CEOs Forum : Sensible Marketing & Branding

Are you Planning for Sensible Marketing and Branding?

Some Learnings from Fisherman

This is designed for all CEOs and Marketing heads and all managers but presented at CEOs Forum for Aquaculture Industry. Hope you will like it...

After successful CEOs Conference in Bangkok for Livestock Industry, I was invited to address the CEOs of Aquaculture Industry at Hyderabad, India.

Considering the profile of industry and natural strength of aquaculture products, it was important to discuss issues bothering industry leaders. 

I tried to present my thoughts in simplified graphic manner because life is not as complicated as we make it.

If product is naturally good, consumers are willing to buy a product, market is growing and will remain evergreen, in such scenario why your products are not able to capture the space, which they deserves. 

In my view, answer to such fundamental questions should not be complicated. 

No one can understand customers better than a fisherman. Let me build my thoughts around fisherman's experience. I hope you will like it. 

Please spend time on each slide and read all graphics and statements in graphics very carefully. Life of CEO is not that difficult. You can also enjoy high pressure jobs, provided you are in right job

Think about it.  

If you are not fully prepared, why you want to jump in the market?

Understand your tools better. What about your team, do they understand the way you understand?

Don't jump to action without proper planning.

Please spend time and resources in planning itself. Plan better and identify why things can go wrong. Re-plan and re-evaluate. It is easy to control in organization than to control in turbulent ocean i.e. market place.

Refine your action plan before you hit the market. Market is a risky place like ocean bad planning may cost you heavily and sometime organization may sink.

There is no alternate to planning.  

It is very expensive to learn from your own mistakes especially in market place. The best and the cheapest way is, Learn from others mistakes. 

Market is too big and always there. Market is place with huge biological and economical diversity. Consumers choice and preferences may not be the same...

This diversity is actually brings the fun in life of CEOs (otherwise how boring it can be, if you have to make same product every day and doing same thing every day)

Now, do you understand your customers well? if yes, is your product ready to meet their requirements?

Are you sure what you are saying in your message, also delivering the same? If not, this is breach of trust. it is just a matter of time customers will leave you.

By the time you change your product offerings or even CEO, customers will not come back easily. 

Delay in take-off of the product in market even after extensive promotion it indicates customers are not sure about either the product or about the claims made. 

One of the reason can be bad prior experience with your products, people or promises. 

Sensible Customers are always loyal to their own money. His first objective is to get best deal for his money for his own benefit. Are you delivering? Think about it. Evaluate your offering to your Customers.  Please also remember, every customer is not same. 

Your pricing policy should not ignore the signals from the market. 

Why to jump in hot water always? Find out the right place for fishing means looking for customers. No need to compete where everyone is fight with each other. 

Don't ignore changing market places... this may be new to you and you may not understand all aspects of new development, so what.. explore...may be this is the time to learn new skills for you. 

Consumers also learn in market place. Promotional schemes may not work always the way you have planned. 

Product Quality is one thing which CEOs must monitor personally. All other things can be justified in market but poor quality product in market place only shows the mindset of the CEOs running the business. 

The biggest challenge is Right Human Resource. One of the reason for poor human resources is less focus on developing right skill sets for people at all levels. "One shoe fit all" will not work . 

Market itself is learning place. No CEO can ever know every thing about market place. It is a fascinating university for all aspects of business. Go and learn as much as you can from market. "Not having enough information" means "market not explored properly".  

Customer knows what they want. Do we know what they want? Customer is never wrong  but very often we can be. If he is buying and enjoying what he wants, he is right. (she may not be thinking the way we are thinking about our product). If we are not able to sell, something is wrong at our end.

Best way to learn fast is take customers' feedback. Interact with them, one to one, not just through questionnaire or through market research agencies. Third party survey can mask or ignore many important signals given by the customers. 

Bad Planning means blood (red ink) all over. 

Who will win the game? NOT EVERY ONE. The best player will win the game. Improve your skill sets and products, don't blame the competition. They are there to defeat you in the game, not to support you. 

If I can't recognize you. How I am going to pay you (premium)?

If you are not visible, I don't have time to look for you or hunt for you? 

Why I should change my existing brand?

How do I know as customer, that you (as company) are always there with the same quality promise? You will know mislead or deceive me. Pl. show me your credentials. 

Is this the first time you are making promise or you have keep earlier promises as well. 

Any  reference list please...

Market will tell and educate about you and your product. Customers will not go by your statements or advertisements always. 

Caution: Bad product will hit customers only once, but it will hurt you and your company always.

It means, focus on fundamentals of business. Business is not a rocket science because consumers are simple in approach. Consumers look for sensible products and sensible offers. Are we offering the same? 

Try it, you can do it. Make life simple. Make sensible profit and enjoy life. 

You take care of your customers, customers will take care of your business interests.   

All the best.