Hey there! I hope you are doing good today ! If you have stopped by this article, then I want to ask you a question? What comes to your mind when you hear the term marketing? All the fancy stuff right? Ads and banners and digitals tools and TV but can we sum up the whole idea of marketing with these?
Today In this article, I am going to talk about something very similar yet a little different. Let’s first have an understanding of what marketing is and why it is necessary? Then I will discuss the fundamentals of marketing and the best way to learn digital marketing. So tune in to read the complete article.
This article is for freelancers, working professionals, students, and those who want to understand the core principles of marketing and how it works. Let’s get started.
“ Good Marketing makes the company look smart. Great Marketing makes the customer feel smart.”
-Joe Chernov
Do you agree with This quote? It’s actually very true. Good marketing can make the company feel smart but Great marketing makes the customer feel smart. E.g. someone who wears a Nike shoe feels smart and special, someone who has an iPhone also feels special because they have an iPhone. It’s because of the perception that has been created by the company through marketing and that is an example of great marketing when you don’t have to pitch customers all the time. The customers know what they want and where to get it from.
Marketing is just not about selling a product but It is an art of communication through which your existing customers remain your customers for life. At the same time, you also make new customers.
But why should we learn Marketing and why should we not learn Digital marketing as It is relevant to today's world?
Well even though we learn all about the tools of digital marketing, how to operate each one of them, how to run Facebook ads and generate leads, still many don’t get the desired results. And the sole reason for this is that they concentrate too much on digital than marketing whereas, Digital Marketing is more about marketing than about being digital. Digital is just the dynamic medium. It will evolve and change with time but marketing is deep-rooted in human psychology. It has been there for thousands of years and is going to be there for thousands of years more and therefore It is really important to get the fundamentals of marketing right before diving deep into the digital part.
So where do we start from?
Let’s start by understanding the fundamentals of marketing!
1. Marketing starts before creating the product
Many people believe that marketing is the end thing on which they should spend. They literally go ahead and invest a huge amount of money in the creation of a product and then look for the customers whereas the mantra is literally the opposite. You market the idea, analyze the response, identify the need and then create the product. A product once created through this principle starts selling itself as it is what the people need.
2.Marketing is based on science and not creativity
A lot of people confuse themselves with the notion that for marketing you need to be creative but this is not true. As explained in the above point, Marketing is all about understanding your customers and their needs so well that It leads to creating a product that fits their needs. And once a product like that is created, It starts selling Itself
3.Right Person, Right Message, Right Time
Reaching the right person with the right message at the right time is the essence of marketing. For e.g. If a person wants to prepare for UPSC, he will obviously start searching for the best place where he can start learning. He will enquire about the best available platforms that keep flashing in front of our eyes. In today’s time, it is companies like Unacademy and Byjus and once he enquires there he will get the right message at the right time from the companies which will make him do the transaction and tada there will be a conversion.
This also leads to the conclusion that the purpose of marketing is to build a brand and capture a position in the minds of the consumer by building trust. Our mentor Digital Deepak has coined his own word called #masstrust to denote this game of developing trust in people’s minds. I have shared the blueprint of his mass trust at the end of this article, so do read it till the end.
In fact, My article is the product of the trust that my mentor created with his Internship program in my mind. And today I am here writing this really long blog as part of his Internship assignment that says it all about the quality of his internship program. So You can also apply for the upcoming batch 15 of his Internship Program.
Now let's talk about the Types of Marketing!
There are two types of Marketing
>Traditional Marketing
>Digital Marketing
Traditional Marketing includes marketing through television, radio, newspapers, Billboards, etc, while digital marketing is done through the digital medium that involves the internet. Both are equally important at their respective places. If we see there are approximately 197 million households and 892 million individuals who watch TV which tells a lot about the reach of television, those who cannot be reached by television are reached by newspapers and radio. So even today their market is huge in comparison to the digital medium. But at the same time, there is a difference of audience that we target through both these mediums.
If there is a generic product which needs a very wide targeting, TV ads can do wonders as It can reach millions at low cost for e.g food ads like Burger or Pizza or even Maggi commercials can be a great example, because their target audience is wide and huge. whereas digital marketing is the best medium to target the English-speaking affluent class people living in tier one or tier 2 cities who have the spending power. for E.g. Training courses, or platforms with training courses like Skillshare and Udemy. Their target audience is basically on the web.
Things to remember while doing marketing
Since marketing is the game of perceptions, but we should always remember that the product that we sell is a game of reality and that’s why we should never compromise with the quality of our product, because if the quality of the product is poor, then no matter how much marketing do we do, people will get to know sooner or later that the product is not worth it and they will never come back. This means that all the money that you invest in marketing will go in vain.
A great product has the power to convert your customers into brand ambassadors, who will promote your product for free but a bad product can lead to the decline of your company.
We should also have some knowledge of the economy when it comes to marketing because that can help us in making wise decisions in terms of the growth of our market and Investing money. For e.g, India is a growing economy, and the average age of the Indian population is 29 years old as per the 2020 data. This means that we have a much younger population than any other country and more the younger people, more will be the spending that means the economy will grow and there will be a huge demand of the service that you want to provide in future. hence our country is the best place to start any business right now.
As we have talked about the fundamentals of marketing and the types of marketing and economy, now let’s talk about the funnel to reach the end goal of marketing and i.e. creating wealth
The CATT Funnel
As described by My mentor Digital Deepak, The formula to this is Wealth = n٨CATT
In this Formula, N stands for choosing the right niche. They say that half your battle is solved when you choose your niche right and I have explained further in the article how you can find your niche.
so make sure to read till the end.
C in the CATT funnel stands for content – You have to create useful content that attracts people from your niche, through blog posts, videos, lead magnets, live webinars, etc.
A stands for driving attention to your content using SEO, Social Media, Paid Ads, and Referrals.
T stands for Trust – You have to build trust with your audience with tripwires, marketing automation ad retargeting
T stands for the transaction – This is the final method of the funnel where you have to convert your leads into customers using a natural sales method.
This funnel can be followed in all types of businesses
Now let's talk about how would you find a perfect Niche?.
Your niche is the amalgamation of your talent your passion and the market availability, this can be better explained by a Venn diagram :
If anything is missing among these three, then It would not give you the desired result. The best way to reach there is to look around for the problems that you really want to fix and come out with the solutions through your skills.
you will soon be aware of your passion talent and the market and as a result, you will land up at the right place.
But why do people fail even after choosing the perfect Niche?
People fail because they don’t follow a holistic approach to doing digital marketing instead they go on trying every platform separately whereas they should follow the Integrated digital marketing approach so that everything comes together and works like a machine to get the desired result. This has been explained in a better way in the above diagram.
Now let's talk about the Importance of building a personal brand!
In the year 2014, we all saw the best example of personal branding by our very own Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. He identified his audience and connected with their thoughts. He used contemporary methods to reach his audience at the same time the concepts of marketing remained the
same. He exploited every possible medium to reach his target audience, whether it was Twitter or Instagram, live conferences, or through Mann Ki Baat. He connected with the youth as he spoke their mind at the same time he also connected with the downtrodden. Using his story as the medium several hashtags were trending those days.
The result of this personal branding was that he won the elections with a massive majority. No competitor could stand in front of him as his branding was so strong. His name has become bigger than the party itself.
Even in the state elections, he is the face of the election and people follow him almost blindly because of the trust he has developed in people’s minds. This all happened through marketing and personal branding. Take away from this is that the best known will always beat the best. Today Narendra Modi has a massive following in and outside the country.
Now the question is how can you evolve a Personal Brand?
To evolve a Personal Brand you have to evolve as a person as become someone who deserves that place at the same time you have to develop mass trust, This can only be done by following the given steps i.e. The Mass Trust Blueprint.
- Learn: By learning a new skill through concepts, facts, and procedures and by practicing it.
- Work: after acquiring the new skill, implement it into the real world which will give you a better understanding.
- Blog: Writing is the best way to dive deep into the concepts and get clarity through sharing your experiences, like what I am doing right now. And In a way, it leads to the creation of a personal brand.
4. Consult: Now as you have created your personal brand, you have work experience, you can start consulting other businesses and start providing them value.
5. Mentor: Mentoring is the best way to scale our understanding to a whole new level. So you have to mentor others who want to become like you.
6. Startup: In the end create your own product or start your own business with the understanding you have developed about the market, provide solutions to the problems that exist through your skills
Now that you know the key concepts of Marketing, Start by planning a financial goal for yourself and then apply your skills to attain that goal. If you are confused about how to make a financial goal, here is a quick blueprint that can help you out.
So If you have a goal to make 1 crore in a year or two then you have to create a product of Rs. 100 and sell it to 1,00,000 customers or you can make a product of 1000 and sell it to 10000 customers and Vice-versa. If you divide your plan like this, It becomes very much achievable.
So this is It in this blog, I would like to conclude by saying that the best way to learn anything is by doing practicals. Fundamentals of marketing and learning digital marketing can only help once they are implemented in the real world by you.
And If you have read It till here, then do let me know your thoughts about this article in the comment section.
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