An analogy with network theory defines interesting solutions for effective online marketing and brand building<\/p>\n
Vadipatti is a small taluk in the Madurai district of Tamil Nadu. \u201cOn average a rural adult in Vadipatti travels beyond 5km from his or her home less than once a month. In an earlier study elsewhere in Madurai district we found that of 200 entrepreneurs, less than 2% travelled beyond 20km to sell products\u2014ever. Contrast this with our behaviour. We often travel hundreds of kilometres in a month and go beyond 5km more than once every day,\u201d says Tara Thiagarajan, chairperson of Madura Micro Finance. \u201cMany people reported that they interact with only 25 people through most of the year. And with such low mobility, new information coming in is rare.\u201d Thiagarajan believes that such situations, when interactions with others are minimal, are central to understanding why people are poor.<\/p>\n
She illustrates this insight using the example of the carbon atom: \u201cYou can\u2019t really describe the properties of a single carbon atom because the properties only manifest on interaction with other atoms. Carbon can become hard like a diamond when the atoms form tight bonds or be soft like graphite when the bonds are more fluid.\u201d The same element can become either a brilliant diamond or a piece of black graphite depending on how carbon atoms bond together.<\/p>\n
Economic outcomes can be understood in similar terms: What really matters is how individual units link together in networks and how information flows dynamically along these links. The marooned lives of the poor in Madurai are a recipe for poverty, which the regular government schemes may not be able to tackle. What could help poor communities more would be interventions, products and infrastructure that strengthen the flow of information in these areas. \u201cIn impoverished communities, flow of knowledge and information is poor. The network structure and dynamics look different from those of more progressive swathes of society where networks are extremely dense with faster and more efficient dynamics,\u201d says Thiagarajan, who is also a visiting scientist at the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore. Economists have written about how so-called agglomeration effects reduce the cost of economic transactions, give easier access of skills and offer a rich information environment. That is one reason why dense cities are economic powerhouses. Recently, economist Ricardo Hausmann and physicist C\u00e9sar Hidalgo, both at Harvard University, US, used network science to show the richest countries are the ones with the most dense economic networks, because that allows for specialization.<\/p>\n
So how does a microfinance firm use these insights into the importance of networks? \u201cIn microfinance, our goal is not so much to create networks as it is to use information ourselves to enable productive flow of capital,\u201d says Thiagarajan. Yet, she adds, \u201cWe are working to take the insights we gain from the Vadipatti research and turn it into tools that can assess the risk of micro-enterprises based on the network and knowledge characteristics of the entrepreneur. And, thanks to this connected world, human beings are hyper-consuming information. As an outcome, CONSUMERS are become increasingly INFLUENTIAL in BRAND-BUILDING process.<\/p>\n The connected world has redefined customer journey in 3 significant ways:<\/p>\n Effectiveness of online marketing doesn\u2019t depend on individual elements (read: Content, Communication, Design & Platforms), but the structure of interaction between these elements.<\/p>\n An analogy with network theory defines interesting solutions for effective online marketing and brand building<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[97,96,120,121,122,95,117,112,113,115,116,101,124,109,107,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-1872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-latest-news-and-updates","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-ai-artificial-intelligence-leading","10":"tag-c-com-digital","11":"tag-digital-agency","12":"tag-digital-marketing","13":"tag-digital-marketing-agency","14":"tag-digital-marketing-agency-mumbai","15":"tag-digital-pr","16":"tag-influencer-marketing","17":"tag-leading-digital-marketing-agency","18":"tag-leading-digital-marketing-agency-mumbai","19":"tag-marketing","20":"tag-sem","21":"tag-seo","22":"tag-smo","23":"tag-social-media-marketing"},"yoast_head":"\n
\n#Article Courtesy \u2013 Mint, Fri, 9-Mar-2012\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nInternet is a densely connected network where people learn about, investigate, purchase & interact with brands!<\/h3>\n
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So, repetition of stimuli is the key to strengthening any memory.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"