STOCK RETURNS

Check out the tweet shot below. It shows the stock returns in some of the big companies in USA since the time of their IPO. 

Equity returns of such gigantic proportions are enough to change your lives, provided you invested well in time with a good amount.

There are some clear lessons here: 

1. It is extremely important to identify the diamonds. You may not know it then, but you have to go on your gut and belief. 

2. Patience always pays. It would have been difficult to hold back on to these shares if someone invested in them since IPO because of their returns. However, if people have still held on to it, then they would be laughing all the way to the bank today.

3. If the company and its business model is good, you can enter at any given point of time - either as an angel investor in its pre IPO days, or during the IPO or even as a shareholder who buys these stocks when they are still priced at a reasonable price. 

Have you been lucky and smart to find such gems early enough?

Marketing with Ps or Marketing with a C?

Pick up any marketing book and chances are, that what Philip Kotler had proposed in his marketing theories is what everyone else is also propagating. What that means is that every book/every author/every marketer will tell you about the importance of the four Ps and how it still holds relevance even after so many years. 

I also entered the world of marketing with the same belief but over the years, my thinking and belief has changed and evolved. While I do not negate the importance of these four Ps, one important thing that no marketing book or theory tells you is about the importance of a C in between all these Ps. The C that I am talking about is that of CONVICTION. 

Yes my dear friends, Conviction is as important an element of marketing as any other. If you are not convinced about what you are doing then no amount of marketing can help you to see success, whether it is a product innovation, a consumer promotion or a campaign for your brand. 

When you think of conviction, the first name that comes to mind is that of Steve Jobs. He showed lot of conviction in the product idea and design that he believed in. Even when no one could fathom the existence of things like the iPod, iPad and the iPhone, he persisted with his conviction, made others believe in it and turned Apple into the success that it is. 

The dream of the Wright brothers to fly and give this world a machine that can take you in the air was built on the solid pillar of conviction. So was every other product innovation that change the dynamics of the market. 

While consumers and markets may or may not give you insights, directions and feedback, it is your own conviction that will help you in moving forward your brand and your market share. But remember conviction does not come alone. With conviction, you need lot of patience and the ability to be challenged and yet hold your ground. There will always be people who will try to prove what you are doing as a failure or as something that is not working and that is when the conviction should not waver and rather come out much stronger to tone down all such doubting critics. That is when you will stand tall and be seen as someone who delivers whatever be the circumstances. 

So guys, go out there with complete conviction and make a success of whatever you are working on!