Have I done it right…?

The last 6 months, though taxing, has proved to be something which has taught me perceptions - in the Indian market at least. Handling marketing at the ground level always gives an understanding of the pulse of the population around. With this write up I make a humble effort to list down the learning of the past.

It started around half a decade back when I realized my love towards understanding what people think. It started as an interpretation of the muted actions in the next table of a coffee shop and grew as an analysis of the people I am associated with. Though ‘thinking from their shoes’ at times meant experiencing loneliness, it helped build a confidence level about understanding people.

My first professional experiment of trying to sell my photographs in a retail outlet helped me read through the mindset of a retailer. To my luck, it was a Sardar who I was dealing with - the best known breed for being astute businessmen. Though the whole venture started off by passion, running it in the commercial way takes a toll on the creative aspect of it. (Or should I say - ‘it expects you to be more creative!’?). ‘What’s in it for me?’ was a reality which I realized in the hard way.

My next venture with a professor of mine in setting up the marketing & sales function let me implement the ‘What’s in it for me’ factor. But what we really forgot was - are we educating the already aware or trying to solve their problems? The whole effort of 5-6 months, though helped to create a buzz in the known circle, couldn’t create a big impact to help the initiative turn out to be a successful venture. This was the ‘Do I really need it?’ phase of learning for me.

These initiatives helped me gain some experience around the expectations from a marketing role. This helped in my next role for technology marketing. The scope of perception was international with an expectation of maintaining the already established brand positioning. It being a new domain (neither retail nor a product), the expectations were different. It was more of a sale pitch termed as marketing. The learning from the past did make a difference here. The questions / needs got redefined now - ‘is it a life and death situation for me?’

Jump into the healthcare sector meant a lot of ground zero work. Situations demanded me to take up marketing. With the help of a good investment & technical support, was able to answer the above questions to a good extent. Having done it all, there is still a void. There is a never a wide-spread acceptance of the message sent across. A concept of mass appreciation doesn’t exist. This lets me think ‘Have I done it right…?’