Can the ‘Law of Marketing’ really make you rich?

Hey! Did anyone ever tell you that if you have complete knowledge about the law of marketing and know the right way to implement it in your business… you can actually become rich?

Well, this may sound a little off-track to you…. But tell me one thing – Who would you believe when someone tells that to you? Someone who can just tell you about it or someone who has been there and done it all. He is a living embodiment of all that he preaches and imparts to his students. Would you want to know who I am referring to here, who walks his talk – it is the Digital Marketing Icon of India - Digital Deepak. If there is anyone who I have seen growing and making the riches that he has made, it’s him. He is not into promoting get-quick-rich schemes or anything that’s not legal, instead he is teaching people, who are willing to learn a way to sustainably grow their business, themselves and their wealth by indulging in the right kind of strategies to grow their niche digitally. I am currently a student of Digital Deepak under his flagship Digital Deepak Internship Program Batch 4. I have been closely following Digital Deepak for quite some time and even attended some of his free workshops that he conducts throughout the year. I don’t think I have heard or even experienced anything that is so near to real time experience, that’s the reason I took the plunge and went ahead this time! Trust me, I am not regretting at all but I am thankful to do what I did as I am learning way more already.

Fundamentals of the Law of Marketing

Digital Marketing is more of Marketing and less of Digital.

Digital can change but marketing doesn’t as marketing deal with human psychology.

Marketing is such a vast subject that one should make it as a life-long habit to learn fundamentals and basics of marketing.

Marketing is based on science and not creativity. Hence, Marketing starts before creating the product itself as it begins with understanding the customer & his needs that leads to creating a product that solves his problem.

Marketing is about sending the right message, to the right person, at the right time.

Marketing is not just about selling, it is also about keeping an existing customer happy by communicating with them, so that they can remain a customer for life.

TRUST is a scarce resource these days. Our aim should be to create and build it across our community so that people identify us and our brand with trust. We need to develop #MassTrust with our audience to have their mind space for us and our brand.

Marketing is a means to an end. The purpose of Marketing is to build a brand and capture a position in the minds of the consumers.

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well, that the product or service fits him and sells itself. The aim of Marketing is to make selling superfluous.” – Peter Drucker.

Marketing is a game of perceptions. Product is rooted in reality. Never let marketing become more important than the product. A great product sells itself.

A great product converts your customers into brand ambassadors. “Word of Mouth” marketing is the best channel of marketing ever.

You need a great product, but marketing not just helps people discover the product, but also have a good perception about the product.

BUILDING A STRONG BRAND

Do not be the number 1, be the only one.

Category Leadership – Choose a category & become a leader in that category. Deciding where to compete is half your success. If you cannot be a leader in a category, be a leader in a sub-category. As 90% population doesn’t know second in category.

Always begin with small niche & keep going broad and wide to get to the bigger niche.

WHY INVEST TIME & ENERGY IN LEARNING MARKETING?

Education in Marketing has a long shelf life because it is rooted in human psychology & understanding the market. Also, robots don’t have perception and hence there is no risk of AI in marketing too.

Marketing as a topic has existed since the dawn of civilization – since the first market squares appeared in the first villages.

Marketing is the most valuable investment in a business because it gives direct returns/ ROI. Everything else like production, manufacturing, HR, Accounts, Admin is an expense that doesn’t give immediate ROI.

Marketing cannot be outsourced completely to a marketing agency. The founder should be a marketer. Product conceptualization should have the basics of marketing to create the right strategy. Execution can be outsourced.

“If you know how to market & sell, you have a safe career.”

THE 7 P’s OF MARKETING

Once the marketing strategy is in place, there is a ‘7 P Formula’ that one should use to continually evaluate and re-evaluate our business activities. These are – Product, Price, Promotion, Place, Packaging, Positioning and People. As products, markets, customers and needs change rapidly, one must continually revisit these 7 P’s to make sure that you are on track & achieving the maximum results possible for you in today’s market place.

PRODUCT

One needs to be sure if their current product or service, or mix of products and services is appropriate and suitable for the market and the customers of today.

PRICES

The second P in the formula is price. Develop the habit of continually examining and re-examining the prices of the products and services you sell to make sure they're still appropriate to the realities of the current market. Sometimes you need to lower your prices. At other times, it may be appropriate to raise your prices.

PROMOTION

The third habit in marketing and sales is to think in terms of promotion all the time. Promotion includes all the ways you tell your customers about your products or services and how you then market and sell to them.

PLACE

The fourth P in the marketing mix is the place where your product or service is actually sold. Develop the habit of reviewing and reflecting upon the exact location where the customer meets the salesperson. Sometimes a change in place can lead to a rapid increase in sales.

PACKAGING

The fifth element in the marketing mix is the packaging. Develop the habit of standing back and looking at every visual element in the packaging of your product or service through the eyes of a critical prospect. Remember, people form their first impression about you within the first 30 seconds of seeing you or some element of your company. Small improvements in the packaging or external appearance of your product or service can often lead to completely different reactions from your customers.

POSITIONING

The next P is positioning. You should develop the habit of thinking continually about how you are positioned in the hearts and minds of your customers. In the famous book by Al Reis and Jack Trout, Positioning, the authors point out that how you are seen and thought about by your customers is the critical determinant of your success in a competitive marketplace. Attribution theory says that most customers think of you in terms of a single attribute, either positive or negative. Sometimes it's "service." Sometimes it's "excellence." Sometimes it's "quality engineering," as with Mercedes Benz. Sometimes it's "the ultimate driving machine," as with BMW. In every case, how deeply entrenched that attribute is in the minds of your customers and prospective customers determines how readily they'll buy your product or service and how much they'll pay.

PEOPLE

The final P of the marketing mix is people. Develop the habit of thinking in terms of the people inside and outside of your business who are responsible for every element of your sales, marketing strategies, and activities. In his best-selling book, Good to Great, Jim Collins discovered the most important factor applied by the best companies was that they first of all "got the right people on the bus, and the wrong people off the bus." Once these companies had hired the right people, the second step was to "get the right people in the right seats on the bus." To be successful in business, you must develop the habit of thinking in terms of exactly who is going to carry out each task and responsibility. In many cases, it's not possible to move forward until you can attract and put the right person into the right position. Many of the best business plans ever developed sit on shelves today because the [people who created them] could not find the key people who could execute those plans.

THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Good Marketing is all about good communication.

Good communication doesn’t mean sophisticated English. It doesn’t care about vocabulary & grammar; one is a good communicator if they are able to transfer their thoughts to others effectively.

Write like you talk. Join a conversation in people’s minds. Understand your target audience very well. People like reading conversations. It helps getting people’s attention. Interact with your audience regularly.

To improve your communication, write a lot. Writing is a process of getting clarity. The more you write, the better you can think and speak. Writing slows down your thought process and gives you clarity.

One should think in English & also watch some stand-up comedy shows and sitcoms.

TRADITIONAL v/s DIGITAL MARKETING

The main difference between digital and traditional marketing is the medium through which an audience encounters a marketing message. While traditional marketing uses traditional media like magazines and newspapers, digital marketing uses digital media, such as social media or websites.

If a product is generic with a very wide targeting – TV Ads can reach millions of people at a low cost. Whereas if your audience is ‘Affluent English Speaking Population of India with spending power’, then Digital Marketing is the best medium.

However, even in Digital Marketing I believe that ‘Direct Response Marketing’ is one of the best ways in current times as it is designed in a way to elicit an instant response by encouraging prospects to take a specific action.

CATT Marketing Funnel

Wealth = N ^ CATT

N = NICHE (Your niche)

C = CONTENT: Create useful content that attracts people from your niche.

A = ATTENTION: Drive attention to your content using SEO, Social Media, Paid Ads & Referrals.

T = TRUST: Build trust with your audience with trip wires, marketing automation and retargeting.

T = TRANSACTION: Convert your leads into customers with natural sales methods.

INTEGRATED DIGITAL MARKETING FRAMEWORK

It is very important to have a complete holistic integrated framework for digital marketing to capture the attention of all your audience in the right manner. This framework focuses on all levels of digital engagement to drive traffic from all the audience.

HOW TO MAKE 1 CRORE FROM YOUR DIGITAL BUSINESS?

Depending on your niche, there are a lot many strategies that you can apply to get to your target income of INR 1 Crore. As shown in the graph above, you need to create value and position your product/ niche in some of the above segments and you would need corresponding set of customer count to reach your goal of 1 Crore! Have you ever felt this was so easy to build before?

PERSONAL BRANDING – MASS TRUST BLUEPRINT

While building your personal brand, it is very important to have a mass trust framework designed for your niche as this will really help you to gain trust at all levels from your audience.

Well, with this I am sure you have learned a lot of concepts and strategies that would help you to progress further in your digital marketing career. Since I am a lucky batch 4 student under Digital Deepak Internship Program, I would encourage all of you to be a part of the next internship batch and get the pearls of wisdom right from the horse’s mouth itself. If you are interested in learning more, apply at https://deepak.me/internapply.