Innovation of something useful = Priceless
Repetition of something inherent = 100$
Repetition of the something ineffectual = 1$
Delivering the same message through different viewpoints = sometimes totally worthless
Well I have come across some many colleagues of mine starting up a blog airing their views about some function related to business like finance, cash flows, sales, innovative rules in marketing, HR and so on. Barring a few exceptions I am seldom to come across a blog which effectively delivers truly a new message of sorts with respect to a particular subject in question. Some relate to effective marketing techniques while others to transformational human resources practices. Sound as they might on paper from a internal point of view rarely have they been used efficiently in practice.
So when a friend of mine suggested that why not come up with some interesting concepts in the art of marketing - I was (albeit sheepishly I must admit) considered some sort of guru in marketing when I was in B-school and though the first experience in a job situation changed my views for the better, still amongst a close circle of friends that concept lingered on. Coming back my only answer was – marketing is a whole lot crap these days, media blowing in out of proportion and the hapless common man (atleast in
Marketing is a matrix – we all have our own definitions; some delivering a sense and expected outcome while others biting the dust. Well what is marketing then – try defining that. Try defining the matrix. While our very dear guru Kotler gives the definition as “Marketing is the social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others”.
Try making sense out of that – while many of my friends got away with random A’s while quoting the definition the question yet remained in my mind whether they understood the true essence of this. I am sure though Kotler did but the interplay of words was something to my mind avoidable.
Anyway marketing is not always about a demand creation and meeting it successfully – as most of the common mortals might be led to believe; it might be even educating and providing changing benefits to the changing needs and demands of the target audience. SHREEEK………..read the line again.
Well if change is constant (which is debatable but mostly acceptable in the end), this definition holds ground. Another point is sensitivity and sensibility. It makes more sense in today’s “’CONNECTED” environment. Online social media has opened up new avenues of marketing – the new age gurus predict transformational strategies to deliver content and open up avenues thorough web2.0 and so on, while the purists bay for blood, I for once tend to side with them. While I would go to a facebook or a orkut to check out messages from long lost friends, post pictures etc, essentially I would not want to click or check out advertisements posted on the site. The success of marketing lies in delivering the key message sensibly, to the target masses without putting a shroud of glitterati on it – the message must deliver and set a tone in the customers mind, effectively and efficiently, not necessarily immediately. While the story of Mozilla Firefox, an Apple iPOD or a AOL winamp can be brought in to support this viewpoint – net net marketing must meet the changing needs of the environment to meet the changing needs of the customer. If that is understood the effective strategies to mastermind a effective marketing strategy in the next step. More on that later.
