The group project wherein we applied the internet marketing tools was a great learning experience. It gave me hands on experience to apply the various tools to improve the effectiveness of the client’s online marketing. Owing to paucity of time we couldn’t touch upon every aspect of internet marketing thus we chose email marketing, Google Analytics, Google Adwords, social media analytics and designed a content calendar. However had we been given access to the various social media platforms by our client we could have had better learning across a wider spectrum. Also our client wasn’t a fan of Hootsuite, which further restricted our learning. For this project our aim was to analyse user engagement. I chose the social media analytics but due to restrictions from our client my analysis was just Facebook focused. I tried to learn and come up with the best possible recommendations to our client.

We chose PurpleDirt, a community jewellery house that supports Nicaraguan women. We expected a great learning experience owing to the ease and flexibility to post on the social media platforms but we were not given the passwords despite signing the Non disclosure agreement.

After gaining information about the business model, what are their points of differentiation, their competitors etc., we decided how to leverage the internet marketing to the fullest. We suggested them to leverage this attribute of supporting the Nicaraguan women, which we hadn’t seen much at their social media platforms. From our first interaction with our client we learnt that we all were on the same page and they wanted to highlight the cause they support that is the Nicaraguan artisans, the handmade jewellery pieces, and the use or recycle materials such as guitar strings etc.

We suggested them to run a Christmas campaign and put their pieces of jewellery on discount. We learnt that they were about to launch a 10 day campaign starting November 24 so we decided support their campaign.

I chose to work on the social media analytics as I wanted to learn how to leverage it for internet marketing. Unfortunately we weren’t given the passwords for social media platforms and on requesting them many a times we suggested them to assign us an analyst role for Facebook. Thus our social media analytics was just limited to Facebook. We still reviewed their Twitter account and found that they weren’t quite active on Twitter and the levels of engagement and content didn’t drive much traction. Having reviewed their tweets for a month I found that they hardly had any engagements, retweets etc. for any of their postings even during and after the campaign. The only retweets were from their administrator. We realised the content isn’t very engaging. Even the discount offers made have poor content and thus it’s difficult to gain any traction.

Based on our first review of their key accounts we sent them a content calendar with all the detailed information, when and what to be posted. The client was really impressed with the kind of detail we provided both in terms of content and context but still our recommendations weren’t taken into consideration. We were expecting them to make some changes to their posts or their content a bit for A/B testing but that didn’t happen. Our client isn’t keen to leverage Hootsuite, we also suggested them to leverage email marketing. We designed email templates using the images they would use for the actual campaign on the mail chimp but the client wasn’t very keen to send across newsletters during the campaign.

Facebook Account Analysis

Having learnt about the social media analytics tools I reviewed their Facebook activity for the past 6 months. They have the videos and pictures relevant to the cause they are supporting but neither the content nor pictures or videos are gaining any traction. The first day of the campaign had the highest amount of engagement but that declined drastically during the rest of the campaign.

I analyzed the following:

1. The Demographics

The audience they target is female within age group 25-44. But surprisingly male in the same age group turned out to be their fans. This showed that their targeting was quite wrong or rather they weren’t catering to the correct group. Their target’s geographical location was Vancouver which was consistent with their assumptions.

2. Audience Reached

Surprisingly the audience they reached was much younger than they cater too.

3. Content Analysis

We further looked into the average number of clicks, likes, comments, shares and engagement rate for both Organic and Paid and again ironically the paid had almost 50% lower engagement rate.

4. Videos

Also videos had the highest amount of post clicks but couldn’t yield any active engagement such as likes, comments, or shares.

Further we viewed their competitor’s activity on Facebook and also reviewed their websites. PurpleDirt has just one potential competitor but on reviewing their activity it seemed clear that they are not a big threat. However based on their activity on Facebook we recommend Purple Dirt to make few amends in their mission and the vision statement in their info page.

During our final presentation we explained to our client how the boosted posts on facebook don’t lead to any post clicks or user engagement or doesn’t facilitate any traffic to the website. Instead PurpleDirt should spend money on Google Adwords. On Facebook it’s the content that matters and helps in creating user engagement. Their content lacks in communicating a captivating story and also their visual appeal is missing. Facebook represents the human side of the business wherein the rule of one – in – seven stands valid.

Overall this group project was a great learning experience and it was a great help to our client who was highly impressed with our level of detail in recommendations. I’m sure they will surely use our recommendations for their next campaign which we suggested them to run in January 1, 2016.

Book Review

For this assignment, I chose to review the book “Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions” by Dan Ariely. The reason I chose this book is because it provides deep insights about the human psyche during various routine decision making and it can be leveraged by the marketers to promote their offerings.

To give a brief background, the author is a behavioural economist who had met an accident and while spending lots of time at the hospital he started to observe people and thus chose behavioural economics as his career. Behavioural economics involves studying through experiments the people’s decision making process whilst they take routine life decisions. This social psychology can be very well leveraged by the marketers to design strategies. It is hugely interesting to learn about his personal experiences shared in the book & those he had by conducting various experiments to study this human behaviour.

“Zero Price effect’’: The author conducted an experiment where he offered to choose between a premium chocolate at a very attractive discount and reduced Hershey’s chocolate price from 1 cent to free. He observed a dramatic change in the consumer behaviour and now the number of people chose Hershey’s increased because it was available for free. This is how marketers convince us to buy something that we really don’t need.  It’s not the gift that allures us but the word “free” makes it irresistible that we end up making a purchase, which is both irrational and predictable. He also quoted the example of “free shipping” concept used by Amazon.com which increased its sales significantly. I have myself fallen in this trap a couple of times and I’m sure we all have at some point. I bought a book at Amazon and was charged a shipping cost as my bill was lower than the amount to avail the free shipping. So just to save $2 of shipping charge I bought one more book that I wasn’t really interested in that time, raising my total bill by a significant amount. At that point I thought I saved money but a deeper thought made me realise how irrational that decision was. As a marketer coming up with strategies Combo offers / bundled deals or multi pack are all based on discreet discounting leading to enhanced customer spend or usage.

Herding: Humans have a very common tendency of herding. We generally make decisions based on the quantity. A huge line up outside a restaurant makes us believe that it would be good. When we look for reviews online before buying something, we not only look what people have to say about it but also how many. Real life example: When I came to Vancouver and had heard that the “Vij” restaurant offers the best Indian food and always has a long line up. Very excitedly I went and waited for quite long time to enjoy that heavenly feast but alas it wasn’t worth the hype. He brings a term called self herding as per which people perceive value in a product/service consumed in the past. We would find numerous examples where some products such as few brands of soaps, toothpastes etc.  that have been bought since generations and have never been changed since ages overlooking the cost benefit other products might offer.  He quotes an example of how Starbucks has leveraged this perceived value. Some customers buy Starbucks coffee everyday because they have been doing this for long and now don’t question the price paid for it.  As a shrewd marketer would do “10 Million Copies Sold” or “Serving west coast since 1904” etc. to take advantage of the herding phenomenon, this book elaborates the why behind his actions.

Placebo Effect: When presented with an option of a 5 cent aspirin and a 50 cent pain killer the latter is the winner.Ever wonder why?  Also a branded pair of jeans would be more comfortable and better than the one bought from Wal-Mart. These perceived values are our beliefs which are conditioned through are experience and familiarity. This is known as the placebo effect. This is how brands create value for themselves in consumers’ mind. It is our belief in the product which is further conditioned by the marketers by creating a familiarity through repeated marketing efforts.

The famous Coke and Pepsi test tells us that without the brand mention people preferred Pepsi but as soon as the brand is revealed Coke stands out as the winner. It is the expectation set by the brand. Also the presentation has a great influence. A well garnished dish looks much more tempting than one with simple presentation. In culinary schools not only the food but also its artful presentation is emphasized upon.

In today’s time internet has become the major source of any information. The marketers have realised this well and every company strives to make its online presence as appealing as possible. I realised how important the presentation is while reviewing the website we chose for our Internet marketing team project. On comparing it with the top player’s website in its domain this notion of presentation instantly made its relevance. It was very attractive, appealing and very impressive. High resolution pictures, its content, navigation, information available spoke for the brand.

The book covers lots of such human behaviours through experiments and the insights offered can be utilized by the marketers to design strategies to lure customers. Understanding the consumer behaviour is a mandate as customers are bombarded with so much information everyday that it’s difficult to create an anchor in their minds without creating a meaningful sustainable impact. It’s no more a price war and even the products that compete on price have to try hard to squeeze out the minimal margins.

Reference: Few excerpts as it is have been taken from the book “Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions” by Dan Ariely.

The first two periods at Sauder have brought about immense learning and set an apt platform to leverage the same in global business ecosystem. The BCG case analysis gave some valuable insights into issues encompassing top organizations & also a learning that “One Size Fits All” approach is reduced to mere academic relevance in today’s dynamic and highly competitive business landscape.  

Sitting at the helm of BCG (Americas) – George Martin had recently witnessed three of his top performers express concerns owing to work-life issues. A glut of prevailing employee work-life fitment initiatives weren’t doing any justifiable good. In an endeavor to maintain the market leadership position of BCG, retaining very best talent was pivotal. Engulfed in a scenario of perfect competition that calls for always exceeding client expectations, majority of issues revolved around the following key facets:

Culture:

• The implicit value proposition that a highly remunerated employee offers BCG is slogging long hours, incessant travel, consistently deliver & perpetual availability.
• Employees obliged to stretch beyond limits courtesy millions BCG rakes in from clients.
• “Never say no” to client regime. Maintain existing client relationships at any cost.
• Minimal client-side involvement prior to handover stage of the project.
•  The “up-or-out” culture at BCG puts everything apart client satisfaction on a backburner.

Communication:

• External: Hazy client expectations lead to extended timelines and resource utilization.
• Internal: Assigning low intensity tasks to team during peak load hours as high priority.
• Internal: Multiple simultaneous engagements inhibit team leads to impart clear cut direction on certain deliverable leading to last moment rework.

Control:

• Adhoc reviews, eternal client exigencies, environment of non-denial & no clear visibility of day to day work regime severely affects professional and personal engagements.
• Extensive demand of top performers by various teams leads to severe work-life issues.
• Initial reward-sacrifice tradeoff leads to eventual meltdown in full throttle performance.

In an endeavor to address the work-life balance issues prevailing at BCG, George Martin should consider the following strategy framework:

Strategy Formulation:

Culture:

• Ensure desired resource and expertise availability before committing to any project.
• Nurturing cross level relation relationships to reduce communication gap
• Encourage proactive day-to-day work-life planning regime amongst employees.

Communication:

• Set precise client expectations on project scope, timelines & review structure.
• Superiors to portray clear task intensity image to team to facilitate prioritization.

Control:

• Ensure constant client side involvement in projects to avert last moment scuffles.
• Ample bench strength & buffer time to alleviate pressures on high performers.

Strategy Implementation:

Culture:

• Formalize procedure to capture resource availability prior to project commitment.
• Assign mentors to guide entry level employees like associates & consultants.
• Make the flexible work options more lucrative by reducing the salary disparity. Provide options for flexi-timing & flexi-location during low intensity tasks.

Communication:

• Project charter should clearly mention scope of work, delivery timelines & review periodicity. Applicable penalties in aberration scenarios should be cited as well.
• Anonymous complaint redressal mechanism & skip-level reviews to address issues like work-overload, senior’s lack of support & clear expectation setting on deliverables.

Control:

• Project charter should also include continuous client support requirements.
• Maintain trained bench strength to assist other teams in high workload scenarios

Strategy Evaluation:

Culture:

• Keep a track on business opportunity loss as a result of forgone projects because of resource unavailability and rake in additional resources if required.
• Put a process in place to capture mentor relationship feedback.
• Regularly monitor employee uptake of flexible work options and seek feedback in case of low levels and suggest amends to make them opt for it.

Communication:

• Scrutinize client’s charter deviations & BCG SLA non-adherence & levied penalties.
• Have regular employee satisfaction feedback post addressing their grievances.

Control:

• Gather feedback from teams working on client projects on client support and availability during project schedule.
• Closely monitor bench strength preparedness and ensure healthy bench rotation.
• Thus the most befitting approach to address the issues at BCG (A) comprises of an amalgamation of organizational level strategic changes by BCG and employee level individual efforts.

By incorporating the suggested strategic measures BCG will not only be in a far better position to retain the best talent in the industry with enhanced productivity levels but proper delegation of its rejuvenated and motivated workforce will lead to build better camaraderie with its clients and in turn will impart a distinctive competitive advantage to BCG over its competitors resulting in higher profitability levels.

According to Laakso,”Brand is the additional value the consumer is prepared to pay compared with an ordinary anonymous product yet fulfilling the same purpose.”
Post Recession the real estate markets have become far more competitive. Well informed buyers who are more critical than ever before & holding on to endless checklist of expectations have entirely changed the rules of the game. Thus a “Nimble Footed Consumer Facing Business” like real estate & infrastructure can’t dwell in isolation to creative branding excellence. Bridging the gap between having a vision and actually selling it to your prospective customers, calls for connecting with your target segment both emotionally and rationally. Thus creating a credible & convincing brand becomes pivotal to clearly communicate the value proposition.

In the summer of 2011 when our brand manager abruptly resigned amidst various ongoing key projects managing brand initiatives for the organization became my key responsibility area. I saw this as an unparalleled opportunity to learn & resolved to stick to the organization unlike most of my peers who had left for greener pastures post recession.
Being a start-up unit and having no prior domain expertise or requisite mentorship the challenges far outweighed the charm of the new role. Most key performance indicators revolved around execution of planned marketing activities through Advertisements, PR campaigns and events in an endeavor to effectively reach the target audience leading to sales enablement. The erstwhile “Location, Location, Location” strategy for real estate marketing is as obsolete these days as are the floppy disks. The current mantra for real estate & infrastructure marketing can be put as “Record, Amenities, Imagery and Location (RAIL)” although in no specific order. Also since the perceived notions about RAIL is totally individual/project specific a “One size fits all” to branding approach won’t do any justifiable good. So the best approach to branding lies in the premise that “There is no specific best approach”. Thus a tailored approach is the most apt one.

One of the most memorable campaigns I handled was the marketing of”Ultra Luxury Homes” for a realty first timer albeit having a wide & diverse business portfolio. Located adjacent to the Sukhna Lake & the golf club the task of creating a brand literally from a scratch that would stand out was no mean task. Our first task was to clearly demarcate the target segment & then carve an identity & create a story that appeals them.

We began the journey with surveys of lake & golf club patrons, real-estate agents to gauge the buyer’s interest levels as well as to capture the general perception on location’s investment opportunities.

Equipped with a comprehensive dossier containing the geographic, social & economic details pertaining to the projects we moved to the positioning stage. Our strategy involved leveraging the lake & the golf club’s market equity, appealing to a highly social, easily accessible and a connoisseur of luxury.
Updating the project on our website & in social media domain involved quick depiction of stunning serenity & allied value propositions since our target segment involved busy professionals while providing exhaustive information to those who wanted to delve further. The key success factor was aptly conveying the level of luxury justifying the premium pricing. An in depth high quality brochure was also made available to interested individuals. A highly segmented e-mail & direct mail campaign reaching out to otherwise elusive but highly exclusive HNIs & non-resident Indians was also carried out. By emphasizing on limited availability & early bird incentives we were able to build a balanced sense of urgency.

As a result of the concerted branding efforts the sales team was able to liquidate 80% of the inventory prior to the project completion albeit an uncertain economic environment.

Post recession in 2011 with abysmally low business volumes, negligible liquidity for operational expenditures & unprecedented attrition levels our organization’s ordeals were yet far from over.
During one of the strategic planning discussions I proposed the need to have an in-house business development capabilities rather than solely relying on channel partners. I emphasized the need to develop a 360% Push-Pull ecosystem wherein the marketing team, the proposed sales team & the network of existing channel partner’s work in tandem.
The management showed interest & directed me to conceptualize & design the marketing plan, business case & execution plan.
The colossal project involved collaboration of various cross functional teams. Being the project lead my foremost priority was to win each team’s confidence & act as super glue that everybody needed to stick to.
Post a thorough analysis of market dynamics & economic viability my game plan revolved around a three pronged strategy:
 The new vertical will have a specific target segment i.e. Corporate employees working in IT Park & MNC’s located in and around Chandigarh
 Targeting the customers via various ATL & BTL activities like Food court Canopies, IT Park Roadshows, e-Mailers, Conferences, SMS Blasts etc.
 All our projects should be positioned as an “Affordable Luxury”
Having done my home work, I called for the kick off session. It was supposed to be a brainstorming session yielding rich insights that would act as suitable catalysts for future success of the project. Contrary to my expectation & defying all logic, I had to face lots of resistance courtesy the hard-nosed attitude of some colleagues who considered my leading the project as diminishing sphere of their authority.
After numerous deliberations, we were able to precisely define the scope of work, set up clear cut goals, and identify probable roadblocks & set realistic targets & timelines.
Although the proposed business model got a nod from the management, the implementation of the plan was the real test of my leadership skills & execution abilities.

Expecting a highly proficient team of account managers with meagre budget at hand was irrational. Creating inroads into MNCs & building sustainable relationships wasn’t a child’s play either.

I proposed to form a team of five ex- telecom corporate sales executives (Who had bore the brunt of recessionary layoffs). The intention was not only to find resources fitting our budgets but more importantly to leverage their relationships & corporate handling experience alike.

Since the infrastructure sector was alien to our new team, I ensured that thorough trainings were imparted to them. I also gauged their preparedness by conducting various dry runs & surprise quizzes. I also ensured that each of the sales executive was mapped with the organization’s leadership team members to mentor & handhold them in closing hot leads.
After a quarter of operations the team had started showing considerable promise in terms of healthy lead generation but the eventual closures were still below par & a concern area. Upon discussions with the team I found out that since IT & Corporate professionals were mostly expats & are not very keen to settle down or invest in Chandigarh. To address to the issue the target segment was broadened by including local businessmen & Class-1 government officers.
The success of this project is a testament to how by building team member’s roles around their strengths & working with unity, passion, integrity, and hard work translates into astounding results.

The industry sector I am inclined to at is Online Retail Industry. Online retail in Canada currently stands at C$ 20 billion & all set for a double digit CAGR through 2018 to reach C$ 34 billion. (Forrester: Canadian Online Retail Forecast 2013 To 2018)
With one of the highest internet penetration rates in the world (> 80% metropolitan households & > 70% rural households) and smart phone penetration expected to reach 100 % by 2014 (Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, 2012), Canadian online retail industry is staring at a resplendent tomorrow making it a “Sunrise Sector” to be in.
My experience in marketing and brand management working for a real estate & infrastructure marketing & advisory firm, has required me to don various hats from being a front end business development executive handling client queries & prospect leads to analyzing competitive landscape & customer insights leading to actionable recommendations for driving business and eventually leading the various brand management activities for the organisation. In an online retail arena the primary brand & marketing deliverables revolve around identification of key customer segments, targeting identified segments via creative marketing tactics & befitting positioning to enhance customer adoption levels. Albeit lacking direct exposure to online medium my experience thus far perfectly amalgamates in essence with the expectations of the sector.
My MBA at Sauder will act as an apt platform & training ground to enable me to develop the necessary skill-set that fits perfectly in my role as an online marketing manager. The industry projects & internships that I envisage to undertake in coming days will play a pivotal role to further bridge the experiential gap.
Some of the key prevailing trends in the Canadian Online Retail Industry:

• In spite of being reputed as world’s most digitally social people, online retail in Canada has been a missed opportunity so far. Cultural differences, e-commerce non-readiness of Canadian retailers and their reluctance to invest in online shopping, concerns with security & consumer protections have led to diminished interests in retailers to go tread the online path. Expensive shipping costs because of low population density, paucity of shopping choices, entry-exit of various Canadian retailers from online ecosystem has further spurned the shoppers from adopting online medium.
• Lately trends have started to move in a positive direction driven primarily by various US & global chains like Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s and J.C. Penney that have bolstered their online footprints in Canadian online retail space & various incumbent Canadian retailers and aggregators like shop.ca who have also joined the bandwagon. Various loyalty programs & online review incentive policies are doing a world of good to align customer sentiment towards online medium.
• Already equipped with the pre-requisite experience in segmentation marketing & brand management expertise amalgamated with fresh learning’s at Sauder & Canadian Marketplace projects, opportunities in online retail will beckon wherein I will be able to leverage my experience to the fullest and contribute well.

References:

http://www.forrester.com/Canadian+Online+Retail+Forecast+2013+To+2018/fulltext/-/E-RES99341

(http://www.euromonitor.com/internet-retailing-in-canada/report)

( http://business.financialpost.com/2013/07/23/online-retail-sales-to-hit-40-billion-in-canada-by-2018/  )

My journey isn’t about any destinations or the miles I have covered but rather about the lives touched, love shared, and the learning’s encompassed along the way.

Born in picturesque Himachal Pradesh, the abode of the Himalayas, I had the privilege to witness & adore nature in its purest & most elegant form.

During my schooling & college, I always maintained a fine balance between my academics and extra-curricular activities such as declamation contests, dance competitions etc.

I have been involved in various volunteer activities since my college days working primarily towards education of underprivileged children & eradicating child labor.

I am a maverick of sorts who strongly believes that learning & inspiration is everywhere. Be it in a song one loves, or a movie, or even in the way one’s pet behaves. In 2008 after having studied physics for five long years, I resolved not to tread the conventional path followed by many in the clan wherein a master’s degree was considered to be a sufficient prerequisite to get a suitable matrimony alliance. I strongly believe that as long as you own your actions, take responsibilities, there are “No Regrets only Lessons”. So amidst stiff resistance from all corners I joined RMC Infrastructure Private Limited in 2009 as a marketing executive.

The defining moment in my career came in 2011 when managing brand initiatives for the organization became my key responsibility area.  Right from conceptualizing & executing various ATL & BTL campaigns, development of communication materials, managing the company website and working closely with Brand & PR agencies, I got acquainted to the exciting world of brand marketing. The resulting self-fulfilment ignited a spark within to pursue a fruitful career in strategic brand management.

Without the adequate skill set and exposure I felt a switch to another firm or sector a little irrational. Having worked in one organization throughout, I have been exposed to a single way of work culture limiting my ability to comprehend problems a manager can face in large global conglomerates. Also with every organization across globe transcending boundaries for greener pastures makes it further indispensable to acquire a global management perspective. Thus a truly global MBA degree was a natural choice to strengthen and acquire the necessary skills to keep pace with the ever dynamic business world.

The Full Time MBA will not only equip me with fundamental skills in Product Marketing, Brand Management, Strategy & Planning but also the personalized and perpetual guidance of the faculty & BCC will help me carve out a perfect career trajectory. The vast cultural, professional and educational diversity at Sauder will enrich peer learning, widen professional and intellectual perspectives, and build a global network that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.  I believe the full-time MBA program at Sauder School of Business will be a giant leap towards a fulfilling and a successful career.