Joined the Professional Education brigade in 2015... after 20+ years of Advertising, Direct Marketing, CRM and Digital... Sharing knowledge gives me an absolute thrill... Taking it one step further with this blog... Hope you like it and benefit from it...
It's admission time at MBA
schools. Was having a conversation over WhatsApp yesterday with my
batchmates from B-school. And it turned out that quite a few of them are
part of the screening panel at some institute or the other. As part of
the discussion, one of the entrepreneurs in the group was curious to
know how many of the MBAs go directly into entrepreneurship. And was
absolute coincidence that this link landed up in one of my chats.
I began my career journey with FCB Ulka Advertising (then just Ulka Advertising Pvt. Ltd.). From a humble start there through a long journey in the Middle East... there's been a big shift in perspective... The current Chairman and CEO of FCB Ulka Group, Mr Rohit Ohri has explained this paradigm shift very aptly in The Most Trusted Brand: Youcarried in the Brand Equity supplement of the Economic Times today.
Among the first concepts we discussed during orientation and the early days of induction were USP (Unique Selling Proposition) and the Big Idea... The entire state of affairs had been turned topsy-turvy today. Through my journey with the Direct Marketing and Media, the entire focus was on a good definition of the 'Customer Profile'. While all businesses have target audiences that they want to reach to, the preferred way to get through to them has changed from broadcasting a message (the newspapers and television, being the major channels) to letting customers find what they are looking for through search and more importantly clicks.
Rather than trying to find 'The Big Idea', the secret to success today lies in understanding the experience and the Customer Journey - or rather the customer adoption process. And the experience is all that matters. From food to retail, travel and leisure, success lies in creating a great experience. Whether you're in a traditional business or a 'disruption' one, the focus lies in building trust through creating memorable experiences with the brand. From your neighbourhood South Indian restaurant through to the Kidzania's in the world, the reality though lies in how customers relate to the brand... and the challenge for marketers is to constantly evolve in creating and managing that relationship.
As an educator in the field of Customer Relationship Management and the big buzz of Digital Marketing, I thought it's time to share my thoughts as well as some interesting resources. That the reason for this blog. Would appreciate your help in passing it on to those who could benefit from any of this. Your inputs and feedback as well would help a lot.
Looking forward to an interesting 'journey' together.
