A backward approach to love thy customers...

1. DOG SHOT marketing
A ‘backward’ approach to love thy consumers!
Contains no artificial flavour
Filled with action in different positions
Backed by ANALytics
This document is not justified (only in terms of formatting)
Lots of sppeling meestake (copywriters are damn expensive!)
Uneven fonts and colors (Does anyone know a good eye specialist???)
Rahul Singh

2. Before you waste your time on this document:
Technology today has made each one of us ‘evolved citizens’; hence no longer can a firm survive on the hysteresis of its brand value. The days of
having usernames like ‘Iamhot24’ are gone and Internet today is an arena where each one of us wants to showcase, share, learn, interact and
act. The following document proposes an action plan to delight the consumers of today and hence create a referral chain by not just considering
Online & Offline Medium as an alternate marketing channel but as an integrated strategy to create the power of 1.
I dedicate this document to:
 My cable operator – for broadcasting content that made me connect this document to the
‘Dog Shot’ analogy
 Pundit at a Ganesh temple at Mumbai – reason mentioned at the later part of the doc
(Who else did you expect me to thank… Philip Kotler!)
Caution:
Professionals and B-school dudes – Please do not copy any content to make your presentations. This document contains path-breaking insights
and no gas, so it might sound pointless to your bosses and faculty. Please mail me at “thisdocumentname@gmail.com” if you need cheerful gas
for presentations.
P.S: You need not be biologically 18+ to read this document, well only mentally!

3. The theory of evolution – Charles Darwin always wins!
We no longer watch TV filing nails, we rather chat online; play games follow @rakeshjhunjhunwala on our mobile simultaneously. This is how connected we all
are today! This is only expanding.
So, is digital media = cheap mass media?
If yes, then why didn’t:

4. Create a 360 degree view of your customers
Combine who, when, and where…and you’ll know why
The backward approach says – Put yourself
The DOG SHOT marketing
in your consumers shoes and give him what
you would LOVE to have! When you
provide a customer experience that they
love; customers share it with their people. Take a shot of the end users’ needs! Even if you claim to be in B2B – Hey that’s extinct! Understand
your end consumer for B2B its your customer’s customer.
In the earlier part of this document I mentioned thanks to a Pundit in a ganesh temple, this is why:
In a very small temple located in an average residential locality in Mumbai, remember people in Mumbai are always in a rush and seldom find
time to even meet their wives. Also considering this was a really small temple it had almost none coming. Pundit out there tried to understand
what the people in and around need, so he started three things one –
1) Serve free herbal tea via a local vendor (costed him Rs. 3 each) from 7AM to 10AM
2) Keep 2 copies of newspaper (English and local language)
3) Distribute tofee as prasad
You might have guessed, this attracted people during their morning walk (especially the old crowd), Kids and local workers - doing jobs like
cleaning. This started building a community at the temple and people started donating in very small amounts on a daily basis to the temple and
that temple today has become a hub where most people gather to interact. All this in lesser than a year – that’s what a 360 degree customer
understanding provides!

5. Love thy prospects backwards… and they will love you back!
CONFUSED… AWWW
Love thy prospects backwards  Understand their needs and the way they percieve you, get an inside out view, what the consumers think about
you? Then, support them with ‘desiredly different content’ and ‘a memorable message’
And they love you back by acting as your best sales representatives!

6. ANALytics…
And, Plan – Action = Shit!

7. So, what is ‘DOG shot’?
Divide
Optimise
Gratify
Take ur shot… DIVIDE
The power on one essentially means that all units waor as a single force but how does this start, ironically by dividing!!!
Divide your customers – Treat each one as an individual. The age of segmenting customers as ‘all men living in metro in the age group of 25-30’
are GONE. Today, each user is characterised by a separate set of attributes owing to the vast variety of touchpoints (TV, outdoor, apps, SM,
reference group, web…)
Divide your channels – Every channel might have a different set of impact on a customer at different times. Banking on mobile phones were
irrelevant till lately, are used somewhat today and might be the ‘preffered channel’ tomorrow. Even the most ardent email user till yesterday is
now using emailing as an indispensible part f their lives. So, putting efforts is not enough today, piping it through the right channel is the key!
Divide your resources - More than 70% of the consumers mention about brands when they interact on social media… and many CMOs even
today without a shot-of-a-doubt assign 1% of the marketing budgets to it. Technology has evolved and so has the consumer but most marketers
have not, since they are still channelising their resources traditionally assuming innovation to happen!

9. OPTIMISE your message –
So we all love zoozoo… Every telecom operator in india is advertsing 3G as an important landmark and a service with almost almighty features.
Mobile number portability (MNP) is being agressively advertised with a ‘come to me’ message!
Breaking News “All this is only increasing customer churn!”
Because, when you use 3G, the speeds are terrible and you need to be a superman to get the network… When you switch from one operator to
other using MNP, all you find is ‘same shit again’. So, evangelising, mentioning the biggest possible lie and cracking the best gimmick doesn’t
help…
What does is communicating the deliverable in the most creative manner. Continuing with the telecom example, Loop mobile (A local Mumbai
operator) almost tried to do the best for its users by offering 50paise for every dropped call post the launch of MNP – they know that call drops
are bound to happen once in a while so its no point communicating a lie, rather compensate and strive for the best service.
Age old Un-optimised message
This is exactly not what we need and this is what marketers are doing since ages. So, when a FB user puts a status update – ‘I got a job’, its not
just a username or a data point or a mere status update! It is an individual expressing his emotions off… As marketers, one needs to understand
the implicit need behind each expression of emotion. A new job may imply that the person needs an investment plan or a new gadget or a new
house or a credit card upgrade. Listen and Act, is the new age mantra, since consumers have matured… they are no more a baby, so STOP
SPOON FEEDING!
Be Disruptive, not Interuptive…

10. GRATIFY
Here’s the ‘Helicopter Shot’… Reward your customers, Surprise them, Delight them, Hand-hold them, BUT DON’T SATISY THEM
According to a Harvar Business Survey in 2010, 65% of customers who respond to surveys say that they are “satisfied,” with their current
suppliers. What is even more interesting is as many as 80% of customers who switch suppliers report that they were satisfied with their previous
suppliers!
( BTW… Its only for your customers, not your GF! Satisfy her else you will be dumped, like me  )
Obviously, I don’t mean that you start distributing free iPads on twitter… It’s a lot more than that! Listen to their query, Address in real-time,
create communities of your fans, energise C2C interactions, reward the most loyal customer!
Perhaps… These aspects are the one that force you to go back again and again to McD, Zappos, Apple, Toyota, HSBC, Coke and few others; you
just keep saying you love them!
It’s Satisfaction that repels… It’s delight that pulls!

11. I take this opportunity, to beg your pardon for wasting your invaluable time because of this document. I hope it was not a KLPD, and
even if it was – pleeeeeeeeese don’t sue me, Im a Mumbai based marketer and need to survive and run a family in this era of
inflation!
Just in case you were crazy enogh to like it, send your reviews – rahuls30@rediffmail.com
Will soon release my next document: “Database – Now in 3D!”
Thank You!