What is marketing? What is it that a B-school will give me? What is it that I really want? These are the questions that should haunt a candidate who is really interested in marketing and want to join IIM-A (Everybody do want to join it irrespective of the fact that whether they make it or not). I somehow didn’t think of these questions when I was preparing for IIM A, but would like all others to give it a thought.
Is marketing only about advertising, making your product sell, like hot cakes, and creating brand? The answer is a big “NO”. Think about a product which is good as far as the company is concerned, but didn’t actually made an impact on Indian consumers and failed miserably. Marketing is about understanding the consumer base and their needs and wants. It is a job in which you don’t have to find right customers for your product but to find a right product for your customers. Take an example of Dell computers, it got successful because it gave an option to customize the features that you desire in your computer. There have been many Indian companies that came and went in a matter of months as they didn’t understand the consumer. So, the expertise lies not in identifying customers but to identify a product. This is one reason why many MNCs which have great products in US and other countries don’t come with same set of products in India.
B-school will teach you the theoretical concepts and will give some knowledge about the past disasters and historical stories, but where do you take it from there is in your hands. A good B-school, in top 15, might give you more opportunities than others to do the same. It is your thinking that can change you and do wonders for you. Do you think while roaming on streets, watching a movie or eating in a restaurant as to why the advertisements have been put there? What is good in that advertisement? Does it have the information you want? Is it placed at the right place? These are the questions that you should start thinking if you are interested in marketing and take my word for it; this inquisitiveness will take you places in this corporate world.
Answering to the last question that is “What is it that I really want?” is as tuff as climbing a mountain. You need to do your SWOT analysis and dive deep inside yourself to find the answer. Many people do MBA only for lucrative salaries and white collar jobs, but eventually they take longer to grow than a person who has a vision and determination. If you have to grow then you will have to find satisfaction in your job so that you perform well, if you want to find satisfaction then you have to like it, for liking it you will have to get interest in it, for getting interest, it has to align with your vision.
So, take out sometime of your busy schedule and give about a day or two just thinking about various things and then you will realize your real worth which will give you a clear cut direction that has to be followed. Thereafter, you will appreciate an MBA degree.
Filed under: Marketing
advertisements are there coz a term called “consumerism”.
Ankit, guess what you are speaking of is market research, which I know is an integral part of marketing. But according to me MARKETING is all about building a customer base that’s loyal to your products. In the current age of globalization and outsourcing almost every company produces the same quality product. There is a no noticeable difference between a new balance shoe and a nike shoe but people still go for a nike because of the brand. It has been marketed so well that its more of a cult now! I guess many marketers in India have realised this but they still are very local. We don’t have a Indian Cadbury that is part of local culture in other country – this is where we need to improve. I know this coming from a engineer who knows nothing about MBA might be all wrong but thought will share my two cents
Siva, first of all, the two cents shared by you are really enlightening. Everyone can do marketing whether he is a marketer or an engineer. It’s all about how you think, frankly speaking there are some concepts that you might learn while pursuing your MBA but your creativity, implementation etc. will help you in your future endeavors.
There are different kinds of markets that exist in this world, the example you took is of a place where there are many companies with homogeneous products. In this, definitely customer loyalty will matter but what are the factors that influence customer loyalty. These factors might be design, price, accessibility etc. Today they may your loyal customers but there is chance that they might shift gears and go to competitors in search of some change, better service, lower price etc. In my view the best factor for customer loyalty is to differentiate your product in way to attract customers.
As mentioned by you, market research is an integral part of marketing. My opinion is that market research is the most important part of marketing. People have ideas for certain products which might do wonders but who knows whether it will work or not. In these cases market research help us understand the various facets of consumer base and their needs which help us modify our product to suite them. Once you have a right product, customer base will automatically follow.
Market Research is too Marketing what blood is to human life.
In other words Marketing aint worth a penny without proper research.