Monday, April 14, 2008

The funnel begins here

As a kid, school projects used to excite me a lot (yes, I’m a geek and proud to be one :-) ). When I was in the 7th standard, I remember painstakingly gathering tit-bits from a bunch of books and cutting out newspapers and magazines for my History project. In the 9th standard, things changed - my dad bought me a PC - and an Encarta CD set with it. I loved the whole experience - watching endless videos, being able to print the pictures and use them in my science project.

Then, along came the Internet. Other than hunting for the various interesting visuals that my hormone charged demographic is usually into – I used the net to hunt for info almost as much as the books and magazines I had.

In college – the online/offline info-hunting balance tipped heavily. When I was working on my research papers – I do not recall going through more than two or three books – all the work was done on my PC – there was Wikipedia – there were papers, articles and even books to be downloaded for free – I devoured through the whole PDF pile.

In my current “school project”b -like endeavors, the approach has evolved even more; with the complete absence of any printed material. I do not hunt for research papers – the facts are important but not paramount – I just cruise through the net taking into account what various SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) have to say about the topic at hand. I use StumbleUpon to fish in unchartered waters and del.icio.us to keep a track of where I’ve been fishing (and for what!)

It’s interesting to observe my own pursuit of knowledge changing from tiny newspaper cuttings to piles of online bookmarks. As above, has consumer behavior changed. Traditional sources of reference for any product have become almost redundant.

We live in a supposed Web 2.0 (I’ll dissect this term later) world. The marketing funnel isn’t the same simple bugle anymore! Here’s a look at the before and after piece of the wonder that is the marketing funnel! How do you even begin to understand this?


I’ve spent the past few weeks browsing through the Web, trying to understand how to enter this twisted maze and still be alive by the time the brand reaches the consumer.

Accompany me in this pursuit. This is not a place you seek answers – there’re plenty of Advertising/Marketing Gurus out there with all the answers - but instead, ask newer questions.

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