Today I was discussing what Viral Marketing and buzz marketing exactly are with a junior and how do we create one. Well lets see with an example.You must be eating food from the cafeteria(at your office, school, college, etc.) daily either because you are forced to or you don't have a better option and these guys amaze me. Their consistency, never-say-die attitude, persistence and the zeal which drives them. There is indeed a management lesson for everyone. Day-in and day-out this cook(s) try to cook something. Yes, they TRY. Be it dal, roti, plain rice, curd or anything else. They try. But never reach perfection. But this doesn't tire them. They keep at it. They go on every day without losing hope that they would make it perfect some day. Every day we taste it and pray that they succeed.
What do I mean by 'try'? Lets observe the roti for an example. Is the roti rugged and not round as it should be? Is it not hot or is it burnt? No sir. The roti is perfectly round but that's the only thing right about it! Touch it and you feel its from 10,000BC, break it like a papad, grind it like some cardboard, dip it in water-dal or sour-almost-buttermilk-curd or paneerless-paneer-tadka or whatever is available. My point is how can this cook turn out dishes like this everyday 24 * 7 * 365 days? Now you understand why I like his consistency, patience, persistence and his dream of making a perfect one some day. May his wish be granted. Whenever there is a chance I ensure that the person is thanked and appreciated for his spirit. You should too.
- You can help him by telling him how good the food is and asking him to eat it for you or drink the watery-tea and help him find out what is missing (milk) in the tea. Make him drink and ask if he wants another refill. Imagine the day he gets to drink 100 cups of his own tea! If the quality changes OK or else how about 500 cups?
- All of you start singing a song and keep repeating it. How about 'Pappu can't cook saala?'
Now there I go explaining how Viral marketing can become. Wanna try? I did and it resulted in a perfect coffee with only milk and no water in 3 minutes flat! Some call this Gandhigiri.
See I did what a manager needs to do. Help your client achieve his full potential.
See I did what a manager needs to do. Help your client achieve his full potential.
5 comments:
Tiger,I think its a nice idea to make everyone speak out so that it make things better.Also i get the point of gandhigiri where you appreciate the guy and point out his mistakes encouraging him to improve...but i am not sure this is viral marketing.Of course the word might have spread about coffee tasting but what is the marketing in it? VM should have a more specific marketing objective..and also the objective of a manager is to manages his resources optimally so that the overall company's objective of helping the clients is done profitably
hey tiger, u have beautifully created how viral marketing works with your somewhat out of the box example. I think this is one of the best approaches to make people see that is evident and still they turn a blind eye to it hoping that nothing happened.
This concept of Viral marketing can really turn out to be a virus which can be effective in getting to its victim with ease.
Thanks MJ am a simple manager with down-to-earth goals.
Thanks Laksh.. keep killing time
Nice way to improve the way food tastes in the canteen...
But i don think this is viral marketing.. coz viral marketing is supposed to create a WOM that spreads like a virus. Here there is no WOM that spreads..
Moreover I feel u can apply classical conditioning here, where by making the cook taste the roti over and over again, to making him cook it properly would make him cook the roti properly!
OR even operant conditioning
where you can make him taste different bad varieties of his own roti till he finds his roti tasting as you want it to be. i.e. till you get the stimuli with the desired response.
well said tiger!reminded me of our days at RKHS..........
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