Why marketing will rule the world?

Mostly when I am asked what do I do for a living I answer, I’m a marketer, it always amazes me how many different reactions or perceptions that I receive. Most of the time, people put me into categories like publicity, creating visual contents(as my friends once mentioned that the marketing department makes colorful content for the website and social media), or designing web sites. Then, I smile and say “No… that’s not what we do — we help our companies grow with their customers”.

Are you also victims of such questions? Or Are you tired of trying different marketing techniques but did not succeed? Then you are in the right place. You will have answers to all such questions by the time you finish reading this content. Marketing is a deep topic and I learned more about it when I joined Digital Deepak’s Internship Program in August 2020. As my mentor says we learn more by doing and practicing.

The fundamentals of marketing

Marketing is a game of perception but, marketing should never become more important than the product. Marketing starts even before the product is made. It begins when we start understanding the customers and their needs that will lead to creating a product that fits the market. We should all know that a good product sells by itself. When a great product is made it will convert the customers as ambassadors and they will spread the word to the world.

For example, Dropbox, A successful-word-of-mouth list just wouldn’t be complete without Dropbox. Dropbox is an online storage app used by all generations of people, all thanks to one of the best-known referral marketing programs they use.

By offering 500 MB of free bonus space for every friend a customer refers to who newly signs up for the program, Dropbox’s growth has accelerated extremely rapidly. They were able to double their growth every 3 months, and their users sent 2.3 million referrals in just one month — without having to spend money on any advertising.

Now, let's see the 4 P’s of marketing.

1. Product: What are you going to sell? A doll? A luxury car? A Handmade soap? Whatever it maybe you should know how to present it. Marketers should be familiar with all the features and specs of the products that they are going to market.
2. Place: Your product should be reachable to your customers. Now, when all the things are buyable online, you should think. Are your products available online? Or do your customers need to buy it from a nearby shop? All these should be considered before starting to market a product. Marketing the right product at the right place at the right time for the right cost to the right audience.
3. Price: Before fixing the cost for your product you will need to do some research. Always do a market analysis for the prices of similar products by your competitors which will make us understand how much consumers are willing to pay.
4. Promotion: These days there are multiple channels to do marketing and running promotions. From newspaper ads to radio ads to social media banner ads you will need to decide which are right for your brand.

Digital marketing vs. Traditional marketing

The main difference between digital and traditional marketing is the medium through which we reach the audience. While traditional marketing uses traditional media like magazines and newspapers, digital marketing uses digital media, such as social media channels or websites. What I feel is the key to a great marketing campaign is to find the right balance between traditional and digital marketing.

“Direct marketing is a type of marketing designed to elicit an instant response by encouraging prospects to take a specific action.”-MarketingEvolution.com

Every industry is different, and every company within those industries has its own subtle nuances and niche audiences. The differences between online and offline marketing ultimately depend on your brand personality, the age demographic you serve, your geographic location, and hundreds of many other factors.

As an example, printed ads given in publications with an invitation to engage with a company’s social media. In return, visitors receive a discount code or a special offer. The print ad might ask people to join a digital group or like the company's page, subscribe to newsletters, etc so that they can be the first to receive offers, information, or free product trials.

Selecting the right Niche

When you decide to start a business, one of the first steps you’ll need to take is to choose a niche. Having a focused niche allows you to more easily grow your audience. Evaluate your passions and skills, this might sound so basic, but it really makes all the difference. Don’t just choose a niche because you’re “kind of interested” in it; to be sustainable, it should ideally be something you can see yourself being passionate about for at least 4 years. Having a passion for a particular niche isn’t enough You also want to make sure there’s a need for it; otherwise your work will stay a hobby, never growing into a profitable business.

Selecting the right Niche

For example, you have a passion for digital marketing and there is a market for it but don’t have talent then you are never going to succeed. So

Talent + Passion + Market = Successful Niche.

Now that we have selected the Niche let’s get into the funnel.

CATT Marketing Funnel

Once the niche is selected if the time to use the CATT funnels to make wealth. A marketing funnel is your customer’s journey right from the moment they come to know about your product to you selling your product to them.

So, the funnel suggested by my mentor Digital Deepak is CATT. He says if we want to make wealth use this formula Wealth = n^CATT.

C- Content | A- Attention | T- Trust | T- Transaction | n- Niche

Niche- Your success totally depends on the niche you select.

Content — Create useful and engaging content the will attract people from your niche providing value to your audience such as videos, blogs, social media posts, etc.

Attention — We can drive traffic to your content using various marketing techniques like Social Media, Google, or other paid ads, SEO, etc.

Trust- Building trust with the audience.

Transactions — Converting the leads into customers using normal sales methods.

Integrated Digital Marketing

Integrated marketing is a marketing strategy that stresses the importance of a consistent, seamless, multi-dimensional brand experience for the consumer. This means that each branding effort — across television, radio, print, Internet, and in-person — is presented in a similar style that reinforces the brand’s ultimate message. A marketer can choose whichever model of digital marketing we need to use. For example, a few days back I installed an app called HomeBox and added few items into the cart that was put for sale. But, as usual, I went to thoughts and didn't buy it and continued doing other works. In some time I started seeing the items added by me in cart everywhere. I received a mail telling “ your items are waiting for you in the cart”, google ads, social media actually reminding me each and every second of the items saved in cart. Apparently, I deleted the items from the cart. (But didn't buy it). A CATT Funnel can be successful through an integrated marketing strategy that we build.

Personal Branding- Why is it Important?

We should understand that branding is much more than a cool logo or a well-placed advertisement. Choose a category and try to become an Ace in that category. If we cannot be a leader in a category that we choose to be first in a subcategory and succeed in that. People will always remember the first one who wins not the third or fourth. We succeed when we decide where we need to compete.

Brand building is to generate awareness about your business using strategies and campaigns with the goal of creating a unique and lasting image in the marketplace.

Positive image + standing out = successful brand.

Mass Trust

Learn — Always learn a new skill through concepts, facts, and procedures.

Work- Implement the skill that we learned. Implementing the skill in the real world will give a better understanding.

Blog- Write blogs about what you learned and experienced through the work. when you write learn it much better and also side by side you are building a personal brand.

Consult- Now that you have built your personal brand try to do consulting and implement your skills with other businesses instead of working for them then only you will get an authority.

Mentor- Mentoring other people will take you to a different level like we say we learn better when we share the knowledge with others.

Startup- Start your own product or service business from the understanding that you have developed about the market.

Conclusion

Marketing is always viewed as optional in my opinion but it should not be. If you are using marketing correctly there are many benefits that it can bring you and ultimately it can positively influence your business's bottom line.

If you are serious about business growth, then marketing is an investment that will help you get there.

So, if you find this blog useful do let me know by dropping a comment below.