Does marketing sometimes make you feel dumb? Want to step up your marketing game? You need to read this first!
Before I jump into talking about the trends, techniques and various strategies involved in marketing, let’s first learn the basics. In this article, you will learn about:
- - Basics of Marketing & What it Means?
- - Fundamentals of Marketing you need to know
- - Traditional Vs Digital Marketing
- - The Catt marketing funnel
- - Integrated Digital Marketing
- - Why it is important in building a strong brand with a unique angle
Let’s dive deep into the world of Marketing..
1. Basics of Marketing & What it Means?
What makes a business idea work? Does it only take money? Why are some products an enormous success and similar products a dismal failure? How was Apple, a computer company, ready to create and launch the wildly successful iPod, yet Microsoft’s first MP3 players was a complete disaster? If the scale of a company and therefore the money behind a product’s launch were the difference, Microsoft would have won. Except for Microsoft to have claimed the win, it might have needed something it’s not had during a while — good marketing, so it can produce and sell products that buyers want.
Marketing is that function which links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information — information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of selling as a process. Market research specifies the knowledge required to deal with these issues, designs the tactic for collecting information, manages and implements the info collection process, analyses the results, and communicates the findings and their implications
The term marketing has been described by different people in several ways. Some people believe that marketing is similar to ‘shopping’. Whenever they are going out for shopping of certain products or services, they describe it as marketing. There are another group of people that confuse marketing with ‘selling’ and feel that marketing activity starts after a product or service has been produced. Clearly that is not the case, marketing is something you start to think about before you design your product.
Some people compare marketing to ‘merchandising’ or designing a product. All these descriptions could also be partly correct, but marketing may be a much broader concept, which in my opinion is as follows: Traditionally, marketing has been described in terms of its functions or activities. In this respect, marketing has been mentioned as the performance of business activities that direct the flow of products and services from producers to consumers.
2. Fundamentals of Marketing you need to know
Marketing is very complex in nature, however, the core fundamentals that marketing revolves around is Product, Price, Promotion & Place. Tactics and channels change, but these are the concept and principles that never change in the field of marketing. I will further expand on each of these concepts to give you a broader understanding of the marketing fundamentals.
o Product: There is no point in developing a product or service that nobody wants to purchase, yet many businesses decide what to supply first, then hope to seek out a marketplace for it afterwards. Successful companies determine what customers need or want then develop the proper product with the proper level of quality to satisfy their expectations, both now and in the future. A product doesn’t need to be tangible — an insurance policy can often be a product. The perfect product provides value for the customer. This value is within the eye of the beholder — we must give our customers what they need, not what we expect they need.
o Price: A product is merely worth what customers are prepared to spend on it. That worth must be competitive, but this doesn’t mean you’ve got to be the most cost effective in your market — small businesses can compete with larger rivals by offering a more personal service or better value for money. You also got to make a profit. Pricing is that the only element of the marketing mix that generates revenue, everything else represents a cost to you.
o Promotion: Promotion is a method through which you communicate to your customers about what you are doing and what you are offering. It includes branding,
advertising, PR, corporate identity, social media outreach, sales management, special offers and exhibitions. Promotion must gain attention, be appealing, send a uniform message and in particular, should give the customer a reason to consider your product instead of someone else’s.
o Place: This marketing fundamental defines, the product must be available in the right place, at the right time and within the right quantity, while keeping storage, inventory and distribution costs to a suitable level. The place where customers buy a product, and therefore the means of distributing your product thereto place, must be appropriate and convenient for the customer. This is also applicable to kinara stores that are located next to your house.
3. Traditional Vs Digital Marketing
Marketing is a crucial strategy for businesses and it contains numerous effective tools. Traditional marketing has been in use for several years and nowadays Internet has brought new ways of doing business for companies which has affected marketing. My aim here is to compare traditional marketing vs digital marketing, show the differences of characteristics between them. From my experience, many small businesses are struggling with deciding which type of promotions to try and do, because their budget will only stretch to at least one or the opposite , not both. The choices that has got to be made aren’t easy: which method of selling will give me the foremost bang for my money? How do i do know if my marketing is working? Who should I trust with my marketing? But, the most prominent question remains, Where to invest your budget in Traditional Marketing OR Digital Marketing? Read On.. The answers may surprise you.
Whether you are small business owner or a freelancer, you need to make sure that you are consistent in staying ahead of your competition. Which means we cannot just depend upon outdated marketing methods. It is imperative to see beyond and understand how we will leverage the newest marketing techniques to grow our reach so we can stand out among competition.
What is Traditional Marketing?
Think of traditional marketing as a marketing that you simply can physically touch or experience. That’s why traditional marketing materials are woven into the material of consumers’ lives. These include your newspaper ads, coupon tags, brochures, banners, and even free samples. Traditional marketing methods are used since the start when even the term marketing wasn’t termed. There are numerous ways of promoting a product or service the traditional way.
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing needs no introduction. But as a refresher, digital marketing is any advertising information you see on a digital platforms. This could be the ads you see on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. It also includes emails, blogging, Google Adwords, and SEO. Digital marketing came into being within the early 90’s and caught the eye of all marketing experts and corporations instantly due to its lucrative appeal. It became even popular due to the web revolution especially in the type of social media and other advertising platforms.
Few Comparisons for your reading pleasure..
· Tv vs YouTube
· Newspaper vs Google Ads
· Radio vs Podcasts
· Billboard vs Facebook
· Direct Mail vs Email
· Magazine vs Instagram
— Traditional Marketing Advantages
1. It becomes easy to reach out to local audience.
2. Messages generated through traditional media stays for a long time for future reference
3. Traditional media has access to people who are not yet introduced to the internet.
4. It provides instant delivery of messages.
5. It is easy to understand.
— Digital Marketing Advantages
1. Easy Analytics, which can be tracked via various tools available online
2. Cost Effective compared to traditional marketing
3. Flexible in terms of the number of resources available
4. Tracking provides a more accurate data to plan your marketing strategy
5. Reach can be infinite
6. Customer Interaction is more personalised
Which Social Media Platforms Are Right For Your Business?
It requires some homework upfront, but that due diligence can prevent hours and even eliminate unnecessary roles for you if your focus is merely on the platforms supplying you with an immediate profit. Here’s are some tips I am sharing on how you’ll find the simplest social media platforms for your business.
1: Start with a plan
- Set social media goals and objectives
2: Decide which platforms are right for you
3: Know your audience
4: Build relationships
5: Expand your audience
6: Share compelling visuals whenever you can
7: Focus on quality over quantity
8: Monitor and respond to all social media conversations around your business
9: Track and refine your performance, repeat.
Quite honestly, in my opinion our traditional marketing methods support our digital marketing efforts. The 2 don’t operate in exclusion from one another. But we only use textual matter marketing materials to further strengthen a relationship with a contact, or client. We do not invest in television or radio ads, for instance, but we’ll give brochures to someone who is curious about our services.
Rather than taking an all or nothing approach, it seems to me that a multi-channel approach that leverages the unique benefits of paper with the convenience and accessibility of digital will perform best in today’s world.
4. The CATT marketing funnel
Catt Funnel is a model which is slowly gaining momentum in the field of marketing. It is a concept developed by Deepak Kanakarju. The Catt marketing funnel can be described as the journey which your audience goes through up until they decide to buy from you.
Breaking down the CATT Funnel:
1. Content:
Content is one of the crucial steps of the marketing process, where customers get to know about you and your services that you offer. You as an online marketer have to seek an identity and visibility for the content you are offering. At this stage you will need to create greater and high-quality content for your targeted audience. Your primary aim is to create awareness via various channels like YouTube, Your own blog, Forums, Twitter etc. The type of content that you can create is only limited by your imagination, some of them are Videos, Subscription, Online event, Online courses, Testimonial, Case study etc.
2. Attention:
Your content must attract your audience’s attention. Once the customer’s interest is piqued in the first phase, that means their attention in your content has aroused. There are various methods you can optimize your content to generate attention, one such method is called SEO which can help you optimize your content that your audience is looking for.
3. Trust:
As we all know, digital services that once were a convenience have now become a lifeline. We now conduct many aspects of our lives, relationships and businesses online. As internet marketers, convincing customers to do business with us virtually has become a matter of survival — one that requires the ability to engender the type of mutual trust our audience expects from us. Trust is a two-way street. Here I will share some key points that help you build trust with your audience:
1. Be consistent in sharing quality content
2. Create an interest that attracts your audience to subscribe to your email list
3. Engage with your audience on a regular basis on social media platforms
4. You can ask them follow you back on Twitter, YouTube
5. Keep them engaged in your Facebook Page by conducting quizzes, sharing ideas etc
6. Have a positive testimonial of happy customers
7. Build authority in your niche to gain social proof
4. Transaction:
As soon because the desire to purchase is aroused, this must be transferred into an action, that is, the transaction. This is the final stage of the CATT funnel. At this stage your audience has built the trust, they love your content and are ready to invest money in your product or services. You should be in a position to offer them a great offer + something more in return for their investment. You can further upsell to your audience once they are satisfied in doing business with you the first time.
5. Integrated Digital Marketing
Search engines have maintained the momentum of change , so, too, must our strategies to maintain a powerful online presence and stay ahead of our competitors. Gone are the times where a single method of marketing technique made an impact. Now, the game is all about providing your audience with an all-encompassing experience online. so as to make this experience for your website’s visitors, you will have to mix tons of digital strategies into an “integrated digital marketing” campaign.
In lay man terms, Integrated digital marketing is simply putting together multiple marketing strategies to form a cohesive approach to establish your online business. Here what it includes:
1. Digital Display Marketing
2. Search Engine Optimization & Search Engine Marketing
3. Content marketing
4. Social Media Marketing
5. Email marketing
The main purpose of implementing an integrated digital marketing strategy is to create a more influential online presence. While each individual strategy will not have that big an impact on its own, but when used in conjunction with other strategies you can achieve your goal with more accuracy.
6. Why it is important in building a strong personal brand with a unique angle
Majority of the population think that personal branding is meant only for high profile personalities like politicians, celebrities etc. But in this highly competitive world, building a strong brand is an indispensable tool to success irrespective of the profession.
Creating a personal brand allows you to showcase your work, your style and your purpose. In other words, it provides character and personality to your work. In my view, I define personal branding as a fully planned and strategic process to develop an action plan to promote your own brand. If you are creative and have a unique way to communicate what makes you special and distinct. This will only be possible once you understand your creative ideas and unique attributes including your skill sets, values, strengths and passions and use them to stand out of the crowd.
Having a personal brand can have many advantages in varied situations that related to your career and lifestyle. You can build an audience and get their attention in a short period of time because people will relate to and support your brand. You get to articulate your style of work through your brand, it helps to express your unique value to your audience.
I cannot emphasize enough on how important it is to build a personal brand. The world is not getting less competitive, in fact it is the opposite of that. Hence to stand out of the crowd, it is important to differentiate yourself so as to be unique and visible in comparisons to your competitors.
Conclusion:
We live and work in a world of unprecedented social and technological upheaval, which has introduced new levels of competition for all kinds of organisations. Business is becoming global, customers are more demanding, many mature markets offer little room for growth. Hence, there is more interesting in marketing than ever before. I have realised one thing that is you need to be able to anticipate and satisfy your audience’s needs and wants if you wish to be a successful marketer. This is only possible once you adapt to a strong mindset of self-discipline, constantly learning and upgrading your skills to meet market demand.
Thank you taking the time in reading this article. You can further read about Digital Marekting and its concepts at https://digitaldeepak.com. This is part of the Digital Deepak Internship Program. If you want to get people to apply for the next upcoming batch, Apply here → https://deepak.me/internapply