Kapil Tandon

How societal marketing is different?

/ Marketing
Marketing with a strong social message!

We are all familiar with the definition of marketing. Typically, marketing is defined as the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating, and satisfying customer requirements profitably. There are many different types of marketing: traditional marketing, digital marketing, content marketing etc. Today, I want to focus on one of them: Societal Marketing!

Societal marketing is a concept that emphasizes social awareness. Here a company markets a product not only with the consumer’s and the company’s needs in mind but also the long-term wellbeing of society. Societal marketing also focuses upon building goodwill among customers, quite often taking advantage of the relevant social messages. 

Do any advertisements come to your mind when I mention this type of marketing?

Look at these examples:

A very good example of an organization following societal marketing is the Body Shop. The company uses only natural, vegetable-based materials as ingredients for its products.

The cosmetic company Body Shop outlined its plan of pursuing corporate sustainability.

Unilever’s Dove had a Campaign for Real Beauty which was a worldwide marketing campaign launched in 2004. It aimed to build self-confidence in women and young children. It used various hashtags like #ChangeTheRulesofBeauty #RealBeauty etc.

In 2005, Procter & Gamble (P&G) as part of its CSR program ‘P&G Shiksha‘ with an aim to provide children from underprivileged backgrounds access to holistic education

Dove’s campaign in 2016 launched a campaign to highlight the diversity in beauty and help young girls with self-esteem workshops.
P&G launched a cause marketing campaign called ‘Shiskha’ to educate underprivileged children in the country

Let me caution you — this type of marketing is often confused with social marketing! So, let me quickly point out the differences:

While in social marketing, the social good is the primary objective; societal marketing focuses upon the profit generation for the organization as its primary objective. The social good is the secondary objective. 

When we apply marketing techniques or tools to tackle social problems, it is social marketing or socially responsible marketing. It can target an individual or a group or an organisation so that influence will spread throughout society. It is believed that social marketing can encourage people to adopt a behaviour that contributes to the larger interests of society. 

Look at these examples of social marketing:

Campaigns relating to Polio Drops or AIDS Awareness.

Amitabh Bachchan in a popular “do boond zindagi ke” campaign raising awareness for Polio vaccination.
World AIDS day 2019 campaign to spread awareness and debunk myths

You must have seen the billboards on Driving Discipline, Safe Driving by Mumbai Police.

Mumbai Police tackling the issue of traffic indiscipline with ads

On the other hand, Societal Marketing is a different ballgame altogether. Societal marketing blends social, company and customers interests! 

The Synergy of Sustainability and Societal Marketing

Companies that market organic ingredients or no chemicals or additives in their products consider consumer health in making their products. Marketing campaigns that focus on consumer health fall into societal marketing.

Another example of societal marketing is the new trend of eco-friendly marketing. In their marketing, many companies have started to emphasize that their manufacturing process does not damage the ozone layer or that they make organic products or simply, that their products are recyclable.

Some companies market themselves as “green” and emphasize that they use all recycled products in the day-to-day operation of the business, as well.

Companies that do not import raw materials practice a more contained form of societal marketing: they market their products as “obtained from local sources.”

These are all examples of societal marketing. The focus remains on appealing to the environmentally-conscious consumer for the sale of the company’s product!

Look at some more examples of Societal Marketing:

Bamboo straws have replaced plastic straws
Unilever intends to use recyclable tubes for packaging in the next four years

BENEFITS OF SOCIETAL MARKETING

The advantages for the society include social welfare, customer satisfaction, better standard of living.

It helps in increasing sales and market share for the company. 

It facilitates expansion and growth in the long term.

The company or the organization gains by way of creating an edge over the competition, building a positive brand image, and improving long-term customer relationships.

When manufacturers pay good wages to their workers, this builds goodwill in society. 

Adopting environment-friendly green approaches could help a company win over many customers in the long run.

Lastly, I would like to add the societal marketing concept calls upon marketers to build social and ethical considerations into their marketing practices. They must balance and juggle the often conflicting criteria of company profits, consumer wants and satisfaction, and public interest. If they do it well, the pay-off is great!

Let me know in the comments what advertisements came to your mind while reading this article!

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Entrepreneurship – An Exciting Opportunity! #GreatMinds

/ Business, Great Minds

It is more exciting and lucrative to be an entrepreneur, an intrapreneur, or a freelancer than being in a secure job. Entrepreneurship is a career opportunity if you want to go up the social hierarchy or economic hierarchy. Let us understand that future growth will come from new ideas. Therefore, we must be ready to invest in the creation of new ideas! We should all become entrepreneurs. Becoming an entrepreneur is not a business model – it is entirely your mindset that pushes you to do so. Identify your dream business and then put your 100 per cent into it. Employ competent people (build a great team), deploy world-class processes, and have a good mentor who can be your friend, philosopher, and guide through various stages of your business. 

Here’s what Robert Toru Kiyosaki, an American businessman and author of ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’, has to say:

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Let me know in the comments section.

In this ongoing series #GreatMinds on my blog, I am shining a spotlight on the important ideas that some very successful people keep talking about in their public life.

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What makes you a great leader? #GreatMinds

/ Great Minds, Leadership

As we all know – leadership involves getting things done through people. Leadership is all about helping, encouraging, inspiring, and nurturing members of an organization and teams to give their best to accomplish organizational goals. It is the quality of the top leadership that sets the tone for how effectively and efficiently a corporate entity is being managed or navigated. Leadership comprises influencing members of an enterprise to endeavour willingly to achieve group objectives. Leadership has three dimensions, namely, the leader, the follower, and the situation. All leaders need robust personality attributes like vision, self-belief, integrity, courage and result focussed approach to function. These, however, must be accompanied by external qualities like communication skills, teamwork, attentiveness, commitment, and visibility.

Here’s what Tom Peters, an American writer on business management practices, has to say:

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Let me know in the comments section.

In this ongoing series #GreatMinds on my blog, I am shining a spotlight on the important ideas that some very successful people keep talking about in their public life.

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Finding your happiness

/ Motivation

Am I happy?

Are you happy?

Are we happy as a family?

We all keep pondering over such questions…

And remain searching for the answer… 

Happiness might have been with you all along – you just may not have taken the time to realize it was much less complicated than you once believed. 

Happiness may mean different things to different people. Let us have a look at the findings from the four studies on happiness from around the world. (The following information is listed from Verywell mind, a popular website resource for psychology):

  • The British valued positive change and derived the joy and happiness that comes from achieving something.
  • Americans grew happy when those around them were happy. According to them, people who are surrounded by happy people are more likely to become happy in the future.
  • Australians became happy when remembering positive memories. Simply thinking back to a time in your life when you were overcoming a challenge or to a time when you went through a significant life experience that changed you for the better could be effective in boosting your mood, and therefore, your happiness.
  • South Koreans were happiest when engaged in collectivistic and spiritual pursuits. People prioritizing spirituality were the most likely to be happy, followed by those who valued social relationships. People who placed the most weight on external achievements (money, education, work, leisure) were the least likely to be happy.

These findings show that the definition of happiness differs from culture to culture. The definition of happiness in our own lives changes depending on the stage of life we are in. The big lesson that I have learned in my life is that our happiness, for the most part, is also in our hands. Despite the everyday hassles that we face and the hurdles in our path, we have to choose to be happy. What helps with this choice is developing a rich perspective about the situation. You should be able to see beyond your immediate pain point and look at the larger picture or the lesson at the moment. To be happy, you need to not only find your purpose but also find your people.

Let me end the article with a popular anecdote that I read recently:

Once in a management class, as part of an ice-breaker game, the professor gave a red balloon to every student. The students had to inflate it, write their name on it and throw it in the hallway. The professor ensured that the balloons were dispersed across the room. Next, he instructed the students to find their balloon within the next 5 minutes! As soon as he started the timer, the room broke into commotion. Everyone was scrambling for the balloon with their name on it. Despite a hectic search, no one found their balloon when the timer stopped. 

At that point, the professor asked the students to take the first balloon that they found and hand it to the person whose name was written on it. In less than 5 minutes, everyone had their balloon!

The professor said to the students: ‘These balloons are like happiness. We will never find it if everyone is looking for their own. But if we care about other people’s happiness, we’ll find ours too.”

Isn’t that a wonderful insight?

Reference

Cuncic, Arlin. “How to Pursue More Happiness and Add Positivity in Your Life.” Verywell Mind, 15 Dec. 2020, www.verywellmind.com/how-to-find-happiness-4584480.

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Ensuring Fair Pay to Your Employees #GreatMinds

/ Great Minds, Management

To ensure a fair pay policy in our organization – we must align pay for a given role with the market value of that job by adhering to the best benchmarking practices. The requirement of specific skills for certain jobs and the performance of individuals at jobs being performed by them should also be taken into consideration. According to Fayol, wage rates and method of their payment should be fair, proper, and satisfactory. Fair remuneration increases workers’ efficiency and boosts their morale. Fair remuneration practices in any organization also play a crucial role in improving relations between employees and the management.

Here’s what Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, has to say:

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Let me know in the comments section.

In this ongoing series #GreatMinds on my blog, I am shining a spotlight on the important ideas that some very successful people keep talking about in their public life.

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Do organizations resist change?#GreatMinds

/ Great Minds, Management

If you want to be successful in life – go ahead – accept and embrace the change. Resistance to change will be easy to spot in an organization that has a culture of trust and transparent communication. In the workplace, where the employees are engaged and have positive interpersonal relationships, such resistance is also less likely to occur. Employees feel free to tell their boss what they think and to have open exchanges with managers. When a change is introduced in this environment, the resistance to change is minimized if it is accompanied by a lot of discussion and employee involvement. Resistance is also minimized if there is a widespread belief that a change is needed. Change management is a systematic approach to dealing with change both from the perspective of an organization and the individual.

Here’s what Charles Darwin, an English biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution, has to say:

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Let me know in the comments section.

In this ongoing series #GreatMinds on my blog, I am shining a spotlight on the important ideas that some very successful people keep talking about in their public life.

Do organizations resist change?#GreatMinds Read More »

Learning Beyond the Classroom

/ Motivation
Learning experiences outside the classroom are forms of experiential learning.

The process of learning is hardly ever complete within the classroom – the learning beyond the classroom is also essential for the overall development. The lessons we learn outside the classroom are equally, if not more, important than the ones we learn inside. Outside the class – we learn how to live life – the most important lesson of all. 

Learning experiences outside the classroom are forms of experiential learning. These experiences are rooted in the simple principle that “experience is the best teacher.” Under this framework, learning outside of the classroom is an active process, wherein students encounter various problems, construct novel hypotheses, test for real solutions, and interact with others to make sense of the world around them.

Learning beyond the classroom takes a student out of the educational “closet” – so to speak – and places them directly into the “real” world. Students have been found to better grasp skills and concepts that are presented to them directly and in context. When learners are “hands-on,” it allows them to reach an entirely new level of understanding.

In my active role as a professor of management and strategy over the past decade, I came across many students who were not great as scholars. They did not score high grades either. But then, they were brilliant as all-rounders and adopted to the real world very well. Then, there were also many backbenchers who often bunked classes. Eventually, they became successful as businesspersons and entrepreneurs. The point I am trying to make is — the holistic development of a student’s personality is not directly related to the classroom performance. There are umpteen of peripheral factors that come into play and impact the eventual outcome.

The time spent in co-curricular activities or college festivals and cultural programs or even something as ordinary as eating with friends in the college canteen, all these experiences shape who we are. For the most part, we remember these moments more than we actually remember lessons and syllabi. Showing up for friends and their families when they need us most, chipping in to help a junior or pursuing hobbies that seem inconsequential all add up to the final tally.

I was inspired to write about learning beyond classroom today after I read a short story sent by my colleague, friend, and a reader of the blog: Professor Sudarshan Srinivasan. I wonder how he finds such amazing stories to add to his ever-growing collection! I wanted to share this heartwarming tale that makes us realise that success is more than just marks!  

“Education is not preparation for life; Education is life itself!”

~ John Dewey

The teacher looking at the ceiling fan at the corona treatment facility run by the state government was about to pick up a book to read when the phone rang. It was an unregistered number and usually, she avoids such calls. However; alone at the hospital with nothing else to do, she decided to pick it up. 

The firm male voice introduced himself, “Good day Madam I am Souji Gopal Krishna calling from Dubai. Am I speaking to Seema Miss?”

The teacher was curious about who would that be. “Yes, you are talking to Seema.”

After a pause, he continued, “Madam a few years ago, you were my class teacher when I was in class 10!”

The teacher couldn’t place him. She said, “I am admitted to the hospital with Covid 19. Is it anything important or can you call me later?”

Souji said, “Madam I came to know about your illness from Subbu, the class topper of batch 1995.”

The teacher said, “Well, I know Subbu quite well, but I am unable to place you.” 

“Madam,” Souji interrupted, “hope you would recollect the tall dark boy who was your biggest headache. I was at the backbench! “

The teacher laughed at the thought of the backbenchers!

The conversation was getting interesting and she kept the book down on the side table. She pulled up the pillow against the headboard and made herself comfortable and asked, “how come you remember me now, all of a sudden?”

“Madam,” Souji said, “when I came to know that you are hospitalized, I thought of organizing a conference call with all the available friends of the class of 1995.” He continued, “I managed to get 7 of us online. They are listening to our conversation madam. We just called to wish you a speedy recovery.”

The teacher was suddenly fumbling for words, after a long pause, she asked, “Now tell me about you. Where are you?”

Souji continued, “Madam, I am in Dubai, I run my own business of logistics. I came here in search of a job and finally ended up as a successful entrepreneur. There are about 2000 people at my establishment. When we were in class 10, you were a terror when it came to discipline. But at the same time, you generously extended support and instilled confidence in the noisiest and unruly fellows at the backbench. I was their leader at the backbench. 

Madam, I got the maximum amount of impositions from you, quite often you made me stand outside the class and sometimes inside the class, stand up on the bench. All those experiences standing outside the class and sometimes towering over everyone in the class, standing on the bench, etc, helped me later in life. The standup exercise up on the bench has actually helped me to get a bird’ eye view over the entire class. I am applying those lessons in my life and business. Madam, Whatever I am today I owe it to you.”

The teacher was at a loss for words. She was choking back tears. As Souji went on with his story, the teacher went back a few decades to the class of 1995. She was deep in thought, trying to recollect fragments of the past… 

“The class of 1995. Yes the tall dark fellow in the class, he was the leader of nuisances! Always late in class. 

The guy who used to bunk classes and go to movies! The one who never used to do homework. The guy who repeatedly came to the teachers’ room to negotiate on the impositions. 

The nightmare of teachers and the darling of the class!

Yes, he was well accepted by his friends.” 

Her train of thoughts was interrupted.

“HELLO TEACHER,” said the voice on the other end of the line. “Teacher, are you there?”

She said, “yes I am.” She continued, “Souji, I never heard of you after school. I am so surprised and happy that you called, and had your friends join in on this conference call too! Tell me about each of you.” Of the other six in the group call, there were three engineers from three continents. One doctor from Delhi, A priest who is at Shillong, and finally Subbu the class topper. Subbu said, “Madam, I am a chartered accountant. I am the CFO of Souji!”

The teacher couldn’t believe it! 

He added, “Yes madam, before joining Souji I was with a leading Consultancy, but working with Souji, I am a satisfied professional and a happy family man.”

By the time each of them had narrated their stories, it was almost 40 minutes, Souji apologized for the long call and wished his beloved teacher a speedy recovery and a promise to meet her during his next trip to Kerala. 

Alone at the Covid 19 isolation ward, the teacher was in tears. 

Happiness swelled her heart. She thought— “Here is a boy who applied all his out of syllabus and out-of-class lessons in real life!

By standing on the last bench, he developed a birds-eye view. 

By standing outside the class, he had a larger vision than all the others who were limited within the 4 walls. By getting caught for bunking class, at a very young age, he learned to mitigate and overcome risks. He acquired the art of negotiation by coming to the teachers’ room during lunch hours to reduce the number of impositions. The marks I thought he had lost for Maths were actually saved by him for real-life application & Subbu who got 100 % for maths seems to be working with the numbers saved by Souji. 

Amazing!”

This story is inspired by a real-life episode of a high school Principal. This fable is dedicated to the innumerable entrepreneurs out there who believe that

10 % of learning is from school. 

20 % from peers and 

70 % on the go

For almost two years now, this lockdown due to the pandemic has taken a heavy toll on children. There are so many lost opportunities for character-building. Sitting at home & learning digitally, they may score marks. But, what about life application? We need both the Soujis and Subbus in our society to evolve! Don’t you think?

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The Ingredients of Team Work #GreatMinds

/ Great Minds, Management

Teamwork is a coordinated and cooperative action of a group whose members participate responsibly and enthusiastically to accomplish a task. A supportive environment is of great consequence. Getting people to work together effectively is the primary task of a manager. Clear communication and motivation is the glue that holds the team together. The success of a manager depends on this creative fusion of assertion and affection on their part, while the team members need to bring productivity, sensitivity, motivation, and cooperation to the task at hand. All successful teams demonstrate the same essential features: strong and effective leadership; the establishment of precise objectives; making informed decisions; each member contributing responsibly; the ability to act quickly upon these decisions; communicating freely; mastering the requisite skills and techniques; having clear targets for the team to work towards; and – above all- finding the right balance of people prepared to work together for the common good of the team!

Here’s what Oliver Wendell Holmes, an American physician, poet, and polymath, has to say:

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Let me know in the comments section.

In this ongoing series #GreatMinds on my blog, I am shining a spotlight on the important ideas that some very successful people keep talking about in their public life.

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Group Decision Making #GreatMinds

/ Great Minds, Management

There are two major methodologies for decision making – the authoritarian style and the group method. In the authoritarian method – the executive makes the decision and explains the decision to the group to gain their acceptance. In some studies, the time breakdown for a typical operating decision is somewhat like this: Making decisions- 5 minutes, Explaining the decision – 30 minutes, and Gaining acceptance – 30 minutes. Total 65 minutes. In the Group method – the group shares ideas do the analysis and agree upon a decision to implement. Studies show that the group often has values, feelings, and reactions quite different from those the manager supposes they have. Interestingly, the time breakdown in this method is somewhat like this: Group making decision – 30 minutes, Explaining the decision – 0 minutes, Gaining acceptance – 0 minutes. Total 30 minutes. 

Clearly, group decision making is better from an efficiency standpoint. Moreover, it is well known that people prefer to implement the ideas they think of. They will work harder and more energetically to implement their idea than they would implement an idea imposed on them by others. 

Here’s what Bill Cahan, an architect and founder of Cahan & Associates., has to say:

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Let me know in the comments section.

In this ongoing series #GreatMinds on my blog, I am shining a spotlight on the important ideas that some very successful people keep talking about in their public life.

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Insulating SMEs Against Financial Risks

/ Business
Read on for specific suggestions to insulate your small business against financial risks.

Planning a start-up in the SME space? That is indeed a great idea! If you work smart for an initial period of, say 18 to 30 months, there are fair chances that you will make a reasonable success of your venture. 

When I say – work smart – I mean that you strictly adhere to the roadmap provided in your business plan document. Avoid the time and cost over-runs, and most importantly – let there be no changes in the project scope. Adhere to the project scope outlined in the business plan and do not make any changes – unless there are exceptionally important reasons to do so. 

Apart from exercising time, cost, and scope control – you should also mobilize the best possible human, financial, informational, and physical resources for your business/project – the human resources being the most important. Identify and position competent people in your business/project team, take good care of them, and you are done – your people will now take care of your business.

There are certain other aspects too that will warrant your specific attention – these are creating an atmosphere of learning and growth within the organization, establishing world-class business processes, instituting proper customer care and support systems, creating suitable checks and balances, and MIS. Along with all this – adhering to well-known management and organizational practices (like unity of command, delegation principle, authority/responsibility relationships, teamwork, effective de-centralization, and others) will be the icing on the cake. 

I am now making a few specific suggestions to insulate your small and medium business/project from financial risks. The suggestions given below are not to be looked at in isolation – these can be suitably blended with general business guidance given above – and the resultant knowledge can be deployed to insulate your business/project against all kinds of financial risks. 

Avoid over-capitalization

The project must be adequately funded, and the entrepreneur should keep their external borrowings as low as possible till they can reasonably insulate their business against initial start-up risks. The risk of over-capitalization shows up even when we change the project scope unnecessarily as explained earlier. 

Avoid the temptation to borrow more

There is a danger in borrowing more. This increases the interest burden on the enterprise. And the unnecessary interest burden may kill the project and/or jeopardize future profitability. 

Have a balanced capital structure

The proper choice of the debt:equity ratio will help the entrepreneur understand that to what extent he/she can leverage financial resources for the growth of the enterprise. For a first-generation entrepreneur who is embarking upon a small business with his limited means (equity), it will be a good measure not to create a big asset base unless there are valid reasons to do so. Going slow and developing the business in small modules should be a good strategy for eventual success. 

Cost-Benefit Analysis is vital

Once the project has been implemented and commercial operations have commenced – it will be of utmost necessity for the entrepreneur to undertake regular cost-benefit analyses before implementing any of the major operating decisions. The entrepreneur can resort to renting or lease options to start with and make a permanent investment in assets later. All decisions on advertising and interest costs must be questioned twice – these and similar other costs, wherever and whenever possible, must be contained/avoided. 

Poor WC management can cripple operations

Many new projects fail during the operations phase for want of effective working capital and cash flow management. Regular internal monitoring of the Cash-Credit account must therefore be done in active consultation and collaboration with the lending bank. Levels of stocks/inventories, debtors and creditors should be effectively monitored to ensure good liquidity. 

Cut unnecessary costs and expenditure

We must keep an eye on all avoidable expense items including promotion, advertising and interest costs. Salaries and wages once started cannot be discontinued. It will be, therefore, necessary to build the organizational team in stages. Unless and until the enterprise can afford a full-fledged salary and wages bill, one should try to manage with retainers, part-timers, and outsourcing options. 

Working towards Profits

This will call for creating adequate value addition in operations to enhance financial surplus, profits, and wealth creation. Your products and services must conform to the needs and wants of customers and should be regularly modified based on customers’ feedback. Cost of creation/production of goods and services must be reduced through good shop floor management, effective supply chain, expenditure control, better efficiencies, and value engineering. We must build necessary distinctive competencies and consequently the competitive advantage to have an edge over competitors. Each activity in the value chain must be improved to create better “value add” and consequently the higher profit.

Leaving you with an insightful quote on risk management by Peter L. Bernstein who was American financial historian, economist and educator:

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