Hi Guys, I think sorry was not enough for all the hardcore readers of this blog. So I came up with an idea which will keep all of busy for some time to come. So huh….. What's the big Idea of which I am bragging about??? Well… I suggest that we all put efforts to develop a website (I even have thought a name for it) that will cater to the needs of not only people interested in Marketing but will involve guys from all the streams of Business world. The details of the project (as a first draft, are mentioned here under). Please come up with suggestions and critics so that we can together make it a great success. Another thing, If you find anything unclear please feel free to ask about it. Waiting for your feedback, Always at your service, Manish K Gupta Project: Code Name: One Infinite Loop A Platform to interact, socialize and grow Project Report – Draft I This project is regarding the development of a fully dedicated website which will cater to the following needs. Highlights of the project Aim of the Project The project is aimed at delivering the following "Means of Growth" Look and Feel of the website The website will be divided in the following sections and subsections The test period for the project is One Year. In this we have to develop the project, Market it, involve members and make it self-sustainable, so that it can be carried forward in the future also. It will require great patience and devotion. I expect, for those of you who intent to take part in this project to develop the said qualities. I promise; we will have a great time accomplishing this mammoth task. Apart from this we will also be the proud owners of a project which is started by us, marketed by us and sustained by us. So come up guys. Get ready for the challenge. To know what does this project expect of us, Please mail me on m.gupta11@gmail.com with the subject line One Infinite Loop.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Project Code Name One Infinite Loop
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Sorry Guys.... For the delay !
Hey All,
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Relevance of Modern Marketing in India???
In the past article I have aggressively advocated the pragmatic applicability of Modern Marketing in India. I had been thinking about the same for a quite a while now. Is the internet penetration really so high that investing in internet marketing would really yield the quantum of sales that are expected at the same level of investments in conventional marketing. The reason for this argument is that, one needs to invest heavily in capital infrastructure for yielding the benefits of internet and other modern marketing.
This is specially true for companies that have not previously invested in IT and related infrastructure. Secondly, a major limitation for Indian companies is that modern marketing requires a great amount of innovation. Although you may agree that Indian IT engineers are famous around the world for their skills, but one needs to remember that its not the IT engineers that frame the marketing policies for a company. Apart from this engineers can develop the software when the specific requirements are given to them. Hence marketing professionals should know the ways and means of using internet as a powerful tool in the field of marketing. Unless these requirements are fulfilled, I doubt whether the modern marketing techniques like social media marketing and other innovative practices can be applied by local companies.
What do you think about this?
Do believe that internet marketing will take it's time and would finally come in a big way to India?
Do you believe that Modern Marketing will have a deep rooted impact in social arrangements in India?
What other techniques and examples, other than those expressed in the previous article can be applied in Indian context?
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Lateral Marketing by Philip Kotler and Fernando Trias de Bes
Recently I read this book by Philip Kotler and Fernando Trias de Bes on Lateral Marketing published by Wiley Publications. After completing the book the one word I said was WOW. The book mentions some basic problems faced by marketers today and deals with how to eliminate or at least reduce them. Every Marketing student knows Mr. Kotler and can guess how great Ideas can he deliver. So let’s see what are the great ideas discussed by him this time.
Present Market
He says, Today Market is crowded with hundreds and thousands of products of different brands. Oligopoly rules across the markets. Product life cycles have shortened. “Replace” has overtaken “Repair”. There are thousands of varieties in a given genre of product. This is a case of extreme segmentation and fragmentation.
What needs to be done?
"Creating niche is out. Mass marketing is in AGAIN".
In this era of internet and fast communication channels, one must exploit them to the extremes to reach the Target Customers.
One must think laterally before entering a market. He should make the competition irrelevant by creating blue oceans. This does not mean the fundamentals of Marketing have lost their glory, but the fact is “One should change with time”. There is something extra that needs to be added with conventional marketing techniques to grab customer attention today.
First things first. Let’s talk about coming out with newer products. One should keep in mind that customers don’t have time. They are suffering with paranoia, that they are very busy and they need everything in one thing. (To some extent it is true too.) Take the example of Malls. They developed because the customers preferred to get every thing under one roof. Take another example. Today cell phone or for that matter any other gadget or appliance comes loaded with ‘n’ number of features. This is because they want everything in one thing.
Now don’t get me wrong. I am not advocating that newer products need to contain much more features than they are doing today. That is a technological issue. (in various cases) But when Consumer Goods are concerned how will they add features in their products or when a chocolate is concerned how will they add features in the chocolate. You will say they will add varieties. But that is the problem. Already the market is flooded with varieties and brands and we here are discussing remedial action for it.
So what do we do now?
What Mr. Kotler suggests is to build cross genre functionalities in your products. A bit technical? I will explain. Take for example the case of chocolates. 90% of the chocolate market in India is ruled by Cadbury and Nestle. The rest 10% faces immense competition among players like Perfetti, Candico and the like. So how do I come out with a new product? Now what I would do is, I will think of some latent need that is now not satisfied by the current players. I will try to find out some uncomforting features of the present products. This is the thing I will exploit rather than launching a new variety in the Red Ocean. I will think of some cross genre adjustments and then and only then after doing a strong market research will I come out with a product. Even in case of market research companies are not clear as to what they want to research on and who will benefit from it. But let’s keep it for some other time.
Now what I can think of, is a product which let’s name NUTRIX. How will it be different from already existing products?
1. It will be lowest on calories. (discomfort in people, while eating high calorific chocolates)
2. It will have the same taste as the cocoa and chocolate based chocolates
3. It will be Highly Nutritious. (Now that will be my USP. As it is the latent need in the people to have the fun of eating chocolates and still enjoy the benefit of having something nutritious)
4. I will position it as, suppose a snack for adults and energy supplement for children. (Thus virtually forcing parents to give my chocolates to children whenever they ask for one. As for adults they may have the chocolate as a Brunch or as a desert in dinner)
Now my product is competing with not only chocolate industry, but also with snack industry, sweets industry, health supplements industry and so on. But the share it snatches from them will be so little individually that they won’t object to it. But accumulating small shares from a large number of industries will give me a large chunk of money. Thus I would be successful in carving a new market for myself.
Thus the ingredients of Lateral Thinking and Lateral Marketing have to be inculcated in our marketing strategies if we really want to make the competition irrelevant and enjoy a great earning experience.
The second part is using modern marketing in our marketing strategies. That we will be discussing from time to time, as this blog is meant for basically those kind of issues.
Sooooooo…. It’s time to go again. Will be back soon with something worthwhile to share.
Till then GOOD LUCK …
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Which college to opt ?? A critical decision for a B School aspirant...
CET is over. Results are out. College selection is in. Students are in a dilemma which stream to choose, because selection of a college very much depends on what stream a student is going to pursue. One can say that this is the worst set of choices that a student faces in his academic life. I will tell you the reason.
First whatever stream he takes will remain with him for the rest of his life as more often than not people do not change the stream they once taken as they have specialized in it and they have given a lot of time and energy in to it.
The second reason is people don't know what they are going to learn in a particular stream. It so happens that they hear for the first time that there are say 5 or 6 streams in a MBA program. Still when they are yet to digest this they come to know that some private college has come up with a new stream which is very much heard in the media recently. Let’s for example take Retail or Banking or for that matter Rural Marketing. One has no idea as to what these really mean and what is the significance of these streams. One does not understand the impact that choosing a particular stream now will have on their futures.
It is for these guys and girls that I am writing this article for. So if you have any friends or relatives who are confused as to what to do after CET or for that matter any entrance exam for Masters in Management Sciences, please ask them to read this. I don't pretend to say that it will solve their problem, but I am sure that it will definitely help them in making decision.
First thing to keep in mind to take decision as to which college you will be taking is to choose the stream that you are going to pursue in the future. Today many colleges specialise in few courses but also run other programs to sustain themselves. So never opt for a college that is not specialized in a particular course, as it will directly affect your final placements.
Thinking logically the second thing that comes to mind is which stream to consider at such a nascent stage, especially when one knows nothing about any of the available courses.
A very simple answer to this question is SELF SWOT. Now what is SELF SWOT?
As everybody doing a MBA knows SWOT stands for Strengths, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats. Now when one prepares a candid SWOT of himself he clearly sees that this is one particular thing one is good at. This is weakness etc. Let’s take an example to solve this puzzle. Supposing my Strengths are
1. I can write fluently.
2. I have good communication skills.
3. I have good People Management skills.
4. I can very approachable.
My weakness are
1. I tend to be very shy in public.
2. I have great stage fear.
3. I tend to get dominated by highly aggressive people.
Then let’s think what opportunities I will have in the Future. Analysing the above profile according to me,
1. I will be suited in an area where there are lot of people.
2. I will be able to keep a balance between the poles.
3. I can convince people to do things in a very efficient manner.
Let's find out the threats that such a personality will face.
1. I will be very uncomfortable if I am kept in a regular company of highly aggressive people.
2. I will be smashed if I am asked to give a public presentation. Hence I can't compete with people with very high confidence
Now analysing all these factors together one comes to a conclusion that HR is the field for him. I won't explain why it is so (as the article would get very lengthy) but I request the reader to analyse the decision.
If there is anything with which I can be of help please do post a comment or fire a mail to me.
I think this approach would definitely help any aspirant who is planning to join a MBA program in the near future.
Promising to be back soon, I wish all the readers GOOD LUCK with your decision making.
REMEMBER: MBA IS ALL ABOUT MAKING DECISIONS SO WHY NOT GET REALDY FROM NOW ITSELF
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Getting Vs Taking
Most people spend a lot of time to get an education.
They wait for the teacher (hopefully a great one) to give them something of value.
Many employees do the same thing at work. They wait for a boss (hopefully a great one) to give them responsibility or authority or experiences that add up to a career.
A few people, not many, but a few, take. They take the best education they can get, pushing teachers for more, finding things to do, exploring non-defined niches. They take more courses than the minimum, they invent new projects and they show up with questions.
A few people, not many, take opportunities at work. Marketers have the easiest time of this (sort of hard to commandeer the chain saw) but don't do it nearly as often as they should.
What have you taken today?
This post was lifted from Seth's Blog as it is. The author is Seth Godin
