Influencer-marketing is a new subject. A small set of influencers seem to be moving markets in many categories. Could you clarify what this is all about?

Preiti Gupta, Mumbai

Preiti, influencer marketing has been around for a while. Only, in the old days, it was all about going to the village teacher, the village postmaster and the temple priest with brand options in the hope that these opinion leaders would percolate the message far and wide.

Today's ‘influencer marketing' format is a form of this. Today's influencers are on FB, Twitter, Orkut and more. Today's influencer is, therefore, the one with the largest number of followers on Twitter. Call them in, treat them well, speak the right language and hope that they broadcast nice things out about your product or service. In the old days, it was all about the press conference. Today, it is all about reaching out to dispersed and truly democratised sets of influencers who can either make or mar your brand image.

In the last month alone, I have had four brand-marketers, ranging from sellers of high-end cars to face-whitening creams, approaching me to post their messages with an editorial push in my Tweets. I have refused, but some may not. So watch out for those subtle plugs on Tweets and Facebook status notes.

Will it influence the buyer? I don't think so. At best, this is an excellent awareness-building programme for something new. It is not the ideal platform to deepen this awareness into an interest and a desire, leave alone a purchase. At least, not the plain vanilla version of it!

The joyful problem with influencer marketing is that as soon as the consumer understands that he is being wilfully influenced, he switches off the influencer. Karmic justice.

Malls seem to be making forays into tier-2 and tier-3 towns in India. Is this not jumping the gun?

Mohith Ranjan, Kolkata

Mohith, this is really not jumping the gun as much as it is laying the foundation for the future. In many cases, malls are taking off even as they are being laid out. I agree there are one too many coming up, but the fact remains that the future of high-end, value shopping in India seems to lie in air-conditioned malls rather than in sweaty, open, market places.

There is a boom in the shopping aspirations of tier-2 and tier-3 cities. As marketers scent these opportunities, mall and retail centre developments are growing in these areas as well.

Tackling these centres is, however, a different ball-game altogether. The experience gained in the big metros is a total waste. If one is planning to use the same set of insights and enter tier-2/ 3 towns, things will just not work.

It is important to understand that the aspirations, needs, wants and desires of brands in the smaller towns are different from those of the big cities. There is a greater degree of rationality in the purchase behaviour of smaller town folk. This cannot be glossed over.

It is, therefore, important for brands to invest in this basic consumer understanding before venturing in.

Also, unlike the big metros, the big opportunities are really not in the realm of food and beverage as much as in the realm of things to wear and flaunt. Brands of every kind are welcome, provided they are not in the realm of the basics.

As the real estate category gets into overdrive, don't you believe there are just too many bands in the residential space? Too much of clutter?

Andrew Tembrain, New Delhi

Andrew, the market for brands in residential dwelling spaces is booming. The last couple of years has seen 4,300-plus brands hitting the Indian market. Most of these brands have made a presence in the tier-2 and tier-3 towns. Everyone with a project on hand wants to establish a brand presence with a name. This stems from the fact that the ambitions of the builder are growing.

The builder is realising that consumers are getting brand-conscious and savvy. There is a demand to know the heritage, lineage, reputation and reliability of the builder. Builders are, therefore, investing in developing a positive brand image. They typically start with the brand name and move on to issues that relate to visual identity and design in terms of brochures, Web sites, advertising in the mass and niche mediums alike, and more.

The brand clutter is a very democratic clutter at large. Anyone with the intention to brand something is able to. Anyone with a yen to invest money in branding their property development is able to. This is true blue brand democratisation at play.

Brands that operate in this clutter are typically challenged by the fact that the residential property market is a parri passu market. Most of the items on offer are commodity offerings. There is little to distinguish in brick, mortar and amenities. Therefore, there is a greater focus on the bells and whistles of marketing properties. Builders are investing deeply in the services and utilities side of the business.

People have moved on from the basics to the more advanced offerings. Today, offerings such as optic fibre capability (such as the ones being offered by Sterlite Optics) that brings fibre to the home (FTTH) are common. The videophone, the video-door, video-surveillance of your kids as they play at the children's park, video-security and more are all realities.

Brands depend on distinguishing their offerings on these counts. Real estate is no longer about real estate. It is all about building virtual estates in the minds of buyers. These virtual estates are brand properties that are more long-lasting than the physical real estate properties.

Harish Bijoor is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. Email: askharishbijoor@gmail.com

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