Why is the Commerce Professor, now learning Digital Marketing?
My friend runs 4 centres for teaching Tally (a software for accounting) and for coaching for commerce stream in a megacity.
These used to keep him busy all through the day with Instructors, Staff, Students, Lecturers, Timings, Computer, Attendance, Absentism, Rent,Cost of Utilities, Maintenance and so on.
He is the person on whose table the buck stops. He is the owner. He is the head of teaching and administration.
When I spoke to him at the end of first quarter of 2020, I could sense that he felt that though he has earned good amount of money, the ROI wasn’t good enough anymore. And he didn’t like in city travel. He wanted more time for his 2nd passion i.e. organic farming.
When asked about what occupies him, he replied he was studying Marketing ,clarified that he has paid fees and enrolled in a course on digital marketing. An online course.
This was 3 months back.
I met him at his house yesterday, over lunch. He now seems to be a man with a purpose. He is breaking down the courses: Tally, Book Keeping, Accountancy, etc. and packaging them in his make shift studio at home-in the form of videos.
Why?
1) To educate students from Kashmir to Kanyakumari
2) At much lower cost both to the student and the institute.
3) Planning to go online, going digital,selling & teaching online.
4) Now has a overview of digital marketing after studying the same.
5) Has a Social Media Presence and has started a Youtube channel on the niche- Investment-for personal branding,till he is ready to launch the course.
6) A mutual friend is advising him on Vendors for paid advertising, seo, sem,web assets, tools , funnels, magnets, engagement automation, LMS etc.etc.etc.
7) He wants to be ready for the academic year,to launch it to students and parents who will pay for it.
8) After he gets a critical mass,he plans to make a franchisee network of coaching class owners and others affiliates who will promote his courses.
I was happy to hear his plans, actions, with good food and the sumptuous lunch cooked and served by his wife,when she chipped in to say that they plan to start organic farming at their farm in the village nearby and plan to shift there in 2 to 3 years.
It is all around us.It has to do with the way we get up, eat,work, study, buy,sell and even marry or date, communicate with our loved ones, parents or friends, collegues, bosses, juniors, team.The way we will learn and be taught.
We cant run away from it or watch it from the sides. Can’t worry about getting wet . Wanting only to dip our feet ,to wade through.Sorry.No chance.
Please go ahead. Meet it half way, early on.Embrace it.Understand it.Practise it. Get wet,soaked. Surf on it. Conquer it.
Because:
1) Only few can manufacture for the world.Not every country.Not everyone.
2) Data is the new gold and ‘ dat’ is where the investment will go..
3) Ai,ML,Cloud computing, Saas, Data Centers, Algorithms, Automation even in selling etc.will have more users, applications & uses than one can think of.
4) The sector will see greater growth and reduction in costs for execution.
5) Due to profiling,predictability of choice of product and service will be higher and more and more business will be online.
6) One of the biggest packaging exercise is on its way.It is in the field of education.
i) Primary and secondary education: Unicorns like Byju etc have broken up school education in packages.
which can be received online and in the comfort of the house.
ii) Lets talk of +2 and +3, there is nothing that cannot be recorded and packaged and reached online,to the student with a few live sessions & pratical sessions.
iii) Competitive and AdmissionTests:
The physical presence of the student is not required at the coveted coaching class in the city.
Forget Kota.
iv) Medicine:Agreed that you cant learn all aspects say surgery without performing one.But with hybrid models you can move most theoretical inputs online. and some for anatomy & surgery also.
v) More and more streams of education and specialisations will be packaged for online selling.
vi)It takes away the problem of the student going to the institute and the effort/cost involved.It does away with need for huge campuses of school and colleges.
vii)It will reduce the cost of education as the cost of delivery will be less.
Lets take the extreme case of efforts taken by and costs incurred by those who go abroad to do masters in a subject, say management.
They face parochial harrasment in the city,while shelling out lots of money to stay in the foreign land, for course fees, expenses for travel,face visa restrictions.It can be managed as banks can give you loans.Right.
In case of a working professional,he takes a hiatus to get the qualifications abroad. Think of the opportunity cost for him or the son of a businessman wanting a management degree from USA.
Just look around and find that in the New Education Policy,the government wants to get out of the responsibility of spending on education and now alllows the universities abroad to set shop in India.And how?
Tying up with a local player, teaching online and for offline interaction choosing local faculty, local campus.
The faculty from the foreign university will also come in and will check in and teach students at a hotel or resort.
Is it a win-win situation?
The student spends a million or 2 less for inputs from the faculty without having to incur the cost of relocating for education to get the management degree from an American University.(Please check for such courses on google and forward the link to the group)
So lets come back to those who will benefit from the digital shift in education:
1) Those who can change
2) Those who can adapt
3) Those who will continuously keep upgrading themselves.
The benefits:
Student: to get a job
Unemployed: to get a job
Employed:
to remain relevant
to remain competitive
to grow and excel
to switch to a better career
Homemakers:
to have or restart a career
Businessman:
to achieve business objectives in terms of awareness, growth, reputation and profits while reducing costs for achieving more customer satisfaction.
For all above: Start a new venture,business or side hustle.
India is a large market and everyone wants a share of this market. The investors may not necessarily invest in making India a great manufacturing hub. It is difficult to duplicate Chinas performance.
So if we dont have the infrastructure for manufacturing,we will be doing the other activities in the fulfilment process:
Sale,Trading,Marketing of products and Services.
We will see a great increase in online sales. It is easy to do google search and find the statistics , the % increase etc. but the indications are there.
*Reliance is selling its equity to accomodate players like Facebook including Whatsup etc.for the last mile connectivity.They will connect to your mobile and deliver through the store around the corner.
*Flipcart (Read Walmart) is set for onboarding 13000 kirana (grocery/bania) shops in Eastern India,for the coming festival season.
*Independent companies are lobbying for and vigourously selling online examination services at around INR 15 per exam per subject, to colleges for internal examinations.
It can be certainly said that the manufacturers, traders,wholesalers and shopowners will be affected. So will everyone such as student, teacher, trader,school colleges, parent,seller and above all as a consumer.
That reminds me of someone famous who said “If you can’t beat them join them”.