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Electronic voting in IndiaFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to navigation Jump to searchThis article is about the voting machines used in India. For general information on EVMs, see Electronic voting.VVPAT used with Indian electronic voting machines in Indian ElectionsControl unit in EVMElectionic Voting Machine India ballot UnitElectronic Voting is the standard means of conducting elections using Electronic Voting Machines, sometimes called "EVMs" in India.[1][2]The use of EVMs and electronic voting was developed and tested by the state-owned Electronics Corporation of India and Bharat Electronics in the 1990s. They were introduced in Indian elections between 1998 and 2001, in a phased manner. The electronic voting machines have been used in all general and state assembly elections of India since 2004.[3][2][4]Prior to the introduction of electronic voting, India used paper ballots and manual counting. The paper ballots method was widely criticized because of fraudulent voting, booth capturing where party loyalists captured booths and stuffed them with pre-filled fake ballots. The printed paper ballots were also more expensive, requiring substantial post-voting resources to count hundreds of millions of individual ballots.[2][1]Embedded EVM features such as "electronically limiting the rate of casting votes to five per minute",[1]a security "lock-close" feature, an electronic database of "voting signatures and thumb impressions" to confirm the identity of the voter, conducting elections in phases over several weeks while deploying extensive security personnel at each booth[1]have helped reduce electoral fraud and abuse, eliminate booth capturing and create more competitive and fairer elections.[5][2]Indian EVMs are stand-alone machines built with once write, read-only memory.[6]The EVMs are produced with secure manufacturing practices, and by design, are self-contained, battery-powered and lack any networking capability. They do not have any wireless or wired internet components and interface.[7]The M3 version of the EVMs includes the VVPAT system.[6]In recent elections, various opposition parties have alleged faulty EVMs after they failed to defeat the incumbent.[8][9]After rulings of Delhi High Court, the Supreme Court of India in 2011 directed the Election Commission to include a paper trail as well to help confirm the reliable operation of EVMs.[9][10]The Election Commission developed EVMs with voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) system between 2012 and 2013. The system was tried on a pilot basis in the 2014 Indian general election.[11][12]Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) and EVMs are now used in every assembly and general election in India.[13][14]On 9 April 2019, Supreme Court of India ordered the Election Commission of India to use VVPAT paper trail system in every assembly constituency and verify these before signNowing the final results. The Election Commission of India has acted under this order and deployed VVPAT verification for 20,625 EVMs in the 2019 Indian general election.[15][16][17]The Election Commission of India states that their machines, system checks, safeguard procedures and election protocols are "fully tamper proof". A team led by Vemuri Hari Prasad of NetIndia Private Limited has shown that if criminals get physical possession of the EVMs before the voting, they can change the hardware inside and thus manipulate the results.[18]The Prasad team recommended a VVPAT paper trail system for verification.[18]The Election Commission states that along with VVPAT method, immediately prior to the election day, a sample number of votes for each political party nominee is entered into each machine, in the presence of polling agents. At the end of this sample trial run, the votes counted and matched with the entered sample votes, to ensure that the machine's hardware has not been tampered with, it is operating reliably and that there were no hidden votes pre-recorded in each machine.[19]Machines that yield a faulty result have been replaced to ensure a reliable electoral process.[20][21]Contents1 History 1.1 EVM and Indian judiciary 1.2 Electronic voting2 Design and technology3 Procedure to use4 Benefits5 Limitations6 Security issues 6.1 2019 allegations7 Voter-verifiable paper audit trail8 Exports9 See also10 Further reading11 References12 External linksHistoryIndia used paper ballots till the 1990s. The sheer scale of the Indian elections with more than half a billion people eligible to vote, combined with election-related criminal activity, led Indian election authority and high courts to transition to electronic voting.[2][22]According to Arvind Verma – a professor of Criminal Justice with a focus on South Asia, Indian elections have been marked by criminal fraud and ballot tampering since the 1950s. The first major election with large scale organized booth capturing were observed in 1957.[22]The journalist Prem Shankar Jha, states Milan Vaishnav, documented the booth capturing activity by Congress party leaders, and the opposition parties soon resorted to the same fraudulent activity in the 1960s.[23]A booth-capture was the phenomenon where party loyalists, criminal gangs and upper-caste musclemen entered the booth with force in villages and remote areas, and stuffed the ballot boxes with pre-filled fake paper ballots.[24][25]This problem grew between the 1950s and 1980s and became a serious and large scale problem in states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar,[2][22]later spreading to Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal accompanied with election day violence.[26]Another logistical problem was the printing of paper ballots, transporting and safely storing them, and physically counting hundreds of millions of votes.[1][22]The Election Commission of India, led by T.N. Seshan, sought a solution by developing Electronic voting machines in the 1990s.[22][27]These devices were designed to prevent fraud by limiting how fast new votes can be entered into the electronic machine.[22]By limiting the rate of vote entered every minute to five, the Commission aimed to increase the time required to cast fake ballots, therefore, allow the security forces to intervene in cooperation with the volunteers of the competing political parties and the media.[2][22][5]The Commission introduced other features such as EVM initialization procedures just before the elections.[7]Officials tested each machine prior to the start of voting to confirm its reliable operation in the front of independent polling agents. They added a security lock “close” button which saved the votes already cast in the device's permanent memory but disabled the device's ability to accept additional votes in the case of any attempt to open the unit or tamper.[2][19]The Commission decided to conduct the elections over several weeks in order to move and post a large number of security forces at each booth. On the day of voting, the ballots were also locked and then saved in a secure location under the watch of state security and local volunteer citizens. Additionally, the Election Commission also created a database of thumb impressions and electronic voting signatures, open to inspection by polling agent volunteers and outside observers.[2]The EVMs-based system at each booth matches the voter with a registered card with this electronic database in order to ensure that a voter cannot cast a ballot more than once.[2][5]According to Debnath and other scholars, these efforts of the Election Commission of India – developed in consultations with the Indian courts, experts and volunteer feedback from different political parties – have reduced electoral fraud in India and made the elections fairer and more competitive.[5]EVM and Indian judiciaryEVM and electronic voting have been the subject of numerous court cases in Indian courts including the Supreme Court of India. The first case was filed in the 1980s even before EVMs were used in any election. The AC Jose vs. Sivan Pillai case was a case seeking a stay order on the use of EVMs for Kerala election.[28]The case was reviewed by the Supreme Court. It ruled on March 5, 1984, that the extant laws of India – in particular, Sections 59–61 of the Representation of People Act 1951 – specified paper ballots and it therefore forbade the use of any other technology including electronic voting. The Court stated that the use of an alternate technology would require the Indian parliament to amend the law.[28]The parliament of India amended the Representation of People Act in December 1988. Section 61A of the amended law empowered the Election Commission to deploy voting machines instead of paper ballots. The amended law became effective from March 15, 1989.[28]The use of EVMs, their reliability and speculations about fraud through the use of EVMs have been the subject of many lawsuits before state high courts and the Supreme Court of India. These courts have either dismissed the cases as frivolous or ruled in the favor of the Election Commission and the EVMs.[29]Of these, in the 2002 ruling on the J. Jayalalithaa and Ors vs. Election Commission of India case, the Supreme Court of India stated that the use of EVMs in elections was constitutionally valid.[29][30]Electronic votingThe Indian electronic voting machine (EVM) were developed in 1989 by Election Commission of India in collaboration with Bharat Electronics Limited and Electronics Corporation of India Limited. The Industrial designers of the EVMs were faculty members at the Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay. The EVMs were first used in 1982 in the by-election to North Paravur Assembly Constituency in Kerala for a limited number of polling stations.[31]The EVMs were first time used on an experimental basis in selected constituencies of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. The EVMs were used first time in the general election (entire state) to the assembly of Goa in 1999. In 2003, all by-elections and state elections were held using EVMs, encouraged by this election commission decided to use only EVMs for Lok Sabha elections in 2004.Design and technologyBallot Unit (left), control unit (right)An EVM consists of two units, a control unit, and the balloting unit.[32]The two units are joined by a five-meter cable. Balloting unit facilitates voting by a voter via labeled buttons while the control unit controls the ballot units, stores voting counts and displays the results on 7 segment LED displays. The controller used in EVMs has its operating program etched permanently in silicon at the time of manufacturing by the manufacturer. No one (including the manufacturer) can change the program once the controller is manufactured. The control unit is operated by one of the polling booth officers, while the balloting unit is operated by the voter in privacy. The officer confirms the voter's identification then electronically activates the ballot unit to accept a new vote. Once the voter enters the vote, the balloting unit displays the vote to the voter, records it in its memory. A "close" command issued from the control unit by the polling booth officer registers the vote, relocks the unit to prevent multiple votes. The process is repeated when the next voter with a new voter ID arrives before the polling booth officer.[32]EVMs are powered by an ordinary 6 volt alkaline battery[33]manufactured by Bharat Electronics Limited, Bangalore and Electronics Corporation of India Limited, Hyderabad. This design enables the use of EVMs throughout the country without interruptions because several parts of India do not have the power supply and/or erratic power supply. The two units cannot work without the other. After a poll closes on a particular election day, the units are separated and the control units moved and stored separately in locked and guarded premises.[32]Both units have numerous tamper-proof protocols. Their hardware, by design, can only be programmed once at the time of their manufacture and they cannot be reprogrammed.[34][7]They do not have any wireless communication components inside, nor any internet interface and related hardware.[34]The balloting unit has an internal real-time clock and a protocol by which it records every input-output event with a time stamp whenever they are connected to a battery pack.[34]The designers intentionally opted for battery power, to prevent the possibility that the power cables might be used to interfere with the reliable functioning of an EVM.[34]An EVM can record a maximum of 3840 (now 2000) votes and can cater to a maximum of 64 candidates. There is provision for 16 candidates in a single balloting unit and up to a maximum of 4 balloting units with 64 candidate names and the respective party symbols can be connected in parallel to the control unit.[32]If there are more than 64 candidates, the conventional ballot paper/box method of polling is deployed by the Election Commission.[32]After a 2013 upgrade, an Indian EVM can cater to a maximum of 384 candidates plus "None Of The Above" option (NOTA).[6]The current electronic voting machines in India are the M3 version with VVPAT capability, the older versions being M1 and M2. They are built and encoded with once-write software (read-only masked memory) at the state-owned and high-security premises of the Bharat Electronics Limited and the Electronics Corporation of India Limited.[6][35]The inventory of election EVMs is securely tracked by the Election Commission of India on a real-time basis with EVM Tracking Software (ETS). This system tracks their digital verification identity and physical presence. The M3 EVMs has embedded hardware and software that enables only a particular control unit to work with a particular voting unit issued by the Election Commission, as another layer of tamper-proofing. Additional means of tamper proofing the machines include several layers of seals. Indian EVMs are stand-alone non-networked machines.[36][37]Procedure to useThe control unit is with the presiding officer or a polling officer and the balloting Unit is placed inside the voting compartment. The balloting unit presents the voter with blue buttons (momentary switch) horizontally labeled with corresponding party symbol and candidate names. The Control Unit, on the other hand, provides the officer-in-charge with a "Ballot" marked button to proceed to the next voter, instead of issuing a ballot paper to them. This activates the ballot unit for a single vote from the next voter in the queue. The voter has to cast his vote by once pressing the blue button on the balloting unit against the candidate and symbol of his choice.As soon as the last voter has voted, the Polling Officer-in-charge of the Control Unit will press the 'Close' Button. Thereafter, the EVM will not accept any votes. Further, after the close of the poll, the Balloting Unit is disconnected from the Control Unit and kept separately. Votes can be recorded only through the Balloting Unit. Again the Presiding officer, at the close of the poll, will hand over to each polling agent present an account of votes recorded. At the time of counting of votes, the total will be tallied with this account and if there is any discrepancy, this will be pointed out by the Counting Agents. During the counting of votes, the results are displayed by pressing the 'Result' button. There are two safeguards to prevent the 'Result' button from being pressed before the counting of votes officially begins. (a) This button cannot be pressed till the 'Close' button is pressed by the Polling Officer-in-charge at the end of the voting process in the polling booth. (b) This button is hidden and sealed; this can be broken only at the counting center in the presence of designated office.BenefitsThe cost per EVM was ₹5,500 (equivalent to ₹44,000 or US$640 in 2018) at the time the machines were purchased in 1989–90. The cost was estimated to be ₹10,500 (equivalent to ₹13,000 or US$180 in 2018) per unit as per an additional order issued in 2014.[38]Even though the initial investment was heavy, it has since been expected to save costs of production and printing of crores of ballot papers, their transportation and storage, substantial reduction in the counting staff and the remuneration paid to them. For each national election, it is estimated that about 10,000 tonnes of the ballot paper are saved. EVMs are easier to transport compared to ballot boxes as they are lighter, more portable, and come with polypropylene carrying cases. Vote counting is also faster. In places where illiteracy is a factor, illiterate people find EVMs easier than ballot paper system. Bogus voting is greatly reduced as the vote is recorded only once. The unit can store the result in its memory before it is erased manually. The battery is required only to activate the EVMs at the time of polling and counting and as soon as the polling is over, the battery can be switched off. The shelf life of Indian EVMs is estimated at 15 years.[39]LimitationsMain article: TotaliserA candidate can know how many people from a polling station voted for him. This is a signNow issue particularly if lop-sided votes for/against a candidate are cast in individual polling stations and the winning candidate might show favoritism or hold a grudge on specific areas. The Election Commission of India has stated that the manufacturers of the EVMs have developed a Totaliser unit which can connect several balloting units and would display only the overall results from an Assembly or a Lok Sabha constituency instead of votes from individual polling stations.[40][41]Security issuesAn international conference on the Indian EVMs and its tamperability of the said machines was held under the chairmanship of Subramanian Swamy, President of the Janata Party and former Union Cabinet Minister for Law, Commerce and Justice at Chennai on 13 February 2010. The conclusion was that the Election Commission of India was shirking its responsibility on the transparency in the working of the EVMs.[42]In April 2010, an independent security analysis was released by a research team led by Hari K. Prasad, Rop Gonggrijp, and Alex Halderman.[18]In order to mitigate these threats, the researchers suggest moving to a voting system that provides greater transparency, such as paper ballots, precinct count optical scan, or a voter verified paper audit trail, since, in any of these systems, skeptical voters could, in principle, observe the physical counting process to gain confidence that the outcome is fair.[43]But Election Commission of India points out that for such tampering of the EVMs, one needs physical access to EVMs, and pretty high tech skills are required. Given that EVMs are stored under strict security which can be monitored by candidates or their agents all the time, its impossible to gain physical access to the machines. Plus, to impact the results of an election, hundreds to thousands of machines will be needed to tamper with, which is almost impossible given the hi-tech and time-consuming nature of the tampering process.[44][45]Manufacturers of Electronic Voting Machines, namely Electronics Corporation of India Limited, Hyderabad and Bharat Electronics Limited, Bengaluru have said that EVMs are unhackable and tamper-proof as programming for EVMs is done at a secure manufacturing facility in ECIL and BEL (where operations are logged electronically) and not with chip manufacturers.[34]Control and ballot units in EVMs and VVPATs have an anti-tamper mechanism by which they become non-operational if it is illegally opened. EVMs are standalone machines, have no radio frequency transmission device features , operate on battery packs and cannot be reprogrammed. The control Unit of EVMs has a real-time clock that logs every event on its right from the time it was switched on. The anti-tamper mechanism in the machine can detect even 100-millisecond variations.On 25 July 2011, responding to a PIL (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 312 of 2011), Supreme Court of India asked EC to consider request to modify EVMs and respond within three months. The petitioner Rajendra Satyanarayan Gilda had alleged that EC has failed to take any decision despite his repeated representation. The petitioner suggested that the EVMs should be modified to give a slip printed with the symbol of the party in whose favour the voter cast his ballot.[9][46][47][48]On 17 January 2012, Delhi High Court in its ruling on Dr. Subramanian Swamy's Writ Petition (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 11879 of 2009) challenging the use of EVMs in the present form said that EVMs are not "tamper-proof". Further, it said that it is "difficult" to issue any directions to the EC in this regard. However, the court added that the EC should itself hold wider consultations with the executive, political parties and other stake holders on the matter.[49][50]Swamy appealed against Delhi High Court's refusal to order a VVPAT system in Supreme Court. On 27 September 2012, Election Commission's advocate Ashok Desai submitted to a Supreme Court bench of Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi that field trial for VVPAT system is in progress and that a status report will be submitted by early January 2013. Desai said that on pressing of each vote, a paper receipt will be printed, which will be visible to the voters inside a glass but cannot be taken out of the machine. Dr. Swamy said that the new system was acceptable to him.The Supreme Court posted the matter for further hearing to 22 January 2013[51][52]and on 8 October 2013, it delivered a verdict, that the Election Commission of India will use VVPAT.[53]Another similar writ petition filed by the Asom Gana Parishad is still pending before the Gauhati High Court.[54]2019 allegationsSyed Shuja, described as a "self-claimed expert" on EVMs by The India Today,[55]has alleged that Indian EVMs can be hacked, and have been hacked by Indian political parties such as the AAP, BJP, Congress, SP and others.[56]Shuja appeared from a remote location using Skype in January 2019 for a press conference organized by the Indian Journalists’ Association[57]and the London-based Foreign Press Association.[58]He alleged that the EVM units can be wirelessly tampered with, and have been tampered with the help of Reliance Communications. He also made allegations of many murders and other criminal activity associated with EVMs tampering, allegations he could not substantiate nor did he present any evidence for his allegations before journalists gathered in London for the Shuja press interview.[59]The possibility of EVM tampering as described by Shuja have been rejected by the Election Commission of India.[55]The Commission stated that the Indian EVMs do not contain any wireless chips and related communication components.[59]The Election Commission reiterated that their official EVMs are manufactured in India under very strict supervisory and security conditions and there are "rigorous Standard Operating Procedures meticulously observed at all stages under the supervision of a Committee of eminent technical experts constituted way back in 2010".[55]The commission has charged Shuja under Section 505(1)(b) of the Indian Penal Code (titled "Punishment for Statements Conducing to Public Mischief") by lodging a First Information Report against him with the Delhi Police.[60]The Bharatiya Janata Party attributed this claim to the opposing Indian National Congress as an attempt by them to manipulate the electorate with fake news before forthcoming elections.[61]In January 2019, the London-based press conference organizer stated, "The Foreign Press Association strongly disassociates itself with any claims made by the speaker Syed Shuja during the #IJA event [about Indian EVMs and related matters] in London yesterday. Not one of the masked speaker’s accusations has so far been corroborated."[58]The India Today called Shuja's allegations as "sensationalism without substance."[58]Voter-verifiable paper audit trailFurther information: Voter-verified paper audit trailOn 8 October 2010 Election Commission appointed an expert technical committee headed by Prof. P. V. Indiresan (former Director of IIT-M) when at an all-party meeting majority of political parties backed the proposal to have a VVPAT in EVMs to counter the charges of tampering. The committee was tasked to examine the possibility of introduction of a paper trail so that voters can get a printout that will show symbol of the party to which the vote was cast.[10]After studying the issue, the committee recommended introduction of VVPAT system.[62]On 21 June 2011, Election Commission accepted Indiresan committee's recommendations and decided to conduct field trials of the system.[63]On 26 July 2011, field trials of the VVPAT system were conducted at Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, Cherrapunjee in Meghalaya, East Delhi in Delhi and Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.[64][65]The Election Commission on 19 January 2012 agreed to add a "paper trail" of the vote cast. The upgrade of EVMs that followed modified the EVM software and a printer was attached to the machine. With the VVPAT system, when a vote is cast, it is recorded in its memory and simultaneously a serial number and vote data is printed out. This states Anil Kumar, the managing director of the state-owned EVM manufacturer Bharat Electronic Limited, ensures more confidence in the voting results.[66]The printouts, Kumar said, "are used later to cross-check the voting data stored in the EVMs".[11][67]Voter-verifiable paper audit trail was first used in an election in India in September 2013 in Noksen in Nagaland.[68]The voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) system was introduced in 8 of 543 parliamentary constituencies in 2014.[69][70][71]VVPAT was implemented in the 2014 elections at Lucknow, Gandhinagar, Bangalore South,[72]Chennai Central, Jadavpur, Raipur, Patna Sahib[73][74]and Mizoram constituencies.[75][76][77]On 8 October 2013, Supreme Court of India delivered its verdict on Subramanian Swamy's PIL, that Election Commission of India will use VVPAT along with EVMs in a phased manner.[53][78][79]In June 2018, Election Commission of India decided that all VVPATs will have a built-in-hood to protect the printer and other devices from excess light and heat.[80]ExportsNepal, Bhutan, Namibia and Kenya have purchased India-manufactured EVMs. Fiji was expected to use Indian EVMs in its elections in 2014. In 2013, the Election Commission of Namibia acquired 1700 control units and 3500 ballot units from India's Bharat Electronics Limited; these units will be used in the regional and presidential elections in 2014.[81]Several other Asian and African countries are reportedly interested in using them as well.[82]See alsoRisk-limiting auditVoting machineElectoral fraudNone of the aboveFurther reading"WP (C) No. 11879 of 2009" (PDF). High Courts of India. 17 January 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 January 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2012. Delhi High Court judgement saying EVMs are not foolproof.ReferencesVerma, Arvind (2005). "Policing Elections in India". India Review. 4 (3–4): 354–376. doi:10.1080/14736480500302217.Madhavan Somanathan (2019). "India's electoral democracy: How EVMs curb electoral fraud". Brookings Institution, Washington DC.Kumar, D. Ashok; Begum, T. Ummal Sariba (2012). Electronic voting machine — A review. IEEE. doi:10.1109/icprime.2012.6208285. ISBN 978-1-4673-1039-0.Wilkinson, Steven (2005). "Elections in India: Behind the Congress Comeback". Journal of Democracy. Project Muse. 16 (1): 153–167. doi:10.1353/jod.2005.0018.Debnath, Sisir; Kapoor, Mudit; Ravi, Shamika (2017). "The Impact of Electronic Voting Machines on Electoral Frauds, Democracy, and Development". SSRN Journal. Elsevier BV: 1–59. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3041197.Lok Sabha elections 2019: Check FAQs related to EVMS, India Today (March 15, 2019)A look inside the electronic voting machine, The Hindu (March 10, 2019)"CPI(M), JD(S) back Advani on EVM manipulation issue". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 6 July 2009. Retrieved 23 June 2012."SC asks EC to consider request to modify EVMs". The Times of India. 26 July 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2012.Ranjan, Rakesh (15 December 2011). "Delhi HC to decide on EVMs". The Pioneer. Retrieved 10 January 2012."New EVMs to have paper trail". The Times of India. 20 January 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2012."EVM-paper trail introduced in 8 of 543 constituencies". Daily News and Analysis. 27 April 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2019."EC announces Lok Sabha election dates: VVPATs, to be used in all polling stations, help bring more accuracy in voting"."What are EVMs, VVPAT and how safe they are". The Times of India. 6 December 2018. Retrieved 10 January 2019."Count VVPAT slips of 5 booths in each assembly seat: SC"."SC Directs ECI To Increase VVPAT Verification From One EVM To Five EVMs Per Constituency"."When the SC Says No for Software Audit Review of EVMs & VVPAT at Present".Wolchok, Scott; Wustrow, Eric; Halderman, J. Alex; Prasad, Hari K.; Kankipati, Arun; Sakhamuri, Sai Krishna; Yagati, Vasavya; Gonggrijp, Rop (October 2010). Security Analysis of India's Electronic Voting Machines (PDF). 17th ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security.Electronic Voting Machine, The Election Commission of IndiaCEO issues clarification, says faulty EVM polled votes for Congress, not BJP, United News of India (April 26, 2019)Goa's faulty EVM polled votes for Congress, not BJP: CEO, Business Standard (April 26, 2019)Arvind Verma (2009). "Situational Prevention and Elections in India". International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences. 4 (2): 86–89.Milan Vaishnav (2017). When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics. Yale University Press. pp. 87–88. ISBN 978-0-300-21620-2.Arvind Verma (2009). "Situational Prevention and Elections in India". International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences. 4 (2): 86–87., Quote: "Organized 'booth capturing' began in 1957 when a group of upper-caste muscle-men chased away the electorate and forcibly cast the votes for their candidate (Sen, 2004). Such booth capturing (the forcible casting of votes in favor of a particular candidate) and the use of force to prevent genuine voters from exercising their rights slowly became a serious problem in most parts of India and especially in States like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh."Milan Vaishnav (2017). When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics. Yale University Press. pp. 87, 111. ISBN 978-0-300-21620-2.N. S. Saksena (1993). India, Towards Anarchy, 1967-1992. Abhinav Publications. pp. 38–39. ISBN 978-81-7017-296-3.Milan Vaishnav (2017). When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics. Yale University Press. pp. 110–111. ISBN 978-0-300-21620-2.Alok Shukla. EVM Electronic Voting Machines. Leadstart. pp. 70–73. ISBN 978-93-5201-122-3.Alok Shukla. EVM Electronic Voting Machines. Leadstart. pp. 72–74. ISBN 978-93-5201-122-3.Nandan Nilekani (2012). Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century. Penguin. pp. 115–117. ISBN 978-0-14-341799-6."Electronic Voting Machine, Chapter 39, Reference handbook, Election commission of India". Press Information Bureau. Archived from the original on 7 March 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2010. Used in Hazaribagh District.Vishesh Shrivastava; Girish Tere (2016). "An Analysis of Electronic Voting Machine for its Effectiveness". International Journal of Computing Experiments. 1 (1): 8–12."ECI Voting Equipments". Election Commission of India. Retrieved 10 January 2019."EVMs foolproof, can't be tampered with, says former ECIL chairman"."All Questions About EVMs Are Answered Here"."Election Commission plans to replace all pre-2006 EVMs with advanced M3 machines"."Zero Complaints Came Up After Lok Sabha Polls, Claims Expert Behind EVMs"."Electronics Corp, Bharat Electronics get EVM contracts". The Indian Express. 7 March 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2019."Shelf-life of 50% EVMs ending, have to buy 14 lakh for 2019: EC". The Indian Express. 25 October 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2019."New counting method for Assembly polls". India Today. 4 December 2008. Retrieved 10 January 2019."Know Your Electronic Voting Machine" (PDF). Press Information Bureau. Retrieved 1 September 2010."Swamy for expert panel on secure EVMs". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2012.Ramani, Srinivasan (18 December 2017). "It takes a heck of a lot to hack an EVM". The Hindu. Retrieved 10 January 2019."EVMs cannot be tampered: K J Rao". Indian Express. 7 August 2009. Retrieved 17 September 2012.Lakshman, Narayan (10 August 2010). "Hot debate over Electronic Voting Machines". The Hindu. Chennai, India."SC order on EVM". Supreme Court of India. 25 July 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2012."SC seeks EC reply on EVM modification". The Assam Tribune. 25 July 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2012."Do EVMs need modification? SC asks EC to decide in 3 weeks". Indian Express. 25 July 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2012."EVMs not tamper-proof, but no paper trail: Delhi HC". The Times of India. 17 January 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2012."EVMs not tamper-proof: Delhi HC". The Pioneer. 18 January 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2012."Field trial of new EVMs with paper trail under way: ECI informs SC". Law et al. News. 27 September 2012. Archived from the original on 9 February 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2012."Supreme Court hearing in Special Leave to Appeal (Civil) No(s).13735/2012". Supreme Court of India. New Delhi. Retrieved 27 September 2012."Supreme Court asks Election Commission to introduce paper trail in EVMs". India Today. 8 October 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2019."EC buys time on paper trail". The Telegraph. Calcutta, India. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2012."Motivated slugfest: Election Commission slams man claiming EVMs can be hacked". India Today. 21 January 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2019."Rigged EVM".Under attack from BJP, Kapil Sibal tries to save face after EVM hacking drama, India Today (January 22, 2019)Foreign Press Association distances itself from Syed Shuja's wild claims about 2014 rigging, India Today (January 22, 2019)Mystery man Shuja makes wild claims as London event to show EVM hacking flops, India Today (January 21, 2019)"EVM hacking claim: EC asks Delhi Police to lodge FIR". Press Trust of India. 22 January 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2019."EVM hacking claim a Congress-sponsored conspiracy to defame Indian democracy: BJP". Press Trust of India. 22 January 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2019."EVM with paper trail to be tested in 200 places". The Times of India. 1 June 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2012."Election Commission to introduce EVM and VVPAT system for more transparent electronic voting". The Economic Times. 21 June 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2012."New voting machines found perfect: Election Commission". Kolkata News. 28 July 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2012."New Voting Machines Found Perfect: EC". Daijiworld.com. 28 July 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2012.New EVMs to have paper trail, The Times of India (January 19, 2012)"New EVMs to have paper trail: BEL". Firstpost. 19 January 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2012."Nagaland first to use VVPAT device for voting". Business Standard. 4 September 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2019."LS polls: Voters to get 'automated-receipts' at Gandhinagar". Business Standard. Press Trust of India. 29 April 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2019."VVPAT machine to be on demonstration for 10 days". The Hindu. 4 April 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2019."VVPAT to be introduced in Jadavpur constituency". India TV News. 2 April 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2019."VVPAT to Debut in B'lore South". The New Indian Express. 4 April 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2019."Patna Sahib electorate can see who they voted for". The Times of India. Retrieved 10 January 2019."400 EVMs on standby for Patna Sahib, Pataliputra". The Times of India. Retrieved 10 January 2019."Election Commission of India". Election Commission of India. Retrieved 10 January 2019."VVPAT, a revolutionary step in voting transparency". Daily News and Analysis. 27 April 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2014."EVM slip will help verify your vote". The Times of India. Retrieved 10 January 2019."Civil Appeal No.9093 of 2013". Supreme Court of India. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2019."Elections 2014: SC directive to EC for paper trail in EVMs". The Hindu. 8 October 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2019.Vishnoi, Anubhuti (11 June 2018). "All VVPATs in 2019 to come with hood to keep light at bay". The Economic Times. Retrieved 10 January 2019."ECN unveils 'tamper-free' voting machines". Namibian Sun. 5 July 2013. Archived from the original on 9 July 2013.Tiwari, Rajnish; Herstatt, Cornelius (January 2012). "India – A Lead Market for Frugal Innovations? Extending the Lead Market Theory to Emerging Economies" (PDF). Hamburg University of Technology. p. 18. Retrieved 11 March 2013."Supreme Court issues contempt notice to Election Commission of India". Critic Brain - India News, Politics, Opinions - on Thoughts on Talks. 1 July 2016. Archived from the original on 21 January 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2018.External links"Electronic Voting Machine". 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I would say VIDEO MARKETING is your answer. Why? Because everyone will be looking for videos in 2018. The Six Point Checklist for Video Marketing Domination [ https://medium.com/@flaviu_91616/the-six-point-checklist-for-video-marketing-domination-8078ca148447 ] Why becoming your OWN Media Company will keep your business alive in 2018 [ https://medium.com/@flaviu_91616/why-becoming-your-own-media-company-will-keep-your-business-alive-in-2018-560f06c40afa ] Video is all about communicating an idea to the crowds. Crowds of people looking for something special, something that makes the click in a special way. Video content [ https://www.patonmarketing.com/ ] is fast, it provides an instant reaction from your audience, it communicates on multiple levels. The massive growth of video marketing during the past 10 years is truly incredible — let’s see some statistics [ https://www.patonmarketing.com/audit-your-site/ ] that will blow your mind! * YouTube has 1 billion registered users — that’s more than a third of the total internet users worldwide (1) [ https://www.youtube.com/yt/about/press/ ] * more than 72 hours of video content is uploaded on YouTube every 60 seconds (1) [ https://www.youtube.com/yt/about/press/ ] * 85 percent of Americans watch video online (2) [ http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press-Releases/2012/1/comScore-Releases-December-2011-US-Online-Video-Rankings?cs_edgescape_cc=US ] * 82 percent of Twitter users watch video on the platform (3) [ https://blog.hootsuite.com/twitter-statistics/ ] * 87 percent of digital marketers use video content (4) [ http://www.outbrain.com/blog/state-of-content-marketing-2012 ] * 90 percent of video traffic on Twitter comes from mobile devices (3) [ https://blog.hootsuite.com/twitter-statistics/ ] * 92 percent of video users share their videos with others (5) [ https://www.virtuets.com/45-video-marketing-statistics/ ] * more than 350,000 hours of broadcasts are streamed daily on Periscope (6) [ https://www.omnicoreagency.com/periscope-statistics/ ] * Snapchat users watch 10 billion videos every day (7) [ http://mashable.com/2016/04/28/snapchat-video-views-billion/#QKsc_s0Oruqu ] * 50 percent of potential customers look for a video related to a product before making a purchase (14) [ https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/micro-moments/purchase-decision-mobile-growth/ ] * shoppers who view video demos or reviews are 1.81x more likely to make a purchase (15) [ https://blogs.signNow.com/digitalmarketing/search-marketing/seo-for-success-in-video-marketing/ ] * 4 times as many customers would rather watch a video on a product than read about it (16) [ https://animoto.com/blog/business/video-marketing-cheat-sheet-infographic/ ]

I’ve utilized 11 different marketing strategies for each of my businesses, and I know that each of them will still be relevant from 2018 and onwards. This answer is quite long, so I’ve also included a TL;DR, that way you can pick what you want to read more about.Most of these marketing strategies will create viable growth for any organization, and are worth trying for at least a month.However, before I list them, I feel the need to make one thing abundantly clear:No matter what anyone tells you, there is no one-size-fits-all marketing strategy. You will have to experiment (it’s called A/B Testing) for as long as you want to remain relevant and profitable.So the secret isn’t SEO (search engine optimization). It’s not traditional “business card” networking. It’s not even Facebook Ads. The secret is whatever works for your business, and it’s 100% unique.TL;DR:Advertising on FacebookMaking a Google My Business ListingUsing Google AdwordsPutting Greater Emphasis on Content MarketingCouponsCreating eMail Marketing FunnelsWebinarsFree Offers / ConsultationsGuest Blogging and Writing ColumnsCreating PartnershipsKeynote Speeches1. Advertising on FacebookTwo million small to medium sized businesses like yours are currently advertising on Facebook. It’s cheap and effective so it only makes sense.As far as targeting goes, Facebook Ads are ridiculously good. They allow you to target a specific audience based on location, interests, age, sex, online behavior, and many other factors that no other platform can quite get down.The best part about creating Facebook Ads is how easy it is! You simply need to have an eye catching image or video and accompanying header. If you’re not sure what constitutes “eye catching” in your niche, you can use the Facebook Ads Manager and test multiple ads for one product — eventually going with the one that generates the most amount of money for you.Doing this will not automatically guarantee returns, but thankfully, there are plenty of 3rd party tools to use, AdEspresso by Hootsuite is the first one that comes to mind!Use it to run your campaigns and speed up your journey to positive ROI.NOTE:If your business is largely visual, don’t just use Facebook. Use its sister-company, Instagram as well. Instagram Ads allows you to benefit from having the same data base and targeting options as Facebook, while simultaneously allowing you to connect with an audience that is better primed for visual sales.Is this your ideal solution? Check outFacebook Advertising Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide by Neil PatelHow to Run App Install Ads On Facebook by Aki Merced2. Making a Google My Business Listing (and Ranking)A Google My Business (GMB) listing is the smartest thing that you can do for your business.Think about it; Google is the biggest search engine in the world, and if anyone searches for a particular product/service, you’ve pretty much got first dibs!Most search results on Google first include a paid ad, and if someone is looking for a service, the next results are typically GMB listings. Ranking your business in the top 3 search results will bring in ROI like you’ve never seen before.What exactly is Google My Business?If it’s your first time hearing about GMB, it can probably sound a little intimidating. GMB simply combines variously Google platforms and puts them in one place, i.e your business’ Google+profile, your Google Reviews, Google Maps, and gives you access to data like Google Analytics and Google Insights.Since typing this answer, Google is probably working on plenty more offerings…One thing is for sure, from the minute you list your business on GMB and get it ranking, you’ll immediately get the credibility and visibility (of course) that you’ve been looking for.If your small business is local, this is a must-do!If you’re ready to get started, read this:How to optimize your Google My Business listing: expert tips by Graham Charlton7 SEO Mistakes That Leak Money From Local Businesses by Jacob McMillen3. Using Google AdwordsJust like I said in the above strategy, no other platform gives you the type of exposure as Google. At least not in modern history.If online marketing is a baby, then Google Adwords is its godfather.Since Google Adwords has been around for so long, it’s really competitive and pretty expensive if I may say so myself — however, it works extremely well.Here’s the thing; while Adwords is expensive, it’s also really effective if you’ve already utilized on-page SEO, so start there first. SEO makes Adwords a whole lot cheaper!How does SEO make Google Adwords cheaper?For every single ad on the search engine, Google gives them a quality score based on its CTR (click-through-rate), the landing page that the ad sends traffic to, and ad relevance. The quality score also factors in the bid rate that you will need in order for your ad to be displayed. The higher the quality score, the lower the bid cost.Adwords aren’t a zero-sum game, though. You can pair your Google Adwords strategy with another strategy on this list and create a killer campaign!If that’s exciting for you, check these links out for further reading:The Complete Google AdWords Tutorial by Jerry BanfieldThe Iceberg Effect: How Your AdWords Strategy Is Slowly Drowning by Johnathan Dane4. Putting Greater Emphasis on Content Marketing18% of marketers say that content marketing has the greatest commercial impact on their business of any channel in 2016.What exactly is Content Marketing?It’s actually a process of creating and then distributing content that is high value, relevant and consistent with your brand in order to attract a clearly defined audience. You can think of answering Quora questions as a form of content marketing. Sort of.The whole point of content marketing is to focus on long-term results, instead of short-term ROI. While the initial content marketing payoff is very low compared to using Facebook Ads, for instance, in the long-term you create a reputation for your business and that in turn generates sustainable growth in visitors, leads and customers.It’s not easy, though. You still have have have the right mix of:High-quality contentPick relevant topicsOptimize your content with SEOBe consistentMind you, a lot of people automatically think of BLOGS when thinking about content, however, this is 2017 — content ranges from videos, podcasts, online courses, slides and many other ways that people prefer to consume information.To know which content works with your business, you’ll have to do some A/B Testing. There will be a format that eventually sticks.You can read some more here:Getting Started With Content Marketing by Content Marketing InstituteWhy You Need a Growth Model For Your Blog (And How to Create One) by Devesh Khanal5. CouponsBear with me here, I know this one is a bit of an unconventional suggestion, but if you sell a product or offer a service, you can use sites like Groupon as means of promotion for your business.Before anyone checks out of an online store these days, they always search for coupons, and when they’re scrolling through, they’re bound to see your offer as well.Your products will receive mass exposure, and you’ll also get targeted local advertising, increased brand awareness and a slew of new converts — even if they’re only there for the coupon, they’re still spending money.WARNING:If your deal goes viral and becomes extremely popular, you might find yourself a little overwhelmed and unable to handle the new customers, so just make sure that you the math properly.Remember, you want to attract customers with a coupon, but the proposition on your site should keep them there.Sound confusing? Here’s some additional readingDoing The Math On A Groupon Deal by Jay GoltzThe Real Cost of Groupon and What it Means to Your Marketing Planning by Mana Ionescu6. Creating eMail Marketing FunnelsIn 2018 why will this still be relevant? Good question. Simply because of this one reason: Many of the people that visit your site are not going to immediately be convinced by your value proposition. They will need some finessing.Getting their contact information allows you to send them additional marketing materials until they’re completely convinced that spending their hard earned money on your business is worth their time. And also, email is still the most high converting marketing channel — ever!How do you take advantage of this?Simple. You start with something called a “lead magnet”. It would be an offering that compels your website’s visitors to give you their email address — in exchange for something that they would view as valuable, i.e a free service trial, a free digital download, early access to a webinar, a coupon, anything.The point is to get someone to subscribe to your email list and once they do that, you will be able to display your credibility by giving them valuable content.Other benefits of email marketing include:Low costGlobal signNowEasy to automateEasy to segmentImmediate communicationEasy to setup and runEasy to track and optimizeTo be quite honest, if you are a complete newbie to marketing, you’ll notice that a lot of marketing channels are super hard to start. Email marketing is one of the strategies that are relatively simple to start.Read these two pieces to learn some more:21 Powerful Ways to Quickly Grow Your Email List by Jacob McMillenHow to Build Your Email List: The (Better Than) Ultimate Guide by Aaron Orendorff7. WebinarsIf you’re serious about your business, then you’ve probably woken up or stayed up till 2 AM at some point — to catch a webinar. If not, then you’ve got a long way to go (just kidding)!What exactly is a webinar?It’s a seminar that takes place on the web — hence the name, “webinar”. And it can honestly range from being a presentation, to a demonstration to a discussion. It doesn’t always have to be one thing.A webinar actually goes hand in hand with email marketing, because if you pick your topic correctly, you can drive a slew of subscribers into your email list and build some credibility for your business.The great thing about webinars is that they can be pre-recorded and made into standalone products (or even a series of products), which makes them a great platform for training — live and recorded.Before you maybe conflate the two, it bears mentioning that webinars and video tutorials are two completely different things. A webinar tends to have a start time and has live Q&As between yourself and your audience, so it’s far more interactive than a typical video or livestream.You will need webinar software to run a webinar that utilizes the following functions:2-Way Audio – the presenter speaks while the viewers are muted, but the presenter can “turn on” individual viewers so everyone can hear their questionScreenshare – the presenter can share their screen or switch to video for whiteboard teaching or live demonstrationPolls – the presenter can invite viewers to take a poll or provide feedback in other waysCaveat: Webinars do not work for all niches. You’ll really need to think carefully about whether your customers will benefit from a webinar and if not, there are plenty of other strategies that you can always go with.Do webinars fit with your niche? Great!Here’s some additional reading:Webinar Marketing: 15 Steps to Revenue Generating Webinars by Georgiana LaudiHow to grow your business with webinar marketing by Ross Beard8. Free Offers / ConsultationsPut yourself in your customers’ shoes for a second; I’m sure that when it comes to any kind of professional services, you want to have access to expertise, right?That’s why it’s important to position yourself as an expert or an authority figure in whatever your small business’ niche is. By promoting a free consultation, you can generate new leads.Here’s the thing, you shouldn’t even worry yourself about whether you’re disclosing too much free information in the consultation, because if your customers feel that your service is worth the money — they’ll stick around.Okay, it’s true that there are going to be a lot of freeloaders looking for something that they can quickly grab, exploit and go, but to be honest, those customers were never going to buy. Why stress yourself over them?If you can provide a high-quality consultation for free in 30 minutes, a real customer will think, “imagine what they can do in an hour…” and sign up.Advertising a free consultation can be done both online and via pamphlets, newspapers, signs or through word-of-mouth, and hey who’s to say that you can’t put a free consultation front and center on your website or on your social media?Which businesses does this strategy work for? ALL of them. Seriously.Here are some reading essentials:Should You Offer Free Consultations? by Courtney Johnston6 Ways To Make Free Consults Work For You by Laura Simms9. Guest Blogging and Writing ColumnsAny fairly decent writer can share their opinion through weekly or monthly write-ups and watch as this endeavor does wonders for their brand.While you won’t get paid for your efforts, what you will receive however is an opportunity to make consistent contact with an audience and potentially build a relationship with its readers. Then, that audience will immediately think of you when they encounter a certain situation, or other experts in your field.Start out with local newspapers and non-profit magazines, because they’re typically always looking for high-quality contributors who won’t seek a fee, then move on to the more exclusive publications like Forbes, Inc, Fast Company etc once you’ve got your skin in the game.Again, you’re not going to make any money from guest blogging or writing columns, but you will make bank in other ways (i.e. speaking engagements) by being able to say that “you’ve been published in such and such”.The aim of successful guest blogging is to make your brand/business/name valuable to your target audience in a not-so subtle way. Guest blogging and writing columns is an opportunity for you to build trust with your customers, even though someone else already did the hard work of building this audience.How do you get started?Write how-to guidesComment on current eventsPublish interviews with other interesting peopleCreate list-articles (listicles)Report on trends or eventsHere are some additional ideas to get the cogs turning in your brainHow to Secure Guest Posts on Big Publications (WSJ, Forbes & HuffPo) by Sujan PatelHow I Wrote for Fast Company, Copyblogger,& Entrepreneur by Aaron Orendorff10. Partner With Other BusinessesTeamwork is always more effective than singular effort, and combining resources with another business can help you do things you could never accomplish on your own.It’s typically best to target companies in your local area, even if your clientele isn’t local. Your goal is to work out a complementary arrangement that provides mutual benefit for both businesses.Some joint venture examples include:A PPC agency could partner with a CRO agency to refer clients to each other.A coffee shop could offer free coffee vouchers to a plumbing company’s customers.A marketing company could partner with an accounting firm to recommend each other’s services during new client onboarding.A beauty therapist could offer free manicures for a hair stylist’s clients.There is really no limit to what’s possible. Simply identify crossover in your audience and a non-competitor’s audience and then find a way to tap into that crossover in a mutually beneficial way.Sound interesting? Good! Check these additional links outWhy Small Businesses Should Partner Up With Other Brands by Web Smith5 Tips To Partnering Alongside A Business For The First Time by Deborah Sweeney11. Speak At EventsIn terms of branding and establishing yourself as an authority, few things are more impactful than being a speaker at popular events in your niche.While invitations to speak at larger events are often extended as a result of accomplishments or visible influence, you can also work your way into these opportunities by becoming a talented speaker and delivering great talks at smaller events.Or you can simply use it as another marketing channel, by speaking at some of these types of events:Local clubs – think Rotary, Lion’s, Chamber of Commerce.Business networking groups.Specific interest clubs (photography, hiking, sewing, etc.)Browse local events on Eventbrite and We are what we do | Meetup.Schools.Churches.Check events in your local newspaper and magazines.Big companies and their employees.Be prepared, and treat every event like a big deal.And finally, the last couple of additional reading linksHow To Start Speaking At Events by Chris BroganWhy I Get Invited to Speak at Events (And How You Can Too) by Rohit BhargavaAt the end of the day, what’s good for the goose isn’t always good for the gander — you’ll need to do a proper business audit (based on your customer demographics) to determine whether any of these suggestions will be a fit for your business, but my guess is yes.Your answers from your evaluation should lead you to at least 4 of the strategies mentioned in this answer.Good luck!

This is focus. And focus is almost always the difference between a business that grows profitably and one that never seems to gain any momentum. You can continue to hope that “next time that email is going to work better,” or you can develop a clear focus and a realistic strategy.Who is Your Target Customer?The first decision in any marketing strategy is to define your target customer. “Who do you serve?” always needs to be answered clearly before you can execute any tactic effectively. This means you have to say “no” to other potential customers who might buy from you but who are clearly bad fits for your narrow focus. This takes time to develop the discipline, but you can’t do effective marketing without it.Focusing on a well-defined target may make you uncomfortable at first, but stay the course and follow through. An accountant friend of mine changed his business from “doing taxes for anyone in Phoenix” to “a CPA who does taxes and investments only for physicians” – his best customers who have special needs. He made this change over a period of two years and tripled his business, narrowed his service offerings and strengthened his pitch.If you are spending time and money on marketing but your efforts are not driving enough sales, the problem is almost always that you haven’t narrowed your target market definition enough to be effective. The narrower you define your market so you can focus on those that you can best serve and those that can best service you, the more effective your entire business will be.What is Your Category?Your category is simply the short description of what business you are in. What few words would someone say to describe your business? Starbucks is “high-quality coffee” Chipotle is “fresh Mexican burritos.” My friend’s tax business is simply “tax accounting for physicians in Phoenix.”Most business owners can’t resist over-complicating their company descriptions. This leaves people unsure of what you actually do, which weakens your marketing effectiveness. Here’s a simple rule: If someone can’t clearly remember your category description a month after you meet them, they were never clear about what you do in the first place.Clearly defining your category helps amplify your marketing and sales efforts. Think of what it would take to be the best – the leader – in your category. You’re not the leader? Then narrow your category definition (or your target market focus) until you are the leader. A focused laser can melt steel at a distance, but the same light undirected has no effect. Be laser-like in your focus.What is Your Unique Benefit?Your unique benefit should highlight the one (or two) main things your product or service actually delivers (benefits) that your target customer really wants, not a long list of all the things your product does (features).At Infusionsoft, we know our customers don’t just want our software: They want to grow sales and save time. We don’t describe everything our software does or the hundreds of benefits, we keep our focus on those three key benefits in everything we do. And the simpler we describe it, the better our marketing works.Who is Your Competition?When someone is looking to buy a solution to a problem, they will quickly make sense of the alternatives to compare against – your competition. However, most entrepreneurs haven’t specifically defined who their real competition is and don’t focus their messages to create clear differentiation for their buyers. This frustrates the buying decision process and makes your marketing efforts weaker.You need to be clear in your own mind about what your biggest competition is. If you are a tax accountant, is your competition really the other tax accountants in town? Other CPAs or financial planners? DIY tax software? Doing taxes manually? National tax accounting chains? Each competitor type would create different comparisons, so you need to narrow it down to one or two main competitor types.Why Are You Different and Better for Your Target Customer?Once you have defined your competition, make a list of all the things you do differently and better. Then rank each of them by how important these factors are to your target customer. Pick the top one or two and put them on your homepage and include them in your elevator pitch.Don’t overcomplicate this. People just want to know one or two things to move their decision along. Is it cheaper? Do you have faster delivery? Best personalized service? Are you the only accountant who exclusively serves physicians in Phoenix?What Does Your Marketing Strategy Statement Look Like?When you put the five key decisions of marketing strategy in a sentence form, it looks like this fill-in-the-blank statement:Your company name is the leading category for target customers that provides unique benefit. Unlike competitors, your company does unique differentiator.Our growth rate doubled when we focused and committed to this clear and simple marketing strategy.Try it for yourself: Fill in the blanks to create the marketing strategy statement for your own business. Get some perspective from employees, friends and best customers. List all the possibilities and then make some decisions. Say it out loud a few times. You should feel clarity and power coming through. It will also show you a few things you could stop doing in your business that would create more focus.Can you see why it makes no sense to Tweet, to send a broadcast email or build a new website if you are not clear about your marketing strategy that has laser-like focus? Doing these tactics without a road map – your marketing strategy – will not deliver the right customers and will give you fewer sales than if you had invested the time to implement a focused marketing strategy.Here’s the real secret that successful companies practice with extreme discipline: Creating a clear marketing strategy is not what companies do after they get big, it’s what small companies do to grow and get bigger in the first place.