In this Greatest Hits episode of Getting to Aha!, Darshan Mehta is joined by Pavangopal A, CMO at Nandu’s, to discuss how engineers and marketers could learn from each other; why marketing is really all about objectivity; and why you should focus on yourself, not just on the competitors!

Pavangopal is the Chief Marketing Officer at Nandu’s, one of India’s fastest growing hyper-local omnichannel meat and packaged foods brands, where he originally started as the Head of Marketing and E-commerce. Now he leads the charge for all of their marketing, PR, and CRM efforts. Prior to this he was the Vice President for Strategy and Operations at Webenza India and was Principal Consultant at Experience Ideas! 

We can’t wait for you to hear what he has to share with us!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

👉 One of Pavangopal’s first Aha! moments was when he went into architecture and engineering and realized it wasn’t what he wanted to do at all. But regardless, he built a product with his engineering skills and no one was coming to purchase it; it wasn’t until they spoke with some senior marketing professionals that they realized, even though they’d created something that was unique, no one actually wanted it. It was there that the marketing lessons started to kick in; they started with the customer and worked towards the product, rather than the other way round.

👉 Despite the fact Pavangopal’s job as an engineer wasn’t what he wanted to do, there are things that marketers could learn from them and vice versa. It’s important for marketers to understand some of the key intricacies behind the products they sell, and engineers need to understand what the customer wants and needs. You need to start defining the boundaries of the problem you’re trying to solve and work towards an objective: after all, that’s the aim of marketing and engineering, no?

👉 Pavangopal used to throw loads of different features onto his products just to see how much they could do, but now he approaches them from the point of view of what the customer wants and whether they’ll find it delightful. He makes sure that it ticks off all the basic boxes first and foremost so that the customer is happy, and then he would add all the extras. Some people don’t realize that having too many features can be overwhelming, and that people much prefer simplicity over anything else.

👉 Nandu’s never takes their eyes off the competition. When you’re in marketing, half of the job is keeping an eye on them! You need to understand the consumer behavior and why they’re going to people that aren’t you. However, consumer behaviors are notoriously difficult to change, so instead of putting emphasis on what the competitor is doing all the time, try to focus on your core values and principles – it’s the only way to grow.

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And connect with the host and guests here:

Darshan’s Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/darshan--mehta
IResearch Website - https://iresearch.com
Connectqik Website - https://www.connectqik.com
Pavangopal on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavangopal
Nandu’s Website - https://www.nandus.com
Other media:
Medianews4u
Financial Express
Fnb News
The Week