreneur on business growth fundamentals. Here is what I wrote in response to his question.

Hi Firdous

A corporation can achieve sustained business growth when it has products, services, systems, and processes that will help it gain a competitive advantage over competitors.

I have tried to summarise a growth model in the form of a graphic that you will find Business advisory and growth section on the About US page of my website –

https://www.sudhirahluwalia.com/

The growth model provides you with a summary of how business growth is impacted. At a high level, the model has the following key elements- strategy, business model, marketing strategy, and digital marketing.

Let me elaborate on the model with the example of a successful enterprise like Airbnb. Airbnb, as you know, is a platform. Its founders experimented with the idea of shared renting. They tested the hypothesis, failed, tweaked the model, further developed it, and built it into a successful business that now has a global footprint.

You will find similar examples all across the world. The theory of growth is the same everywhere; the difference lies in execution. Following a simple process demonstrated by Brian Chesky of Airbnb, you will have to discover the answers to each of your hundred questions. Conceptualize an idea, test it, modify, experiment and re-test and keep going through the learning cycle till you finally succeed.

I hope this works for you.Similar Posts:

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Anti-cancer potential of acupuncture

Many scholars have studied the anti-cancer potential of acupuncture. Here is a brief overview:

Meridians are pathways through which qi is believed to flow. There are fourteen major meridian lines in the human body—one meridian for each of the twelve inner organs in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Blockages, impediments, and desensitization due to an infection or ailment impede the flow of qi through these meridians, resulting in disease manifestation. These impediments or blockages are removed with the help of acupuncture needles or by applying pressure at specific points.

Tibetan medicine concept of acupuncture is similar to that described in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Pressure on a specific acupuncture point stimulates the associated nerves that trigger the release of hormones and biochemicals. These provide relief to the affected part of the organ. In China and Tibetan medicine, acupuncture is used extensively to treat various ailments. It is said to be most effective in dealing with pain.

Scientific studies have been undertaken to validate the role of acupuncture in treating a range of ailments. Here below is a summary of these studies identified by me in the course of writing my book – Natural Solutions for Cancer.

A clinical trial to study the effectiveness of acupuncture on cancer-related fatigue in breast cancer patients has shown that acupuncture as an adjunct treatment to regular medicine helped improve their quality of life (Molassiotis et al., 2012).

A group of scientists screened 2151 publications on acupuncture treatment involving cancer patients. They also reviewed 41 random clinical trials involving eight symptoms (pain, nausea, hot flashes, fatigue, radiation-induced challenges, anxiety/mood disorders, sleep disturbance, and prolonged postoperative side effects such as vomiting, stomach distention, and other stomach-related discomforts. This review showed that acupuncture as an adjunct treatment yielded positive results for these patients (Garcia et al., 2013). Another clinical trial showed positive results for cancer-related fatigue in patients given acupuncture and traditional medicine (Balk et al., 2009).

Several patents on devices that provide alternate modes to acupuncture using acupressure have been filed. A US patent (No. US6366808B1, with Inventor Edward, A. Schroeppel, and Mark W. Kroll) uses an implantable electrical method and apparatus for treating cancer tumors. This device sends electrical stimuli to cancer tumors and claims to reduce the tumor size.

Another patent (No. US3938526A, Weston A. Anderson and Bruce Waller) is for an electrical acupuncture needle heater. This heater is attached to an acupuncture needle and delivers controlled heat to a specific body part.

Densen Cao claims, through his US20060095095A1 patent, an invention that helps kill cancer cells by exposing them to laser light emitted through fiber needles introduced into the body.

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Is it possible to turnaround a company whose business is in decline?

Is it possible to turn around a company or reverse a company in decline? Yes, of course. Instead of presenting a turnaround model full of management jargon, I address this question from a real-life company turnaround example I handled.

It was an IT services company with a workforce of around 1000 professionals. The company was facing severe cashflow challenges. It was taking on too much debt. Its order book was full of low-margin business. The founder and company leaders had daily meetings and sessions to decide when salaries should be disbursed, vendors paid, and who to fire.

The first step in turning around this company is understanding and analyzing the balance sheet. The analysis gave me an insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the company. It helped me prepare a financial turnaround hypothesis.

Leadership often lies at the core of the decline of a business. Detailed meetings with each leader helped me gain insights into these individuals’ psychology, capabilities, and competence.

The company’s decline was taking at a rapid pace, cash flows were rapidly deteriorating, and the company was on the brink of bankruptcy. The ongoing saga of Twitter post the company takeover by Elon Musk, his action of firing half the workforce parallels the turnaround case I have described so far.

For reasons of confidentiality, let me list the steps that helped reverse the decline.

Firing the leadershipThe business strategy was overhauledThe business model was revisedThe marketing strategy and marketing plan were reworkedA new monitoring system was developedA new team was hired. Each key member was given a clear set of tasks and performance measurement criteria.Fresh equity was infused, which helped tide the immediate cash flow challenge.A brand new operational plan was developed and implemented.

Supporting certification:

Business strategy

Business model innovation

Marketing strategy Similar Posts:

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How do you think the current startup funding environment will affect young companies?

Founders are worried that the current startup funding environment will affect young companies and make it difficult for them to secure funds critical to their survival and growth.

An easy money environment often leads to excess. It causes companies to overspend and overextend themselves. The dominant theme in such situations is growth. Consolidation, building systems and processes, and developing and focusing on conservative prudential management are given a back seat. Long-term business sustainability requires businesses to adopt conventional financial practices. The massive downsizing of the workforce and loss of thousands of jobs at Twitter is an example of the cost of financial excess. The terrible time that many Indian startups like Nykaa, Policy Bazar, PayTM, Zomato, and Byju are going through is all a result of excessive focus on growth and failure of financial management.

Many young companies and others whose prime focus was on achieving higher and higher valuations that would enable them to acquire more and more funding at low cost are now in for a rude shock. It is a godsend lesson for these companies. Sustainable businesses are built on conservative financial and business management practices. Look at all those businesses that have thrived and continue to thrive over generations. You would notice this trait in all of them. Walmart in America and Tata in India are two such examples.

Young enterprises and startups who need capital fear that today’s relatively tight money environment will make it difficult to secure finance. I will point them to Airbnb, a startup born in the throes of severe financial constraints. The capital was scarce, and there were few takers among the investment community who wanted to invest in a sharing economy-based enterprise. The founders’ grit and determination helped them convince investors to invest in their startup.

The company is today now a thriving and fast-growing business. It focuses on conservative financial management. It is customer-centric, and it continues to innovate. Focusing on reckless growth and achieving enormous valuation does not mean the enterprise is hugely innovative. It just means that it is being badly managed. Startup funding and business growth are outcomes of sound business strategy, business model innovation, marketing strategy, and innovative marketing.

Supporting certifications:

Business strategy

Business model innovation

Marketing strategy

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