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Three-sixty degree marketing

M. Muhamed

When Pepsi first came to India, they had a tough time. Proclaiming ``Yeh hi hai right choice, baby'' across TV channels did not do much to improve the brand's consumption pattern in India. Nor did it help dent Thums Up's market share.

Ironically, it was only after the take-over of Parle by Coke that things began to improve for Pepsi. (Coke had not yet understood the Indian market, nor could they follow the youth platform owned worldwide by Pepsi.) The changes in the youth psyche also helped Pepsi. One `nothing official' campaign and a lot of all-round activities helped, too.

Pepsi was one of the few brands in this country to have realised the potential of 360-degree marketing. They were everywhere; possibly wherever the youth `hung out'. On air, on ground, in the campus, in movie theatres and all over. As if this is not enou gh they created occasions such as music events or dance parties to bring the youth out of their homes.

What do you think can be learnt from the Pepsi experience? Here is the problem of today: Your prospects and customers have short attention spans and millions of businesses attempting to attract their attention. So, what is the solution? Three-sixty degre e marketing. It communicates with your prospects and customers from all directions and over long periods of time.

There are a number of advantages to this kind of marketing. It is never intrusive, unlike telephone calls during dinner (about which I had written in this column sometime ago) and very inexpensive, even when you employ the wide range of activities and ta ctical weapons available to you, more now than ever because of the staggering growth of the Internet.

Most small and medium business owners select a couple of weak or mediocre marketing ideas, figuring that if they spend enough, they are covering all bases. Today, there are more bases than ever, and if you are not attending to most of them opportunities will fly past you at lightning speed. The reason to employ 360-degree marketing is because most prospects are in the market for what you sell only a small fraction of the time. Even if you get the best of the programmes, you still will not be able to ens ure that a majority of your target audience has seen your advertisement, especially in today's channel overkill. So, when your prospect is available for only a few seconds and if you are not talking to them at that time, they will talk to somebody else. With less than 360 degree marketing, your chances of connecting with them at that fleeting moment are cut down dramatically.

The fragmenting of media is still another reason to go all out with marketing and still another opportunity to go easy on your budget, because fragments cost much less than whole parts; TV to selected neighbourhoods (cable TV such as In Mumbai) costs a s mall fraction of the cost of TV to the nation.

Savvy business owners and marketers must employ 360-degree marketing by blending low tech and high tech with high touch and high care. That is the trend happening elsewhere in the world. They are always available to their customers via their Web site, e- mail address, answering device, fax, snail mail and telephone, with many also connecting by pager and fax-on-demand software. They are involved in their communities, connecting with prospects face-to-face in non-business settings.

You can be sure these savvy marketers have an active referral system, tapping the enormous referral power of past customers to learn the names of potential customers. They produce and mail brochures; printed, audio or video, or all three. They take netwo rking seriously and appreciate that rare chance to ask

questions, listen to answers and learn of problems they can solve. They are also members of clubs to learn industry information, meet movers and shakers, and contribute their time and energy to the organisation. They offer free consultations and demonstr ations whenever possible and set up alliances with other companies in co-marketing ventures, and in today's

circumstances, especially in online ventures. They are linkers of the highest order. They are also masters in the art of networking at all levels.

There is a good chance they publish a newsletter, possibly even a catalogue. Many try to carry a column in a publication read by their prospects and run a Yellow Pages ad if businesses such as their's gain customers that way. They offer to speak to local groups, for free, and have warm, trusting relationships with people in the media in which they hope to gain publicity. When they get it, they make reprints to mail to all contacts.

Three-sixty degree marketing in the small and medium sector also means they may run classified or small display ads offering their brochure and directing people to their Web site. Many maintain awareness on the radio, with cable TV, in business magazines or regional editions of national magazines. They use signs wherever feasible and stay in touch regularly with both prospects and customers with postcards and standard mailings.

They also ensure that questionnaires are sent to prospects and customers. Even when they are doing all this, they are still engaging in only 180-degree marketing. Reality today means the other 180 degrees comes from their presence and activity online. Th ese are the demands of the e-economy. You must all be aware of the challenges posed by the new economy and learn to adapt fast.

The magic words are presence and activity. Netizens note these not only on the company's own content-rich Web site, but also while actively participating in forums, chat rooms, and with e-mail that they have requested. Three-sixty degree marketers are fr equently mentioned in online news reports, they also host online conferences and run contests on their site. As new opportunities arise online, and arise they do on a daily basis, these marketers seize and test them, making sure their aim encompasses all 360 degrees of marketing.

Combining all this weaponry on a continuing basis, over a long period of time rather than in spurts, is a tough job. But, succeeding with a small or medium business is not supposed to be fast or easy. However, by practising 360 degree marketing principle s success does become far more of a certainty.

(The author has several years of experience in marketing and management. Feedback may be e-mailed to bleditor@thehindu.co.in)