Mapping the startup landscape can be an insightful exercise, one that throws up as many don’t’s as do’s. In hindsight, successful or failed startups would point to many defining factors and one that invariably stands out is the viability of a venture’s marketing strategy. We are living in times when stories are all that matter - narratives that are endorsed in a social media driven eco-system and which get translated into the right optics for your product or service. Controlling this narrative is a matter of investing in marketing resources efficiently.     In a conversation with Forbes magazine, Kipp Bodnar, CMO of  HubSpot, a business growth platform , has an interesting observation to make regarding startups and their marketing approach, “They have one marketer. They essentially have 30-50 hours of labo u r a week. The firm/marketer decides to do the following 1) W eekly email newsletter 2) Social media communicat ion 3) M arketing automation 4) Monthly ...

The concept that’s working hard around the work is all about not working hard! For simple understanding it goes by the name of gig! So why is gig rocking? People step out of the confines of stable jobs for the same reason why they jump of planes and hurtle through thin air strapped to parachutes! Its bloody exciting: as you surge through vast open spaces, air rushing past your stretched skin, your mind pushes possibilities to unimaginable limits. Its freedom to think, live, perform as you please with no barriers. It’s like an exhilarating trapeze act, swinging from one hoop to another, each taking you to a new high-- risky but protected by a safety net. People are kicking full time jobs and embracing gig because they hate being handcuffed by office rules or spending fixed hours in glass enclosures. It’s a concept that takes work out of the stuffy boxes of employment and liberates the sort of animal spirits that are disrupting businesses and rewriting rules everywhere. ...

Talent for various business activities is becoming scares in most countries and marketing is no exception to this rule. By 2030, demand for skilled professionals will outstrip supply and the world would be staring at a talent shortage of over 85.2 million people, according to a study by US-based global organisational consulting firm Korn Ferry. But how does the world, more specifically the countries that face talent crunch get over this shortage?  This talent shortage is corroborated by other surveys as well. Manpower Group’s Talent Shortage Report says that globally, 45% of all the employers surveyed are struggling to scout for the right talent. According to this very survey while 32% of US employers experienced talent shortages in 2015 it rose to 46% in 2018. A similar picture emerges for senior level professionals too, with 40 per cent of the companies facing a shortage of talent at the senior management level, according to Aon Talent Acquisition s...