Relevance of traditional branding concepts in India?

The buzz word is SMAC(Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) and it is every management intellectual's panacea for future. The most affected domain is marketing and it seems that with the advent of big data analytics traditional marketing concepts will be extinct.

Simultaneously, it was felt that branding concepts were very western from the very beginning and were not relevant ever. The phrase "Yeh global hoga...but Bombay main nahi chalega" was the dictum. According to Bambaiyya ideology Indian market requires a specific skill which cant be taught and is an art, mastered by traditional business families.

So it seems that marketing function is facing a major crisis of survival. Atleast the Philip Kotler variety? Will it survive the onslaught of SMAC. More importantly, will it continue to add value to the organizations? 

So before going on the reasons - in future posts - let me just convey my opinion. HELL YEAH, traditional branding concepts are alive and kicking in Indian business space. However, the world of marketing and PR has changed so much in the last few years. It's no longer an option to rely on traditional means of advertising and communications to get out your message. In fact, you are no longer in control of your message. 

For anyone trying to grow a business, trying to communicate with customers, it's time to embrace digital marketing. This means letting go and reaching out using new strategies, tools, tactics and technologies. It's not about announcements, broadcasts, or controlled messages. It's a conversation. And how do you start this conversation?

First steps in customer engagement: A great conversation begins by having something to share that's interesting, engaging,provocative. Next, you need to be responsive and remain alert as these conversations emerge, spread, and evolve. Whether you start such conversations yourself, or not, you need to participate in them. Start one, find one, change one, just be part of the conversation.

In future posts, we will evalute these topics further.