When things start losing meaning

There must be a guy who first started using the word 'marketing'. Now folks from my parents' generation talk about any brand initiative that disgusts them as 'marketing'.

There must be someone who defined the term 'networking' and showed its importance. Now everywhere people are out to 'network'. And very often, rather uncomfortably.

There must be someone who first used the words 'fine jewelry'. Now most jewelry brands, whatever the hell their offerings, say 'fine'.

What do you do when big and important concepts start losing meaning? Why did these concepts become meaningful in the first place?

It's a machine after all

I'm talking about software programs and platforms. Martjack and many such ready e-commerce platforms say, set up your shop in a few minutes. And after that what?

It's a widely prevalent notion that set up an e-commerce shop and it's all done. E-commerce in general is growing and so orders will flow in.

Platforms are nothing but engines or machines. They consume energy, effort and skills. And informational engines are more complex than any other type. There's a learning curve to using these platforms and becoming efficient.

After the deployment of such a machine, there's still the big question. Who's gonna buy from your shop? For though google's working, it's working for all others as well. And it's working big time for the leaders who have learned and have been running the engines ever more efficiently and effectively. There was a time when merely deploying the engine would ensure some good results. But that was when there was a scarcity of such engines in the first place. Now it's all common.

The challenge again is one of connection. How? With whom? When? If this is the real challenge, I suggest do not deploy any such engines. Don't waste your time on learning machines. Instead, use the simplest and most flexible tool available and showcase your stuff in as easy a manner as possible. And spend great effort and time in connecting.

Managing the 'e' in e-commerce

Even as I try to get missi.in going, I realize it's a very different ball game and it's a mammoth challenge.

The thing is all about that 'e'.

It means we need to have good photography skills for good visual merchandising on the web.

It means we need to be good at graphic design; that in turn means we need to be good at certain popular graphic design software.

It means we need to be in general very good at structuring information.

It means we need to be good at coding.

It means we need to be good at writing.

It means we need to be good at interacting.

It means we need to be extremely good and we need to be real fast along with being good.

Sometimes

My mind also runs dry
Words aplenty
Sentences just don't form

But I wrote these lines
In a poem, I write sentences
About the sentences that just don't form

Dead end.

Begging and marketing

I was sitting in the car by the roadside when a beggar-girl with a little child in her hands approached.

She uttered a few words when I responded with, "Move away." And she started 'begging' more intensively. It took a few minutes of my ignoring (keeping silent or faking indifference, that is) to make her go away from that place.

My guess is if I hadn't responded in the first place with that 'move away', she would've left sooner. Eliciting response itself is a victory. Positive or negative, it spurs the person trying to get a response into doing a little bit more.

The creepy thing is faking indifference. That kills. Or rather sucks. Now whatever it is you wanna kill, just fake.

Architecture of marketing

Since Mississippi is located in a shopping-center like building and yet has to do a hell lot to get walk-ins, makes me think about the relationship between architecture and marketing.

As you see in the map above, that's where the shop is. Doesn't face the main road closest to the shop. In that, it flouts one of the important principles 'retail is location' (exclude internet retail from this discussion).

We are trying to mitigate the 'lack of impactful location' through advertising and calling and putting up glow-sign which faces the road and so on. I reckon though, nothing beats a great location.

Location's got 2 aspects: the complex of which the shop is a part, and the placement of the shop itself. Was referring to the second point above. Now, a little bit about the first point.

The complex is neat. But that's the impression you'll truly form only once you enter it. From the outside, it is like any other building. A lot of visitors/prospects simply have trouble locating the building coz of its non-descriptiveness.

Now imagine the building modeled by taking inspiration from Qutub Minar! Or may Eiffel Tower. Or perhaps Victoria Terminus. You get it. It would attract attention on its own. And this might rub off positively on the shop owners/tenants in the building.

Architects are busy making maximum use of the space and so are trying to build dry, cubical-conducive buildings. But buildings work and accrue value (apart from the automatic appreciation of value in real estate) coz of their attractiveness, uniqueness and character which are all a result of architecture.

Goddess of English

I just came across this interesting bit. And only now.

A Dalit writer called Chandra Bhan Prasad, along with the dalit community of a village called Banka in UP, has built a temple to worship the Goddess of English!

An excerpt from a write-up on the BBC site:

About two feet tall, the bronze statue of the goddess is modelled after the Statue of Liberty.

"She is the symbol of Dalit renaissance," says Chandra Bhan Prasad, a Dalit writer who came up with the idea of the Goddess of English

"She holds a pen in her right hand which shows she is literate. She is dressed well and sports a huge hat - it's a symbol of defiance that she is rejecting the old traditional dress code.

"In her left hand, she holds a book which is the constitution of India which gave Dalits equal rights. She stands on top of a computer which means we will use English to rise up the ladder and become free for ever."

Incredible!

It's a sort of socio-cultural development but I gather quite a few marketing tips from this event.

If people are stuck up about religion, seed the change in the religion itself, instead of trying to generate an anti-religious sentiment. Am sure it must have been some work convincing at least some of the dogmatic people in the community.

And if God is the greatest and if God's word is the highest command, then make God command the change.

They've also announced that they'll celebrate Oct 25 every year as English Day. Of course, if you have Ram Navmi, Shivratri, Holi and so on, why not English Day for Goddess of English.

Still early days but this should yield interesting and positive results. Great initiative.

You can go through the BBC article here.

Pic courtesy: http://www.bbc.co.uk/