About Nandita Khaire

With more than 25 years of experience in managing brands. She has worked with manufacturing, services, retail, hotels, restaurants, food, wines, real estate, education, health, fitness, leisure, media, logistics, infrastructure, NGOs evaluating and addressing their branding and marketing needs. Having had experience in running an advertising agency, she is familiar with advertising and marketing communications strategy, including digital marketing. She has successfully consulted a number of SMEs in branding and marketing.

She teaches as a guest faculty on advertising, brand management, and marketing communications in some of the leading undergraduate and post-graduate schools. She has also written textbooks for distance learning on advertising and marketing communications (Marcom) and currently writing a book on marketing in the new environment.

She collaborated on a coffee table book ‘Merchants of Pune’ with Sakal Publications. The book profiled 100-year-old business families of Pune who enriched the city created employment opportunities and created something unique for the city.

She regularly writes for ‘Sampada’ on branding for SMEs. Sampada is the monthly magazine from Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (MCCIA) and Rubber, the trade magazine for the Indian rubber industry.

She is a member of the core committee of Centre of Excellence for Women Entrepreneurs (CEWE), an initiative of Mahratta Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (MCCIA), that empowers women entrepreneurs in business. She has conducted numerous workshops and training programs for MSMEs in marketing and branding strategies.

She has served as a jury member for digital marketing awards. She is s a mentor at Malhotra Weikfield Foundation, deAsra Foundation. She is an avid Iyengar yoga student and has many other interests.

Brand strategy for startups

If a brand strategy is put into place at the very beginning, the startup has a big advantage over others in the same business. This helps to go through the survival phase to the success phase.
Starting out as a ‘brand’ gives an edge. Buyers do not suffer from doubt or lack of credibility. Most well-known ecommerce companies have started out as ‘brands’, grown exponentially and made their millions. They have gone from strength to strength. Avoid the mindset of letting the brand grow ‘organically’. It will take decades for it to happen.

Brand strategy for businesses that are more than 15 years and older

There are businesses that did not feel the need of branding and marketing initially when they started out. The company produced and buyers bought. Transactions were a result of loyalty, absence of competition, new in the market etc.
After fifteen years or so, the company needs to rebrand to appeal to a more modern customer. There are examples of so many such companies that successfully rebrand themselves to and maintain their leadership position.