Customer Insights: Data collection, analysis and execution

Summer time is perfect for attending conferences and if the conference is organized by Canadian Marketing Association then it is even better. I was at the CMA’s roundtable conference and it was a great experience. As expected the conference was full of marketers from various marketing agencies and companies. The conference was focussed on using customer insights for successful marketing campaign execution and it was great to listen to some of the industry leaders. Below are some interesting points that I noticed during the presentation
1. Customer’s insights concept is all about consumer behaviour data collection, analysis and creating strategies that helps companies in creating an ideal customer’s profile for a particular product or service. It was great to go through some interesting marketing campaigns and all the presentations strengthened the fact that customer insights are necessary for any marketing project. However it will be interesting to know more about the support mechanism that is provided by the client’s marketing department to marketing agencies. I believe if the client management is really serious about working on an effective marketing campaign, this support mechanism is the key to success.
2. I am also curious about the decision making process in such marketing campaigns. Every data analysis process results into two or more than two hypothesis and strategists must be selecting one of those hypothesises. It is much easier to make a decision when you have a hypothesis leading by a huge margin but what happens in case of two hypothesises either have same scores or have a low difference in margins. Is there any industry standard process to make a decision or marketing agencies do it by their own standards? I hope not all such decisions are intuition based.
3. Last but not the least is the execution and analysis of the campaign results. Execution depends upon the customer insights but is there any way to measure how much the campaign is aligned with the customer insights. Also companies must be keeping a record of how much business they got from such marketing campaigns but do companies use this data for the future marketing campaigns?

For those who want to learn more about customer's insights, please visit this link

Google Adwords for small business owners

Google adwords is one of the most effective ways of online marketing. This marketing channel has been around for quite a long time and no surprises Google is churning hell lot of money out of it. However there is a significant change in the ways people used to perceive Google Adwords few years back. Small/medium business owners were the most benefitting customer segment of Google Adwords when it just started. The competition for the keywords was not so high and only early adapters knew about the impact of Google Adwords. With time the competition increased and all small/medium and big companies entered this battle of keywords. Nowadays even Google ad strategists don’t claim to bring profit to small businesses in a small time period. Means to say, if you are a small business owner don’t expect Google Adwords to do wonders for you in a month or so. Is there any solution for this problem? Yes, but you have to spend some money and time initially before you can see the adwords account bringing profitable leads/conversions. And time and money are the two most important constraints for any small business owner. So can we conclude that Google Adwords is a strictly no-no for the small/start-up businesses? I wont reach to such conclusion right now. There are marketers who claim to set up google adwords campaigns that are highly profitable for the small business owners (scam? Could be and be aware of that). If they do it, then they are doing a good job. But there are many companies out there that are just ripping off the customers.
Best strategy could be to give it a try yourself. Small business owners can ask their friends or family members to help them out in understanding this kind of marketing. One needs sharp marketing mind set up, technical knowledge and labour intensive attitude to control this beast. Your friends and family members can help you with the hard work and technical knowledge, which are the big chunks of the pie. Small business accounts can be started with a small investment and once the account starts doing well, you will see good conversions. And please don’t forget the branding impact of these ads.
Google Adwords are still the most powerful way of online marketing. Don’t ignore it but also don’t get trapped in the web of CPC, CPM and other addictive terms. Take is as a marketing channel and try it for six months. If it works, you are the boss. If it does not, don’t repent for the money you spent and start looking for the other options.

Making decisions - No piece of cake

I always thought it was a piece of cake until I made those. Business related decisions bring some situations when everyone thinks about these factors

1. The revenue – Cash flow was and is always a big factor while making any decision.

2. Future business – Will it make a great impact on brining new business?

3. Relationship – How the decision will impact the existing relationship between multiple stakeholders?

And other several factors. I remember in my Organizational behaviour class, I came across an interesting article – making managerial decisions is information based or intuition based? This debate has been going on for so long that no one wants to discuss it any more. However it is the basic of many business related activities. Why should I believe in information when it is just the old data? But at the same time how can I believe in intuition which is nothing but just an irrational choice in the world of rationalization. Well I know there is always a balance working behind the scene, it will become more and more difficult to make decisions with the time. Information is so transparent now that no one can hide it but we are also removing human factors from decision making process (Do I need to mention the Lehman Brothers and BP cases). There is no 100 percent solution for decision making processes and even if it is there, no one will believe in it. So better to make decisions based upon the situation. They taught me the best phrase ever in my B-School – it depends.

Dilbert will add more to it

ICCC event in Toronto

It was great attending the ICCC speaker series with Peter Hall, Chief Economist, Export Development Canada. The event was at Royal York Hotel on June 15th. I was excited because not only it was my first event at ICCC but also I was hoping to meet with new people. I entered the hotel and it was not so difficult to figure out the event venue. Event started with a small pre-event networking session. I walked in and smelled nice Indian snacks. The nice combination of Indian samosas with mayonnaise reminded me that it was an Indo-Canadian meet. I helped myself with food and started talking with people around me. Attendees were managers from Canadian and Indian banks, independent consultants, entrepreneurs and students. It was interesting to talk to people from various backgrounds and to understand what they are doing currently.
Sooner we were escorted to the meeting hall. Event started by EDC India representative Vijyendra’s speech. It was great to know that he is also a Schulich alum. He talked about various initiatives taken by EDC to boost the relationship between Indian and Canadian companies. And I was feeling good when he told us that he will be flying next week to India for his new assignment. I felt nostalgic as I have not been to home for past 1.5 years.
The atmosphere was warmed up by ICCC’s director Pankaj Mehra’s sense of humour. He welcomed Peter Hall and Peter did not take much time to start his amazing speech. He set up the context by telling the potential, growth factors and problems of Indian economy. I chuckled – A Canadian economist is analyzing Indian economy so deeply and we Indians are analyzing Canadian economy. True globalization in a small room. Peter also explained how Canadian companies can increase their business with India as Indian government is directing huge funds towards infrastructure.
Well the event ended on a good thanks note by Pankaj. I was more than satisfied with the event. The event was like a Bollywood movie where I witnessed emotion, drama and action (but off course no music and dance around trees).

Coke - deserves to be no. 1 brand

I and my housemate Harish went for grocery today afternoon. It was very hot outside but No-Frills stores are almost empty on a weekday which was a huge relief for both of us. After few minutes of shopping Harish called me, “Look Ashish, Coke has put these 237 ml glass bottles on shelves.” I went near and saw the bottles carefully. It was so surprising to see those bottles as I dont remember watching these bottles anywhere in Toronto. Two ideas struck to us on the spot – first one was that Coke was trying to remind its consumer that it is the same coke they have been drinking for years. Second idea was to force the competitors specifically the private level brands to eat dust as these private levels just keep imitating the packaging of big brands. Whatever be the reason was, I was feeling nostalgic because the packaging was reminding me of India where you will find such glass bottles frequently.

Second surprise was just around the corner. I was looking for some noodles and suddenly saw football shaped plastic bottles in a basket. Curiously I picked one of those and it was coke again. This was a 400 ml plastic bottle specially made for FIFA world cup 2010. I smiled to myself and put the bottle in my cart even when I was thinking of not to buy any carbonated drink. What should I say – Hats off to Coke marketing?

M for Marketing , M for Metros

I was going through some videos which were talking about consumer behavior and marketing patterns. It was interesting to notice that most of the speakers related marketing buzz and product advertisements to day to day life of consumers. But when I tried to understand the situation deeply, it reflects a very bizarre concept. Most of the marketing campaigns are designed based upon the consumer behavior studied in big metro cities. Be it New York in US, Toronto in Canada or Mumbai in India. Marketers study the consumer behavior in these metro cities and launch the products and campaigns based upon the findings. Interestingly people in other places in each country follow the trends adapted in those big cities. This pattern becomes even stronger when it comes to technology, fashion and entertainment. Considering the fact that only 16% of US population is in NY, 16% of Canada population is in Toronto and .09% of India population lives in Mumbai, it raises a big question why people want to follow the trends set up in these big cities.
I thought of only two big reasons behind the trend setter image of these big metro cities. First reason is that these cities are metropolitan in true senses. People across the nation/nations visit these cities for several reasons which may be for business, employment or travel. These cities are the best places for marketers to conduct market research on people from all kind of backgrounds. Also the same set of people carries back the marketing message to their places. All in all these cities work as a communication channel for the marketers.
Second reason is the already existing brand images of these cities which play a big role in providing emotional satisfaction to the people following a particular trend. Any given day a person will wear a t-shirt saying I love NY rather than wearing a t-shirt saying I love Jacksonville or even I love Las Vegas. This brand image helps marketers to focus on just one city and once any product is successful in these big cities, it is easier to replicate the success in other places.
However changing marketing strategies and delivery channels may force marketers to think for new strategies specifically when internet is changing the consumer behavior. Will it pose a threat to brand image of big cities? The answer is still not known but question is already knocking at the marketers’ office door.

Why do we shop??

I was in my Consumer Behaviour class and we had a discussion over why do consumer spend or save money. There were some interesting themes going around explaining the intricate consuming behaviour of customers. The biggest question was why consumers spend money. Interestingly some of the points why consumer spends were

1.Basic needs

The best example could be going to grocery store. Everyone has to spend money for buying basic stuff that can help them in running the regular life.

2.To escape from the reality

It was majorly true when consumer have enough money to spend on something which can take away them from real world and its problems. This could be true when someone goes to Disney Land to touch the childhood feelings or when someone buys an expansive watch after a breakup. What about the going to theatre watching movies, buying a new jacket or eating an ice-cream? It falls in this category although the line between emotional and functional benefits is very thin.

3.To maintain the social status

Well that could be true for everyone. I bought one pair of good shoes just to wear in parties. Was it impulse shopping? No, it was planned but for my social status because I don’t want to feel ashamed walking inside a club wearing rugged shoes. Same is true for someone who buys expansive beer just to be a part of his friends circle even when he likes some other brand.

4. Future Saving

Hmm...this was interesting. I never thought of spending money to save money in future. Well the promotional offers are targeted to those customers who shop just to save money in future. For an example consumers save money whole year to spend on boxing day. So saving money is also spending money in some or the other way. It is just a matter of balancing act.

5.Forced Shopping

I could not find a better title for this option but present shopping behaviour is also influenced by the marketers’ strategies. Marketers launch a product in the market and try to fit the product in the mind of consumer saying there is a need for this product in your life. For example, room freshener is not all a necessity but people have started to believe that it is one of the necessary product in day to day life.

Please add in comments if you have more ideas as I wrote what I could remember from my class. Well this was just about spending money. We talked a lot about saving money and what are the coping mechanism for saving money. I will talk about coping mechanism in next blog. Happy Reading.

New ventures and Smart Phones

In my last class of Entrepreneurship, there were seven different groups presenting their ideas for new firms. All the teams were given four weeks of time to come up with an idea that can be successful in the present economic environment. It was interesting to notice that out of seven presentations five were based on technology. Moreover four out of five technology based ideas were either for smart phones or had a potential to be used as smart phone application. All the teams recognized the growing power of smart phones while doing the brainstorming over the new firm creation ideas. No doubts smart phones are gaining popularity increasingly and playing a huge role in accessing information and providing entertainment. There is a prediction that smart phone downloads from all app stores will reach 6.7 billion per year in 2014. The most sellable point of this kind of business is the low cost to entry. One needs only two-three software professionals, servers and a little space to start the business. Non-capital intensive businesses were center of attraction during dot com period and same is happening now. All these facts can work like a magnet for any entrepreneur to try this new space. However I have some doubts over the long term sustainability of these ideas because technology changes are happening not within few years but few months. Some of the brilliant ideas may sustain the business in long term but majority of ideas will either burn out while matching the pace with rapidly changing technology or will be bought out by bigger players. Entrepreneurs entering this sector with short term goal of selling out their idea to bigger firms within five years will be in better situation because of vulnerable nature of the business. Those who are targeting to remain in this sector for a long term have to strategize their business in such a way that people keep using their applications without getting bored. This will be an interesting phenomenon to watch in next five years.

Hollywood-Bollywood

I just came back after watching Bollywood movie “My Name is Khan” which has broken some box office records by any Bollywood movie in North America. It is interesting to notice how Bollywood movies are moving closer to Hollywood movies in terms of story line up, editing, background score and most amazingly music. In MNIK, all the songs were in background which is not usual in Karan Johar’s (movie director) typical movies. This trend has been followed by many movies in recent past and it seems that Indian audiences are also accepting this format. Even Hollywood movies have accepted Indian actors and you can see many movies either having Indian background story or Indian actors in lead roles. This confluence was strengthened by the major success of “Slumdog Millionaire” last year. This movie was not only popular but also won Oscar awards for best movie and background score. This relation has been strengthened since then and even common people in North America are accepting the power of Bollywood movies. It is interesting to listen to students’ as well as professors’ point of views about this huge industry in my MBA classes. However Bollywood has still to cover a long path to match the technical quality and tight story line of Hollywood movies. I don’t see a day very far when people from both industries will work together to make great movies.
PS – Still MS word is showing red underline for Bollywood word. Strange.

Mr. Pinto is “really” angry

Mr. Pinto came back from office, totally tired and angry. He was trying to check his Facebook account today in office and could not believe that his company had blocked Facebook in office. Oh god !! How will Mr. Pinto now interact with his “So called Facebook” friends and how will he play those interesting “Love and horoscope” quizzes? Life is so cruel.

Mr. Pinto is angry again today. One month back, he discovered his new real love on Orkut. She was so good looking in her photos and she used to send such cute teddy bears and friendship messages that anyone could fall for her. Mr. Pinto is 32 now, but she made him feeling like 16. Life was going so good and Mr. Pinto had even changed his status to “committed” from “single”. And today, his friends told him that it was a fake profile of a guy (he is also a friend) who was enjoying his time chatting with Mr. Pinto. Oh !! that is bad.

Mr. Pinto is in bad mood. He was highly enthusiastic about his career opportunities from LinkedIn. He added his senior managers also in his profile who could recommend him for new jobs. Poor chap, somebody hacked his account and now selling Viagra and porn material using Mr. Pinto’s profile. His bosses are quite curious to know about his new business (some bosses asked if he wanted testimonials for his new “value creating” business for discount offers on these “materials”). Mr. Pinto is never going to leave this guy.

Mr. Pinto is boiling and can kill anyone today. Last week he went to a party and got drunk. Someone clicked his photos while drinking and dancing with girls(it was not an “ordinary” drinking and dancing) and posted on Facebook. Other than posting, he tagged Mr. Pinto in all photos and then Mr. Pinto’s friends wrote some “teasing” comments. Since Mr. Pinto has his company name in profile, senior management saw an alarming situation of company’s brand value getting spoiled by such acts. Mr. Pinto has been given one week of time to explain the situation.

And then we ask “Why does Mr. Pinto get angry while hearing three words ....Social ....Networking ...Site.”

PS : Hows Mr. Pinto's picture ??

"Ethics" - I heard about you somewhere Mr. Ethics

“Ethics and values” was always an interesting topic for me and when I entered into Schulich MBA program, first lecture was on how to respect ethics and values as an MBA student. My intention here is not to discuss that lecture but after completing my first two terms, I realize that ethics play big role while making decisions in business world. However there were many times when some of the courses forced you to think twice about the priority between money and ethics. I faced such a dilemma when I participated in one of the mock exercises in “Negotiation” course. I was a manager and I had to negotiate about the incentives with an employee who was planning to quit the company. This employee had employee stock options and company share prices were quite moderate. However I had internal information that stock prices could go high in few months. This employee’s performance was not satisfactory so company also wanted to get rid of him. Now the biggest dilemma in front of me was whether to tell the employee about the stock price going high or not. I decided to keep silence and offered the employee share prices way below it was expected to be in January. Employee accepted the offer happily and we signed the deal. When the professor revealed the full information about the case, the student who was playing the role of employee was annoyed with me as she thought that I didn’t play ethically.

Although I still think I was right in that situation, how many times managers think about ethics before making a decision. Most of the MBA education’s focus is on making money and generating profits for the companies. Students are so busy in studying balance sheet, income statements and cash flows that they are not left with much time to think about the social responsibilities. So this leaves a very good question on the face of B-School course directors, are the MBA grades more ethical before entering B-schools? Recent economic crisis has been discussed around this issue numerous times and every time the conclusion was that highly qualified and brilliant investment bank managers were making decisions to boost their bonus without taking care of common mass. Interestingly some of the CEOs and CFOs were getting million dollar bonus when employees were fired on the basis of cost cutting.

Theoretically long term vision should take care of social responsibilities to create overall value for the organization but in practical world profit making decisions overshadow the long term planning. Although it is very difficult to measure the ethical and social values added to any organization as compared to monetary profits, major B-Schools should take initiative to come up with a study plan that can help the students to understand the ethical responsibilities as well while making decisions to generate profits.

PS - interesting question to all readers, what would you do if you were in my position in the "Negotiation" course mock exercise ??