By Jaisurya Das
I was watching a talk last evening by the inimitable Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev exclaiming with his characteristic élan.. “If you can see things with your eyes closed, you’ve lost it!†. Typically Sadhguru, in reference to a devotee who told him that she was seeing Lord Shiva when she shut her eyes.
He was just reiterating the brutal truth. Our thoughts govern what we see and what we don’t! Powerful, yet so limiting.
Our lives are spent on our thoughts and emotions and rarely does anything else matter. Even the wonderful cosmic phenomena of sunrise or sunset make no difference to our lives, nor will the death of a star or a galaxy! The point here is whether we realise this at all
Coming to think of it, have marketers realised this..?
Finally, consumers befriend what is part of their thought process and nothing else really matters.
A classic example is the automobile advertising we see today. Not more than 25% of them even mention the kind of engineering that goes into the heart of the vehicle; the engine!
Sadhguru, the godman with the flowing robes, is incidentally a rally driver too and has often said that the automobile advertising talks only about the frills. Gives no information that he seeks on the engine and gear ratios and so on… I don’t blame him. Not everyone is interested. In fact the majority isn’t interested at all.
And yet these automobiles sell, and boy do they sell!!
The reason is simple. Inherently, we are more concerned about the perceived value of our possessions. Understandably then, the interior and the paint job assumes significance over the engine. Who sees the engine and transmission anyway ?
Be it clothes, electronics, cars, houses or dining out, much of it is about how we want to position ourselves to the world at large.
Buying behaviour is closely associated with relative perception. This is the truth that marketers need to leverage. Create aspiration and ambassadors for your brand. I know you’re wondering how what I am saying today is any different from what we see today…
Think and ask yourself if if you’d rather buy a brand that is used by a member of the family/ friend vis-a-vis one that is advertised by a celebrity?. In most cases, we choose familiarity over admiration or awe!
Celebrity brand ambassadors are good to create aspiration, yet purchase needs a different degree of comfort and familiarity. Strange as it may seem, this is the truth.
Sure, the human brain is THE most developed engine in the world, and yet performs uniquely almost each time it is accelerated or exposed to stimuli.
Thus, it may be advisable for marketers to leave deciphering the unknown to the neuro-enlightened.Today,winning brands take more than just good brand management…
On that note, it’s advisable that I take you straight to our Q & A for this 10th Thursday of 2016; Incidentally and for the record, it’s also the 10th day of this month of March !
Ladies and Gentleman, Read on…
Sir, I am the only male in a team of nine women colleagues. While I enjoy my work and my advertising career, I often feel that my growth is stunted because I am a man. Or am I imagining things?
Am absolutely certain you are over-thinking this! Yes, one hears of gender bias and stuff like that, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the only male in an office gets targeted !
At first, it’s important to understand the provocation for this belief that your career is getting stunted by this environment. Is it the lack of a promotion/ raise year-on-year that is making you feel like this? Have you sat down and taken stock of your performance and contribution to the team targets?
How have you performed vis-a-vis your female colleagues? Has someone superseded you at work? My apologies for this barrage but bereft of these answers it’s virtually impossible to give you a sensible view on this.
And last but not the least, are you finding it difficult to absorb the fact that you have lots of female colleagues who are doing well, and probably even better than you?
Think my friend, and be honest with yourself. It only helps.
All the very best to you!
While my written English is fine, my spoken English is a giveaway of the fact that my spoken English language skills aren’t good. I can’t really help it… my schooling was in English, but all my friends spoke Hindi and that’s what my friends and I speak in. But I want to improve my spoken English. What should I do?
Why are you sounding defensive about this? Most of the world we live in can’t even read English so you’re actually way ahead with the language!
Having said that, I must confess that it has become increasingly important to have spoken English skills for most white collar jobs; A fair amount of weightage is given for communication proficiency at ‘point of entry’ level.
Yet, let me assure you that this skill isn’t rocket science and can be learnt within weeks. All you need to do is to sign up for a spoken English class in your city. There are also courses available with audio lessons etc online. However it is advisable to attend a class, since this would also give you a chance to clear your doubts on phonetics, intonation and the like.
In simple terms, all the rubbish in the para above, translates to the fact that in class you can talk and listen and someone will correct you if you go wrong. Hence it’s better. Period.
Meanwhile, do make it a point to talk to your friends (whoever you may be comfortable with) in English only. This in itself is a powerful method of learning languages. Listen carefully and speak confidently and soon enough you would be as fluent as they are.
All the best!
I read one question about appraisals last week. How do I ensure that I get the hike I think I deserve?
Thanks for writing in to Dear MxM. I just love these questions since the answer doesn’t take effort! The answer is simple my friend; WORK !
There is no shortcut to effort if you’re looking at sensible growth rates. If at all there is another criteria that is adopted, it’s most likely suspect! Hikes are about performance, and promotions are based on potential of the candidate. There is very little that can change this equation, no matter how fancy it is made out to be.
Stay focussed, forget about your career and work on craft. The stronger that becomes, the higher you go and you can be sure none will steal the thunder from you!
Your craft is yours (at the risk of being irritatingly repetitive!) and for keeps. Â The career will follow, no matter what.
Hence my advice to you is to stop worrying about your hike, and focus on the objectives and KRAs (Key Result Areas) you have been assigned. Everything else will fall in place. Amen.
I want to do a short-term course in Digital Marketing. Any recommendations of what I should do? Is a course necessary or can I just read up and learn the tricks of the trade?
Digital marketing like any other trade/ skill can be learnt through various methods and reading is one of them. However, it’s important to work on case studies and exchange notes etc and hence the course needs to be comprehensive.
While there are a few classroom and seminar-based training programmes available in metros, these may not suit your need since you don’t have any prior exposure to the subject. f
My recommendation would be to go to an educational portal like Coursera and sign up for a good course. You will find excellent courses offered by leading global universities. There are both paid and free courses on Coursera and you can decide basis the course and its synopsis.
This will also enable you to add this skill as part of your CV (Curriculum Vitae ) where the University reputation will make a positive difference.
Good luck, May you become one of the best Digital Marketing professionals in India !
My friends, its time to say ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ but not before I wish you a fantastic weekend with much beer and great food. Now when I say beer, it’s important you understand that I mean strictly ginger beer. So, yes drink much ginger and so on, and laugh your heart silly…
After all, life is about celebration; Don’t you dare lose out on that!
And we will be back next week, same space, same day….
Don’t overthink, just write in to us at editor@mxmindia.com with Dear MxM and your City in the subject line. Leave the rest to us. Because we care, we honestly do !
Jaisurya Das, the maverick media-evangelist, eats, sleeps and romances brands. Â His cerebral consulting interventions are aimed at making brands powerful and sustainable. Â He is also the Contributing Editor of MxM India. The views expressed in this column are his own.