What is Marketing?
Hello people!!! How are you? Are you looking to learn some skill that can make you an even more valuable asset? If that’s a yes, then I want to assure you that you have landed at the right destination. And it would be my pleasure to introduce you to such a field that’s never going to become outdated and will always be in demand. “Marketing“is the skill that I have been talking about. And with the increase in e-commerce amid the Covid-19 crisis, digital marketing has become an even more in-demand job. In this article, I would introduce you to the Fundamentals of Marketing.
Let’s start by breaking of the biggest myths ‘Marketing is all about creativity. You will be glad to know that this isn’t true. Marketing is based on science and not on creativity. So, even if you think you don’t have that creative factor that should not stop you from becoming an expert in marketing. It is a critical part of any business at all stages. It is not an individual process but is linked with every stage of the business. Marketing starts before creating a product. It starts by understanding the target customers. Before we even start creating the product, we need to know what the consumers need. This enables to the creation of a product that is actually desired. After we have identified and created the desired product, we need to serve it to the right audience. This is where marketing again comes dominantly into the picture. Marketing enables to send the right message, to reach the right person, and that too at the right time. All these three factors are very important when making the strategy to market the product or service.
Another important thing that is often missed by brands is making a connection with the customer. Customers in the present world prefer community. They need to feel support and the connection with the brand that they intend to make a purchase from. Marketing is about creating a connection with new customers and maintaining the connection with the existing customers as well. The customers need to know that you care about them and you remember them even after they have completed the purchase. So, in the process of marketing, the priority is to create trust. And since ‘trust’ is a scarce resource, it makes you stand out from the competition. As the great people said ‘No relationship works without trust’ Ha-ha…that turns out true professionally as well.
“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself… The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous.” — Peter Drucker
Tip: Never underestimate the power of Relationships –professionally or personally.
Another thing to remember is that marketing alone won’t do any good if you don’t give a good product. They have an undeniable connection. What I mean to say here is ‘Never let marketing become important than the product’. A great product will sell itself and bring back the customers with sufficient but expert marketing strategy.
Digital Marketing cannot entirely substitute traditional marketing. They both have their different audience. For example — If a product is generic with very wide targeting, then TV ads can reach millions at a low cost. On the other hand, Digital Marketing is the best medium to reach the affluent English-speaking population in India with spending power. Clearly evident, one cannot replace the other. And according to Wikipedia, the reach of Digital marketing is nowhere close to the reach of TV. We need to do the research to find the right medium to reach the target audience. This is a very important step in the marketing strategy.
Now, you would be wondering how much you could make doing this! Well, wealth and success depend on the niche you choose. The niche should neither be too narrow nor too big that you get lost in the crowd. Choosing the niche is a combination of 3 factors — Talent, Passion, and Market. We need to consider all of them to be successful. I understand this could be hard work figuring out the right one, but once you have it, the hard work will pay off.
After choosing the right niche, we need to create the right marketing strategy using the ‘CATT marketing funnel’ by Digital Deepak. And here is how it goes:
C- Content — Create content that is useful for the customers. Create something that is unique to them and easy to understand.
A-Audience- Just creating the content is not sufficient. We need to drive the audience to the work that we have done. This can be achieved through different means as SEO, social media, paid ads, or even referrals.
T-Trust — As discussed above, this scarce resource is invaluable to stand out and build a community. You can build trust using tripwires, marketing automation, and retargeting and deep marketing.
T-Transaction — This stands for converting the leads into customers with natural sales methods. When we say leads here, we mean people who are already interested in the work you do, are in your network and are associated with you at some stage.
Digital marketing has different platforms. While you may think that choosing any one platform will be sufficient for you, it does not work that way. You need to reach out and connect with people at the right platform, at the right time using the right resource. Integrated digital marketing is the right way to make the most of your marketing efforts. Integrated digital marketing is achieved using the CATT marketing funnel described above. Refer to the picture to more clearly understand Integrated Digital marketing.
While all this is important, it is incomplete without you growing as a brand yourself. Personal branding is an equally important tool to make yourself and your brand values. Marketing is all about people, and so when we say personal branding, we want to emphasize the fact that people want to talk to you not some company/brand logo. Personal branding helps not only your existing work but anything you dream to do in the future. Isn’t this exciting!!! You become your own brand.
I want to conclude by emphasizing the fact that you can do anything you want. If you want to do marketing, go ahead and give it a shot. You won’t know it better until you try it yourself. Experience is priceless. If you feel the vibe reading this, comment below and let me know. And do let me know; what you more would you want to talk about. I would be more than happy to serve you.
