Sale Sale Sale !!!

I loved reading Sophie Kinsella's Confessions of a shopaholic a lot!! I mean why not, the adorable  Becky and her  pure love for shopping with all her eccentricities but almost her spiritual connection with shopping. But when I was reading the book I told my

self that I am controlled shopper , 

I go to shopping with a plan and target in mind!! Like seriously, I do my shopping like completing a MCQ questionnaire in a stipulated time.

I rarely to do impulsive buying, like really rare !!!

But then I reached land of one of my beloved fictional character Becky  and went to one of its famous shopping centre at centre of the city to buy some regular things, as usual with a list in my smart phone +Googlenote.

Then, I saw a the SALE sign at the same brand shop from where our Rebecca Bloomwood had bought her  famous  “GREEN” scarf. But so what, I just told myself I can totally control my shopping urges, let do some browsing.

Little did I realize that I am underestimating the power of Visual merchandising, the Pricing techniques, the awesome product placement, the tricky techniques of sensory marketing!!!!

But after 3 and a half hours, when I was struggling with my shopping bags near a cash counter to enter my pin for my card, I suddenly realized I have been ambushed by my inner shopaholic self who just could not resist the magic of SALE season.

It’s interesting we all know SALEs are there to lure customer, most of the things we buy enticed by the slashed prize most of the times we don’t even need any of them half of the time. But it stills compels us, attract us, and finally make us the ultimate choice of buying products.

Is it the dramatically slashed down price, the sense of accomplishment when we are able to find a dress we have marked mentally but did not buy it because it dealt overpriced with its original MRP

I am marketing person, I am well aware of the marketing techniques, but somewhere these cleverly well thought out strategies do tickle our psychological impulses and how!!!

Marketing and Technology: Complementing each other

Being "Agile" is the way to be. No matter if its technology, Project management or be it marketing .

 According to  +Wikipedia  " Agile management or agile project management is an iterative and incremental method of managing the design and build activities for engineering, information technology, and new product or service development projects in a highly flexible and interactive manner, for example agile software development. It requires capable individuals from the relevant business, with supplier and customer input. "

An d with advent +Smartphones , devices and digital media , Marketing is getting more fragmented than ever.

The ecosystem of the entire marketing is changing and technology is one of the main reason behind its. Marketing signifies evolution, continuous change bur today in the digital world, the pace of that change is higher than ever.

And technical specialist and a marketing specialist had to go hand in hand.

Only marketing without innovation does not work and vice versa.

And only innovation also does not make successful product. If it was the case, then Xerox would have been the company to introduce different calligraphy and fonts to the world not Apple.

Xerox invented it, Apple first improvised it to personal computers and Microsoft made it popular.

Today, almost all the renowned brands are bringing in the Digital Marketing in their Marketing Strategy. And to utilize it properly, only investing money is not the case anymore investing wisely in content and technology to promote is useful

It’s all about superior user interface nowadays and the lies in how to detect the sweet spot for your consumers 

It's good to be crazy !!

"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do." - Steve Jobs

Above lines are immortalized by the "Think Different" Campaign. And, it's a line I read all the time whenever I am unsure about things. You should watch the video +Steve Jobs where he was introducing the "Think Different" campaign and his mastery in connecting to audience and at the same time communicating the brand "  +Appleinc ".

“Customers must recognize that you stand for something.” Howard Schultz, Starbucks

Starbucks had change gave a new experience to drinking coffee.There were thousands of coffee shops before it and more will come,  but what makes  +Starbucks Coffee what is it today. Schultz was struck by the romance of coffee and it used Arabica beans rather than commonly used Robusta beans.Like any organization it had faced tough times but they had always kept their souls intact. Passion for coffee. That mattered and how...it's for the world to see.

“A brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com

And  +Amazon  had make sure it will make all brands come to your room with leveraging technology and customer experience.It's a pioneer in the field of -commerce and provided such a good service that it automatically created entry barriers for competitors.

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

+Albert Einstein  a scientific genius but his statement above can explain any innovation, marketing strategies and creative thinking.

I should end this blog with this video of "Think Different' campaign.

Marketing is Beautiful

The most beautiful thing about marketing is that it embraces all science, culture, logic, numbers, strategy, philosophy, creativity and what not.

People say marketing can be lots of noise and clutter of promises just to shell out your target customer’s money. And with advent of social media and their penetration to one’s personal place had increased this clutter.

But come on do all of us whatever we do or things happened around us are always significant. No !! never there is always unnecessary things happening around and a very insignificant portion of it is created by the irrelevant and not so successful marketing campaigns …big deal!!!

But when marketing is is packaged with innovation + imagination it does creates magic. And don’t a kid hidden in all of us like to believe in magic.

 +HBO – an leading entertainment channel brought innovations into business with IT infrastructure improvement.

To improve its business it went through virtualization and private cloud infrastructure changes in 2008. And by implementing virtulization it reduces 30 % power consumption footprint and 50 % less physical space while still growing its business. The server landscape an the infrastructure had witnessed 100 % and 460 % growth respectively. With all its technical Innovation and infrastructure improvements. HBO now comes up “Marketing” lines of “Content Everywhere” and “Shaping Trends”

 With adding to its product categories it had brought HBO GO, MAX GO, CW Digital Studio to name a few.

And the List of examples of imagination + marketing can be describes by “Group Buying” concept practical implementation by “  GroupOn” and “Living Social”

Manufacture the brand as you like it!!!

What is inspiration? What is creativity? And what are all talks and suggestions about getting connected to people rather than only communicating?

And also those marketing jargons of integrating your business with long term business strategies.

All these and then it is followed up by marketing them wrapped up with branding strategies that comprises all the channels of reaching out to people, and nowadays for sure those channels will include the digital media and online space into it.

Is it just about necessity to be present at a place where your competitor is there or rather reaching to a place before competitor reached there?? Or is it more important to get inspired and be innovative enough to come up brand new product sub-categories which will automatically lead you to get place in the dynamic competitive market.

  

An organization which is coming up in my mind is  +Audi Deutschland , more than just a car it’s a lifestyle brand. And like so many other successful lifestyle brand Audi markets its usability rather than the product itself.

I mean how many organizations are there who can claim that they get inspired from an eye of an insect!!! And inspires enough to go ahead with it and invest substantial R&D to make it happen. Then communicate the message in a limited period of time of Digital age and space how they are converting the biological evolution of an insect aye and into usable mechanics through superior German engineering….and providing an experience for consumer never before.

(Refer to this link to see the awesomeness of Audi http://www.rethinkeverythingblog.com/marketing-smack-down-by-audi-for-2013-sb-storytelling-awesomeness/)

It’s all the tricks lies in the simplicity you can bring to consumers life and make it simple. Why not?

Just think of how related the thought process of a leading premium car manufacture and a Hardware Device company , known popularly as  +Appleinc  can be..

“That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

 Steve Jobs

Marketing as you like it ....

I just went through one of those week where you have to work insanely and some problems pop up and you just go ahead and try to solve it even if does not come under your "so-called" job description. I witnessed the first customer visit and it's exhausting and exhilarating and definitely a learning experience.

I mean "customer is king" and if possible make preparation to welcome "royals".

And whenever I was facing some difficult task and there is no one to consult because your boss in some meeting there are moments I had to make calls. I don't want to brag (but a little bragging is okay right!!) but I did it well. And when I look back to assess I could do it because I applied "Marketing Strategic Thinking" even though I didn't consciously planned for it, but it happened anyway.

And it happened because I was thinking about the long term relationship my company's customers have with our organization and also the similarities between their core and basic values of both them (though both are originated from 2 different continents and posses a huge cultural diversities).

Strategic planning always make your job easier and mix it with your drive, desire and competencies -- you have winning combo.

Marketing or let me be precise by saying branding mainly deals with 2 things among your customer -- "Brand Stature"--esteem & knowledge-- & "Brand Equity"

And if it's correctly done, its not that difficult to retain relationship with customers.

Well the "trick: is to do it correctly but how??

There comes the game of 4P (7P for service Marketing) and STP .

 

Connected or Elusiveness of Connectivity !!

It's so easy to stay connected and internet has provided us with the blessing of staying connected. But as a side effect our attention span is lacking than ever.

For sure majority of us have hundreds and thousands (few people)  of friends in our Facebook account or  that matter various social media, but do all of them are our friends in real sense. No!!

Similarly, just visibility is not an option anymore and its true both for individual brand building of a person in online media and for organizations.

You are just another entity in the vast ocean of data and information.

The question comes to play---why will anyone look at you? And what's new in you?

And to stand out in crowd you have to get platform to prove yourself but what if that platform never comes to you??

Answer might come be Creative, Innovative, or so good it becomes hard to ignore.....

Wish there are magic wands and spells to fulfillt  such wishes!

I am trying to apply 4P's and STP into various aspect of life because hey I do believe whatever may be the medium or reason you can apply marketing to solve problems in your life  and business. 

I am in my way trying to make myself better in it with each day and hope all the people out there can also achieve it and make it perfect.

And at the mean have a look at the video of  Philip Kotler.....