Marketing Made Easy- comprehensive guide to awaken your marketer from within!
Hi marketers who believe in themselves,
So here I am writing something on a topic we’re so distant about but which is in core of our lives. I don’t know about you all but I have always believed that marketing is something done by a specific category of people who are known as marketers whose job is to advertise a specific product/service/content, in short not something we should bother about.
However, when I joined a digital marketing Internship program, I got to know about marketing and needed to write all about it as a part of my assignment, making me read so many references, articles, books & what not! [Note: I’m not promoting anything but it’s the truth and its worth my mouth marketing! ;)]
And now I got the answers of the most basic questions we have about marketing. So, let’s start bursting the bubbles of myths around marketing by shooting bullets of knowledge.
So, the most common questions that come to our minds on hearing marketing are:
· Why is there so hype about marketing? What is marketing and why should we care about it?
· What is required to do marketing? How much knowledge? What qualifications? Which methods?
· Is it simple or complex? Is it just about creativity & ads?
· Is it for salesperson, entrepreneur, businessmen or anyone?
· Can everyone do marketing or be a marketer? Can I be a marketer?
· For how long marketing is done for a product/service?
. Is it worth it? This one’s the smallest but deepest question because we seldom bother to think that we can ever be involved in marketing.
We all know about the product, which brand, who founded it, where we can find it, etc. but never thought that how we got to know about it? How we got attracted to buy it? Why it became important to us that we were not able to ignore it? Why the ‘want’ of any product becomes ‘need’ to get it?
The answer to all these questions is Marketing.
Its Marketing which is hidden but working its way to make a product known to us, demanding our attention to make us buy it, to make it irresistible or at least something we can’t just brush aside and making it a need for us.
Never thought about marketing like that? Think now and read ahead to disclose the ‘mystery of marketing’.
What is Marketing? Why should we care?
According to Philip Kotler, Father of Modern Marketing, “Marketing is the science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit.”
Marketing is all based on consumer behavior. It starts with understanding the customers’ needs and delivering such a product/service which attracts them to make transaction, which makes it automatically comes out of their mouth that - Hey, that’s what I needed! or Hey, you got me right! or Hey, finally i got what I needed!
Marketing actually is an art, a scientific art (Why? Even science got diagrams & flow charts. ;)) So, I believe that it’s a scientifically executed art of understanding customers to provide them value before, during & even after purchase of a product/service. (Of course you would want to have a lifetime customer if possible so they can purchase more products and at the same time you serve them better & keep solving their problems & fulfilling their desires about which sometimes even they don’t know.)
If you think why we bother to know about marketing, then my friend you are doomed in this day and age where even children are marketing the idea to let them go on a school trip by telling them it’s educational and we will learn something new plus there are added benefits of low school cost and food & safety. I’m not saying that children are faking it but how would parents know the advantages, features and needs if they are not explained/marketed in front of them. Do you think you’ll simply say, I want to go on a school trip and they’ll say Yes my child, go and enjoy. Of course they would be concerned and want to know what is there for them, for their child, the benefits and value.
So you see marketing is omnipresent. In one way or other it is included in our lives, from your very first memories to this moment while you are instigated by the topic itself. We are so used to it that we became unaware of its existence. We fail to notice it’s happening around us and changing us, our minds.
Why marketing? Because marketing makes things better. Better understanding of customers’ worldviews & needs, better commodity, better services, better sales, better brand awareness, better growth and this cycle of betterment goes on until saturation takes place. Saturation; how?
The answer is Marketing! Marketing is a means to an End, to get to saturation point, by building trust in your target audience which will create a very very strong brand and thereby capturing a position in the minds of the consumers so that need of marketing will be automatically reduced. It would become like Name Is Enough! For example- we don’t say to search something on search engine, we prefer saying Search it on Google/ Google it. So whenever we think of searching, it automatically gives a cue to our minds to go for Google, in spite of having other search engines.
The basics/fundamentals of marketing lie in its name only:
Now before knowing the steps & ways of marketing first focus on this question-
What is required- knowledge, types, qualifications, forms
· Knowledge- To understand marketing more clearly, first you need to have a positive mindset that ‘I can do it’ and then basic knowledge of fundamentals of marketing, niche selection, product/service knowledge, communication skills (P.S.- not grammar but to be able to transfer your thoughts & convey the importance of your content), marketing funnel (we’ll discuss CATT funnel),personal branding, Mass Trust and global economics.
Now, the names might make you uncomfortable but as you will read further everything will seem simpler.
· Qualifications — the qualifications are just positive mindset and going through the evolution of Personal Branding which is MassTrust Blueprint which can be understood by anyone if determined. Eager to know? Keep reading, we’ll disclose everything! ;)
· Types — Marketing is something which is timeless & ageless and was there since human existence till today and will always be there in future. It is rooted in human psychology and cannot be replaced by any AI’s or robotics because they can’t make connections & perceptions. It is the backbone of any business & a safe career to approach because when you know how to market & sell you’ll never be jobless/run out of customers.
Now, since marketing is always present it does not have any such types! The core principles & fundamentals all remain same. Actually, it is the medium adopted to do marketing is different.
So, based on that one can do:
1) Traditional Marketing
2) Digital Marketing (which we will be discussing, however as I’ve mentioned earlier fundamentals remain same.)
Traditional v/s Digital Marketing
Forms-
· Direct response marketing — it is a form of marketing designed to get an instant response by encouraging the prospects to take a specific action. It is one of the several ways to attract the target audience. This form of marketing involves:-
Ø Ads which are based on consumers benefits and solving their problems since then only they’ll become interested in your offer/respond to your ads and share their details (sign up your newsletter).
Ø Marketing to a specific group & communicating through personalize message.
Ø An offer encouraging them to take action and for that a simple and easily accessible calls to action. Example — in signing up a newsletter, one can easily understand and write their email address and click on submit.
Ø Creating a sense of urgency so that consumers respond quickly and can use emphasis like, limited seats, discount applicable only for 24 hours etc.
Advantages include-
Ø We will be able to track if ads are working or not.
Ø Ability to track measure prospects and leads.
Ø Quick response from consumers and thereby we can identify the interested leads which ultimately saves time required to filter out cold leads.
Ø Personalized communication resulting in building trust and stronger relations with the prospects.
Thus, while traditional marketing just focuses on raising brand awareness using ad campaigns which do not give specific measurable result, this form of marketing allows us to get measurable results and immediate ROI.
· Integrated Digital Marketing & CATT Funnel framework-
These are the 2 frameworks which work in co-ordination to produce best results. Actually the CATT funnel framework is to be followed which in turn is executed through Integrated DM.
CATT Funnel is actually how you evolve through different stages of marketing. It can be shown as: wealth = n^CATT, where,
n = niche; your success depends on your niche selection. Choosing a right niche means you are half close to success. We’ll be discussing it later.
C = content; you need to create useful & high quality content which is focused on solving your consumers problems or beneficial to them so that they’ll be attracted into your tribe and spread the words to attract other similar people. It can be in any form like, blog posts, webinars, videos etc.
A = attention; once you have great content, you need to drive attention of your audience to your content so that they know you have what they want. It can be done via, SEO, social media, paid ads etc.
T = trust; once your audience get engaged, you need to build trust with them because without trust they won’t buy from you. To build trust you can use marketing automation & retargeting. One of the methods is Deep Marketing in which you send out personalized messages to your target audience. It is like connecting with your audience directly and communicating to the point.
Advantages- high quality attention, since you are using high quality content.
Because people are giving attention willingly, you are earning their trust and this trust will in turn brings customers to buy your services.
T = transaction; it is the fruit of the hard work you have done in all of the above steps, because now you have build the trust so you need to convert your leads into customers which will happen naturally since you know your target customer and understood their needs and have a product which will solve their problems plus they are trusting you by now so you won’t require to push it. But you need to convey the message regarding it so that purchase happens, which can be done by sales webinars, sales calls etc.
Thus, it is the CATT funnel framework which helps you to make a strong and powerful brand too and increasing your sales.
Now, to execute it we use Integrated Digital Marketing approach which is a strategy that blends all the major digital marketing methods so that each method by playing their strengths complements each other and thereby multiplying the effectiveness of marketing.
Each technique is used in different stages consistently such that it creates a memorable image in the minds of audience and create a journey for them to go on.
It is unifying different digital marketing channels. Most common ones are:-
· Search Engine Marketing (PPC/SEM)
· Search Engine Optimization (Organic Traffic)
· Email Marketing
· Social Media Marketing
· Digital Display Marketing
· Content Marketing
SEM helped marketers to connect with the prospects already looking for them and the ads will only be shown to the targeted audience and charged only when they click on it.
When the cost of the ads got higher because of the competition and higher bidding of keywords, marketers focused more on search engine organic traffic (SEO) because investing in SEO produced long-term returns.
The goal of email marketing is to collect leads and subscribers and send marketing messages to them, but it should be done wisely and not just keep on blasting marketing messages.
When social media came in recognition marketers started using it for ads but soon marketers realized that social media advertising gives a very low conversion ratio because interrupting them with a marketing message is not effective when they are not really looking for a product/service like they do while searching in the search engines. However, when used in a proper manner social media can bring great benefits.
Display ads are like ads on newspaper. They find their place between useful pieces of content and interrupt the user with a marketing message. However, due to their interrupting nature nowadays, people are using ad blocker plugins or simply ignoring ads making this method a failure.
Content marketing is basically an inbound marketing tactic where you attract visitors, readers and potential customers by creating good quality content. Thus, people who care about your content will know and be attracted to it willingly and join your tribe. However, content marketing won’t be effective if the other digital marketing methods are not used in conjunction with it. That’s where integrated marketing comes in play.
Integrated Digital Marketing is like a team with content as the leader and the various other digital marketing methods are like its team members.
The above flowchart describes the process of integrated digital marketing. Every channel serves a unique function:
- Content: High Quality and relevant content helps build trust, engage the audience with the brand, build a tribe and spread the word with your own customers as brand ambassadors. Also helps in educating the customers about the industry and your product or service along with people respecting you and knowing you as an expert in your field.
- Email: It is the best communication tool available to online marketers today. Works best when used with permission (opt-in subscribers). Helps send out information about new content and follow up with the prospects to remind them about the product or service they want to buy.
- Social Media: Email focuses on individual people while social media is like meeting with a focus group. People may not be in a mood to purchase on social media, but it helps get honest feedback about a product or service and listen to the needs of the customers.
- Search: Helps potential customers to find your content and your offering by directly searching for it. One of the most powerful tools in online marketing and works best when you do not try to manipulate it. Doing basic on page SEO and then doing all the other things right should be enough to get truck loads of targeted traffic from the search engines.
- Ads: Paid ads in its various formats can help speed up the entire process. The integrated digital marketing process is like a catalyst for ads which maximizes the return on investment on the dollars spent.
Thus, instead of every channel doing their functions to increase customers, this technique uses strengths of each channel in a way which produces a result more than the sum of individual achievements of each channel.
Since by now we are familiar with the most basics of marketing, let’s dive in further to make marketing easy.
Marketing- simple v/s complex
Marketing is very simple if you get it right. At the same time it could become very complex if you lose your focal point. So, let’s set our focal point in right direction and determine steps to make this process simpler and executable by anyone.
STEP 1: Set your goal precisely.
So, your first task should not be thinking about products or ads, but it should be your Goal. Of course you are not going to sell something without any goal in mind. If you do, then automatically things become complicated because you might not understand whether your marketing got success or not. So first is Goal-Setting.
You need to decide how much you want to earn/make profit. Set a financial goal and create a plan to achieve it.
Let’s say, I want to get 25 lakhs/month as revenue. So, I need to decide how much my product will cost per customer. There can be many graphs plotted to set the basic plan for it as follows:
Are you now finding it easy to set your goal revenue?
Now, you know what you want to achieve but initially you might not want to just go ahead and charge like millions for a product. First you need to build trust within your target customers with your product/service so that later they won’t be able to resist the offer & buy. Initially you might need to spend full cost with very less profit margin but you know your product is high quality which will build trust among your buyers and then you’ll be able to convert some of them into your product’s hard-core fans (obviously because you deserve it.) and then you can sell them your 1000 Rs. Product and then you can give more personalized high end product at more cost to those who need more. This way you can achieve your 25 lakhs or even 1 Crore per month.
Isn’t it amazing? Wait, it’s just the first step. Let’s go ahead.
STEP 2: Choose your niche & people wisely.
Now, we had set the goal to earn 25 lakhs/month, but how?
Here, comes the role of niche selection. Now, while you select niche the key here will be the combination of three, i.e. Talent, Passion & Market.
For Example- I have a passion to become Strength & Conditioning expert and I do have talent/skills of a Physiotherapist as well so I’ll be able to visualize potential injury, individual muscle along with anatomy and can design a well-tailored customized training program. But, for who? I need to understand who will be my target audience. Who will become my customers? So, my niche selection is still incomplete. Then I will need to understand the market. What kind of people will be my buyers! What is the market demand for this niche? Who has the problem for which my niche is the solution. So, for that I need to carry out research within market & know who requires me most, who can I serve better, whose problem can I solve.
Seth Godin has rightly written in “This is marketing- you can’t be seen until you learn to see” that- it doesn’t make any sense to make a key and then run around looking for a lock to open. The only productive solution is to find a lock and then fashion a key.
It’s easier to make products and services for the customers you seek to serve than it is to find customers for your products and services.
Thus, you need to choose your niche wisely depending on who you choose as your people, the ones who will become addicted to your products, for those your product is the best solution. Don’t go forward to please everybody because then you’ll need to satisfy everyone & offend no one leading to compromises & generalizations which will result in you getting bored plus later into sub-par products, ultimately leading to losing customers.
You need to rule your category & if not then find a sub category but try to be Unique, Be the Only One. For eg: in my case, there are lots of S & C experts out there. It would be too much difficult to compete with them. So, instead of trying to be best in this category. I can go ahead & find a sub category like S & C expert for athletes or for clinical patients etc.
Choosing the right people is half the battle won & who are the right audience?
So, your target audience are –
· Those who want what you are offering
· Who are ready to hear & most open to what you tell?
· Located where there is scarcity of what you offer
· Those who will be benefitted with your product/service and it solves their problems.
· Those who will tell the other right audience.
STEP 3: Create your product remarkable, exceptionally.
Now, since you know what you want to achieve & how you will achieve. You need to create your product/service which must be a high quality product benefitting your customers & build trust in them for your brand. Choose a product. The best one. Best for whom? Best for us, the customers! For eg: some might want a product which is sustainable & at the same time in budget while others want something luxurious & defining status.
Thus, it is the product to which your target audience will get attracted, which will attract their attention, which you will sell & which will give you profit.
As Peter Drucker quoted “the aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”
And, once you know what you want to give them and it coincides with your passion & talent your product is ready.
Even before you think about marketing, your product must be that much remarkable because gone were the days when effective marketing could sell even the most ordinary product/service. In today’s world we actually need to create a product “worth noticing, new, unique & worth talking about.”
There’s a quote by Seth Godin that “if successful new products are the ones that stand out, and most people desire not to stand out, you’re set!” It’s not that you need to become a genius to make that kind of product, you just need to have a mindset of doing, a mindset that there is no other option, a mindset that you can’t wait for the perfection but you need to start taking actions.
Planning to do something is great but a plan almost always fails because it lacks implementation. It’s better to work towards something as a Quest because then you will be undertaking it and the chances of its success increases remarkably.
STEP 4: Market your product effectively & build your brand nicely.
Now, comes the part of marketing your product. One might think that when we have already created a product so amazing why we need marketing. A great product will sell itself. Although I completely support the statement but the important thing is that, only you knowing the uniqueness of product will not going to make people know about the product.
Common mistakes a marketer do are:
· Think that all the people you are going to serve are well informed, independent, rational long term choice makers.
· Think that everyone will think like you & want what you want.
But that’s not the case, it’s your belief, however it’s not going to change the fact that people don’t know your product & how it will benefit them or how it would make them feel. They don’t know why they should choose your product among all the others and what they are going to miss out.
So, now you understand that we need marketing of our products so that people get to know that there is something out there which will solve their problem, which will give them a feeling of satisfaction, which make their desires come true and help in leading a better life.
Marketing will help you to get known, to reach out to your target audience, to show them what you got and how it will benefit them. It’s a means to drive attention of your customers towards your product/service and create an urgency to buy, to make a feeling that if we miss out the thing we’ll regret it later. It induces a feeling of being missed when it’s gone.
Marketing is focused on being missed when you’re gone; on bringing more than people expect to those who trust us. It seeks volunteers, not victims- Seth Godin, in This Is Marketing.
Key focus of marketing will be on:
As you can observe that there is a role of marketing even before creation of product when you try to understand the minds of your target audience and show them how your product is going to make changes they need to come true. Marketing is there during product release to get more & more people know what you got and what’s there for them in it. And marketing is there even after the product is purchased so that people can buy more products or become your customer for life because now you’ve built trust among them which is the No . 1 goal of the marketer. Thus, the question is answered that marketing doesn’t lasts, it’s ongoing and will be continuous till you build a very powerful brand which doesn’t require that much marketing.
The result we want from marketing is actually to build a very strong Personal Brand, a brand which holds a firm position in the minds & hearts of your customers so much that without a second thought your name will come to their minds, which leads us to our next question!
Who is a marketer- a businessman, entrepreneur, salesman; Me or You?
Being a marketer is not just a title tagged to a specific set of people. Questions like who is a marketer or can I be a marketer/ able to do marketing often comes in our minds.
I believe- Anyone can be a marketer; also, everyone is a marketer. It’s just deep inside us ready to be discovered.
To understand it simply-
Ultimately, without me being aware, I’m actually doing marketing and so can you too! Also, if you noticed I’ve used one of the best methods of marketing, i.e. CATT marketing funnel and at the same time doing Personal Branding.
Personal Branding< — >Mass trust
The power of personal branding cannot be underestimated because It’s Personal, It’s Deep, It’s a Direct connection of customers with the providers. It’s a feeling of safety that someone is accountable for the product/service.
Personal branding creates a sense of security among people that they can reach out to a human being and will get the answers/solutions to their problem and this feeling a brand name/logo can’t give.
It important to work over your personal brand over time because it will represent more of your Story, more of your Personality, more of You! And when people start noticing & engaging with your story & content, over time it will built your tribe, a community of like-minded people who value your skills and sees you as an expert in your industry. There might be talks of you; criticisms, appreciations or trolls but that’s alright. You just need to serve the right people, your ideal followers who are waiting for your content/product/services and are ready to take action.
Your personal brand is how you promote yourself. It is the unique combination of skills, experience, and personality that you want your followers to see. It is the result of telling of your story, and the impression people gain from your online reputation.
In today’s world where anyone’s details can be found on internet, it becomes equally important to show your authentic selves and make sure that whatever story you are selling is consistent across everything you say and do. Because only then you can build trust with someone, i.e. people who really matters.
To build personal brand, you need to build:
To stand out from everybody else, you need to Be Your Own Brand!
But to get to this stage where we have our personal brand & making people buy/ use our services/content we need to be in a constant stage of evolution, keep learning & growing our skills & expertise and keep challenging our limits. This should be a never ending cycle and has stages through which we need to go through. This is MassTrust Blueprint.
It can be shown by following diagram:
The above cycle can be explained as below:
Step 1: Learn a new skill.
Step 2: Work on it. Implement your new found skillset in real world and experience what it does. This will give you a better understanding.
Step 3: Write about it. Write Blogs and articles, post them & share your learning and experiences which will further help you in understanding better. However writing directly without working on your skill will be of limited value.
Thus, when you write after implementing your learning people will look into your experiences & learn from you. You will also start building your personal brand.
Step 4: Consult others. Now, when you have your personal brand and required skills & experience you can provide consultation in your field and get paid to advise.
Step 5: Be a Mentor. Now, instead of guiding to one person you can teach a group of people who want to be like you. It will result in much deeper level of understanding the field. You can create mentoring programs or coaching programs.
Step 6: Own your Startup. Since you have developed a great understanding & expertise in your field, you can start your own product/service business.
Now you know almost everything about marketing and it would only be fair if you take some actions, read some books, invest on yourself to learn something new, write more, share more and become a successful marketer! This leads to our final question,
Is it worth it?
By now, you must have known the importance of marketing in our lives and how it’s a game changer, how it’s a safest career to approach, different methods and basic steps to help you through your evolution of becoming a freelancer → mentor → entrepreneur.
So, there’s no need for me to decide it’s worth because you must have known it’s worthiness.
So, I just want to conclude my article by just saying that — you can read as much as you want, learn as much as you want but you need to start acting on it to and gain experiences to become expert in doing anything; here, marketing.
Bye guys and hope to see some of you going ahead and become very successful.
