On Marketing ...

Today, we have a stage where the content that people access is tailored to their requirements. With the web 2.0 explosion that we are seeing today, a user has the option to access more and more of content which is relevant to them, without having to go through lots of content which might not be of interest to them. Search has added to this, and given the way the activities of users can be tracked, companies are more and more (or at least, they need to ...) tailoring their offerings to meet the needs of customers.

The other day, however, i came across something quite different. Here was this advertisement for a Gelato chain (no, this has nothing to do with the flavours, which actually are very nice) ... They had an offer on a particular flavour. So, whats new? Nothing, actually. The advertisement mentioned all the places in Mumbai where you could go and avail of this offer. Again, whats unusual? Nothing ... except that i was in Bangalore!

This is the kind of marketing approach which companies should avoid ... today, there is so much information which is available, and so many marketing offers which are there, too ... more often than not, people dont even read them. How many, for example, read the inserts which come along with the newspaper? Not many ... which means that they are not having the desired impact. Organizations need to come up with offers customers need, rather than offers organizations need.