Continuous Learning
Revisiting Kotler in COVID times!
Since I had more time than usual over the past 2 months, I thought of re-reading Kotler's Marketing Management, the Holy Grail of marketing for B-School students of my generation. This one belongs to my wife of when she did her MBA from IIFT in 2015.
Reading this book today when I have almost 10 years of work experience, it gave me a whole new perspective. I felt I am in a better position today than I was over a decade ago in B-School to understand and make use of the strategies and concepts mentioned in the book. Back then, I was oblivious of the market realities and organizational constraints which every marketer has to navigate. Today with 10 years of market experience in sales & marketing, I feel more comfortable in picking and choosing what I can effect and what I can't effect thereby deciding my strategy.
It also gave me a fresh perspective on actions to be taken in times of economic hardships. I came across a few tit bits and pointers that made me wonder why I never re-read this book.
This is a broad summary of it:
1. Secure Market Share in Core Customer segment - lock in the core customers even if it means higher marketing spend
2. Push for Gaining Market Share in Core Customer segment - be aggressive
3. Engage with your Customers more than ever as their needs are also changing in the uncertain environment
4. Emphasize values and make your customer feel safe
5. Cut the Fat - drop spending on experimental activities
6. Don't discount your best brands, launch new value brands if needed, lose the weak products
My final and most important take-away was still - never stop reading, never stop learning. Over the past few years I had let this slip while I concentrated on 11 hour workdays. I realized these past 2 months how important it is to keep learning, be it leaning something new or re-reading old material.
Now that my birthday is coming up, I know what my next year's pledge is.
Since I had more time than usual over the past 2 months, I thought of re-reading Kotler's Marketing Management, the Holy Grail of marketing for B-School students of my generation. This one belongs to my wife of when she did her MBA from IIFT in 2015.
Reading this book today when I have almost 10 years of work experience, it gave me a whole new perspective. I felt I am in a better position today than I was over a decade ago in B-School to understand and make use of the strategies and concepts mentioned in the book. Back then, I was oblivious of the market realities and organizational constraints which every marketer has to navigate. Today with 10 years of market experience in sales & marketing, I feel more comfortable in picking and choosing what I can effect and what I can't effect thereby deciding my strategy.
It also gave me a fresh perspective on actions to be taken in times of economic hardships. I came across a few tit bits and pointers that made me wonder why I never re-read this book.
This is a broad summary of it:
1. Secure Market Share in Core Customer segment - lock in the core customers even if it means higher marketing spend
2. Push for Gaining Market Share in Core Customer segment - be aggressive
3. Engage with your Customers more than ever as their needs are also changing in the uncertain environment
4. Emphasize values and make your customer feel safe
5. Cut the Fat - drop spending on experimental activities
6. Don't discount your best brands, launch new value brands if needed, lose the weak products
My final and most important take-away was still - never stop reading, never stop learning. Over the past few years I had let this slip while I concentrated on 11 hour workdays. I realized these past 2 months how important it is to keep learning, be it leaning something new or re-reading old material.
Now that my birthday is coming up, I know what my next year's pledge is.
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