8Minute Talk show —Sepehr Alikhani Marketing Manager at Namava

Mansour Kiarash: Hi, we are beside you with another 8-minute talk show, and Sepehr Alikhani, the Marketing Manager at Namava, is our guest today.

Mansour Kiarash: Hello, you are welcome.

Sepehr Alikhani: Hi, This is Sepehr Alikhani, and I have obtained my MBA degree at Tehran University. I am working with Shatel, and I am working as the Marketing Manager at Namava as well.

Mansour Kiarash: Thanks for accepting our invitation. What was the complicated challenge that you have faced?

Sepehr Alikhani: The first challenge is that there are some campaigns and plans in the marketing. sometimes a campaign delivers good content, and it is promoting in a good channel but, it’s not strategically efficient for the organization.

I saw a campaign a few days ago which visually was good, and it was running very well, it had a good copy and sub-copy. It was cool! As an audience, I commented and registered my phone number and pass the guideline. The campaign’s target was the leading generation, and that was my only interaction with that brand. During my researches, I waited to receive a message from that brand, but I received none! The campaign was good, and it had good content, but that was useless and didn’t help the brand to overcome the market.

Offline markets are a little limited, but you are more independent in planning new programs. Hence, you are more limited in improving the market in online businesses.

In marketing, you should work on loyalty like, customer repurchase. One way is to make the customers club which they all have the same plan, like define the customers club, rate the customers based on their activities and the customer will spend the scores at the club, then the customer will spend the discount coupons and reach added value, so the customer club is limited, and it couldn’t lead us through the plan, and it isn’t efficient. If we want to compare it with offline businesses, in offline business you should go to shopping malls, park your car in the parking, and there you can see the banner of the customer VIP club. As a customer, I feel the difference, and it shows how easy is the added value induced in offline businesses, and the campaign is more efficient.

Mansour Kiarash: As you do an online business, most of the people are young in your job. What is the rule of the personnel at your job?

Sepehr Alikhani: the reaction of our customers is important. But, as online business is so vast, the importance of personnel is obvious

Mansour Kiarash: what are your solutions for challenges that you face?

Sepehr Alikhani: A person who is going to start marketing should know about strategy, as well. Junior personnel is good at marketing tactics, But he may know less about strategies. There are Simulations in Iran’s Marketing. Copying from good Marketing concepts is ok, But we can be more creative in executing the concepts.

there’s a limitation for those who work in this field, we have unlimited demands, and the quality of our product teams is limited. Those teams that are agile than others are more successful. They can fulfill needs easier and present the services to the marketplace.

Mansour Kiarash: Do you have any method for innovation?

Sepehr Alikhani: a marketing manager should engage with the market and sense what’s happening there, know his customers and his competitors in the market.

Unfortunately, marketers depend just on data and make decisions based on data.

Depending on data is necessary, but we shouldn’t forget that getting engaged with the marketplace is needed, as well. Doing researches on the marketplace gives us some clues, and we use the clues to reach an idea for innovation.

Mansour Kiarash: what study resources do you introduce to us?

Sepehr Alikhani: I recommend to those who want to start marketing to listen to the speeches of the well-known founders, because this may help them get familiar with marketing and help them base better strategies for marketing. I read the book “Difference: The One-Page Method for Reimagining Your Business and Reinventing Your Marketing” by Bernadette Jiwa. This book talks about creativity, innovation, and differences in marketing.

Mansour Kiarash: there are some activities that a marketing manager must do, would you tell us what are they?

Sepehr Alikhani: there are a lot of knowledgeable people that have obtained their certificates from the best universities, but they have no job experience, and they expect to find a perfect job with a good salary, but they should know that starting marketing needs experiences and don’t be afraid to get employed in different job positions. They should get engaged with the marketplace, for example, if they saw a stand in a shop, they should realize that there was an opinion for that stand. The other point is that he should study and improve his marketing knowledge. Mansour Kiarash: Cool!

Sepehr Alikhani: Thanks for inviting me.

Mansour Kiarash: Your welcome! We talked to a successful manager, and we will talk with others, too.