One of the things I have noted about Indian companies, especially Indian internet companies is that they do not market themselves well. They may sell themselves to their peers with a similar tech background , venture capitalists, online tech media and sundry investors, but they spend very little time understanding the end users.

For many, marketing is this.  But at the most, the tech community may consist of a few million users in India, and most of them have very little time after their regular job, to use or spend money on a new tech product. If you are targeting users world wide , your product should be as per world standards in both technology, user interface and documentation.

Some products are also not realistic. Why will I store all my important documents online? If there is a problem with my internet connection or I am traveling to a place where the internet connection is unreliable, I would rather store the information on a hard disk. When you are young, “friends” and their life history may be important, but after a certain age, you are too busy with your work to be bothered.

The best marketing is always subtle, the buyer or user does not realise that you are selling a product or service. It involves fulfilling a need, and the buyer or user is happy to pay for the service. This requires a lot of market research, try to understand the mind of the user.  If your marketing is too “in the face” or blatant, the user or buyer will be put off. The average internet user, especially for tech products , is more intelligent than most people and can easily detect a lie.

If you are working with customers around the world, it is also important to have high standards of transparency. Instead of blinding aping externals like Western clothes and lifestyles, (and denigrating people  who don’t ), they should try to adopt their culture of innovation , independent thinking and meritocracy . Networking and having contacts may help for a short time, but finally your product quality and business practices matter. In the long run, even in India, people like to do business with companies they trust, companies that treat their customers with respect.