Why Marketing is for Everyone?
Hi I am Kirti Yadav & I am writing this blog to share my experiences and learnings in the marketing domain, with a hope that it helps you grow along with me.
In this article I have described the fundamentals of marketing, traditional vs digital marketing, how to build a strong brand using the CATT marketing funnel along with an integrated digital marketing framework & how to gain mass trust
What is Marketing ?
Marketing is a strategic thought process backed by data to understand the customers, their needs & to create a product that solves their problems.
Marketing is also sending the right message to the right person at the right time
Fundamentals of Marketing
Many companies have forgotten they sell to actual people. Humans care about the entire experience, not just the marketing or sales or service. To really win in the modern age, you must solve for humans.” — Dharmesh Shah, CTO & Co-Founder, HubSpot
Marketing starts before creating a product or service & it does not stop after selling a product. Marketing also focuses on customer retention.
Retaining a customer will cost less and add more to the brand value. A brand with loyal customer base is very powerful
The purpose of marketing is to gain the trust of your customers
Eg: TATA, Elon Musk, Amazon, HUL, Dabur are all brands having great products and huge market shares.
Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time.” — Elon Musk, Co-Founder & CEO, SpaceX
Marketing and sales are deeply rooted in the human psychology, it started since the early civilization of mankind and even today is a highly reputed profession.
Rise of Brands
“Build something 100 people love, not something 1 million people kind of like.” — Brian Chesky, Co-Founder & CEO, Airbnb
In this decade we have seen the rise of companies like Zomato, Ola, Make My Trip, Paytm, Airbnb etc. which cater to a specific need of the audience.
The reason for their success today is their ability to identify and capitalize on the customer needs.
Why learn Marketing in the first place?
Today the markets are competitive unlike the old days where there used to be monopoly.
In a monopoly the Seller is the King. He can charge as much as he likes and he can charge different prices to different people
Today the customer is the king, because there is a substitute of almost everything (competition)
Few days back I saw an Ad — the story line was drinking coffee instead of tea for more energy.
I found this ad very funny and failing to address the issue because even though tea and coffee are both beverages, they have an entirely different customer base.
A regular tea drinker will not go and buy a packet of coffee when the prices of tea goes up, rather he will go and buy a cheaper tea brand as per his budget and taste preferences.
Likewise Salt is not a substitute of sugar, but honey & sugarfree are.
Marketing as a function cannot be outsourced completely, being a business owner or a personal brand one should have a sound knowledge about your customers preferences and what works best to reach to them.
Traditional Marketing vs Digital Marketing
Traditional & Digital are both marketing vehicles used for communication
Traditional Marketing involves mediums such as Print (Newspapers, Magazines, Fliers, Brochures), Radio, Television, Out of House (Billboards)
These mediums have been used for ages to reach the masses and they are effective till date.
However for small businesses, traditional marketing is a huge investment and when you want to start with something more personalized & comparatively cheap digital marketing is the answer to it.
Digital Marketing is the new age marketing, It is a vehicle that uses the internet to reach the people.
It is majorly a ROI driven solution
Facebook & Google Ads, Email marketing, Social media marketing, Content creation, Influencer marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing , Podcasts, blogs, vlogs, YouTube Ads are all under the Digital Marketing Umbrella.
CATT Marketing Funnel
To create your brand you need to identify your niche
The image below sums up how to identify your niche.
Wealth = n^CATT
[n] niche: Your success and wealth depends on the niche you chose or create for yourself
[C] Content: Create content which provides information and keeps your customers updated.
Various forms of content are Blog posts, vlogs, product review, podcasts, product placement in a webinar etc.
[A] Attention: Drive attention to your content using digital marketing techniques like SEO, Email Marketing, Social Media Posts etc.
[T] Trust: Building trust among your audience by delivering what is promised and communicating with them constantly
[T] Transaction: Converting your leads into customers with natural sales method
Integrated Digital Marketing
Integrated marketing offers opportunities to break through to consumers in new markets.” — Betsy Holden, Senior Advisor, McKinsey & Co.
Integrated Digital Marketing is the way to execute your CATT marketing funnel.
Content creation is important as it will help to reach audience on different platforms at multiple levels.
A blog in itself is a multi dimensional form of content.
You can post it on your website to improve your SEO, talk about it on your podcast, give a teaser on FB & Instagram, post it on your LinkedIn, email it to your subscribers and use it as lead magnets.
Once you make a sale or convert a lead the cycle doesn’t end as the lead has entered your marketing funnel and can be re targeted towards your other products and services.
Personal Branding: Mass Trust Blue Print
“A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories, and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.” — Seth Godin, Founder & CEO, Do You Zoom
With more than 7 Billion people alive on the planet, there is always someone who will buy from you.
But the question is why will they buy from you ?
Mass Trust Blueprint is designed by Digital Deepak and he describes it as a process towards creating a personal brand.
He has also used this blue print to create his Personal Brand Digital Deepak as India’s best Digital marketer.
He has worked with multiple brands and mentored lakhs of students
All of this was possible because his audience has trust in his brand.
You can also build your brand by following DD’s Mass trust blue print
- Learn: About your niche
- Work: In the niche domain to understand ground reality
- Blog: Write about your experiences and share with the world
- Consult: Help others grow and grow with them
- Mentor: Take a professional step towards your dream by mentoring others
- Startup: Start your business or brand with all the experiences and learnings acquired during the mass trust process.
Your audience will also trust you because you have knowledge and you know the reality of the ground situation, you understand what they really want and what pricing works the best.
Conclusion
Marketing starts with a need identification and doesn’t stops even after the sale is made.
Marketing as a skill needs to be acquired in order to succeed in your business and if used in the right way it will create a ripple effect towards success.
If you found this article useful and adding to your knowledge do let me know by dropping your comment below.
This article is a part of my DDIP internship and if you want to start with your digital marketing career you can click on the link https://deepak.me/internapply to apply