Towards a successful career in marketing
Marketing is the art of enabling customers to buy articles that they need, at fairly reasonable prices, of good quality, and at places that are very convenient for them to access. It has now developed into a full-fledged profession and these days, every MBA wants to specialize in the subject and also make a good career in it.
The truth is that Marketing is a superb field, where there is a tremendous amount of creativity, where every single move of any organization has to be planned well, and executed well. If not done properly, marketing efforts are doomed to fail, and will simply bring down the organization to the worst of times.
There are several aspects of marketing that needs to be understood.
The first aspect that one should understand in the Indian context is that there is a market for everyone and every person who is shrewd enough can easily make a good fortune through careful planning. This is the most important aspect of marketing, and every single person with some cash in hand can easily start a service like a small hotel or a tea shop and then gradually build a name for himself or herself.
Marketing does not mean marketing of what is commonly called Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). This is a very wrong idea of Marketing. The scope of Marketing is very wide indeed and this is the second most important aspect. So, any MBA or even a non-MBA who wants to take up marketing as a profession needs to understand that even commodities like cement need to be marketed these days. All hotels, courier services, mobile services, lodges, tourism related services, and any other such service also does need marketing of a tall order.
The third important aspect of Marketing is that advertising for the product is a must. For all brands, there is a huge advertising cost, that is sought to be recovered through huge sales of the product in particular markets. So, it is a volume game. Marketing is important for hotels too. The brand, that is, the name of the hotel has to be firmly implanted in the mind of the customer and the strength of the brand will vary according to the quality of various services like quality of food stuffs, the quality of water served and used for cooking, the quality of raw materials used, the service of the staff, and the general ambiance of the hotel itself, are all factors that need to be taken into account.
Even if a small mistake is made, the hotel may loose its identity and bad word of mouth through customers, can spell disaster for the hotel. This word of mouth publicity is often done by the local population, and it is extremely important for any hotel in any small town or city to take this factor into account. This is the reason why many shrewd hotel owners often ask from the local population for feed back on various services.
The fourth important aspect of Marketing is the price of the product. In normal Indian conditions, the average customer is always one who looks for cheaper substitutes. This is a very important aspect, and unless people understand this aspect, it is impossible for one to move forward.
For example, there is one branded store called the Saravana Stores in the heart of Chennai's commercial district. This famous store stocks all items of common use, like utensils, wood products, clothing of all kinds, suitcases, and so on. Every single customer who comes to this shop jolly well knows that the quality of the product is not so good. For example, if a branded suitcase were to cost Rs.2000/-, the one that is sold in this shop would cost Rs.400/-. However, the product does offer some quality for money, as the product will last for around three years. By then, the customer would have saved some money to come back to the same shop to buy the same suitcase for the same price!
The shop is cleverly positioned as one that sells on low profit, but huge volumes. The maximum variety of cheaper substitutes are available in this shop, that has an annual turnover of over three hundred thousand rupees. Every single day, this shop is crowded with the lower middle class people, who pride in shopping at this place. For them, this is Nirvana.
So, a successful career in Marketing involves deep understanding of customers, their needs and their preferences. Every single market is different and any person who develops a deep understanding of every single market can succeed in Marketing.
Life in Coimbatore city -- the second largest city of Tamil Nadu, with a huge industrial base -- offers any number of lessons in Marketing. For instance, let us understand how the Kerala people market the ready made chips in this city. Coimbatore is the gateway to Kerala, and the nearest city of Palghat is just one hour by train. So, the road that leads of Palghat has seen huge development. At literally every single bus stop on this road, one can see at least one or even three shops, all selling chips made right in front of one's eyes, in coconut oil. The chips are either made of tapioca or banana and the latter is of a special variety that is available only in Kerala.
From across the border, the shrewd Kerala traders have understood that it pays to develop a new market for freshly made chips. If one makes, say, fifty kilograms of a particular variety of chips, every bit of that is sold in just two days flat. And then comes yet another day, when the fresh quantities are sold. It does not come cheap. The chips are sold at around Rs.240/- per kilogram, but the Kerala people are shrewd. Neatly packed quarter kilogram of chips sell at Rs.60/- and there are enough buyers, from even the lower middle class. Even Pepsico, with its hugely successful Lays brand, cannot make a big dent in this huge market.
Ditto for the several hundreds of small kirana shops that one can see at every single corner or even in the residential areas. Today, there are some brands like Arasan soap, power soap, Ponvandu soap and Super brand of detergent soaps that sell like hot cakes in the villages that dot the city of Coimbatore. Ask any customer -- particularly the housewife, and pat would come the reply: "we buy a Rs.2/- pack of Ariel, which belongs to the Proctor and Gamble empire, and then use the Tamil Nadu brands. Nothing happens to our clothes. Why should we spend more on the costly detergent soaps of the multinational companies?". One also has other choices -- the cottage industry chips in, and very cheap detergents are also sold in such shops. So, the market is very huge, and there is a space for all
Those who would want to become very big marketing experts would need to spend at least three years in advertising. These days, even electronic goods like switches are now being superbly advertised. So, if one wants to learn what is meant by positioning, building of brands, building of customer relationships in several markets and so on, a stint in adverting is a must.
After this stint, one would require at least three years in operations -- learning the art of decision making in some reputed company. For example, Asian Paints is a superb organization that has consistently managed to stay the market leader, with superb quality, superb positioning, superb service at the customer end and so on. One would need to have a taste of such real world processes to understand and grow in the Marketing profession.
Nowadays, allied to Marketing, is another rapidly emerging profession, called the Supply Chain Management. One would have to have a small stint in this field as well, to be a complete Marketing Man.
Hence, a deep understanding of consumer needs, consumer behavior, experience in hard core concepts such as positioning and branding and supply chain management is a must. A stint in advertising is a must too, to understand the real world of marketing, in a very comprehensive way.
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