Perspectives on Brand and Product Marketing

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed numerous industries, with many registering a drop in demand and sales. Others show promising growth opportunities. For example, from 2020 to 2024, the product-based sales training market is poised to expand by $4.21 billion. The sector is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 12 percent during that period. The marketing world is not any different and is changing fast. Below are several trends that are likely to continue shaping the brand and product marketing sector.

Brand and product marketing strategies are quickly evolving. Technology has not only changed the way people live, but how products are promoted and sold. Through advances in technology, audiences are constantly bombarded with promotional messages, ads, distractions, and much more. If a brand cannot stay abreast of the latest trends, it stands at risk of being left behind by the competition, or at the worst stagnating.

Today, consumers are extremely knowledgeable and they hold brands to high standards. This has made it increasingly difficult to grab consumer attention, and even more challenging to maintain that attention during the entire buyer journey. This makes it imperative for marketers to focus more on their brand than on product initiatives.

More than any time before, consumers are choosing brands whose marketing, values, and messaging go beyond the product. They are looking for brands that speak straight to the heart of the user. According to Marketing Evolution, brand identity and trustworthiness are considered to be major factors in buying decisions by 71 percent of consumers. This is a significant shift that has prompted marketers to reconsider their marketing priorities and focus more on brand equity strengthening.

Consumers are no longer just interested in competitive pricing and quality products, they want a genuine connection between the brand and their unique interests, needs, and lifestyle. What sets winning brands from the crowd is the ability to craft advertising that cuts through the clutter and truly resonates with and grabs the attention of the consumer. Today, given the complexity of the customer omnichannel journey, to hold or keep consumers engaged throughout their buying cycle it’s key to understand how customers develop an emotional association with a brand.

One way of engaging customers is through well-designed marketing videos. Today, this mode of marketing is recognized as one of the most effective. This is because the human brain is wired to prefer videos over text content. People are attracted to color and movement. By 2022, it is projected that over 82 percent of all online consumer traffic will be video content, 15 times higher than in 2017.

According to Forbes, 91 percent of consumers prefer watching visual and interactive content to reading product information in written form. Additionally, 85 percent are more likely to make a purchase after watching a video on a given product or service. Live videos on leading social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook are known to attract many viewers who also interact with products and brands through comments and questions.

The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in product and brand marketing is growing. AI can help track user behavior trends, run automated ads, predict sales, and provide superior and timely customer support through chatbots. AI-based chatbots bridge the gap between marketing and customer support to make a brand more interactive, accessible, and personalized.

Brands must take note of the growing role of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) in marketing. In 2021, according to Hubspot, 35 percent of marketers were leveraging VR and AR in their strategies, with 42 percent signaling their intention to increase investments in the sector in 2022. Virtual reality involves viewing a lifelike computer-generated scenario, while AR is viewing the real world enhanced with visual additions.

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A Brief Insight into Ski Mountaineering

Skiing is a popular activity in the United States. Some of the most common types of skiing are freestyle skiing, alpine touring, backcountry skiing, and ski mountaineering.

As a subdivision of backcountry skiing, ski mountaineering or skimo is an endurance-oriented competition that entails reaching a mountain’s peak and going down on skis. However, competitors typically encounter several challenges. For instance, they pass through several transitions, ascend the frosty faces of rocks using crampons, traverse terrain close to 2,000 meters in height and map out the fastest route to the finish line. To have an edge in the competition, one must be proficient in backcountry skiing and mountaineering techniques.

Ski mountaineering dates back to 1897, when German Wilhelm Paulcke completed the earliest alpine traverse, The Bernese Oberland, a region in southern Bern. He crossed it on skis. Over time, the activity gained global recognition as France hosted the first international ski mountaineering competition in 2002.

Presently, the competition takes place bi-yearly. International Ski Mountaineering Federation was established to regulate competitions concerning ski mountaineering. The body comprises 40 national mountaineering federations in America, Asia, and Europe. Ski mountaineering attracts athletes and sports enthusiasts from all walks of life.

Skiers need several pieces of equipment for smooth sailing in the competition. One of them is a ski crampon. It allows skiers to climb hard easily or on icy surfaces and provides safety. At some point in the competition, one may need to downclimb a terrain. Boot crampons enable the person to do so efficiently. These pieces of equipment also help one ski safely to a mountain’s summit.

While competing, one may desire to reduce weight for comfort where possible. So, it would be best to use light skis in ski mountaineering. These pieces of gear are 65 mm or 2.559 inches wide, making them easy for skiers to carry along. In addition to light skis, competitors can use light ice axes. This equipment allows them to climb a snow slope or steep region. However, it would help to learn how to use them properly for self-arresting, particularly when the balance is lost. So, one can keep the ice ax within reach when descending for emergency purposes.

In the past, skiers attached animal skins to their skis to prevent them from sliding backward, enabling forward glides. However, they now use equivalent – rubber strips with fibers, also known as skins, and skiers remove or attach them to their skis as they traverse the course. So, skins are pretty valuable pieces of equipment for ski mountaineering.

Before signing up to be among the ski mountaineering competitors, improving endurance levels, climbing rocks, learning how to use the designated equipment, and taking a course on avalanches would be best. For safety, one needs to pinpoint possible regions where avalanches can occur before engaging in ski mountaineering. An avalanche is a swift flow of snow, ice, or rocks crashing down a mountainside or slope. Statista states that in 2022, 37 people in America died from an avalanche. So, this disaster can happen to anyone. Hence, observing safety precautions and becoming knowledgeable is vital to averting the threats an avalanche poses.

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An Introduction to Karma Yoga

Karma yoga originated from the Vedas, a collection of sacred Hindu texts. The concept, which was atheistic and materialistic, initially revolved around the law of karma and yajna (sacrificial rites); over time, the Upanishads (now known as Vedanta), a subclass of the Vedas, resolved to a different perspective of karma yoga. According to that philosophy, there is an impurity in the human mind known as Mala.

Mala is the likelihood of performing an activity for personal interest or selfish reasons. Mala pushes humans to strive for material success, fame, and respect. As a result, they do not transcend the confines and limitations of their bodies, minds, and emotions. In other words, Mala exists to make one’s conscience impure.

The Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu text, suggests that people who condone Mala and keep acting in self-interest will confine themselves to the law of karma (cause-and-effect). To avoid such bondage, Vedanta encourages one to practice karma yoga, which means to bury any form of attachment when performing activities. In other words, karma yoga is a discipline that involves acting selflessly without expecting anything in return.

Instead of selfish actions, karma yoga suggests that people should act solely because of their ability to do so and contribute meaningfully to society. So, they should derive joy in helping other people. When people adopt karma yoga, they gradually eliminate Mala and embrace purity. For instance, giving someone something without expecting anything in return is karma yoga. Over time, a karma yogi’s intentions and service attitude align with the principles of yoga; the person gradually breaks free from karma and the identity their minds give them.

Since karma yoga is a spiritual practice that liberates people, the Bhagavad Gita encourages one to perform specific actions to succeed. So, before practicing karma yoga, a person must have faith in God and the effectiveness of karma yoga, particularly its liberating abilities. Faith comes from studying the scriptures and keeping the company of religious people. Having done so, one should maintain faith even while practicing karma yoga. To become a master at it, the Bhagavad Gita teaches one to meet knowledgeable men and learn good habits from them respectfully.

Further, one needs the right knowledge to become a successful karma yogi. Without having the right knowledge, one may keep acting selfishly, remaining under the bondage of sinful karma. The right knowledge means fully understanding what catalyzes eternal freedom and liberation. It also means when people recognize themselves as Gods in human form (immortal).

In addition to possessing the right knowledge, being an embodiment of purity is a vital factor that karma yogis need to succeed. One cannot profitably practice karma yoga with impure intentions, actions, or thoughts. A person can attain purity when they have supreme authority over their sattva.

Traditional yoga teachings believe in three sides of nature known as gunas, which are responsible for influencing one to act based on desires. These gunas are rajas (activity), sattva (consciousness), and tamas (stability). So, when a person’s sattva has predominance, the other gunas become repressed, leading to performing activities without desire. Consequently, one’s body and mind become liberated from evil intentions, selfish interests, and impure thoughts.

A karma yogi should also practice self-absorption to become successful. Though having faith is a step in the right direction, it cannot carry one through their journey. At some point, one needs to corroborate faith to evaluate progress. In other words, karma yoga goes beyond developing comfort in the scriptures. So, one needs to advance their practice through self-absorption. This means that a person should engage in samyama (concentrated meditation), which combines Samadhi (union), Dhyana(meditation), and Dharana (concentration). Doing so helps one reach their inner self and practice karma yoga with composure and no emotions.

Due to the peculiarity of karma yoga, many people develop misconceptions about it. For instance, some regard it as an exchange. But It is not. Instead, karma yoga encourages people to perform activities without expecting anything. Some also think karma yoga is pro bono and cheap labor. However, it is not. Karma yoga is simply going about your daily activities without attachment or ego (self-thought

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