MDI: A wish to relive that one precious day !!

16^th June’08 was the day I entered into this institute, with all the highs of cracking the CAT exam and entering into one of the premier B-school. Eyes were filled with expectations, dreams and excitement about the upcoming 2 years of MDI !!

Today 26^th Feb’10 is the day when I sit, recollecting my thoughts about the two years that I have spent in the institute. Having flashes of the past 2 years in this institute, I see a blend of up’s and low’s describing my stay as a Mandevian.

Whenever we are sitting and thinking about our past, we always try to think and pick out that one particular day, that we might want to relive: so am I. that day might be remembered for the sake of improvements, some losses, some gains or may be just to relive some cherish able moments of life that have the capacity to rejuvenate you whenever you recollect the thoughts or the visions of that very day of your life.

Thinking about each and every memory that I have of me as a Mandevian, thinking about that one particular day that stands out for me out of the rest 730 days, I can only think of one single day.

14^th Feb’09 was the day I took the most important step of my life. i chose the person with whom I wanted to spend my entire life with. It was this day that I officially admitted in front of that person that how much has she affected my life, and how complete do I feel as a person with her. The luck was on my side that day, and she understood my emotions and said yes to live her life with me. The amount of happiness received that day, is unmatchable.

Everyone says that behind every successful Man, there is always a woman. “And that day, I had found my woman”. Thinking about the day, I always thank God that he gave me an opportunity to share my time, my life moments and my feelings with such a pure hearted, innocent person whom I loved from the bottom of my heart, and who till date has become an integral part of my personality and my Life.

Today, when my life is in a turbulent state, a time when I am realizing a lot of shortcomings in my attitude, my behavior and my definition of life, I look back and think of that day in a hope that it might give me another chance to redeem my life. Experiencing growth as a person, just beyond numbers, is what I am right now, but I just pray to God Almighty that it is not too late.

I hope everyone has that one precious day, that might define their entire stay at MDI !!!

“That day (14^th Feb’09) for me is and will be, the most precious day of my life”

No Money Marketing..!

The customers of the modern world are becoming more and more demanding with the tick of the clock. The company’s have to be really vigilant to the happenings in the market and be proactive in their decision making process. Hence there is a great challenge today to keep up with the consumer requirements and to communicate the value proposition of your services and products.

It is not difficult for the big corporations to invest in heavy marketing campaigns in order to create visibility for themselves, but the challenge is for the startups, small companies and the companies in a bad financial state to compete with the big marketing budgets of the large competitors, in order to competitive and retain the customer base. Hence for such a condition is the origin of the concept of “No Money Marketing”

Marketing of ideas with the minimal of the budgets and resources could result in the survival of competition in the industry segments in the current times. The marketing managers of the firm need to control the maximum number of communication variables to the maximum possible extent, that too in the most frugal way- this is what the “No Money marketing ideology” refers to. Generally No Money marketing strategy is preferred by upstart brands that prepare to challenge the existing big brands, new business model challengers and old model but new market challengers.

In the current world, it is really important to leverage the advantages of the flat world (the world of digitization-people buying things without even seeing them, people connected electronically-every person is an opinion maker, small market-sometimes target segment of 1 person). The flat world encourages the two way interaction, free interconnections and feedbacks. In the flat world the marketing is not only about ads, brochures and PR, but there are various other creative techniques that can be used to promote the idea. Innovation is basically the core of the marketing excellence. The flat world gives an opportunity to all the competitors to compete on a level field, with the ability to be heard and distribute from anywhere across the planet, hence increasing the possibility for an upstart brand to succeed. In the flat world there are no bindings on either the supplier or the consumer in order to contact the other party, as the means of communication have brought all together. In the changing times, the marketing world has seen a shift towards the reduction in the total cost of building a global brand, but the ways of building a brand have become complicated. There is a need to focus on mapping initially and then influence the eco-system. The eco-system is defined as the universe of people and the media that could potentially impact the decision maker. Some of the parameters that are responsible for the success of the branding and can be altered in order to suit the budget are pricing, the executive branding, the manufacturing facilities, the environmental friendliness (sustainability) and the operational channel (distribution and promotional mediums).

Basically in this age of cutthroat competition, in where every company is trying to eat into the market share of the competitor, there is a need of clear positioning and innovative marketing especially for the Indian firms who dream about being recognized on the global front. No money marketing is really useful as a concept for especially the start-ups who want to build their brands with the limited amount of budget that they have, and also could be useful for the firms who are trying to restructure their operational models in order to deal with the contingencies. There have been various examples in the industry where the no money marketing or marketing with a frugal budget concept has shown results. Like Infosys and Wipro, well known companies today, initially marketed their services and products with a very low spend on the marketing and it was their shear product and service strength that gave them the success. Between Infosys and Wipro, we are talking about a market cap of about $40 billion built on the back of little or no advertising. This speaks volume for the concept itself. Hence with the prevailing examples in the industry it can be said with due conviction that it is not just the money spend that matters but the quality of the product/service being offered, the suppliers confidence in them and the choice of the right medium in order to market the underlying concept and to communicate the value is important in order to be successful and to build a brand name in the industry with the customer loyalty.

No Money Marketing is a great concept for the upstart companies to build their success platform on, but also is a new insight for the big multinationals at a time when the internet and globalization are putting big cracks in the traditional marketing orthodoxy.

“No Money Marketing” is not compromising on marketing, but it is doing marketing in a different innovative way