‘For business aiming to create a lasting brand, fostering a robust community is crucial’

The e4m Pride of India (POI) Chennai Conference 2023 held on January 24 welcomed six outstanding leaders from diverse industries to discuss the significant topic: Powerful Marketing Strategy as a Key to Success. The panellists were Arvind Naidu, Head of Marketing, KTV Health Food Private Limited, Vijay Kapoor, Founder & CEO, Derby Men, Saradha Govindarajan, Chief Financial Officer, Veranda Learning, Sathish Kumar Santhanam, Managing Director, DAC Developers, and T S Raghu, Sales and Marketing Head, ARS Steel along with Bala Manian as the panel moderator.

Bala Manian initiated the discussion by recounting her entry into the advertising industry and highlighting the shifts in marketing budget allocation from the late 20s to the present. She remarked, “There was a time when dinosaurs were walking the earth and I got into advertising where you had two or three segments where you broadly put your money in,” she shared.

Arvind Naidu, Head of Marketing, KTV Health Food Pvt. Ltd., took the discussion forward and mentioned, “We are a very traditional organization, so, initially we catered to ATL which was TV, radio, print. As time goes by, consumers are more towards their mobiles, and the consumption pattern today has varied into different streams like audio video, games, etc. The contribution towards digital has drastically increased. Digital today has become a world by itself. So, from being a traditional organization to capturing eyeballs, our spending now caters differently.”

Continuing the conversation, Vijay Kapoor, Founder & CEO of Derby Men, underscored the distinction between marketing and advertising. “Marketing and Advertising are two different words altogether, advertisement is all about push and marketing is all about pull,” he mentioned.

Furthermore, he said “We need to be where the attention of customers is, which is now mobile phones,” emphasizing the necessity to go digital to engage and reach more customers for your brand.

Moving forward, panel moderator Bala Manian emphasized the significance of educating customers and selecting the appropriate product to transform them into a brand.

In this context, TS Raghu, Sales and Marketing Head, ARS Steel, added, “If you give the right quality product and place it at the right price, then only educating the customer will support you to get that. So, we've done that and we are finding a lot of success.”

Taking the discussion forward, Saradha Govindarajan, Chief Financial Officer, of Veranda Learning, talked about content marketing as the best marketing strategy in the education industry. “I'm giving a free sample of my product and showcasing what I teach, and how I teach to attract the right audience. You always have the mind share of the target audience and that's where the content marketing is helping us”.

Moreover, she also shared that the growing use of YouTube channels in the education sector has led to negative costs of acquisition.

As the panel nearing its end, Vijay Kapoor emphasized the importance of community building in crafting an innovative marketing strategy. He explained, “Community building is to see and target whom you want and how you are going to build them so that you're able to influence them the right ways”. He also shared that for businesses aiming to establish a lasting brand, fostering a robust community is crucial for shaping a positive product image in the market.