The game is all about revenue. Or so, the honchos at the top would have us believe. And yet, come the last two weeks of every month, the conversations revolve around GROSS acquisitions. How many customers did you get in? The acquisition, more than anything else, dominates circle discourse, ignoring innovation in Customer Lifecycle Management (CLM) that can enhance revenue

Ghosh, Pramit

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www.ssoar.infoMobility CLM and the Facebook - Are CircleMarketers in India missing a Trick or Two?Ghosh, PramitVeröffentlichungsversion / Published VersionZeitschriftenartikel / journal articleEmpfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation:Ghosh, P. (2017). Mobility CLM and the Facebook - Are Circle Marketers in India missing a Trick or Two? IndraStraGlobal, 3(1), 1-6. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-55765-2Nutzungsbedingungen:Dieser Text wird unter einer CC BY-NC-ND Lizenz(Namensnennung-Nicht-kommerziell-Keine Bearbeitung) zurVerfügung gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zu den CC-Lizenzen findenSie hier:https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.deTerms of use:This document is made available under a CC BY-NC-ND Licence(Attribution-Non Comercial-NoDerivatives). For more Informationsee:https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0B&E | Mobility CLM and the Facebook – Are CircleMarketers in India missing a Trick or Two?www.indrastra.com/2017/01/BE-Mobility-CLM-and-Facebook-003-01-2017-0053.htmlBy Pramit GhoshThe game is all about revenue. Or so, the honchos at the top would have us believe. Andyet, come the last two weeks of every month, the conversations revolve around GROSSacquisitions. How many customers did you get in? The acquisition, more than anythingelse, dominates circle discourse, ignoring innovation in Customer Lifecycle Management(CLM) that can enhance revenue.The fact that keeping a customer from churning is cheaper than acquiring a new customerbeset with fickle mindsets seem to escape the overall notice of everybody.The irony is that when the revenue meetings come – as they do with sickening regularity –the poor CLM professional gets the wrong end of the stick. It is as if he, and he alone, isresponsible for EBIDTA (Earnings Before Depreciation, Interest, Taxes, and Amortization)and PAT. It is his personal failure that Circles don’t make more. He and he alone didn’tcross-sell or upsell or save customers from churning.The CLM professional is mostly a mystery. He is in a hocus-pocus world of segmentation1/6and categories that seem to come out of voodoo tricks. He/she has to be from Hoggworths,needs to have studied Tantra, and has to be able to fly off on a broomstick taking therevenue up with him.Reality check folks – he is as good as you let him be. He is subject to every prejudice andpressure that comes from the top. His knowledge is limited to what the organization ispushing and his actions are commensurate with the empowerment he has. Innovation issurely not a part of his portfolio, and, processes and top-down policies put the fear of Godin him. He needs your support, beyond empty words of encouragement. He needs to bekept abreast of trends that go beyond your narrow ivory tower worldview and, more thananything else, he needs to continuous encouragement to push the framework of what isdeemed as possible.There was a time when telecom was at the forefront of innovation and evolution. Evolutionremains. Innovation – especially in marketing, I believe, needs to go through a catharsis.Centralization of portfolios needs to be reconsidered. Decentralization and empowermentat Circle Level need to make a comeback of sorts. Most of all, innovations and changes inthe digital world need to be incorporated in the revenue enhancement methods employedat the circle level.Take Facebook targeting as a case in pointBefore we get there, let us analyze what the CLM guys are doing at present. The use ofStatistical Analysis System (SAS) is very high. Categorizations based on usage and theAge-on-Network (AON) have reached a level of high sophistication. The organization hasaccess to mobile numbers. This is a very very powerful tool enabling customizedcommunication to the end customer through a series of methods that include, but are notlimited to, SMS, emailers, flash messages, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data(USSD), Pre-Call and Post Call notifications etc.The questions to be asked, therefore –•    Are your customers taking your communication seriously at all?•    Does he/she perceive a hidden agenda?•    Does he/she trust you?•    If he/she does, then why aren’t as many biting the bait?Attitudes change as do sources of information. In a world beset by change, it is importantthat we keep track of changing communication modes. Credibility gets re-established withnewer communication – especially if that is what the world is following at present.And the world right now – is following Facebook and Twitter and Instagram. How are we, asmobile marketers, making the most of these as CLM tools? I am afraid, we have some wayto go.2/6 Consider "India" as a case-study –•    As of March 2016, there were 142 mn MAUs for Facebook in India•    90% of these users access FB through mobile devices•    More than 60 mn people form the DAU bank•   Those who spend time on Social Media, spend an average of 2.5 hours a day on it. It issafe to assume that much of this is on Facebook (Graph 1)•    As much as 23% of the population (of different circles) use Facebook (Graph 2)•   End of this year, as much as 30% of phone users will be using smartphones – theconnection is obvious. It will grow to exponential levels by 2019Graph 13/6Graph 2It is obvious that there is a sizeable chunk of mobile phone users at the circle level whoaccess FB from their mobile on a monthly or even daily basis. Considering that they spendso much time on it, we can surmise that FB (and indeed other social media) are slowlyreplacing conventional information tools. Therefore, isn’t it better to speak to them at theirplace of choice – Facebook.The question that remains is – How?  How do we talk to our users in a way that feels that our communication is meant only forhim/her? In his language. For his demographic and psychological mindset.Analytics makes this possibleToday, Facebook (amongst the others), allows one toReach customers in the areas where they or do business with you. Adverts can betargeted by city, area or postcode One can choose customers by age, gender, interests and languages they speak Interest can be defined as smaller micro-segments. Hundreds of categories such asmusic, films, sport, games, shopping and so much more help to find just the rightpeople. One can not only reach ones defined segments, but one can target their friends andassociates as wellBut the clinching argument has to be – Facebook allows marketers to target4/6customers by phone numbers. External data can be uploaded in endless number ofcampaigns with diversified creative, with call to action buttons, to reach exactly theperson you want to reachHow do we talk to our users in a way that feels that our communication is meant only forhim/her? In his language. For his demographic and psychological mindset.Analytics makes this possibleToday, Facebook (amongst the others), allows one toThe last point is critical to any CLM professional. This is what he/she dreams of. It is nothard to imagine the force multiplication abilities of such a tool in the hands of animaginative CLM leadership at the circle level. He/she can actually talk to individualcustomers in a communication pattern that is customized for that individual.What's more, the analytical tools available from Facebook and myriad other sources enablecomprehensive insights into the success and failures of campaigns allowing for easy,online, modification and retargeting to further fine-tune segments and categories.Further, it is really not rocket science. Anybody with a computer and an internet connectioncan run these campaigns – Yes, even circle based CLM managers can do them justice.So the question remains – Why is this not taking off? Why are the Circles not usingFacebook to target and retarget existing customers?  I don’t have the answers – But I daresay it is a mindset issue.And yes, before I end, I have to say that CLM is not the only laggard in this respect.Acquisition too is trailing behind. But that itself is another story.About the Author:Pramit Ghosh (ORCID: 0000-0002-8062-2381) is the founder of Cognito Innovo, a tenuredmarketing professional with 16 years experience in telecom vertical specializingin Marketing Operations, Strategic Planning, Product Marketing, MARCOM / BrandManagement, Base Management, Trade Marketing, GTM Plans & implementation, TeamManagement and Product Launch.Cite this Article:Ghosh, P. "Mobility CLM and the Facebook – Are Circle Marketers in India missing a Trickor Two?" IndraStra Global, Vol. 03, Issue 01 (2017),0053, http://www.indrastra.com/2017/01/BE-Mobility-CLM-and-Facebook-003-01-2017-0053.html | ISSN 2381-3652 |https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11631105/66/6

Mobility CLM and the Facebook - Are Circle Marketers in India missing a Trick or Two?

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Mobility CLM and the Facebook - Are Circle Marketers in India missing a Trick or Two?

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