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India has been under lockdown since March 25, and it will now continue till May 3. The number of Coronavirus cases in India crossed 32,000 on April 30, 2020 and more than 1000 people have died until now.
Every business big or small has been hit by COVID- 19 and the stock markets across the globe have crashed. Major world economies including India are bearing the brunt of lockdown. The GDP growth is declining and the economists are even predicting that the world may go into recession.
Further, the economists are still trying to analyze the exact impact of Covid-19 on the world economy. However, they are sure that the pandemic is going to give a hard hit to the economy. Moreover, it is also uncertain how long it will take to revive the economy as the condition is still volatile and the world hasn’t recovered from Corona yet.
Even if the virus slows down the businesses are going to struggle for well over a year because they will have to make up for their losses. The companies and the marketers are trying their best to adapt to the situation. During the challenging times, they need to make sure that brands remain in a positive light. The approach towards advertising need to be changed to ensure long term consumer trust and loyalty.
How to use the 4Ps of Marketing amid Covid-19
The COVID-19 outbreak has affected the businesses and made a big dent in the revenues. That doesn’t mean a marketer lose all the hopes and stop the marketing activities. Marketing managers need to remain motivated during this time and keep on promoting the brands. This is a time when marketers can come up with innovative campaigns so that their brand is registered in the minds of the people.
Product
Customizing products according to the market needs is very difficult in the challenging times. Amid Covid-19 the marketers can think of making some changes that are acceptable and can be implemented to best serve the customers and communities without having a negative impact in the future.
There was a huge impact on the businesses of Swiggy, Zomato, Flipkart, Bigbasket, Amazon and many other online companies due to lockdown. Amid lockdown, only the essential items were allowed to be delivered at home. These players immediately shifted the gear and took permission to deliver the essential items like vegetables and groceries. They are effectively making use of their delivery infrastructure and witnessing a surge in the revenue even at the time when other companies are struggling.
The companies are also helping the government in reducing
the supply chain burden.
Place
The Corona Virus has also drastically changed the way
buyers are approaching the businesses. There are no physical meetings or
contact between the two.
Marketers are designing ways to interact with customers
keeping in mind the safety and social distancing aspect, and deliver what
customers want and need
The companies should start using AI-enabled chatbots options and to solve queries customer queries. Furthermore, giving a virtual demonstration of your products instead of sending a representative at home is a better idea amid Covid-19.
The training providers and educational institutes can use
the online platforms for their trainings and courses.
Country Delight- a Gurgaon based Dairy Startup, is sending the flowing message daily to its customers- “Dear Customer, Please help us keep you safe with 100% contact-less delivery. Your delivery partner has sanitized their hands and has a normal temperature of 97.3 at 4:00 am today, Thanks.”- Team Country Delight
Price
Pic Credit: Allie on Unsplash The people are already living in fear and are very
cautious while spending or purchasing anything during the pandemic. Increasing
your product price to take advantage of the situation is not going to help your
brand. Similarly offering a lot of discounts is also not good for the health of
your company. The price adjustment if needed can only be done in conjunction with
other departments like operations and finance. You may feel the need of giving
some discounts to your clients.
Some companies have waived off the shipping or delivery charges. Companies like Byju’s and Vedantu’s are giving free subscriptions till lockdown. Similarly, some matrimony apps are also offering free subscriptions during this period.
Promotion
Promotion is all about the act of communicating the
values and benefits of your products to your customers. Managers use various
methods of promotion to make their brand visible in the market. Promotion in a
normal scenario includes direct marketing, sales promotion, advertising, and
personal selling to persuade customers to your business.
Due to lockdown, there is an over 80% increase in social media usage and internet browsing. The TV viewership has also seen a similar surge. The advertising cost is also all-time low these days. Marketing managers need to identify the medium that will best suit their products. They need to take advantage of those mediums to engage their audiences.
Organizations need to assess not only the tactics or
mediums they use to engage their audiences and deploy their marketing strategy
but also the context of the messages they're transmitting via those channels.
The promotional campaigns also need to be carefully designed keeping in mind what
your consumers want to hear from you in those messages.
Many travel companies are requesting their consumers to
simply postpone and not cancel their vacation giving a message that they are
badly hit by Corona.
Some health drink companies, Multivitamin manufactures
are focusing on more immunity development amid Covid-19 as a person with strong
immunity has more chances to fight corona.
Conclusion
There is a need to reassess and readjust the four P’s of Marketing during the Corona crisis. Certainly, the companies are facing the heat due to lockdown. The marketing managers have a big responsibility to respond to these business challenges and pain points. They need to understand and adjust to the needs to find creative solutions to tackle the situation.
These 4 Ps of Marketing are very helpful when it comes to running a business. Under this unprecedented situation, the marketing managers need to rise above the storm to avoid the pitfalls. Hence the circumstances, if not handled properly can make these 4Ps Painful, Panicky, Puzzled, and Pathetic
Since everybody is working remotely, marketing budgets need to be planned accordingly by the managers.
The Startup India Association or (SIA) has requested the government to exempt startups from the foreign direct investment curbs placed on investors from neighbouring nations. SIA is an advocacy group representing the Indian startup community ecosystem. China is one of the neighbouring nations which has been investing in the Indian for many years now.
This comes after India tweaked its FDI policy after China’s central bank raised an equity stake in HDFC above 1 per cent. The change in policy is aimed at curbing opportunistic takeovers of Indian firms amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Therefore, India made some changes to keep an eye on investments from neighbouring countries including China. According to the new policy, any investment from neighbouring countries, including China, will now need prior government approval.
China's VC Investments in Indian Startups
The already struggling Indian Startups amid Covid-19 are worried about the outcome after this change in the policy. SIA, in a letter to commerce minister Piyush Goyal, said that foreign investors have put in around $82.1 billion into the Indian startup ecosystem in the last five years. Chinese investors alone have contributed to the tune of over $8 billion.
The concern of the SIA is genuine as the Chinese venture funds are one of the biggest backers of Indian technology startups. It may be noted that the Chinese Ventures like Alibaba, Tencent, Fosun RZ Capital, Shunwei Capital, and many others have backed the Indian companies. Some of them include the successful startups like Paytm, Zomato, Ola, Byju’s, OYO, Delhivery, Swiggy, Rivigo, Ixigio. There are other emerging startups such as Rapido, ShareChat, Trell, LetsTransport and more funded by Chinese VC.
Besides urging the government to ease the FDI norms, the SIA also requested the Minister and DPIIT for a bailout package. The association urged them to set-up a Rs 25,000 crore Startup India Fund. It will help the “running out of cash” startups as the VC funding have also dried up during Corona pandemic.
Furthermore, SIA also warned the government that without any support, startups may wind up and may also cut employee numbers. As a result thousands of people may lose jobs in India.
What are the the biggest mistakes of Indian Government after 1947
Between 1946-1948
NEHRU – JINNAH made the people of India suffer – Big
Mistake??
The Hindus were protecting the Muslims in India. Their
friends and neighbors were insisting them to stay in India and assuring them
full protections
While in Pakistani side the Muslims were threatening the
Hindus to go to India. The ones who were reluctant were killed and their female
family members were raped by the Muslims in Pakistan
While many Muslims left their birthplace and migrated to
Pakistan, more than half of their population stayed back in India as they were
protected by their Hindu friends.
In sharp contrast most of the Hindus from Pakistan were made
to migrate, while lakhs of them were killed by the Muslims of Pakistan side
When Nehru was taking the oath of PM of India, crores of
Indians were mourning the death of their relatives and fellow Indians
Sarkaari Media and machinery was gung ho about the
Independence of India but millions of Indians were crying and were in tears
1948 – Accession of Kashmir
The common man in India was again disappointed by the
decisions of the then PM of India – Mistake??
1950 – India became republic and SC/ST reservation – Mistake??
The
reservation was
intended only for SC/ST communities – that too for a
period of 10 years (1951-1961). However, it got extended ever
since
1959 – Under Pressure from the USA the weak PM allowed the
Dalai Lama and Tibetan Refugees.
The same refugees today are about to touch half a million
mark and have been exploiting India’s resources for free – Mistake??
The refuge to the Dalai Lama and Tibetans ultimately lead to
India China War in 1962. Lost a big chunk of Indian territory to China. Over
3000 India Soldiers Martyred – A Big Mistake???
1965 – Even a country like Pakistan dared to attack India in
1965. Over 2600 Indian soldiers Martyred. Why were we so vulnerable that a tiny
country had this courage to attack India? – A big Mistake??
1971 – Bangladesh created – around 1 lakh Pak soldiers
captured
Why did Indians feed them for a year and then let them free
so easily?? Why the Indian side did not negotiate Kashmir – Big Mistake??
1970’s – 80’s, and 1990’s – Corruption Era
These 30 years when most of the countries grew leap and
bounds, India was full of Dons, Mafias, corrupt leaders and bureaucrats. It
became so deep-rooted that the common man became used to to shell money to get
his work done from the government departments. Be it the simplest of the things
like installation of Electric meter, water connection, phone connection or gas
connection.
The businesses had to pay a bribe on monthly and yearly
basis to the government officials to survive
Appeasement of minority community, rising of Urban Naxals,
Paid Media, all thrived during this period
2000’s – Pre Modi & Post Modi era
With the advent of mobiles, independent media houses and
social media, the common man got exposure to the leaders and government in a
better and transparent way. He started understanding actually who’s who. The
corrupt started getting exposed big time.
The media personalities who were working on the behest of
the governments were exposed. Big scams and frauds were unearthed. The
millennial and general public was well informed and aware about the leaders and
the parties.
The Rise of Online Stock Trading by Youngsters in India
In the 90’s with the advent of computerized stock trading a lot
of stock trading terminals were set up all across India. Most of the people
investing in shares and stocks belonged to the business class or higher class
who had extra money to invest. Having extra money in those days means a middle
aged person who has succeeded in his/her career or business. Most of the
youngsters were unaware or were not very keen on risking their small earnings
in the share market. The trading was time consuming and not as smooth as today.
There were paper share certificates and the stock traders need to visit the
terminals very often for paper work and other formalities unlike today when
everything is online and so convenient.
However in today’s age the millennial are well informed
about the stock market. Many youngsters start investing in stock market at the
very beginning of their careers. There are others who keep a watch at the stock
markets on regular basis, try to understand the trends before investing. The
smart millennials with smart phones and laptops have access to latest and
updated business news. They study the trends, fundamentals of the company,
long, and medium and short term perspective of the stocks before investing. There
are professional financial experts, financial planners and stock brokers in the
market from where the youngsters get tips to invest in stocks.
Though the trend is very impressive, yet we have a long way to
go as far as stock trading in India is concerned. The young generation in the
cities may be aware of the stock trading but our rural India is still lacking
behind. A large chunk of population still believe that bank fixed deposits are
far better and safer than buying stocks, securities, bonds or mutual funds.
Stock trading is really a risky game, this is what many people think.
I believe that a long term investment in fundamentally
strong companies will always yield a good return. The millennials interested in
stock trading need to understand that when you are planning to trade in stocks
do not think that this is the route for quick and easy money. When you are in a
job it becomes difficult to stay abreast with the latest market trends.
Therefore it is advisable to take the help of market experts who have good
reputation in the market and the ones who will guide you based on their
extensive research.
Many of us must have heard about the successful youngster Jatin
Khemani from Delhi. At the age of 21 he bought his first stock and then went on
to buy more stocks, some of which generated around 900 percent return in four
years. After reading some books like, Peter Lynch’s One up on Wall Street,
William Thorndike’s The Outsiders, Philip Fisher’s Common Stocks and Uncommon
Profits and Saurabh Mukherjea’s The Unusual Billionaires, Jatin got inclined to
stock trading.
There are numerous Jatins who are flourishing in stock markets today with smart
trading techniques, inspiring the new generation to invest in stocks.
According to securities and exchange board of India (SEBI),
there were around 34 million demat accounts in India in 2018. This is a very
small percentage in a country where the total population is over 1.3 billion
The Indian market is huge and there is a lot of potential
for the stock markets to grow in the near future. More and more people
especially the millennials will come forward to invest in the stock markets in
the coming years. The growing income and awareness will definitely lead to a
great surge in investments in stocks by the youngsters. Since the fundamentals
are strong, FDI will also help the Indian stock markets to grow in the coming
years.
