A world without marketing
Imagine an iPhone being invented in the nook of the world and no one is aware of it. Would Apple still be a big player in the market? Would anyone dream of having an iphone for its tremendous popularity? Would there be any competition in the market? Would the majority of the population even have a smartphone at all?
These are some of the thoughts that would go through a person’s mind when they imagine a world without marketing. Marketing is a key element for a product to sell. Without marketing there would be no brand, no competition, no advertisements, no loyal customers, no growth in sales and the economy would have plummeted.
So, a world without marketing is no fun at all.
Why marketing is important
The basic principle of marketing is to satisfy your customers’ needs. A product can be created out of anything, but is there a need for it in the market. If there is, does that match the customers expectations. These are the questions you need to ask yourself before marketing your product/services. When you understand the needs and expectations of your customers, you can market your product in the best way.
Marketing is an effective way to keep your customers loyal and happy in the long run. If you need to keep your customers happy and loyal to you, then you need to pay attention to them. You need to cater to them even when they are not thinking of you. For example, if there is a festival at the end of the corner, you need to make sure you provide offers and other promotional activities so that, even when a person is not in need of a certain product/services, the offers make them want to buy them.
Imagine crispy fried chicken.
What is the first thought that pops in your mind?
KFC right?
Exactly.
KFC has been positioned in our minds when we think about fried chicken. What is the reason for this? Is this because KFC has told us to think about them when we imagine fried chicken.
No!
It is because KFC managed to market itself in such a way that they don’t even need to tell us to think about them when we hear fried chicken.
When you look at KFC’s advertisement, you usually see a hot, steaming fried chicken with a crispy looking surface falling in the bucket or on top of a sandwich. Their posters, billboards all consist of a picture of fried chicken. This marketing strategy led us to think about KFC whenever we hear fried chicken.
Word-of-mouth is the best channel of marketing. When a product/services are recommended by our friends or family who have already used it, we tend to take their advice. This word-of-mouth strategy tends to have more value than the company marketing their own products/services.
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but the stories you tell.”
-Seth Godin
At the end of the day marketing is nothing but telling stories. It can be about your product, your services, your company or how consumers feel when they utilize your products/services. The aim is to make the consumer feel something enough that will inspire them to take action.
It is an effective means of communicating a message in a narrative way.
Digital vs Traditional marketing
Traditional marketing includes mediums like TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, billboard etc,. These mediums of marketing have been functioning from a long period of time.
Digital marketing includes mediums like social media platforms.
Through any means of marketing it is important to know the direct response. If you are creating an ad and there are no contact details mentioned, then you wouldn’t know if the ads you are running are effective or not. If you run an ad in a newspaper, the contact provided in it will act as a direct response. Through this you can estimate as to how many leads that you have generated through your ads.
Digital marketing is the best medium to reach the affluent english speaking population.
CATT marketing funnel
wealth=n^CATT
n=niche- Your success and wealth depends on the niche you choose.
C=Content- Create useful content that attracts people from your niche. Blog posts, videos, lead magnets, live webinars, etc,.
A=Attention- Drive attention using SEO, social media, paid ads and referrals.
T=Trust- Build trust with your audiences with trip wire, marketing automation and retargeting.
T= Transaction- Convert your leads into customers with natural sales methods.
It is important to first find your niche market. If you understand your niche it is easier to cater to your customers’ needs. Choose a category and become a leader in that category. If you cannot be a leader in that category, be a leader in the sub-category.
For instance, Royal Enfield belongs to the motorcycle industry and it specifically caters to long distance riding experience and it delivers to its customers’ needs. The customers of Royal Enfield aren’t looking for fast sports motorcycles but their need lies in a smooth riding experience and Royal Enfield is a leader in that category.
When you select your niche there should be talent+ market+ passion. It cannot be one or the other. There needs to be all 3.
Integrated digital marketing framework
The way this framework is executed is by first creating content on your blog. Paid advertisements are run on the content which you have created. So this ad creates attention following the steps of the CATT framework. When attention is created people will come to your content to view. These ads will help you get the email list of the people who utilised your service through it. And these email lists will receive new information from you in a mail driving them back to your content. Through this trust is built. Your content would also be listed in a search engine, again bringing the viewers to your content and transaction is done through sales and conversion.
So this is a realistic integrated digital marketing framework.
CATT is a framework on how an individual goes through different stages.
Integrated digital marketing framework is how you execute it.
Personal branding: MassTrust blueprint
The concept of personal branding is usually opted and followed by the politicians, movie stars, sportsmen, socialites and any other person who has and enjoys a celebrity status in the market.
“Branding is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
-Jeff Bezos
People want to hear from people, not from brands. If you observe on instagram, one of the most followed celebrities is Kylie Jenner who also owns the brand Kylie Cosmetics. She has more fans following herself than her brand. This is because people are more interested in her and she inspires them to buy her products. Even though it’s her own company it doesn’t have even half the fan following of her. The reason why Kylie Cosmetics became so famous and is a top brand is because of her personality. People relate towards her and get inspired to buy her products.
A personal brand becomes an influencer and brand ambassador for the companies that they run. This is the reason why companies want top celebrities to be their brand ambassadors. People get inspired by celebrities and buy the products that they endorse. This also generates more sales.
Evolution of personal branding
LEARN- Learn a new skill through concepts, facts and procedures. Understand the concepts. Remember the facts and practice the procedures.
WORK- Practice what you have learnt and implement it in the real world so that you don’t forget it and get a better understanding of the subject.
BLOG- Write about what you have learnt and experienced through your work. When you write you understand it better and you will also start building your personal brand. This will help others to understand your experience and they will learn from you.
CONSULT- With new skill, work experience and blog, you can start consulting other businesses instead of working for them.
MENTOR- When people want to learn from you about your experiences and skill, start mentoring them. This way it will help you too to get more clarity on the subject.
STARTUP- Start your own business with the knowledge that you gained from your experiences.
This is an endless cycle throughout your life. You always learn something new, implement it in your work life and guide others with your knowledge.
Conclusion
This article is an overview on why marketing is important and how you can implement it in your work life. You see marketing everyday in your life. You visit a restaurant, have a delicious meal, tell your friends about it; that’s marketing right there. You are using word-of-mouth technique to market the restaurant you had a meal in. We often market certain products/services unknowingly too.
So, to imagine a world without marketing is absolutely impossible since we see it everyday and it is invested deep in our minds.
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