Do you Want to become a successful marketer then this article is for you.
This article contains important marketing concepts to better grasp, read without skipping any sections.
Wondering if marketing is your domain?
Marketing is the only degree that integrates business, social sciences, humanities, communication, digital media, and technology.
So, what is marketing, exactly?
Marketing is primarily the means by which a firm communicates to, connects with, and engages its target audience to convey the value of and ultimately sell its products and services.
However, since the exposure of digital media, in particular social media and technology advancements, it has progressively become more about companies building deep, more meaningful and lasting relationships with their customers.
Is having a fine product sufficient? What role does marketing play in a business?
In 2009 Tata Motors was offering Nano in adequate quality and relatively in the best price segment, yet it failed for a variety of reasons, the most important of which was its market placement. ‘the Cheapest Car in the World,’ they say. Unfortunately, the word “Cheap” didn’t go down well with potential buyers. This is why it is important to understand the marketing fundamentals before promoting and positioning your products and services in the market.
The Key Principles of Marketing that everyone needs to know!
Marketing starts long before the product is produced
It starts with market research where understanding the needs and desires of the target market is a significant task.
Developing a customer driven marketing strategy, the purpose of building these strategies is to capture the market, having a unique approach from your competitors is the best way to make your brand stand out.
Deliver value to your customer. Always go above and beyond your customers’ expectations. Make them feel they really matter, and you will definitely generate interest and excitement around your brand products and services.
Build a strong relationship with your customer, get to know them, ask for genuine feedbacks in return, and provide them offers, discount coupons so they visit your outlet/shop/website again.
Capturing value from customers, the more loyal your customer fan base is the more market share you will hold.
Why is Apple so good at marketing and positioning their product?
Apple may compete with other manufacturers, like Samsung, for customer attention, but it has never engaged in a pricing war. They don’t attempt, and they don’t have to, to compete on price.
Steve Jobs and his colleagues were masters at creating and selling consumer goods that people desire.
Apple’s marketing is so good that it has become a model for other companies attempting to attain the same level of worldwide recognition, revenue growth, and long-term viability.
After delivering product to the end consumer does marketing stop here. of course not, marketing is a never ending process.
Why is after sales so important?
Customer satisfaction and retention are heavily influenced by after-sales care.
It creates loyal customers and raises the value of a brand.
For longer time, a satisfied and happy client attracts more people and, as a result, more money for the company.
Thanking your consumers, sending them service notices, and taking service feedback calls are all things that help to enhance your brand’s reputation.
Digital Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing
The key difference between digital marketing and traditional marketing is the channel through which an effective communication message is delivered to an audience.
So which marketing method is better?
Well it depends, for most companies digital marketing becomes a good option as it can reach a large set of population while keeping the expenses minimal. In India more than 50% of the buyers do their research before buying a product/service.
From a psychological point of view, Traditional marketing gives more credibility than digital marketing sure; it is cost effective and reaches more audience. Billboards, large banners and other printed Medias are often viewed as trustworthy. One of the reasons behind this is a company that can place an ad in a magazine or a commercial on television and radio must have the financial means to do so. As a result, customers perceive the firm to be expanding, successful, and steady.
Is it possible to combine the two?
Yes, it is still an ongoing debate but however, both marketing methods have their benefits and drawbacks.
How effective are both marketing approaches in reaching customers? Here are some stats:
Currently, India is the world’s second-largest internet population at over 749 million users in 2020. Of these, 744 million users accessed the internet via their mobile phones. That’s why companies develop optimized websites for mobile users. Also, Google algorithms make mobile-friendly sites rank higher. According to business standard, India is to have 900 million internet users by 2025 and active newspaper readership jumps 4.4% to 425 million.
(The Indian Express) 66% of households own television sets in India.
According to Financial Express, Over 65% of the population in India listens to FM Radio every day.
Exposing the secrets to make a fortune in Marketing!!!
CATT Marketing Funnel
Wealth = n ^ CATT (niche ^ content, attention, trust, transaction)
Wealth is the net worth of a person calculated by dividing their assets by their liabilities.
Here: Your wealth is directly proportional to your specialization.
[n] niche:
Niche is a small segment of a larger market. It focuses on clients who have a certain set of demands and are willing to spend the most if the company meets those needs.
The marketing channels such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram are so vast in terms of users, You need to be very clear about who you are going after not only based on their age, gender, income, but what problems they face and how your product or service is going to be better than the existing competitors, and what difference it going to make in their lives. Painting a clear picture to your target audience is a very crucial task.
Selecting a niche defines your target audience. So, how do you identify your profitable niche?
Examine your interests and abilities.
Look for a market that perfectly fits your passion and skills, it is critical to have a market for your abilities.
“Don’t bring an anchor, on a sinking boat” — Anthony Liccione
If there is no market for your abilities, it is equivalent to creating debt instead of profits.
Profitable niches are those that are more distinctive and less competitive.
[C] Content:
Publish your art, skills, and knowledge to your intended audience. Go on to the platforms that your target audience is already using that could be Google, Facebook, YouTube, twitter, etc.
In terms of how you can target your audience with free content, here are 3 content ideas you can apply.
· Educational content.
· Customer storytelling and testimonials.
· Entertainment.
[A] Attention:
After you publish content, then attract your target audience using SEO, Google ads, social media, referrals and YouTube ads to drive their attention to your piece of content.
[T] Trust:
Building trust with unbiased information, marketing automation, and the best method is to put deep marketing into practice, where you send your audience personalized messages which help you build an email list and retarget them.
When you send personalized content to each person’s interests and behavior, It builds a strong relationship and generates more sales.
[T] Transaction:
Lastly, you convert those leads into customers. Using your email list you can redirect them to your merchandise page, eBooks, premium content and other products and services.
Pro tip:
It is important to measure and optimize your content using tools like Google analytics, Instagram analytics, YouTube analytics, etc. Measuring is a necessary activity for scaling your business’s success. Focus on the tools that generate most of your traffic to generate more leads.
Integrated Digital Marketing
The digital era has changed the way firms promote their products. If you want your business to generate profitable returns in this competitive world, you need to implement an integrated digital marketing strategy.
Integrated digital marketing is art of combining all the online multi-channel marketing strategies, such as social media, email marketing, and content marketing, etc., to keep the customers engaged in your brand and to increase revenue and sales.
Process of Integrated Digital Marketing
Email Marketing
Email marketing is most promising and effective marketing tool, wherein social medias follow a product life cycle as, it started with Facebook as trend. Now, most of the people use Instagram, and Twitter , social media engagements keep decreasing as new competitors enter market with their USP ( unique selling proposition). While emails remain the same most of the time, a marketer can send personalized emails to their target audience which leads to a loyal customer base.
Paid Advertisement
Paid ads such as social media ads, pay-per-click (PPC), display and banner ads boost the whole integrated digital marketing process instead of using these ads for direct sales. You can channelize your traffic through educational content to build trust which benefits in increasing email lists and social media engagements.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Users are more likely to pick one of the top three choices presented by a search engine while looking for a service or product. Many organizations rely on search engine traffic to generate a significant portion of their revenue, But Google algorithm promotes websites based on page speed, bounce rate and natural links.
Social Media
Using social media platforms to share your content to the target audience is a direct approach to connect with likeminded people and network with them. A good piece of content which creates an impact on personal and professional lives, sells itself. People on social media always tend to share valuable, inspiring, and educational content with their followers.
Content Marketing
In integrated digital marketing, content is the center of attention. To build a strong trustworthy brand, as a marketer providing free quality content must be the motto. Building trust with your audience is a long process, but as the saying goes, “long term investments pay long term returns,” instead of involuntary sales of your products and services, sell at the buyer’s will, taking a consumer-centric approach to your target market.
Sell & Convert
Marketing is a long process; it takes a lot of interactions with your target audience to personalize communication which leads to building an email list. Then, convert these leads into loyal customers.
Are these marketing techniques easy to implement?
Even for large business firms developing a digital marketing strategy is difficult since what works changes constantly. Google algorithm changes, email filters, decreased Facebook/Twitter engagements, and demographic shifts across digital networks are all factors to consider. Newly launched smart-phone operating systems block ads, which reduces the reach of your content.
Personal Branding: MassTrust Blueprint
Personal branding is the process of creating a recognizable professional name and reputation for yourself or your company/business.
Consider yourself to be a personal media company. People you meet on social media become your audience. Like every successful media company, you must gradually expand your audience.
So, how important is personal branding?
“Personal branding is not about you. It’s about putting your stamp on the value that you deliver to others” — William Arruda
Do you know who’s the founder of Tesla Motors?
Now you might say Elon Musk, but no. The original founders of Tesla Motors are Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Later, Elon Musk became the largest shareholder of the company and its chairman. That’s how effective personal branding influences our perception.
Evolution of Personal Branding
Learn
To build a strong personal brand and influence people, you need to educate yourself and the best way to do it is acquiring knowledge, practicing new skills, understanding concepts, facts and procedures.
Work
Learning is half way to success, unless those newly learnt skills, concepts and procedures are put into work.
“Vision without implementation is counterproductive” Douglas B. Reeves
You tend to forget things that you don’t implement, so whatever you have learnt put them into practice.
Blog
When you have work experience, you have a deeper comprehension of the topics and you are able to communicate knowledge smoothly through your blog. Writing increases memory retention and understanding of subjects.
Consult
Use the knowledge, work experience and the facts you found out while carrying the above operations to help individuals, organizations to improve their performance using your specialized expertise in the field.
Mentor
To establish a reputation as a trusted adviser by assisting others, such as individuals or organizations, in learning and adopting your skills, making better decisions, and providing guidance and insights, and eventually becoming a role model to look up to.
Start up
Identify a problem and Start building your own products and services around it, applying all the knowledge and expertise you have learnt while implementing these above skill sets, and become authority in your profession
It is recommended that you follow all of the instructions in order.
Conclusion
The rapidly fragmented world of digital marketing perplexes marketer’s ability to connect, at the same time presents magnificent opportunities to forge new territories.
Marketing is a very wide subject that requires a combination of creative and analytical abilities to understand exactly what makes a consumer tick and how to reach them.
As a marketer it is important to understand the market opportunities, identify the competitors and build the right product with the help of marketing fundamentals.
Building a personal brand has never been more crucial for freelancers and businesses than it is now. Anyone with internet and social media access can create an audience, position oneself as an expert, and begin drawing clients towards their business. The MassTrust Blueprint makes this process easier.
I have illustrated marketing from a realistic approach with some real life examples.
Let me know what you think about this post. It would really assist me in delivering more quality content.