MARVELS of MARKETING
MARKETING and it’s FUNDAMENTALS:
Gain insight in the wonderful world of marketing.
In simplest terms, marketing is an act of driving profitable customer action. It spans the full scope of strategies and tactics, organizations use to position products and services in the marketplace, to motivate target audiences to make a purchase.
“PRODUCT” should be the need of the time and ever green. It should be a running thought, requirement or a question in the minds of the masses.
It makes the job much easier to get into the thought process rather than try to convince someone that you have a better product.
In short marketing is all about communicating the right message to the right person at right time.
“The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.” — Norman Schwarzkopf
✳️Marketing is Science based creativity:
Understanding and influencing behaviors, psychology and how people react to certain stimuli in predictable ways.
Newton’s law states:
‘Every action has an equal and opposite reaction’.
For every marketing action, there is a reaction.
It is accounting and analyzing the prospects reached. The convention ratio. The expenditure incurred and expected ROI. Number of repeat customers and upgrades. Every step is analyzed and is measurable like Science.
✳️Marketing is art and that part is about creating a demand for the product. Some is immediate and some is in the future. Good return on marketing investment requires a creative approach. That means that you need to apply the art of marketing.
Marketing is a battle of perceptions, but the reality is rooted in the Product.
Never let marketing become more important than the product.
“A great product sells itself.”
“A great product converts your customers into brand ambassadors.”
Satisfied customers are the best channels of marketing. Great product is a must, but marketing not only helps people discover the product, but also have a good perception of the product.
TRADITIONAL VS DIGITAL MARKETING:
Methods of communication change with time. New means of communications get evolved.
Previously people used posts or telegrams as the means of communication.
Now everyone has their own means via smart phones, tablets, computers for emails, SMS, video calls to communicate.
As communication improved, it had a great impact on marketing also. After the internet boom we have social media and search engines for marketing. The clients can directly be targeted by marketing campaigns to the individual level at a particular place and a particular time with the effort of market research and digitization.
✳️ Traditional Marketing: Traditional marketing refers kind of
1)Promotion, advertisement, includes flyers, billboards, TV ads, radio ads, print advertisements, newspaper ads, door to door, sponsorship etc. which was used in the early period to market their product.
2) Traditional Marketing is not cost effective.
3) It is not so good for Brand building.
4) Traditional Marketing is difficult to Measure.
The four phases of Traditional Marketing are Interest, Awareness, Desire, and Decision.
✳️ Digital Marketing: Digital Marketing is modern Marketing Technique.
1) Promoting, selling products or services are done by online marketing. It also refers to the Marketing of any kind of business through digital media and devices such as Google, Facebook, Instagram, you-tube…etc.
2) Digital Marketing is more cost effective.
3) It is efficient and fast for brand building.
4) Digital Marketing is easy to Measure with the help of analytic tools.
5) Digital Marketing includes…
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
Web design.
Content marketing.
Social media marketing.
Email marketing.
The four phases of Digital Marketing are Planning, Conversation, Content, and Sequel.
Direct way to connect with the target audience globally is Digital marketing and is essential for business today. Consumers conduct research before any purchase online. Digital marketing is the best medium to reach the masses in India and personalize the communication.
With traditional marketing you cannot personalize the communication.
The key to a great marketing campaign is to find the right balance between traditional and digital.
Digital marketing is the yin to traditional marketing’s yang. Both play an important role in a marketing strategy, but they are each elevated when used in unison.
CATT Marketing Funnel:
Fed up from 9:00 to 5:00 rat race?
Want to be your own Boss?
Want financial abundance?
Do you have a great desire to generate more wealth?
Is there a success formula for marketing?
Yes, there is!
Wealth = n^CATT ( Success formula)
Where:
n = niche
C = Content
A = Attention
T = Trust
T = Transaction
1) [n] Niche
The success of your endeavor, whether it’s a blog, freelance business or a company, hinges on choosing the right niche. It requires you to find the intersection of your Talent, Passion & Market opportunity.
Your niche will drive all your efforts and define the longevity of what you do.
1. Identify the talents and skills you’re good at.
2. Out of the above talents and skills, what do you enjoy doing most?
3. Of those talents and skills you enjoy, what do people need?
4. From the above needs, what will people pay big money for?
2. [C] Content
“Every piece of your CONTENT’ should be EXCELLENT, enough that customers are compelled to share it.” Joe Pulizzi
‘NICHE’ finalized, it’s time to build on your content strategy. Extremely important create useful and valuable content to attract your audience into your funnel. ‘CONTENT’ assets include blog articles, videos, lead magnets, live webinars, eBooks, and other resources.
TIP: ‘Never ever compromise on quality’.
Getting clients into the funnel isn’t the end of it. By nurturing them and creating an everlasting relationship which will be win win situation for both in the long run. The methodology known as inbound marketing can help a lot in retention of clients.
The process is, attract customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored for them.
Inbound marketing forms bond they are looking for and solves their existing problems.
3. [A] Attention
“A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention…” ― Herbert A. Simon
We are buyers and sellers in an information economy. The brilliant economist and psychologist Herbert A. Simon was one of the first to precisely describe the relationship between information and attention: “….information consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” Attention is the psychological tool we use to tune out irrelevant information so we can focus on what is important to us. As the information available to us expands exponentially, our attention is increasingly strained and challenged.
So, by focus and hard work, great pieces of content should be created. But who’s reading it? Henceforth, leading us to our next plan of action, promote the content in the right channels, at right time and drive traffic to them.
Ways and means to drive traffic:
Optimize your content for SEO to rank better on search engines.
Share the content on Social Media platforms with the relevant audience segment.
Targeted Paid Ads boost the reach and attract new customers.
Satisfied customers bring in new customers through referrals and word-of-mouth (WOM).
4. [T] Trust
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” — Warren Buffett
Anyone’s reputation can quickly take a hit hence always act with integrity. Otherwise, a whole career can be ruined easily no matter the effort over the years.
So how can you earn the trust of your audience?
TRUST and RELATIONSHIPS go hand in hand.
In this process one has to keep in mind that in the marketing communication one is engaging with a human being on the other end, their emotions have to be taken care of for trust building and long lasting relationship.
By knowing audience, understanding their needs, resolving issues, and engaging in a personalized manner one can build TRUST and RELATIONSHIPS.
To customize interactions, techniques such as marketing automation, re targeting, etc. can enable to implement strategy seamlessly.
Due to the digitization i.e. emails and social media correspondence with the customer has become very easy. It has brought the companies close to its clients. One on one correspondence helps in proper feedback, solve issues and even promote the product to individual levels. Regular interactions at a digital level helps to build trust and this helps to re-target the existing clients while launching a new products or service.
5. [T] Transaction
“The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. It is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself.” — Peter Drucker
When client is delivered value for money in the form of product trust is established and lead is converted into a genuine and loyal customer easily.
This is process of sales, but the relationship does not end here. The relationship should continue with re purchase and up-gradation which is an ongoing process for lifetime as well as getting referrals from the satisfied clients. A satisfied customer is a good conveser and this gives an increase in leads which are further converted to customers and the cycle continues.
Integrated Digital Marketing:
What Is Integrated Digital Marketing?
Integrated digital marketing is, the integration of multiple marketing strategies to form a cohesive online approach for business in such a way that each digital marketing channel complements the other by playing it’s strengths rather than trying to reach the goal of increasing revenues and customer base on its own. Investment of time, energy and money in building an integrated digital marketing process for your business is like investing in a (machinery) assembly line, which will magically multiply the effectiveness of each component in it.
Some of the common digital marketing methods are:
Search Engine Marketing (PPC)
Search Engine Optimization (Organic Traffic)
Email Marketing
Social Media Marketing
Digital Display Marketing
Content Marketing
Why is Integrated Digital Marketing the future?
Integrated digital marketing focuses on making the best possible image building when the clients comes across the brand. Each time the prospective clients know more about the business motto by any means say such as Content Marketing, SEO, Email Marketing and Social Media Marketing is powerful on its own, but when they are combined in a unique way, it’s power goes up exponentially. It creates a snowball effect that is unstoppable.
Personal branding, WHY?
BEST known will be THE BEST and BEAT the REST.
BRAND sells.
Question to Lamborghini:
Why you don’t make TV ads?
Answer of Lamborghini:
Who can afford a Lamborghini aren’t sitting and watching TV.
That’s the confidence of a brand.
✳️Attributes to be a personal brand:
1)Authenticity:
Be what you are and stay true to yourself. Authenticity helps in building a strong brand.
Public speaking helps a lot in brand building without having two different personas.
Authenticity counts a lot while positioning oneself in front of masses.
2) Transparency: Don’t portray yourself other than what you are.
Brand is an open book building relationships for life time.
✳️Steps to rise as personal brand:
1)Blogging:
Blog writing is sowing a seed. Instant results shouldn’t be expected and aren’t possible also. Consistent sincere efforts yields results.
2) You-tube: Important building block to a personal brand. Consistency and share value counts a lot. Videos should be around niche. Monitoring and upgrading quality of the videos help in a quick growth.
3)Publish a book: Initiate with an E-Book. Write on the topic with in-depth knowledge. This enhances brand image.
4)Instagram: This is also a very good platform to enhance the branding journey at no cost.
5)Public Speaking: Participate in Meet Ups, grab public speaking opportunities. Let people know you by representing yourself in front of the huge crowd. This is the ancient way of influencing and building a personal brand.
✳️Conclusion:
BUILDING A STRONG BRAND
Your personal brand is one of the most valuable assets you can control. Your brand helps you build a career, sell better, start a business or even start a movement. No matter what you are trying to achieve in life, your personal brand can help you achieve it. Personal brands help to establish credibility, increase your online influence, secure work and grow your career, generate sales, attract potential partnership conversations, attract employment opportunities and expand your professional network. The boost in image will open opportunities and conversations that would ordinarily be unavailable.
Mass trust:
This is what we call a mass trust.
Selecting niche, content marketing and creating products or services based on economics, what frameworks to bank on, like the CATT funnel and mass trust blue print giving rise to our very own brand.
This is the complete guidelines we could follow before we embark on our professional journey.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it. Stay tuned for updates, there’s a lot more to come. Next time we dive deeper with some real examples on how we can achieve these things.
What do you think? Did you find it interesting? Let us know by sharing your comments.
Thank You.
Disclaimer :- This blog has been written as part of a weekly assignment of DDIP (Digital Deepak Internship Program) A Better Me My version 2.0.