Mahashivratri and Marketing
A few days back I was challenged to assess the Mahashivratri festival and write about it in terms of its Marketing significance.
On first thought, it looks like a bizarre combo and a headline, but on second thought one can actually realize that marketing is such a domain to which one can relate to everything. Marketing, itself, is a broader term that holds several concepts and thoughts at different walks of life of a human. Be it awareness, or consideration, or be it choice, marketing influences everything. So is religion.
For many, religion is one such area that is untouched by what I am trying to put my words here, i.e. marketing. But if we closely look, from time immemorial, religion or spirituality has always gone through, what we know today as, the Marketing Funnel (Awareness-Interest-Evaluation-Trial-Adoption). On another note, we can also see that marketing and religion both serve the same purpose of fulfilling the needs of a person. Though the needs can sometimes be subjective and sometimes be objective.
Now let us look at the definition of marketing and realize how close it is to religion or spirituality: Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. If we try to swap 'Marketing' with 'Religion/Spirituality in the above definition, we would not be able to notice a difference between the definitions of the two. Human has always inclined towards religion/spirituality when one could not find answers, one intends to, in the physical world. Whereas marketing proposes a solution or rather sells a dream to better living. Both sound similar, right?
Another thing with humans is that they seek validation and would like to follow where the majority lies. Brands use this consumer behavior concept in their marketing communications to give consumers a sense of validation to alter the behavior towards a brand or a product. Religion/Spirituality, on the other hand, not only changes the behavior of a person but also enhances the mental thoughts related to life in general. They develop a sense of community and support which the brand also tries to build through experiential marketing.
Both, marketing and religion, try to bring one closer to the needs/answers that they seek. Others cannot deny if one says that marketing is the religion of the corporate world.
Happy Mahashivratri.
Note:
1. This article is not meant to demean or hurt anyone or anyone's sentiment. If someone has been hurt by this, I apologize for my mistake. Further, I would like to know where I have gone wrong.
2. I am open to suggestions and discussions on this.
3. Spread Love not hate.
In case you happen to run a business and want us to relook at your communication style and design a long-term communication strategy for your business, feel free to contact me.
Or in case you believe that this article can benefit someone, help them by forwarding this article to them. I am always happy to help. :)
Until the next time...
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