The most important aspects of marketing for sustaining the business today by Bhawani Nandan Prasad IIM Calcutta

1. The most important aspects of marketing for sustaining the business today
One of the biggest truth is today’s consumer is more evolved, hence he/she understands the latest
trend and that was possible due to the media/internet penetration in more number of households,
this has enabled him/her to be more aware and to be closest to the latest changes happening in
any product market be it technology, newly evolved usage habit, any additional features, price
prevailing in market, awareness of what a manufacturer is offering in various markets across the
country and also outside the country. The other truth is today’s consumer is more demanding,
more flexible, more willing to change, not very sticky to old habits/products, time is the most
precious thing, faster replacement of products at home, wants more new products, more aspiring.
The other truth is less emotional bonding, more nuclear lifestyle, living away from parents, no
more joint families, more affordable due to multiple income earning members in the family.
So it becomes very important for the Marketers to connect with this today’s consumer in all the
aspects mentioned in my earlier statements. So Marketers need to follow these important steps as
mentioned below to continue doing a sustainable business:
 Product & Communication addressing the ‘Value’ proposition & launch across
Global Markets at the same period:-
o Launching innovation in technology products across global markets at the same
time becomes very important and this will help connecting with consumer’s
aspiration towards global products and seeks value e.g., IPAD 3 by Apple Corp
was launched across the globe during the same time.
 Connect by Touching Consumer Sentiment thru a Big Idea:-
o Marketers need to catch up quickly with the various trends in market and develop
a feature in their products to suit this arising need and communicate that thru their
marketing media. For example ‘women safety’ is the latest growing issue in our
country, so what are additional features which can be incorporated in a mobile
handset so that the people at home can track the movements of their women folks
who have gone out on work, school, college etc. again the advertisement
campaigns must touch the hearts of both the women who is out of home and the
person who is waiting for her at home, if the campaign touches the hearts of both
the parties and the product satisfies the need then the product would be a mega
hit.
o Another good example of a good marketing campaign addressing the latest issue
of ‘women safety’ is the brand campaign of ‘Gillette’ associating the macho
personality of man as a savior of women in India.
 Catch the Growing Trend and Match the Desire thru Product & Connect :-
o Since the market has evolved and opened up in India which allows more
Marketers to enter into same segments and compete against each other, it
becomes very important to use various tools to connect with consumer in both
ways emotional and product delivery, For example; the new ‘Alto’ advertisement
communicates to the entry level consumer who is the newly employed has an

2. aspiration to buy a car and go out with his/her partner to a escape destination but
still travel long distances economically and comfortably and the advertisement
beautifully highlights the feature of the car and touches the hearts of the
consumer’s desire.
 Connect via Social Media:-
o With internet penetration growing so rapidly and social sites like ‘FB, Orkut,
Linkedin, Twitter’ gaining more hits by consumers, it becomes important for
manufacturers of durable products to use the social media to penetrate the market,
Lot of mobile marketers are using these opportunities very well for example the
launch date of IPAD 3 was very frequently discussed amongst the consumers who
were active in social sites.
 Connect thru Experiential Marketing:-
o Use the high foot falls places of consumer and connect with them by creating an
environment of direct interface between product and consumer thru experiential
marketing for e.g.; Samsung Galaxy with the launch of Smart Phones in India did
lot of experiential marketing by creating event kiosks at high footfall Malls where
both the high disposable income consumer & the aspiration driven young
consumer was present to experience the brand.
 Tie up with a Big Event and connecting with the Consumer:-
o Cricket is a very big event in India with a very high fanfare, LG uses cricket
matches breaks very effectively for their new product launch advertisement.
 Connect aspirations of consumer by getting popular celebrities endorsing the
product and thereby creating a Brand Personality:-
o Ranbir Kapoor endorsing Panasonic made the brand very vibrant with young
Indian Couples