Gaga for you

Awards, music topping the charts, talk of the town and a HUGE fan base.  Lady Gaga has done it all. And, she’s just 23. For those, who do not follow her, here are some quick facts:

Twitter followers: 2.8 mn

Facebook : 5.2 mn fans

This woman gets social media and has managed to revolutionize the music industry. She has brought in a great business sense to it. She’s in constant touch with her fans, continuously updating them of her daily routine and gigs.

“Lady Gaga isn’t the music industry’s new Madonna. She’s the new business model”, says Forbes. Here’ s a question: Is this business model built to last? Is this a fad? Well this, sure has helped her land a job with Polaroid as the Creative Director and inventor of specialty products. She’ s a popular face now. People love her attitude. She gets to endorse fancy products.

And I think this is short-lived. Great business sense. But lack of passion. She’s the big thing now, because she’s different. Not her music. Classic case of how the product which is normal, being packaged great. Awesome communication strategy but where’s my benefit?

A business without any emotion driving it wont last long. Keeping in touch with fans and reaching out to them via social media, is in vain if your core product (music) does not reach out to people.

Its interesting to find out what will be left of Lady Gaga once the storm has calmed down. She’s still a very very rich and famous 23 year old. If paparazzi is what she’s after, well done!

Power of tweens

You are Club Mahindra. There’s an unbelievable offer you are looking to sell. Target Audience = 35+

If your communication plan is tailor made for this audience alone, it wont work. Let me rephrase that. If you have no communication plan talking to age 8 to 14, it’s a recipe for disaster. Almost 70% of purchasing decisions are taken by elders following advice of their children. This is now become universal.

Parents believe that in this fast paced techno world, their kids keep themselves up-to-date with everything. And they mature much faster too. Makes a lot more sense to take their advice on purchases.

Marketing sense

Here are two very distinct audiences. The communication message must be suited to both audiences. Not only the message, the tools of communication, collaterals and mode needs to be different and customized. Here is a visual depiction of where the tweens exert maximum influence.

Getting people to come into contact with the brand has been a chase. Tweens exert a lot of influence in this phase. They are constantly looking for information. Catching their attention and holding on to it long enough for them to influence the TG is the task. If you are selling computers, tweens can get the TG to your store. Beyond that, it depends on other factors like technical details, product strength, benefits, price to make the sale.

Club Mahindra – A case study

Lets take Club Mahindra as a case study. I have received some fantastic offers from them. These offers are good enough to bind us and let them plan my holidays for the next 10 years. But their communication is cold. It does not reflect the holiday spirit. None of the collaterals reflect fun and vacation in spite of their tag line – fun family forever. Check out their site. The strongest message on the site is “The happiest family holidays.” This is written in plain words but the feel is missing. In fact, even in their stalls at expos and at their office, they do not engage the tweens. A play area is NOT engagement. This age group possesses the power to bring the TG to Club Mahindra’s office and in some cases, even influence the purchase.

What they should do, is change the tone of communication and add some life to it. Get in touch with these tweens at schools and plant the idea of a family vacation. Support with a collateral that talks about different things a tween can do in a holiday. All this should be done in addition to the normal routes. Sales will definitely increase.

The power of tweens is not to be underestimated. Next time, dont forget this lot. They are high-powered, influential and network a lot. 2TZ4JW8MZ2GG

Mobile marketing made better!

On an average, I receive around 30 text messages from different companies. Discounts, gift vouchers, call for interviews, product launches, invites, and many more. These messages now work on an auto-mode in everybody’s mind. Open message – curse – delete.

Here’s a thought.

Mobile marketing, according to me, is still a very powerful medium to reach the right target audience. If segmented properly. Sending people a whole lot of mass text messages is no use.

What if mobile marketing could take over a similar strategy as Dell did on twitter.

What if a company like HP began messaging a few people to begin with. People who form part of their target audience. Other interested people can sign up to receive text messages from their site. These privileged few receive incentives and discounts. Would’nt it increase in better targeted marketing. Let the customer choose to receive messages that he wishes to read. And help not to frustrate other people, who at some point of time might become a one-time customer. Or even a loyalist.

Would this work?

Digital or traditional

Everybody s talking about going digital. There are digital agencies springing up suddenly. Everything is going online and the consumer is spending much more time on the net. Logical solution = catch him on the net. There is an emphasis on use of social media to catch the consumer’s attention.

So, the questions:

• Will one of these digital media companies be the next JWT or Ogilvy?
• Is the world of communication making use of technology to better its service or are we re-looking at communication completely?

Clients say:

They are not sold. Communication online is a fantastic idea but not without the support of traditional advertising. They are more secure letting the old timers handle their brand. Online media is a great support system, but definitely not as a standalone. They believe that the social media and digital people are technologically sound but not so much on the branding front. Developing and strategising for a brand requires experience. They look at the digital media guys as people who provide ideas and take forward the concept devised by strategists. They lack the experience and expertise to become the strategists themselves. This is one reason why digital companies cannot take over advertising companies yet.

Can an Airtel or a Vodafone completely stop their outdoor and broadcast media and focus only on online media?

Strategy Tactics Goals

Strategy – Tactics – Goals

It has become extremely tough for anybody to clearly distinguish between them. Beside the academic definitions, all of them are mistaken for ideas. Jon Furguson has explained the difference in a fantastic way.

Goal: Win the war.

Strategy: “Divide and conquer.”

Tactics:

CIA spies gather intelligence.

Navy Seals knock out enemy communications.

Paratroopers secure the airports.

Armored Divisions race in and divide the opposing army’s forces.

Drone attacks take out the enemy leadership.

An overwhelming force of infantry invade.

Hand-to-hand combat.

Goals are set at the beginning. They act as where you want to be. What you want to achieve. Without a goal set right, nothing moves. Based on goals, directions are set.

A strategy dwells more into how the goal can be achieved. Whats the path to follow. Should the product move into another market, change usage pattern, move into new segments.

Tactics belong to the execution phase. It defines the “how to do.”

There is a little boutique close to where I live. They sell Indian ethnic clothes. From the time this place was set up, I have been a regular visitor and watched it evolve into a strong brand. This little place with one branch has managed to carve a niche and create evangelists. Their problem was the location. They managed to set up shop on the street with a lot of already established boutiques. All sell the same kind of clothes.

Goal: Increase footfalls

Strategy: Most of the boutiques sold the same kind of clothes for the same age group (18 – 30). They shifted to the same product – new segment. The boutique shifted focus to target group of 30 – 45. This was a huge move and helped increase loyal customers. This age group was financially more independent and loved having a boutique catering specifically to them. The entire store changed its ambience, the manner in which clients should be handled.

Tactics:

• Direct Mailers – People of the age group 30 – 45 enjoy being given that extra importance.
• Stylist – They employed a stylist who helps every customer choose the perfect clothes with accessories. This helps boost the client’s confidence.

This boutique opened two new branches in one year.

Is social media the 5th P

Recently, I was involved in a deep discussion about Social Media being the most important tool in marketing. It is a whole new revolution that opens up many locked doors to reach marketing effectiveness. My colleague was convinced that social media is the 5th P as participation in the marketing mix model.

I found this extremely interesting and debated the possibility of a change in one of the most powerful marketing model ever devised.

The 4Ps Marketing Mix

Marketing mix is a depiction of all marketing activities that have to be carried out. Product, place, price and promotions, a.k.a 4Ps, have been marked as the base for designing any marketing strategy. All 4Ps will have to be mapped out which will finally lead to a holistic strategy for the company.

5P Marketing Mix

There’s a new move. A move to include social media as another P – Participation. Here are my thoughts on why social media does not really find place among the 4Ps.

The 4P model forms the basis for developing marketing strategies. This is valid for all products. Including social media as a 5th P will not work for all products. It sure helps while launching a new phone or even FMCG. But, what about a heavy product purchase like a truck?

Yet, social media is getting too big to ignore. It sure is powerful enough to be included in the marketing mix. But not among the 4Ps. Translating social media into a 5thP will limit its power. To tap into entire social media landscape and gain real-time insight, here’s what I think can be done:

• Add social media along with market research in the 4Ps model.
• Social media application must form an important component of Promotions.

Social Media + Market Research

Today, the power of SM extends beyond marketing. Many new product development decisions are based on research conducted via social media. Here is an opportunity to find out exactly what people have got to say. Do they like it or not. What can be done to make the product more useful. Decisions that was once based on the judgment of a marketing head/product developer is now rooted on first-hand information from the users. This is where all social media consultants come into the picture. Social business strategy is in.

Social media application

Under the 4thP – Promotions, social applications play a major role. Mind mapping of the target audience will lead to the applications to be used.

What do you think? Is social media a 5th P or not.