The title pretty much describes it all. Marketing is a discipline with tremendous potential and its pursuit as a career very fulfilling i.e. rewarding. This talk at AICAR B-School draws on anecdotes from my two decades plus as a marketer.

1. 10 Most Important Things
I have learnt
in my
Marketing Career
Rohit Varma
Asian Institute of Communication & Research,
Neral
18.12.09

2. a.k.a.
10 things they never teach you
about marketing
at an MBA School !

3. My Marketing assignments to date
Market research – industrial
Sales – industrial
New business development
Consumer sales & marketing
Consumer sales
Product Development
Marketing Information System
Brand Management
Head of Marketing
Digital Marketing
Marketing consulting
Marketing Prof. (visiting !) ?
Excludes the non-marketing non-sales assignments
non- non-

4. My Marketing assignments to date
Hoechst India
Market research – industrial
Sales – industrial
New business development
Consumer sales & marketing
VST Industries
Consumer sales
Product development
Marketing information system
Brand management
Rediff.com
Head of Marketing
- advertising, PR, BTL, market research, Mkt. Info system
Aptech Limited
Digital marketing
Marketing consulting

5. Which are your favourite
marketing success stories ?

6. What is marketing ?

7. Marketing is the art & science
of meeting customer needs

8. Marketing is the art & science of
meeting customer needs,
profitably

9. Marketing management is the
art & science of meeting
customer needs, profitably

10. 1. Marketing is not well
understood
Not many people understand it : the field
has changed, 4P, 3A, 4 C ?
More companies in India today are ‘sales-
‘sales-
led’, ‘finance-led’, ‘production-led’ etc. &
‘finance- ‘production-
not ‘marketing-led’
‘marketing-

11. 1A. Marketing is not a profession
In India, and probably elsewhere,
marketing is usually seen as a practise,
practise,
not a profession
This is not the fate of even direct
marketers, ad guys, market researchers,
et al !

12. 2. Experience is the best teacher
“10,000 hrs of experience needed for mastery” :
Malcolm Gladwell in “Outliers”
“Outliers”
Take up jobs which make you work hard
A “field” stint is critical
Need to experience all aspects viz. sales,
customer care, brand management, market
research, advertising, industrial sales, PR :
doesn’t matter where you start

13. 2. Experience is the best teacher
These jobs will particularly help you appreciate
marketing :
- consumer marketing
- ‘customer – facing’
- any competitive industry
- digital
- entrepreneurship
If you want marketing, avoid B2B / industrial
companies early on

14. 2. Experience is the best teacher
Advertising is best learnt in jobs which
allow you to spend (lots of) money

15. 3. The three most important
questions in marketing
The 3 most important questions in
marketing, nay in business are :
1. Who is the customer ?
2. What does he/she value ?
3. What do you have that is of value to him
/ her ?

16. 3. The three most important
questions in marketing
The most important Ps are People and
Products :
Products should be deemed valuable for a
set of People

17. 4. Marketing is becoming more of a
team sport
Most organizations moving from products
to service
Entire organization involved in delivering
the service : multiple touchpoints important
Marketing person has to orchestrate a
‘happy’ experience
Not longer (even if it ever was) mainly
about advertising & communication

18. 5. Marketing people are best
poised to deliver growth
Build and grow markets
Grow market share
Grow share by volume and value

19. 6. Study the most admired brands
Make history your teacher, learn from
most admired brands
Brands were not built in a day
Study Indian brands !

20. 7. Digital will make advertising free
The best advertising is free or low cost
e.g. websites with organic search, social
media, YouTube, search
Consumers are avoiding media or
advertising
Consumers are creating their own news /
content
Consumers content is more trusted than
ads

21. 8. What you are is more important
than what you say
World moving towards “radical
transparency” : what you are is more
important than what you say

22. 9. Do good
Use your talents for the public good :
- 43 million Micro, Small & Medium
Enterprises
- Non-profit
Non-

23. 10. Market yourself
Know what’s different about it
Put that uniqueness up online

24. Marketing is changing
Won't be simply to focus on outbound messaging but to
consult with sales, customer service, and human
resources on how the brand must be communicated in
every consumer interaction, every tweet, and every
touchpoint.
Won't be merely to imagine creative messages but to
fashion programs that are seamless with the actual
product and service experience.
Won't be to plan bursts of communication on a yearlong
calendar but to respond to and be part of the ever-
ever-
changing dialogue with consumers.
Won't be to count friends, page visits, eyeballs, readers,
or viewers but to measure changes in consumer attitude
and intent.
Won't be merely to talk at consumers but to listen and
engage one to one.
Won't be to build campaigns but relationships.
Won't be to create impressions but experiences, and
Won't be to buy media but to earn it.

25. Marketing is changing
To some of you, these changes sound easy, but they represent painful
transitions for marketing organizations.
In 2010 and the years that follow, everything will change: job
expectations, skills, metrics, structure, budgets, agency demands and
compensation, and the role of the marketing function within the
organization.
While the changes will be difficult, they will also be extraordinarily
exciting. In the end, the marketing organization will be integral partners
in everything the enterprise does, living up to Peter Drucker's famous
quote:
"Business has only two basic functions -- marketing and innovation."
Marketing is dead. Long live marketing!
‘Social Media Today’ blog, in the post ‘2010 : The Year Marketing Dies’

26. Why is the Internet important ?
It (alone) has reach and richness
Reach :
Internet reaches ~ 2 billion people
Richness :
A combination of
- bandwidth
- interactivity
- customization
This has profound implications !

27. What is the difference between ?
FMCG and non-FMCG
non-
Consumer and industrial
Product and service
Consumer technology & non-consumer
non-
technology categories
Public & private sector
Profit and non-profit
non-
Whether you run a business or don’t run a
business
how is it like to work in these companies

28. Rohit Varma
rohit@interskale.in
http://marketerskaleidoscope.com
twitter.com/rohitvarma