This is the new and improved version of the ‘Win with Stories’ newsletter. When I ran a survey with you folks a few weeks ago, many of you said that you’d like to read business stories more often. Some others wanted more actionable storytelling tips, while a couple of you wanted some more curated content.
So here’s my effort to bring together some of the most recurring feedback. This format may change over the coming weeks depending on what you feel, and how much I enjoy writing. Most parts still remain the same though, so here we go…
Why do startups go viral more often than big companies do?
If you went by the chatter on Twitter, it will seem that India is a country of startups. But that isn’t the case, bulk of Indian businesses are traditional. But even before Shark Tank India happened, startups knew a thing or two about making the news.
Let’s look at Zomato.
The company announced ‘Period Leaves’ for their female and transgender employees in August 2020. Linkedin and Twitter discussions followed. So did a lot of media coverage, the kind most companies dream of. Most messages were congratulatory and it was said to be another ace up Zomato’s sleeve.
The fact is, people already talked about period pains in whispers across offices and at homes. Now, most women employees would love paid leave during such days. But they did not expect companies to do something about it.
Zomato did, and got rewarded with positive PR and chatter for it. Plus, they further strengthened their position as a cool and progressive company to work for.
But Zomato is the not the only example. TAC Security, an enterprise cyber security firm, announced they would move into a four day work-week model. Great media coverage followed. Along with that, a lot more resumes in their HR’s inbox than they were used to(presumably).
Most of us love the idea of a four-day work-week, but didn’t expect Indian companies to offer it to us.
Off-late, Meesho has been in the news(also for wrong reasons like layoffs). But in February, it sent a flutter across twitterverse with an announcement. They said their employees will be able to ‘work from anywhere, forever’. The jury is yet to be out on whether remote working is more productive than office. But, the fact is that most of us do not want to give up on the flexibility WFH offers.
Again, we’d love for companies to offer forever remote jobs, but weren’t really expecting them to.
News essentially means something ‘new’. More often than not, doing something new means taking a risk. Startups have a lot less to lose than established companies do, so they are in a better position to take risks.
If they pull it off, free marketing in the form of organic PR follows. This helps put the brand in front of customers, investors and potential employees.
Today’s communication tip: How to make your brand to go viral?
- Ideate: keep your target audience in mind. For example: existing employees, potential employees and customers or partners.
- List: down all the things they’d love for you to do but don’t expect you to. Go whacky, write down the most impractical of things as well. Stuff like allowing 30 minutes siesta in office, employees decide their own salary, self-appraisal, unlimited paid leaves, etc.
- Finalise: The next step is to discuss these ideas, shortlist the ones which have the right overlap with your brand values. Then decide to implement one of them that works for you and people really want.
Stuff you could read or watch this week:
- Why do I wear Indian clothes as a trainer? (Linkedin post – there is a communication tip in there)
- A simple tip that could make your talks and presentations more memorable(Linkedin post – here I talk about ‘closing the loop’ technique)
- What can we learn from Tanmay Bhat?(Our last week’s Youtube video – watch it, I am sure you will find it useful)
- Why do startups go viral more than established companies?(This video will premiere on our Youtube channel on Friday. There are always new insights I uncover and share while making videos. So consider getting notified for the premiere)
The last part – a question.
Do you think it’s okay to date a colleague? Feel free to elaborate in your replies. If you have any stories or experiences to share please feel free. I will not make anything public without your explicit permission.
