Autumn

Autumn
 
Moving, always moving
Never standing
Sowing the reaping like a future value
I pace the tar on brown earth, curving sinuously
Along silver oaks and a hint of a horizon, longingly
Never sure but always hinting
Pleasurable and wanting
Soaking up the sunlit breeze, the dried leaves
Cruise along, friendly weaves
On a joyous ride–the effervescent bubbly
While He nods and nudges,
Understanding

Marketing practice

The financial services market (the TG i happen to work with) is going through radical upheaval and tornado-eic weather. In such a scenario, how does one market and communicate business and technology innovation to the concerned TG? From digitizing technology and addressing the needs of transparency and regulations while fostering a risk averse environment to win the mindshare of their fast-disappearing customers, to offering service and process innovation – these are the criteria where solution providers should be making a noise about, but does all of this really offer recourse to a financial services firm that is out there on the battle lines, so to say? To convince the incredulous and partake in — and benefit from — some of that positive thinking – is that what they call ‘drive’?

 

Applying creative communication to large, anonymous audiences has been considered less effective ever since Web2.0 and social media marketing banged their way into the scene. Strategies shifted to mass media with emphasis on target audiences that are studied in-depth through relentless mining of previous behaviour, data, unpredicted actions and making so-called intelligent projections. Understanding customers would mean that marketing work closely with customer relationship managers and craft individual programs and contact strategies for each segment/type/region/domain/behaviour. All of this is fine when there is a semblance of commonality in the way people react. What happens when accepted notions of safety are turned topsy turvy and their very premise questioned? When new questions arrive with the same speed as the much-talked about bailouts? Panic. Paranoia.

 

In times of uncertainty, does one wait and watch and see where clients want to put their money and, in the interim, look at improving brand visibility across all segments? Obviously, a mix of the two is called for. In a b2b scenario, does interactive marketing work? Through the engagement ads of Facebook and other forms of social/internet marketing like a presence on Secondlife, without the accompanying organizational cultural changes needed to work with these media, and being comfortable with the associated transparency they usher into a company and those who run it, work at all? How does one change the internal mindset and then work on building customer technographic profiles and, subsequently, buil the marketing program accordingly? Many of these customers aren’t tech savvy at all – so one needs to educate them along with internal stakeholders and then create a unique program that will keep them all engaged. Scepticism. Or Opportunity?

 

 

Selling products in the b2b space – products that have been created in-house and in some instances inherited organically – to a financial services customer whose attention span where IT budgets are concerned is limited to only ‘containment’ takes on interesting shades of complexity. Isn’t it a time when the rapport one shares with customers becomes the only selling point? Products that are topped with exemplary customer service, that can be tailor made to client expectations, and rest on a strong IT services framework, delivered with a dash of consulting expertise in the domain in rapid time. Gobble. Gobble. How does one acquire all of this? When the so-called instruments that were created to factor in risks in financial markets themselves collapsed, heralding an unprecedented era of risk, what can you base your theories on? Hope.

 

‘Calling for change in times of change’ – the motto of the hour. And, this, while also unlearning and shedding off what may have been considered the Holy Grail in marketing communication so far. Humility.

 

 

 

 

 

 

herd mentality and social media marketing

I was reading this article about Social Proof. How people assume the social behavior of a crowd in ambiguous situations when people are finding their way around. The so-called herd mentality or the rage of mobs. History has time and again shown us examples of this and sometimes in quite ghastly ways. the mob lynching is a prime example. And not really relegated to history and an occurrence even today.

This is the premise on which social media rests. Not the ghastly bit but the mentality. Me too, let me be there too, let me not miss the bandwagon phenomena. The content seems immaterial. All too often, it is the presence. Like a ‘no-show’ would mean social castration or something similar is what prompts folks to hit that register button, frantically upload pics and market their stuff. The corporate bandwagon does not lag far behind.

 

i’ve said this before – in a b2c scenario, it makes perfect sense to have a presence on Second Life and do all that collaborative marketing stuff, but in a b2b scenario, a more private network with very niche requirements for engagement have to be worked on, and not to mention understanding and mapping onto the technographic profile of the end users…

 

The wisdom of the crowds is a phenomenon. A phase.

Just when you thought the financial climate set into turbulent bobbing air pockets and you were bracing yourself for who knows what, the terrorist hits at the financial capital in India. Tourism, business, sport, entertainment are affected in big sweep of an automated weapon.

The content story

From someone who has been quite content being labelled as a content-bearer (and sometimes for stripping it threadbare), i keep getting questions and wry eyebrow raisers when i tell people about my job profile in marketing. We have content strategists, editors, writers, QA folks, who together help the subject matter experts or people process thoughts and articulate them through the written word. Men and women of letters who take ideas and opinions and wordies them. Now, content is not necessarily words in marketing communication – it could be text, graphics, video, audio, mime (ah yes and some slime).

Today, a content strategist would not only devise all of the above but also plan ways to push the content through a multitude of marketing channels, online and print formats, or through any interactive human experience.

Design is another key area – defining the user experience was what the traditional designers would have attempted, but today, with collaborative networks and user generated content, design is also defined by the user experience. A case in point (again, courtesy, Groundswell and Forrester) is Wells Fargo and their blog. It’s all about the user. And the experience creation today.

experience matters.

Social Computing and marketing today

I’m a great fan of tapping into social media and using marketing communication to drive customer loyalty and build brands. In fact, i began my marketing communication career working on Web technologies and later graduating to print and traditional media. With so much being said about Groundswell (Forrester Research) and reading case studies about constantcontact, dell and bearing point on the Web future.0 vehicle, i’m keen to see a similar success story for a brand i work with.

How does one actually garner support, educate colleagues and CXOs in a company to buy into the idea and then stay dedicated to executing these strategies till completion, or until they start living the life of customers?

 

I am extremely curious and at the same time excited about it all. I hope to jot down ideas related to this in the future.

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