Category: General Marketing

Marketing dawned on the world as a customer-centric philosophy, leaving behind the production and sales approach which focused on the producers and products, rather than the customer needs and wants. Still the assessment of what the customers real needs and wants are and once these get translated into products how far they coninue to meet them at different stages of their life cycle remained foggy and dreamy. These days we have made advances in big data and that has led to an increase understanding of the consumer behaviour and enable the organisations to measure and manage consumer decision points. In addition we can target better and have the metrics to measure returns on marketing efforts.Big data has led to big research and automated analysis.There are online surveys which are far bigger and speedier than the mall-intercept small surveys.These surveys are useful in shaping the brand strategy, the advertising campaign and the product mix.Marketing  no longer remains a psychlogy-based art but becomes a marketing science with metrics, models and tools of targeting and engaging the customers at point-of-sale.Really this is the coversion of the foggy and dreamy marketing into a golden dawn.

A good corporate image is a valuable asset. What factors contribute to develop this image in the eyes of public? First  and foremost, the industry image matters a lot — the industry in which the company operates. A good MNC operating in two-wheeler industry is sure to have a good image. A chemical company gets its image dented, as it pollutes the environment a lot. An IT  company gets a positive industry image. Secondly, the country of origin also contributes to corporate image. Thirdly, the CEO and his personal image also influence the corporate image. Narayan Murthy’s clean personal image added to the image of Infosys. Fourthly, the quality of the employees e.g. in service organisations contribute to the corporate image. Fifthly, the work environment and physical facilities also influence the image. Last but not the least, the product itself is the expression of  corporate image. 

The business practices followed, the social responsibility shown, the compliance with the law of the land, the media covrage — all these other factors also play a role in building the corporate image.

Strategy can be considered in two ways. According to the late C. K. Prahalad, the traditional view says that companies should match current resources with external opportunities. C. K. Prahalad’s view is that the companies should set their ambition first and then expand the resource-base to reach that ambition. Strategy, to C. K. Prahalad, is innovation. The starting point for developing innovation is to have a huge ambition. The essence of strategic intent or vision is that it works in an opportunity-backward manner, not a constraint-forward manner. In other words, the act of strategic intent disregards the scarcity of resources in the present. The style of thinking changes from a budgeting orientation to an innovation’ orientation. A compelling strategic intent like producing a $2000 car or putting the man on the moon provokes an innovative response because people are drawn to challenging goals. Anyone would like to climb a mountain, and not a molehill.

An event is any type of gathering. It could be a ceremony, conference, convention, contest, competition, happening or festival. Events are media events, sorts events or parties. Event management is concerned with the planning, organising and execution of  an event. It is like managing a project or an activity. Event mangers must have an eye for detail and a flair for organising. Event management includes wedding management, managing corporate events, managing awards functions, managing beauty peagents and fashion shows and sports management. The work of an event manager starts much before an event and ends when the lights go off the stage. Event management requires client servicing, event planning, and conceptualisation, creative and design of an event, production team. An event manger is expected to have exceptional organising ability and undiluted energy.

Noreena Hertz, Cambridge professor and economist-author speaks about Gucci capitalism which believes that market resolves all the problems on its own, and the government shouldstay away. It also believes that wealth trickles down. It emphasises what we own more.It could be a Gucci bag rather than the quality of air we breathe or the quality of health care we have. Gucci capitalism is dying. The governments are taking measures to reign in the behaviour of banks, say putting restrictions on the banker’s pay and bonuses. The Danish govrnment has put in an obesity tax on fast food companies, which is like saying that businesses have to take responsibility for the negative impact for the things they do. There are uprisings e.g. Occupy Wall Street. The next phase of capitalism will recognise the significance of community. There should be balance between business gains and social environmental justice. The focus would be on collaboration rather than competition. Wikipedia is a collaborative model.

These can be divided into macro and micro trends. Peter Kim, the chief digital officer of Cheil Worldwide identifies these trends. He speaks about three macro trends.

# there will be participation, rather than just interaction

#from too much data and information, people ask for meaning

# marketing has become real time

He has identified five micro trends.

#Instead of consumers, the brands are in the driver’s seat

#Everything is shoppable

# Data leads to mass personalization

# Interconnectedness of things and eco-system

# Sharing economy

How we understood a consumer has changed in the last quarter of a century. In the past, marketing was dominated by psychology, which is still relevant. But we understand the consumer now in terms of data. The management and analysis of data is now an important component of marketing. A statistician studied consumers by sampling, mostly a small number of say 100 people. Marketers now observe millions of consumers to draw their conclusions. They require computer science skills. Marketing is influenced by psychology, statistics and economics. Beyond that, it is also influenced by OR and computer science. One more area has acquired importance – sociology. There are groups of customers on Facebook. It is group behaviour and society behaviour which are important

Customer loyalty was valued as a very useful metric to assess the value of a customer some fourteen fifteen years ago. Loyalty was defined in terms of time, amount and frequency of a customer in shopping with an organisation. However, it ignores whether such engagement is profitable. V. Kumar and his associates ( Georgia State University ) came up with a new metric to value the customer. It is related to profit generation through a customer in future. They collected transaction database of the customers buying. They also calculated the spending the company does on these customers e.g. say direct marketing costs. They then calculated the gross margin for each product sold. These three pieces of data collectivity led them to a Customer Lifetime Value ( CLV ) metric. Many companies adopted this metric. One telecom company got rid of 1000 unprofitable customers. Those were calling call centres frequently, and each such call cost the company dear. And their total spend on telecom service was lower than the amount the company spent on them. Such customers can go to a competitor, but in that case the competitor too will become unprofitable.

Marketing has undergone a complete metamorphosis on account of rapidly advancing technology. It is possible to do precision marketing by making use of a rich database on consumer habits and preferences, right media planning and direct marketing databases. Precision marketing is aimed at specific segments or even individuals. The major advantage is reduced wastage and a highly personalized message.

Though mass marketing is necessary for several products and services through mass media, it is possible to reach smaller niches and well-defined targets by alternative media.

Markets are segmented on the basis of attitudes and demographics. There are new segments based on people’s attitudes towards environment and products. Marketers match the ‘attitudes’ towards products and services with attitudes in society. In this high-tec age, a new attitude segment of the new achievers have emerged who create their own distinctive life-style; divorced from old symbols of achievement. A new segment of time-seekers  value leisure time, and they give up current income for leisure time. They are ready to pay a premium for products that give them time e.g. smart phones, tax machines, e-commerce etc. Senior citizens are no longer old haggard, but are young in spirit. In promotion they would not like to be shown as infirm invalid and sexless. They are shown in young company. There is an awareness that they have a right to an active life. They can select several products for them such as low-sodium salt, low-cal drinks etc. Investment consultants, counselors, clinical psychologists, agony aunts, critics of literature and movies, fashion consultants, consumer reports on products, informational support – all these tend to act as  life simplifiers   which help to choose us the right things. Brands are preferred as they are a shorthand that makes the choice easier. Premium brands, once exclusive for the elite are now for everyone. They start with quality and not snob appeal. In promoting premium brands, understatement is a better strategy. It gives great satisfaction to people to discover a product no one else knows. When so many discover the product, it falls from class to mass. Women as a demographic segment are addressed to by many companies. Women are not to be treated as separate gender, but as consumers. Working women need labour and time saving devices. Though they respond to emotional appeals, they are not irrational either. They could not be stereotyped. Children is another important demographic group. They should be educated to become responsible and informed consumers. Children do watch a lot of TV, especially the adult programmes. While communicating with them , we should use an element of fun. Children also like reality. Barbie doll help little girls live out of their fantasies. It remains consistent with contemporary life style. When a product is given personality, children remain loyal to it. Music is the key to appeal to children. We should talk to children in terms of their experience. Though children influence buying decisions in family purchases, we we should also buy separate advertising to reassure the parents.

Here you have to think big but start small. Then iterate quickly and scale fast. It is advisable to have a simple prototype and see how it works. There can be experimentation. This is done on a shoe-string budget. Cash is preserved. One buys time needed to crack the success formula. It is better to test assumptions and hypotheses by market experiments than a ‘spray and pray’ approach.