Everything you need to know about marketing as a beginner
As a beginner, marketing is a tricky subject. Isn’t it?
You will have numerous questions running across your mind, and you are unable to find answers to any.
Don’t worry! This blog will give you a complete gist about marketing, its fundamentals, the CATT marketing funnel and personal branding.
Marketing is a vast subject. When I started learning marketing, I was a bit scared and intimidated. I badly wanted to learn marketing and was surfing the internet when I came across Digital Deepak Internship Program. I skimmed through the content and decided to join it impulsively. And today, I recollect it as the best decision I have taken in my life.
Right now, it is just the second week of the internship program (I would rather, call it a self-transformation program) and I am learning more than I could ever have.
This blog is the summary of all the concepts relating to marketing which I learnt during the second week of my internship.
What is marketing?
We often confuse advertising and sales with marketing. Advertising and sales are components of marketing and not marketing on the whole. Then, what do you mean by marketing?
In simple terms, marketing is a means of getting in touch with your customers and understanding them; creating awareness regarding your product in the mind of customers; and building trust with your customers to convert them your customers for life.
What are the fundamentals of marketing?
Marketing is not based on creativity. Yes, you heard me right. By growing up looking at creative ads all around us from TVs to phones, it has rooted in our brains that marketing is all about creativity. But it is not, marketing is a science. It consists of principles. It consists of various hypothesis, and it also consists of experiments and outcomes.
Marketing is a process that starts before creating the product and does not end with selling the product to the customer. Marketing begins with understanding the needs of the customers and creating a product that fulfils those needs.
Marketing is not merely advertising your product and making a sale. The best marketing campaigns of the best product will also fail if the customers do not need that product. Take the example of the basic phone. Today, even if I hire the best marketing agency to market and sell a basic handset of the best quality, I will not be able to make more sales. Why? Yes, you know the answer. Because today is a generation of smartphones. Only a few people would prefer a basic handset instead of a smartphone.
Marketing is about creating a product that fits into the needs of the consumers. When a product fits into the needs of the customer, the product sells itself. You do not need to push the product in the market; the market is pulled towards the product if it fits the needs.
Marketing is about sending the right message to the right person at the right time. Your product cannot satisfy the needs of every person on the planet earth. And not everyone is your customer. So you need to send your message to your target customers. It is also important that your message must be delivered to your target customer at the right time when he/she requires the product only then your message will fulfil its purpose.
Whenever your mother hands you a list of household items to be purchased, she also tells you the shop from which you have to buy those products. Many times that shop might be offering items at a higher price, still she would prefer the same shop. Ever wondered why? Because that shopkeeper has made your mother a customer for life by building trust, talking and understanding her needs.
Marketing is not only about making a sale; it is about making a customer for life. You need to keep your existing customers happy by communicating with them and understand their needs and preference and building trust with them, which will make them, remain as your customers for life. Look at the above example of your regular grocery store.
Marketing is all about perception. Marketing creates a good perception of your product in the minds of your customers. It is a channel to build a brand and capture a position in the minds of your customers.
But, marketing is not important than the product itself. If your product is not up to the mark, then you can attract customers to your product by marketing. But, you cannot convert them into customers for life as your product will not reach the expectations the marketing would have created in their minds.
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.
What is the difference between traditional and digital marketing?
With the advancement in technology, the virtual world is expanding exponentially. Which has given huge scope for digital marketing. But, I wonder which is better, the traditional ways of marketing or the digital ones.
Traditional ways such as the television, radio and newspaper articles reach a larger audience at a lower cost when compared to that of digital means.
Then, why do people nowadays prefer digital means? Isn’t it confusing?
The major points of difference are:
Immeasurable ROI
Return on investment in traditional methods of marketing cannot be measured. Your message is shared across a large varied audience, and hence determination becomes difficult. While, in digital marketing, you can measure the returns gained on costs easily.
Less interaction
Traditional methods of marketing do not provide scope for interaction with your potential customers. It is one-sided communication, while in digital means you can communicate with potential customers and convert them into your customers.
Personalization
By Digital Marketing means, you can personalize your marketing strategies for different segments of customers which is not possible in traditional marketing.
Larger audience
Traditional marketing allows you to reach a larger audience at a low cost when compared to that of digital marketing.
More than 190 million homes in India have TVs.
Radio reaches 65% of the Indian population.
The newspaper reaches 465 Million people.
Digital marketing can nowhere reach so many people, but digital marketing can reach up to 100 M+ people who have affluent English and spending power.
Traditional and digital marketing both have their pros and cons. But, the means of marketing you opt for depends upon your product or service.
If your product is generic and has a wide range of consumers, then traditional methods are the best ways which can help you reach a large number of people at a low cost. E.g. FMCG products like biscuits, stationary
But if your product is costly and is specific to a target segment, then digital marketing is the best means of marketing.
Now that you have understood marketing, its fundamental and differences between traditional and digital marketing, let us move to the marketing funnel.
CATT Marketing funnel
A marketing funnel is the series of steps that a lead goes through before becoming a customer.
CATT marketing funnel is a continuous loop of: Content- Attention- Trust- Transaction.
This marketing funnel begins with the selection of niche.
Niche is your area of specialization or your target market segment. The niche which you choose is important as it the main factor which determines your success.
Your content attracts your target audience into your marketing funnel. You must focus on creating content which adds value and attracts people from your niche.
Then comes attention. You can drive the attention of your target audience towards your content by SEO, paid ads etc. The attention of your target audience must be drawn towards your content.
Once you have the attention, you should focus on building trust with your potential customers. Building trust is important, as only when you build trust you will be able to make a transaction with the customers.
After building the trust, you can complete the funnel by making a transaction. i.e., selling your product or service to the customers.
Another important concept brought to limelight during the internship was integrated digital marketing.
You would have heard of different means of digital marketing like email marketing, SEO, social media marketing, content marketing and so on. And, you would have often thought which is the best means of digital marketing to grow your business. The answer to it is simple; the best means is integrated digital marketing.
What do you mean by Integrated Digital Marketing?
Integrated digital marketing is a combination of various digital marketing means to attract potential customers and make a transaction to grow your business.
The various means we integrate are:
Content marketing:
Content is the basis on which digital marketing operates. Providing quality content is the most important part of digital marketing. Content is a piece of information which connects you to your customers. Hence, providing quality content helps you in building trust and making sales. But, only the content is not sufficient. The quality content you create must reach your audience; otherwise, it is of no use.
SEO
Search engine optimization is a means of driving organic traffic to your content published on your website. When your content is aligned, with the needs of the search engine, it is called SEO. It makes your content appear in front of your target audience.
Email marketing
Email is the best way of keeping in touch with your customers. It helps in gaining feedback and also communicating effectively with the existing and potential customers. It helps in reminding the customers about a product they wish to buy. It is also a way to provide quality content which adds value to your customers.
Social media marketing
Social media is a means of driving group attention. In a social atmosphere, people tend to express honest feedback and suggestions. It also provides a platform for the word of mouth marketing, where people share their experiences with their family and friends.
Paid advertising
The various paid advertising means are Facebook ads, Google ads etc. these means drive traffic to your website and brings your content into the attention of your potential customers. They speed up the process of driving attention to your content.
Often people tend to use one of the above ways to generate traffic and increase visibility in the virtual world. But, the combination of all the above means in the form of integrated digital marketing helps in creating the right campaign and reaches the right audience.
Another important topic discussed was personal branding.
Why is it important to create a personal brand?
Personal branding is an important aspect of marketing. When you create a personal brand, you can market yourself in a better way. People will never know about your skills, your talents or your abilities if you don’t tell them about it. You might be the best artist but, people will know when you showcase your art to them. The best known always beats the best. Someone might not be the best artist but has marketed himself in a way that people believe him to be the best artist. This is where personal branding makes a difference.
Personal branding is very effective, as people like to hear from people and not from brands. You can relate better to a person than a brand as you connect to the story of the persona, while a brand cannot make a human connection with people. Likewise, people will also connect to your story when you present yourself as a personal brand.
The advantage of being a personal brand is that you can give rise to many different brands by your influence. The people who connect to your personal brand automatically connect to the other brands you create due to the trust you build as a personal brand. As a personal brand, you become influencer and brand ambassador of the brands you create.
How to develop a personal brand?
The best way to develop a personal brand is by following MassTrust blueprint.
MassTrust blueprint is a six-step cycle which helps in the evolution of a personal brand.
The six steps start with Learning and end with establishing a startup.
Learn
Every personal brand starts with learning a skill. All the famous personal brands like famous singers or actors have a particular skill which is the basis of their brand. You first need to learn a new skill. Every new skill can be learnt by understanding the concepts, knowing the facts and practising the procedures.
Work
Once you learn a new skill, you need to work in the real world. When you implement the skills you have learnt, only then you understand that skill. There is a famous saying, “you hear and you forget, you see and you remember, you do and you understand.” When you work, your skill is polished, and you develop a better understanding.
Blog
Writing down what you learn is the best way to remember and understand it in a better way. After implementing a particular skill, you can write your experience and share your tips on your blogs. This establishes you as a subject matter expert in your field and creates a personal brand.
Consult
Once you have built your personal brand and gained experience with your work. You can consult people instead of working for them. You become a guide to others. Consulting helps you gain a better insight into the problems and provide solutions, instead of working and executing them.
Mentor
After one to one consultation, the nest step is mentoring. Mentoring requires in-depth knowledge of your field. Once you have excelled in your skills, you can teach them to others who aspire to learn them. Mentoring gives you in-depth knowledge. Once you start teaching others, you relearn the same skill and become expert in the field which establishes a stronger personal brand.
Startup
The last step of the MassTrust blueprint is starting a startup. Mentoring establishes your personal brand, and then you can establish a startup in your industry.
This is a complete cycle of establishing a personal brand which is known as the MassTrust Blueprint.
Marketing is a vast subject and can be learnt in a better manner by experience. This blog gives a gist of marketing, its fundamentals, its funnel and the importance of personal branding in marketing. These form the basis of marketing. These ideas when learnt and implemented, give us an experience which improves your understanding of marketing on the whole.
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