Staying up-to-date with the happenings in the industry and one’s professional knowledge is key to a good marketing career, says Gupta.
Most marketers say it has been a year of mixed fortunes so far. What has been your experience in this regard? Any new strategy you adopted this year?
The year has been good for us so far, though the effects of the slowdown have lately become apparent. But we are hoping that the exuberance of the festive season will help push sales. So far, the results from the Onam sales in Kerala have been very promising, and we are expecting good sales during the Diwali period. On the strategy front, we are getting more and more active in the digital and social media space. As more and more youth are frequenting these channels, we want to tap them. An added advantage of the digital platform is that you can measure the number of visitors to your sites.
High raw material and other input prices are squeezing the margins of marketers while tight competition forestalls the possibility of raising prices. What challenges do you see in such an environment?
The biggest challenge for me as a marketer is “how to drive ROI from my marketing investments”. This is my core focus, which I am asking all my team members to work on.
What is your leadership style? What do you think works best for you?
My style is situational. I am quite hands-on when it comes to new initiatives like making our presence felt in social media, stepping up online marketing initiatives, etc. I love and enjoy being active on this platform, and use it to keep bouncing ideas to my team and discuss the broad contours of our marketing strategy. Otherwise, I am more hands-off with the team, I trust their work, and just keep a bird’s eye view on the situation, rather than trying to micro-manage things.
How does the marketer inside you function differently ‘at work’ and ‘away from work’? Is it easy to switch gears between the different environments?
I don’t carry work home. It’s quite easy for me to switch off from work at home. I like spending time with my family, especially my two kids whose company I enjoy the most. Sometimes, I have to work on Saturdays as well, but that comes with the territory. In the office I get along very well with my peers and juniors. I like cracking jokes and having a good time with them. It’s critical to have a good work-life balance as a good family life propels you to give your best on the job front. So, I think one should never ignore one’s personal life at the altar of professional career.
What do you think was the major turning point in your career? What lessons did you learn from it?
It was while I was working with Gillette and was posted in the Middle East. I was on the strategy side of the business. Around 2003, I made a shift to the front-end side or the marketing side of the business. It was a real learning curve, and I got to apply the marketing strategies and insights, and it gave a great boost to both my confidence and career.
Most marketers say it has been a year of mixed fortunes so far. What has been your experience in this regard? Any new strategy you adopted this year?
The year has been good for us so far, though the effects of the slowdown have lately become apparent. But we are hoping that the exuberance of the festive season will help push sales. So far, the results from the Onam sales in Kerala have been very promising, and we are expecting good sales during the Diwali period. On the strategy front, we are getting more and more active in the digital and social media space. As more and more youth are frequenting these channels, we want to tap them. An added advantage of the digital platform is that you can measure the number of visitors to your sites.
High raw material and other input prices are squeezing the margins of marketers while tight competition forestalls the possibility of raising prices. What challenges do you see in such an environment?
The biggest challenge for me as a marketer is “how to drive ROI from my marketing investments”. This is my core focus, which I am asking all my team members to work on.
What is your leadership style? What do you think works best for you?
My style is situational. I am quite hands-on when it comes to new initiatives like making our presence felt in social media, stepping up online marketing initiatives, etc. I love and enjoy being active on this platform, and use it to keep bouncing ideas to my team and discuss the broad contours of our marketing strategy. Otherwise, I am more hands-off with the team, I trust their work, and just keep a bird’s eye view on the situation, rather than trying to micro-manage things.
How does the marketer inside you function differently ‘at work’ and ‘away from work’? Is it easy to switch gears between the different environments?
I don’t carry work home. It’s quite easy for me to switch off from work at home. I like spending time with my family, especially my two kids whose company I enjoy the most. Sometimes, I have to work on Saturdays as well, but that comes with the territory. In the office I get along very well with my peers and juniors. I like cracking jokes and having a good time with them. It’s critical to have a good work-life balance as a good family life propels you to give your best on the job front. So, I think one should never ignore one’s personal life at the altar of professional career.
What do you think was the major turning point in your career? What lessons did you learn from it?
It was while I was working with Gillette and was posted in the Middle East. I was on the strategy side of the business. Around 2003, I made a shift to the front-end side or the marketing side of the business. It was a real learning curve, and I got to apply the marketing strategies and insights, and it gave a great boost to both my confidence and career.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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