Why the Online Advertising (SEM.PPC) is unable to see a galloping growth in India?

Were you frequently pissed off to read newspapers cluttered with lengthy versions of already known stories dished out by some self-righteous johnny on TV channels? Indian journos have made the social media, particularly Twitter, their core source of news-leads, beyond what they are handed out by their media owners on orders from the above. Media chaos & clutter have become insufferable burden in India. Who could be in mood for looking at advertisements and moved by them? Therefore it can be safely concluded that the remaining 50% of the Advertising budget is also going down the drain along-with the first half.

Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube & Instagram are fast emerging as the new media for targeting the youth but still the online advertising don’t seem to pick up at a scorching speed that it must. The mainstream media of TV, Print & Radio in India continue to garner the lion’s share of the total advertising spend in India. These three could collectively walk away with Rs. 54, 320 crore in 2015 against Rs 47, 490 cr in the previous year.

Did you notice fewer advertising campaigns in the Print media in 2015 India? But you couldn’t blame anyone else for the virtual clampdown on the out of home media (OOH) in the name of clutter & safety. And surely you must have noticed majority of the urban consuming class, including you, diving into a smart phone, tablet or laptop trying to kick up a discussion or catching up with breaking news.  In nutshell, all the advertisers, media moghuls and marketing experts agree that the media consumption scene is undergoing a metamorphic transformation headed towards ascendancy of the online medium over the rest.

Despite mushroom growth of domestic Online Commerce platforms and entry of Amazon in India the online advertising category has not seen the kind of spectacular growth that it deserves & the economy of India needs.  Although overwhelming majority experts & industry agree that digital advertising can target customers more efficiently than the traditional but still vast majority of advertisers have not begin to leverage its potential. Although the industry watchers forecast that this space may grow much beyond anticipated 15-20% in 2015. Let’s hope it happens for the good of India economy.

Could you tell the single major factor responsible for the poor growth of digital advertising in India? Well most would have guessed it right. It’s the Indian advertising agencies that failed to adapt to the changing media environment and create capacities & skills to guide the advertisers to go online. I wonder if you could guess the second factor that is equally responsible for slack growth in this category. Think of the profile of Indian Entrepreneur in MSME and Large & Medium sector. The lack of education and attitude towards technology of Indian Businessmen has stifled the growth of digital advertising in India.

But the single most blameworthy player in the entire saga, I call it the Gabbar in the story, is the advertising agencies that were born to handle traditional print and audio-visual media but lack the knowledge & skills to execute a great digital campaign. In my opinion the digital advertising in India would not grow at the desired pace till a new type of advertising agencies are born that understand the complexities of this exciting & economical medium.

Let’s hope Sundar Pichai & Satya Nadella could step forward and offer customized programs to educate the existing and new advertising agencies in India in the domain of digital advertising. 

Myth & Realty of CRM in India

A corporation must strategize its engagements plan with the customer in order to have a healthy top line over longer period. A corporation must attempt to create an engaging dialogue with target consumers and stimulate their engagement with the brand.

Reams of literature exist that stresses the need for focusing on the Consumer engagement & Delight in order to have financial profit from the enterprise. But what is the reality of the real market in India? How many consumer durables companies have a customer complaint/feedback button on their website? In the FMCG domain the scenario is no different. The E2E or B2B markets have different mechanisms to deal with negative feedback. No durable or FMCG company in India has a formulated Customer Grievance policy that could be set in motion in case of negative feedback & assist the executive to remedy the hurt/loss. What does it mean? All that ‘marketing talk’ on customer comes first are mere sham or myth? Check any company budget templates and try search the allocation &appropriation for complain redress?  Where is the marketing in India? 

Another important misunderstanding about marketing in Indian context is about the relationship between Consumer engagement & consumer satisfaction. As per wiki,” Customer engagement has been discussed widely online; hundreds of pages have been written, published, read and commented upon. Numerous high-profile conferences, seminars and roundtables have either had CE as a primary theme or included papers on the topic. 

Customer engagement marketing places conversions into a longer term, more strategic context and is premised on the understanding that a simple focus on maximizing conversions can, in some circumstances, decrease the likelihood of repeat conversions (Customer engagement interview with Richard Sedley). CE aims at long-term engagement, encouraging customer loyalty and advocacy through word-of-mouth.”

Customer Engagement in services is more critical than in the products because of the nature & ownership issues. Most Marketing managers focus more on satisfying the customers at the primary product level without strategizing the process of engagements. In a scenario of less importance to marketing in the deficit markets of India/ China nature most companies are confused in allocation of resources between Engagements & Satisfaction. Such a situation would mean the once you have a strategically great product, price & promotion you need not factor in the issues of engagements.

I have researched the problems with my client organizations and the market at large. The service companies must have a defined engagements policy that could maintain the consumer trust resulting in financial success for the corporation. Some of my recommendations are:

1.    Engaging consumer in pre, sale & post sale needs strategic stance.

2.    A satisfied customer can forget you so needs reminder

3.    A bad situation can be converted into a gain with the help of quality engagement.

4.    An engaged customer has more value than the satisfied only.

5.    Quantity & quality of the communication must be calibrated with a bias for quantity in deficit markets like India

How stupid, don't you know your great-grand-Dad?

North India is often riled for its penchant for flouting wealth and the family name to influence others while making a point about an individual's power & glory in the society. Don't you know who my father is? Well have you ever heard someone say,"I am not interested to know the name of your father, but do tell me who was your great-grand- father?"A two minute silence may follow.

How many people in the so called tradition bound 'Sanatan' society of India can tell the name of family beyond Dada Dadi & Nana Nani? Almost none may not be able to write a ten sentences long essay on their par-Dadda or par-Daddi ji. Do you think its inconsequential to know mambo jumbo about your family that has no bearing on the present? Come on, how can you swear to god about family values of India and still don't value the memory of your ancestors? Take a walk in any street in India to meet with many a Swamy roaming around to remind you about the Hindu DNA of your ancestors. Jokes apart, a society that forgets its past is condemned to repeat their blunders, So better be careful and take a peep into your past and carefully connect the dots backwards to know your future.

Lets get back to the present moment & dispel the disbelief about your grasp on it. How many can write the story of your parents, where were they born and how they lived before you arrived in their lives and the later period? Many can write an longer essay on cow, than her real mother. Same for the father. Therefore you need to seize the moment and sit down to write a long story of your family that you could leave behind for your great grand children. Facebook will not lead to redemption on this account. Like other SM sites, facebook has a limited life span. Therefore if you are interested to help your great grand kids to know you better then scribble all your memories on a piece of paper for the posterity.

Let me make few suggestion about how to go about this arduous task. To begin with ask your father mother to narrate their story to you, Record it. This may take more couple of sittings depending upon the journey s/he have been through. Once your have a draft story then make a plan to visit the locations associated with their past with the intent to take pics of school, university, house & jail where ever they have spent sometime. Try meet as many people as possible to dig out the other version of the incidents narrated by your parents. Such inquest may lead to better understanding of your loved ones. Finally, sit down wearing an editor's hat to create a collage that gives a near true picture of the life of your father or mother. Don't worry about the grammar so long as you paint the story in an interesting manner. 

Finally you could give no bigger gift to your parents than their own story, in form of a book, which they had forgotten in the struggle to make life better for you. Its good to know your great grand dad, and better to write the story of your mother father for the sake of their great grand kids. Some tradition excite all of us always.