Hitting the Bull's-eye..!!

The Mahabharata, Hindu mythology's most interesting literature which teaches strategy of life, success, victory taking down competitor and above all, importance of defining your goal and hitting the bull's eye. When Pandavas went to swayamvar of Princess Draupadi, the task in front of all the princes was to hit an arrow in the eye of the fish, that to by seeing its reflection in water. 

In short, the task will check timing, setting of goal, aiming the desired goal and concentration. To most of the princes, the task seemed to be impossible and out of hundreds of prince, only one was able to hit the fish's eye, Arjun and rest is history. Arjun was married with Draupadi as he was considered to be most determined, goal oriented man among all, which led to his success.

Today's scenario of competition among companies is not different from the case of Draupadi's swayamvar. Here companies are the princes and customer is Draupadi. Do not take the literal meaning, just draw a parallel between the two scenarios. The company which is most determined and goal oriented, hits the bulls eye and wins Draupadi's heart.

History is filled with examples of companies using different promotional channels to promote their brands, products and services, which cater to a very wide audience. The exposure generated through their promotional campaigns was getting wasted on the audience which was not the target market for the company and thus the lot of promotional money was wasted. This led to low ROI in terms of brand awareness, recognition and recall, which in turn led to low awareness of products and services. 

Unfortunately just like hundreds of princes did not get Draupadi, these companies will also not get customers and even if they get, the return of investment per customer obtained will be much lower than those companies focusing on target customers.

Therefore, many companies are now getting inspired by Arjun and the theory of hitting the bull’s eye, and have changed their approach from hit and try method at a wide audience to aiming and focusing on the target segment. Through all the 7Ps of services, these companies are trying their level best to create a cost effective approach to allure target segment.

Among all the Ps, promotion is the most effective P through which companies are hammering the nail head. Promotion is all about creating buzz and if buzz is created among the target audience then it’s like hitting the bull’s eye.

Promotion strategies have taken totally new shape, companies are now using promotion channels which are more focused on tapping their target audience rather than using channels which promote products to full audience. This is approach is like a two blade sword, more efficient and more effective in promoting products or services.

Companies which are launching new products in the same market or product development are following this strategy primarily. These companies which want their new product to be popularized among the target market, create a bouquet of campaigns for the target market, packed in a beautiful outlook with a great fragrance, by which every potential customer is swayed with the tide of campaigns.

Something similar is happening in my own college, where a team of students has been selected by the Indian subsidiary of a Dutch consumer lifestyle-to- durables-to-health care giant, Philips India Ltd. Philips which is the dream company of every management student, has started tapping their potential customer by launching 'The Big Leap- A Live Marketing Challenge', a national level competition among students of various B-Schools.

Philips organized this campaign to promote its newly launched product in the consumer lifestyle category (men), which is named as 'Pro-Skin Advance Trimmer' (QT4011/15). 

It is a titanium blade equipped trimmer which increases its sharpness after more and more usage, and the USP of the product is its Durability...! Which is one of the prime important factor in the price sensitive Indian market.

So it has a perfect product for the target customer which is youth and to target that youth, it picked up B-schools colleges, where youth is in abundance. Moreover, B-School students who are career oriented are easily persuaded by the name of national competition, the experience while working on for the competition and the brand association with their Curriculum Vitaes.

Around 200 colleges across India, are involved in this competition with an average of 1500 students in each college. Thus the total reach of this campaign is more than 3 Lakhs that to the actual target audience. This level of effective reach that to by only spending few lakhs in prize money, promotional material and fees of a third party agency to handle this campaign across the country. What can be a better way to launch a new product than this...!

Company is running various campaigns throughout all the campuses using one of the most important part of integrated market communication i.e. digital media. Company has given phases to students being selected to create buzz among crowd by running various online competitions like #stubbleselfie and #likeabrat, where brat means bold rebellious and trimmed.

In these campaigns, students have to click their photographs and upload it on various social media sites. On-ground collaterals and online collaterals are stuck in the mind of the target customers. This strategy is working like a Disprin (quick action and dissolving fast) and everyone in campus is talking about the product and events conducted by the team. Almost each and every one in the college is aware about the product after the events and those beautiful videos made by the team. This strategy of company is increasing brand awareness in the target market straightaway and conversion from potential customer to real customer is being seen within the campus.

The 'hitting bulls eye strategy' is not confined only to the companies which want to promote their new products, but the companies which are new startups and the companies which are entering into new markets (diversification and market development) are also adopting this cost effective method of targeting.

Again taking the example of my college, Tripda a Brazilian company founded under Rocket internet incubator, which makes carpooling system easy and convenient entered into the Indian market in month of November 2014 and to kicked start their operations and marketing activities in the country.

It appointed their campus ambassadors in various colleges across city. This team of campus ambassadors is promoting the company among the other students in their respective colleges, which is the target audience. By this approach of the campus ambassador programme, it is giving a mutual benefit system to students of colleges and also making them a channel to promote the company,

Aim..focus..fire..Hit the bull's eye..!!