The tale of the town crier 2.0

We often hear people saying what can be marketed, what cannot, what should and what shouldn't.

Little do they realise that each one of us here is a brand. We possess attributes, identity, nomenclature, personality, strengths, weakness, associations, competitors etc.

We have our quirks and our super qualities. We are an entity in ourselves. Each one of us is endowed inherently with a USP that we can call our own.

We have families that we are extensions of pretty much like an umbrella brand shielding us in its glory.

Our product category is "human race". We strive so hard to study, work, learn, process, progress and prosper. We set goals and timeframes so that someday the world shall know us. We shall be powerful brand names to reckon with. Famous lineages... branding, right?

Think about it, the Bhagvad Geeta, the Holy Bible, the Holy Quran, the Old Testament each one is a brand key in itself.

Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism each one is a brand name.

Temples, Churches, Mosques, Synagogues each one is a a source for locating the right TG for the brands mentioned.

The swastik, the cross, the crescent moon, the star each is a brand logo unit.

Bhajans, masses, namaz, readings each one is a tool for word of mouth advertising for brand building.

Anything and everything is a brand. We can't barricade and decide what can and cannot be marketed.

Any brand worth its salt has been publicised, promoted in some form or the other. Rewards, recognitions, accolades are the ultimate means of establishing certain brands.

Today, we have boutique outfits of PR and Celebrity Managers who have sprung from the realisation of the importance of the "human brand".

The most commonly used one more often than not is simply word of mouth. The friendly neighbourhood mom and pop store to the prestigious school in the locale area to the famous music teacher they are all examples of brand building through positive word of mouth.

Personally, Social Media Marketing is the apt space to be in today's age and times. It's free. It's fresh. It's flying. It is a brilliant concoction of the written word, credibility of the brand ambassador (the individual penning down stuff here!) and mass appeal to the right audience.

What a superb mechanism to reach the right people, spread the word, gain insightful feedback often real time and maintain a transparent open dialogue.

It gets the brand closer to its users and forms a more direct connect, more credible and sustainable than say a print, TVC or even direct marketing.

And the best part is that it is devoid of financial costs and merely involves a good old human dialogue with the interface of state of art modern technology.

The bottomline being - so long as mankind survives, so will the town crier in each one of us evolving and manifesting the old fashioned way albeit with an uber twist!