This article is an add-on to my voyage to explore the field of marketing, and for everyone who has or wants to hop on to the world of digital business. In this article, I am going to cover the following concepts:
- Fundamentals of Marketing
- Traditional vs digital marketing,
- Role of global economics in market,
- CATT funnel,
- Integrated digital marketing
- Personal branding.
“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customers so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself… The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous.“– Peter Drucker
One of the early concepts in the history of marketing was “Selling Orientation” which was prevalent during the 1900s when businesses started exploding. Companies created products that they wanted, not what the consumers desired, and then used unhealthy tactics to make sales. They pushed their product into the market but, this strategy didn’t stay for long. Consumers got furious and why won’t they? Would we like being stuffed with something that we don’t prefer having- Obviously not!
Businesses realized that producing the product and then selling it may be a short-term profit but isn’t a long shot to make. So, they started studing their audiences, what they wanted to buy, what they wanted a solution for, and how their products can someway simplify others’ life and needs. And Voila! the revolution began! More and more companies did extensive research on their customers and came up with innovative ideas and products.
As the growth kept rising, marketers discovered new strategies to reach customers and the field of marketing kept on broadening. However, all of it is based on some basic principles.
“It is about sending the right message to the right person at the right time.”
Four P’s of Marketing:
- Product: Gone are the days when you can create a product and then sell it. We ought to know the value of our offering and how it would make a difference to our customer. You need to know why are you selling what you are selling.
- Price: You should know whom you want to target, who is your audience? What is their spending power? Pricing a product just in a way to earn a profit isn’t a feasible idea. Make sure you learn more about your competitors’ offering, your audience’s needs, and the utility does match with the price you charge.
- Promotion: Let’s say you want to have the best bakery in your town. You are working 24*7 making ideas and design of your products, selecting appropriate store locations, finding investors. Your bakery has finally opened but, it’s already been a week and you could hardly make any sale. What did go wrong? Yes! Promotion! Did you tell people that you had recently opened your bakery? Plan out channels to reach your customers?
- Place: How do I want my customer to reach me? Do I want them to visit my store? or do I want them to visit my website and place orders? Deciding your place of offer is another important factor to focus on.
Know Your People:
Take it this way, you plan to surprise your sibling on his/her b’day. But, for that, you will have to know what he likes/dislikes and in like manner, you could plan something. Similarly, for any business, their customers, existing and new are their people, a part of the commercial family and to surprise them with innovative products you need to know their choices, their behaviors, needs.
Educate on your benefits:
I can’t stress this enough. Why will someone invest in me if they don’t find a benefit in it? Right? One of the most important things to consider is making sure your target audience knows the worth that is being offered. A great product can convert your customers into brand ambassadors. Word of mouth marketing is the best channel of marketing ever.
Measure and Implement:
Evaluate your revenues, cost. Get feedback from your customers through open-end questions, polls and implement changes in your strategies.
“Change is the only constant in life”-Greek Philosopher: Heraclitus
Digital Marketing vs Traditional Marketing:
If a product is generic and can be targeted to a huge population — traditional marketing mediums like TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, etc. can reach millions at a low cost. Moreover, because a large percentage of our population is still deprived of the internet, this method plays a major role for businesses. The current statistics show that radio has a reach of 65% of the Indian population whereas, newspapers have a reach of 465 million people.
Digital Marketing comes into play when we want to target specific segments, get results in real-time, monitor our campaigns, and give our customers the benefit of enhanced ad control. It is the best medium to reach the affluent English-speaking population in India with spending power. As per the latest statistics(Source- emarketer.com), Worldwide digital ad spending is predicted to reach over $375 billion over the next two years.
You can also check out this article to understand why you should choose digital marketing as a career by Rashmi Gupta.
Global Economics:
“In economics, one of the most important concepts of is ‘opportunity cost’ — the idea that once you spend your money on something, you can’t spend it again on something else.”- Malcolm Turnbull
- Make your decisions in business based on economics.
- A country’s economy largely depends on the average age of the people living in it.
Debt Creates Money:
When a person or a party puts money into their bank account, it is called a deposit. Now, when any person or business wants to take a loan from the bank, these deposits from all of its clients are used to make that loan. Once, it has been granted, the party can deposit the money in the respected account and the deposit can be further used to make another loan, this process is never-ending.
For every $100 loaned out, the bank must keep $10 on “Reserve”, meaning not re-use it on other loans. This reserve requirement can be held in the bank vaults as cash, or on deposit with the Federal Reserve Bank.
- So, when a recession occurs, the loan interest rate is reduced so that more people would take a loan, and the money supply would increase in the market.
- The recession creates strong companies and drives out the weak companies out of the market.
CATT Marketing Funnel:
It is a technique that is used to attain the desired result in our niche market which would ultimately help to build wealth.
Wealth=n^CATT where
wealth is directly proportional to the niche and the power of CATT.
n stands for niche that you choose to offer your expertise in. Your choice for the right niche should be a mix of talent, passion, and one that has a market. Entering a competitive market but with a unique angle can give you an advantage of being a better alternative.
C -‘Content’: Create content that can attract your audience and sparks interest for your brand. For example- blog posts, videos, live webinars, lead magnets, etc.
A -‘Attention’: Drive traffic to your content using paid ads, SEO, Social media, and referrals.
T- ‘Trust’: This is one of the most important steps. You need to build trust with your customers. Give them value through your content, engage, take feedbacks. Be accountable for the products/services that you are providing.
T- ‘Transaction’: Convert your leads into customers with a natural sales method. When a customer develops a sense of trust with you, they will go ahead and make purchase.
Integrated Digital Marketing:
It is a method that executes the CATT Funnel into practice by building an association within every step and work as a whole which leads to sales. It helps in brand awareness, higher ROI, brand loyalty, and enhanced conversion rates.
Content Marketing: It is a strategy to drive traffic, readers, and potential customers with creative, unique, and engaging content. It is the heart of the integrated digital marketing process. Having good content can help you build your community of people and spread the word. (Check out the beginner’s guide to content writing.)
At times where everyone is looking at the internet to get any kind of information, producing relevant and interesting content can hook and educate your audience about your offering.
- Start with keyword research, and go ahead with adding short-tail as well as long-tail keywords which will help you to target broader as well as a specific group of audiences.
- Add a call to action button to your content. Guide them to know what is the next step you want them to take.
- Schedule and create a variety of content instead of focusing only on one type.
- Be consistent.
Want to read more tips on content writing? Click Here!
Search Engine: This is one of the most powerful mediums to generate leads to your content because you are targeting those who’re already in the market looking for brands/information like yours which will more likely have the chance of converting into customers.
There are major two types of search engine strategies:
Search Engine Marketing(SEM): It is a form of advertising where you bid for your ads to being shown along with the search results. It helps to get a lot more website traffic in a short time. If your ad appears but no one clicks on it, you won’t be charged. Hence, it is also called pay-per-click advertising. Paid ads boost the momentum of the entire process.
Search Engine Optimization(SEO): It is the practice of creating quality and relevant content in your website to appear in the organic search results through on-page and off-page optimization. (Check out this link to know more about Local SEO for non-website owners.)
Social Media: As per 2021 data, 4.48 billion people currently use social media worldwide. This itself gives an outline of how many people are active on various platforms every day. Social media has become a source to get news, share images and opinions, feedback, connect with friends, family.
The booming popularity of this media has also given businesses a great opportunity to talk directly with their customers, share content, build trust and understand their audience even better.
Email Marketing: Email is one of the earliest ways of connecting with people via the internet and with time, this has also gone through multiple updates. You can send out information about your latest content, offers, and surveys to build engagement as well as remind them about your products/services.
Sell Conversion: Making sales is the end goal of any marketing strategy. Customers will stay loyal if they know and trust your brand before they make a purchase. For any business, making sure that each touchpoint, creates a unique experience for the audience can lead to a happy customer base which will automatically attract new ones. Another important point to keep in mind is to stay connected with the existing ones even after a sale has been made. This creates a sense of belief and belongingness.
Additionally, you can also refer to this article to know about the 15 best online free tools you can use for digital marketing.
Watch this video to get a better understanding of Integrated Digital Marketing: ⬇️
Personal Branding:
Personal branding is the conscious and intentional effort to create and influence public perception of an individual by positioning them as an authority in their industry, elevating their credibility, and differentiating themselves from the competition, to ultimately advance their career, increase their circle of influence, and have a larger impact.- Wikipedia
It is the process for an individual to be widely recognized by their community based on their experience, knowledge, actions, and achievements. People want to hear from the people and not brands. Hence, personal branding can make a huge influence on leading businesses.
Ultimately, the goal is to create something that conveys a message and that can be monetized.
Goffman’s Self-presentation Theory:
It explores the way people want to be seen and how people are perceived by their peers. This is called the front stage.
Whereas, backstage is the part of the theory that describes a particular way in which an individual behaves while they’re not in public.
Goffman uses the term “dramaturgy” as looking at one’s persona as a drama and treating your actions as an actor in a play.
MassTrust Blueprint:
This is a framework that guides about the various stages that an individual must go through during the evolution of a personal brand:
Learn: Reading and learning new skills through concepts, facts and practicing them is the first step towards success. One major skill to invest in is communication skills.
“Good marketing is all about good communication.”
Few effective ways to improve communication skills:
- Write more and write like you are talking to someone.
- Read books, articles which will help in improving vocabulary.
- Practice speaking while standing in front of a mirror, this will help with your body language and also boost confidence.
- Watch English shows, sitcoms, etc.
Work: You must implement whatever you have learned. This will enhance your skills and give you the required experience and confidence.
Blog: Writing is the best way to memorize, share and expand your knowledge. Therefore, blogging will give you the platform to write your learnings, ideas and beliefs.
Consult: Once, you have gained experience, start consulting others and businesses instead of working for them which will give you a wider opportunity to experiment with your skills.
Mentor: Guide people who want to step into your field. It will also help you to scale up your understanding to a different level.
Start-up: Start building your own product/service with the knowledge and expertise you have earned about the market and your skills.
Conclusion:
- Learn about your target audience.
- Measure and analyze the performance of your campaigns regularly.
- Choose your marketing strategy based on your niche, product and target market.
- Country’s economy can drive multiple opportunities for businesses.
- Combine your niche with CATT and apply it with integrated digital marketing strategy to get ideal results.
- Focus on building your personal brand to expand your career and leverage your network.
References:
- Content Marketing 2.0 by Deepak Kanakaraju
- thebalancesmallbusiness.com
- brafton.com
- macraes.com
- en.wikipedia.org
- PersonalBrand.com
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