Marketing is an investment, everything else is a cost
We all have probably heard of this quote, but rarely have we gone into depth to understand the real meaning and motive behind it. Irony is many organizations feel other way round, they would go distance to spend money on everything that count in short-run but would treat marketing as secondary activity that they would touch upon only when there is surplus cash or when they sometime see a competitor doing something in the area. This happens also because marketing is mostly associated with tradeshows, exhibitions, advertisements, and similar such activities.
But the simplest definition of Marketing says it all- Marketing is everything that an organization can do to increase its market-share and profitability in the segment that it operates in.
This means Marketing goes beyond just what is visible to the outside world. It really is the core of an organization's business plan in pursuit to achieve its mission and vision. No doubt Business is Marketing.
The role of a Chief Marketing Officer is thus to integrate each and every activities inside the organization in line with its mission and vision. Out of various activities an organization undertakes to realize its business goals, one very important task is that of Branding and Image-building.
And here comes the importance of a very critical function called Communication. How do you really communicate with outside world. A very simple answer is- let the product quality speaks about itself. There is no doubt product performance and quality matter a lot. But is that enough? We have all known that it doesn't take much time for a competitor to match or even better the product features and quality with an incremental cost.
What else can an organization do then to differentiate itself from its competitors in the eyes of target customers? Ultimately what a customer percieves about a company or its products count the most because buying decision is made on the basis of this perception and it takes something very subtle and precise to form customer's perception.
Going back to the very basics of Marketing, a marketer must try to understand the needs of the target buyer, but we all know its not sufficient enough. Next critical step is to understand what are the personal likes and dislikes of a buyer, and what he or she considers most important while taking a buying decision - does he/she go for just a quality product or is it that prompt service is more important, is the buyer brand-conscious, does he/she makes a buying decision just because a M S Dhoni or a Deepika Padukone has endorsed a particular brand, or is a buyer looking for a consistent performer like Rahul Dravid, or worst case whether if he or she doesn't go for a product that relies too much on celebrity spendings.
After having understood these nuances as well, just how would you choose to communicate or convey the message that your brand is supposed to perform better than similar other products in the marketplace. Here comes the importance of understanding the culture and of knowing what a sizeable mass has been taught since their childhood. We may recall why and how Kellog's could not pick any significant market in India when they entered the market here because they tried to tell us that we could consume Cornflakes with Cold milk as well, something that we have culturally still not been comfortable with because generations have been taught by their mother and grandmothers that milk should be consumed hot only.
These are communications through a third-party medium. What about the behaviour of an individual or a group of individuals when they interact with the world outside? It might be easy to wear a tee-shirt with your company's logo appearing on your chests or your sleeves but it is quite challenging to behave and present yourselves in a responsible manner when you go out of your office environs. Hundreds of potential consumers would be watching.
And what we do today with our environment is very important, are we helping create a better world for our children! Here comes the famous three words - Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It can be a very strong marketing tool as well. A responsible and environmentally-aware
organization would like to deal with another organization that displays similar actions.
People are your greatest and costliest resource. Something we all know very difficult to find, especially when the economy is booming and there are many alternative career opportunities. But people also want to be branded as sensitive, aware, smart, and intelligent citizens. And in their career pursuit they seek an organization that has matured, sensitive, caring, and smart people. But it is both ways round, thus complement each other. But when an organization markets itself smartly it attracts more number of smart employees that further help the company grow.
But the simplest definition of Marketing says it all- Marketing is everything that an organization can do to increase its market-share and profitability in the segment that it operates in.
This means Marketing goes beyond just what is visible to the outside world. It really is the core of an organization's business plan in pursuit to achieve its mission and vision. No doubt Business is Marketing.
The role of a Chief Marketing Officer is thus to integrate each and every activities inside the organization in line with its mission and vision. Out of various activities an organization undertakes to realize its business goals, one very important task is that of Branding and Image-building.
And here comes the importance of a very critical function called Communication. How do you really communicate with outside world. A very simple answer is- let the product quality speaks about itself. There is no doubt product performance and quality matter a lot. But is that enough? We have all known that it doesn't take much time for a competitor to match or even better the product features and quality with an incremental cost.
What else can an organization do then to differentiate itself from its competitors in the eyes of target customers? Ultimately what a customer percieves about a company or its products count the most because buying decision is made on the basis of this perception and it takes something very subtle and precise to form customer's perception.
Going back to the very basics of Marketing, a marketer must try to understand the needs of the target buyer, but we all know its not sufficient enough. Next critical step is to understand what are the personal likes and dislikes of a buyer, and what he or she considers most important while taking a buying decision - does he/she go for just a quality product or is it that prompt service is more important, is the buyer brand-conscious, does he/she makes a buying decision just because a M S Dhoni or a Deepika Padukone has endorsed a particular brand, or is a buyer looking for a consistent performer like Rahul Dravid, or worst case whether if he or she doesn't go for a product that relies too much on celebrity spendings.
After having understood these nuances as well, just how would you choose to communicate or convey the message that your brand is supposed to perform better than similar other products in the marketplace. Here comes the importance of understanding the culture and of knowing what a sizeable mass has been taught since their childhood. We may recall why and how Kellog's could not pick any significant market in India when they entered the market here because they tried to tell us that we could consume Cornflakes with Cold milk as well, something that we have culturally still not been comfortable with because generations have been taught by their mother and grandmothers that milk should be consumed hot only.
These are communications through a third-party medium. What about the behaviour of an individual or a group of individuals when they interact with the world outside? It might be easy to wear a tee-shirt with your company's logo appearing on your chests or your sleeves but it is quite challenging to behave and present yourselves in a responsible manner when you go out of your office environs. Hundreds of potential consumers would be watching.
And what we do today with our environment is very important, are we helping create a better world for our children! Here comes the famous three words - Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It can be a very strong marketing tool as well. A responsible and environmentally-aware
organization would like to deal with another organization that displays similar actions.
People are your greatest and costliest resource. Something we all know very difficult to find, especially when the economy is booming and there are many alternative career opportunities. But people also want to be branded as sensitive, aware, smart, and intelligent citizens. And in their career pursuit they seek an organization that has matured, sensitive, caring, and smart people. But it is both ways round, thus complement each other. But when an organization markets itself smartly it attracts more number of smart employees that further help the company grow.
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