ISiM Industry Talk Series on Entrepreneurship (4) “Driving Marketing & Sales for an Entrepreneur” By Mr. Sunder Madakshira Vice President – Marketing and Communications SAP Labs India

The International School of Information Management, University of Mysore organized a Entrepreneurship talk on “Driving Marketing & Sales for an Entrepreneur“ by Mr. Sunder Madakshira, Vice President – Marketing and Communications, SAP Labs India as part of the ISIM Entrepreneurship Talk series on 3rd July, 2012 |10:30am at ISiM premises.

Abstract:

Mr. Sunder Madakshira’s talk on “Driving Marketing & Sales for an Entrepreneur“ as part of the ISIM Entrepreneurship Talk series was very interactive and engaging session full of anecdotes and stories interwoven with principles of marketing.
The talk focused on the following entrepreneurial mindset; Branding imperatives; Conceptual ideas for almost zero cost marketing principles. The entrepreneurial mind is characterized by the following: Technology and product centrism; Extrapolation; Perception of uniqueness; Impatient; Revenue focus. The branding imperatives are: How not to appear the same as your competitor but be an “outlier “; great brands are “born” from day one (kittens don’t grow to be lions) and not to follow “your category” but be a “class apart”. Major conceptual ideas that drive marketing are: Ownership of the Customer Experience (total experience is the key); Demonstrate thy value; Integrated messaging; Building Relationships.
Talking about Sales force branding, Mr. Sunder underlined that “Sales Force is the best branding tool.” And it is imperative for a start up to “Get a cool sales kit Together.” Drawing from his personal anecdote of interacting with a neurosurgical equipment sales person, the speaker demonstrated the effectiveness of “demonstration.” Ambush Marketing in Events and a proper elevator pitch are very effective marketing strategies according to Mr. Sunder .
Delving on the importance of “influencer branding”, the talk highlighted the significance of “Building a Strong Thought Leadership Program” and “Customer Advisory Board “as these two principles build real value to the marketing efforts. Some of the other cost effective strategies include the “ Academia Programmes” and “Speakers Bureau” which enable a company to build long-term relationships with important stakeholder communities.
The speaker ended his talk with a very catchy one liner quiz “What is common between a Brand and Rome, He said like Rome, a great brand cannot be built in a day. There were lots of questions from the students and other participants and Mr. Sunder very ably engaged the audience and demonstrated that he is a good communicator and a brand himself.