Innovating Ways to dig deep into Secrets of Marketing Insights

Introduction

Let's start with a billion-dollar question, Product first or marketing first. The debate rages on and views come flushing down to support respective viewpoints are put forth forcefully. According to me, one needs to have a marketing and promotion plan before he rolls out or launches a product. Marketing is a science with an essence of art embedded into it. Marketing can be best explained as an essential wing of an organization to exist and grow by way of offering a satisfying product or service which consumer requires at an affordable price as per his financial strength. There is a thin line between sales and marketing that has to be understood by all. Sales do not require deep thoughts, convincing, branding, or concept promotion. Sales are mostly limited to quantity and figures, a short term objective of an organization. Marketing defines the goals and the audience metrics, you need to understand your customer so well that it leads to a perfect product being developed just as he desires. One should understand that perception and image is what that will drive the growth and brand lifelong, also help in warding off any challenges from the potential competitors.

"The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous”

According to me "Marketing is a way of life filled with energy, passion, desire, hunger to win trust and create value.

Need to decode the insights of marketing by a systematic and sequential approach. We would be walking through concepts, strategies, models, approaches which would solve the mysteries of marketing and sales for any business. The success of any marketing idea depends on the implementation plan of actionable methods. We would see the basic concepts and fundament of marketing. The current trend in marketing is more towards digital medium over the traditional mediums, a comparative analysis would throw more clarity. Niche selection is a must and how it makes marketing more effective and reachable, we will unwind that as well. Some proven models will be touch-based like PESTLE, RFM, Porter's Five for forces, CATT etc. Integrated digital marketing is a must for the overall achievement of any online campaign's success. Branding play's an important part in creating value, trust, and loyalty among the audiences which would finally lead to achieving the ultimate goal of improving Finances, more followers, suitable representatives, and brand ambassadors.

Many people think that marketing to be a very easy function but in reality, it is the most complex and challenging domain which requires sharp acumen to achieve the results as planned. It has anything and everything to do with human beings which bring in the aspect of everchanging nature of theirs by increasing the degree of uncertainty. It is very pertinent to see that all the plans and strategies succeed but a small loose end leads to failure. Most of the startups do tend to lose the sheen or value or are gobbled up by their competitors. Some of the recent examples are WhitehatJr, Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong, Uber Eats, JLR, Bhushan Steel, Skoda, Arysta LifeScience Inc, Ultratech, Idea. Some of the ideas that failed Nano, Zebpay, Ezytruk, Videocon, Kingfisher Airlines, Gitanjali Gems, TinyOwl, LocalBanya etc. The unpredictable nature of the market makes conditions tough for CEOs/ Entrepreneurs to arrive at a winning formula. What we need to search and on is out the magic formula for success based on the present ground realities and the future likelihood.

The article can be useful to the Managers, business owners, entrepreneurs, marketing agencies, and students.

Running Through a robust marketing plan

The basic fundamentals of marketing are driven by three conditions needs, wants, and demand. As a business entity, my aim would always be to satisfying the demand which would lead to profits. The customer is central focal point in any business. Customer value is the difference between the benefits that the customer gains from owning and/or using a product and the costs of obtaining the product. Customer satisfaction depends on a product’s perceived performance in delivering value relative to a buyer’s expectations. Quality begins with customer needs and ends with customer satisfaction. The ultimate goal should be customer loyalty since it leads to increased profit, increased partnership, and reduces marketing and sales expenses.

According to Peter Drucker, “It (marketing) encompasses the entire business. It is the whole business seen from the point of view of the final result, that is, from the customer’s point of view.”

A product to see through the light requires adequate Branding and Positioning strategy which is strongly recommended to identify the niche area or the target segment to pay attention to. Effective interaction with customers and audiences leads to creating a sense of belongingness which in end leads to trust. One should aim to be the leader in its category or the emphasis should be on creating a niche leading to subcategorization that would help in differentiation from the others & leader.

One of the efficient ways that your marketing can be made effective is trying to understand the “value” of your individual customer. Termed ‘Customer Lifetime Value’ (CLV), there are many models to help measure this metric. Developing a comprehensive and effective model of customer profitability requires an answer to the question – who are my most profitable customers? One of the models that have been in use for years to segment your customers in order to calculate their CLV is the Recency, Frequency, Monetary (RFM) statistical model.

The RFM analysis is based on the Pareto principle, otherwise also called the 80/20 rule, which basically states that 80% of the business comes from 20% of the clients. So, obviously, the idea is to understand who that 20% of your clients are, right? RFM helps compartmentalize customers into clusters to identify those who are more likely to respond to promotions and also to upsell or cross-sell. We know that: Not all customers are created equal, so the RFM model works for medium & small enterprises.

Here I would like to mention a Model which has been developed by www.DigitalDeepak.com, I have analyzed it and have started using is for my organisation, it is really awesome. How can you do Deep Marketing? Step 1: You are going to get people's attention using high-quality content. Content marketing is the key here. Without good quality content, people are not going to pay attention to you. And the content has to be created by a human, personal brand. Not from a logo.

Step 2: You understand the requirements of your audience and create content - to help them, without expecting anything in return. With a genuine interest in helping people, not expecting a transaction in return.

Step 3: You are going to leverage this high-quality attention, to build trust. (You have spent more than 15 minutes paying attention to me now, doesn't that make you trust me more?)

Step 4: You can leverage the built trust to request your customers to do a transaction with you. And you are going to explain how your product/service is going to help your customer.

C.A.T.T. - Content, Attention, Trust, Transaction , extend this by retaining the customer/client

Digital Marketing

Let us now analyze the traditional marketing and digital marketing. The current pandemic situation has brought the whole world into a situation wherein the medium for marketing is mostly virtual only. People think that there are two forms of marketing - the old traditional way of promoting (TV, Radio, Newspaper, and Magazines) then there's a new way of digital marketing (Display Ads, Search Ads, Social Media, YouTube, then on). Since consumers have started using personal digital devices like laptops, mobiles, and tablets, brands are forced to adapt their marketing activities to digital marketing. Digital marketing scores on speed, cost, personalization, reach, and effectiveness.

Technology evolves, so does the marketing media, First, it had been print, then radio, then TV, now it's the internet. Content dictates the marketing within the virtual world. So where do we do marketing as it has changed from traditional medium to digital medium. But that's not as important as people think. No matter what proportion ad budget you've got, you can't build a brand by throwing your name, logo, and slogan in every surface medium possible. People are just getting to ignore you. An appropriate strategy would be to build trust and generate revenue through transactions via deep marketing. Deep marketing involves understanding your end customers so well, that you simply know them like a friend, their needs, desires, fears, and aspirations. That's when the communication is effective and makes you believe what you'll achieve, by connecting deeply together with your customers, through honest stories, and getting their trust and a spotlight. These are the people that would mention your brand and spread your brand. and therefore the branding from word-of-mouth is going to be 1000 times simpler than surface marketing.

Digital marketing in itself is an ocean. One has to be focused on selecting the DM options for marketing and promotions. Content rules the digital world. Gaining trust and engaging the audience is at the heart of DM. Here are my top five suggestions for content

• Build trust with transparency
• Headlines are everything, start with a catch
• Remember that rich and original content invites links
• Recycle your greatest hits
• Content needs to connect with the audience and create eagerness for the next one

An integrated digital plan has to be worked so you gain in always even if one the digital mix fails to give the desired result. Email marketing/drip marketing has to be the center of the campaign, believe me, that it is an asset with you which no one can snatch/block/debarr or restrict. Social Media is not owned by you, so any time it can be out of your hands in case you have any disputes. One should focus on its audience and go for the most suitable digital marketing avenue. Ex if your target is students then Mobile and Social Media, If you are in recruitment then Linkedin, if you are in Education then Email, SEO, and SMM. If in Ecommerce then Website/SEM/Mobile/Email/Affiliate would be appropriate.

Communication is one of the skills which is a must for a good marketer to transfer message to the customer. The message should reach through, irrespective of the language you are communicating in. The digital world prefers English language for communication, so fluency in it is need of the hour. Communication acts as a bridge between the Marketer and the audience.

When you need to build a strong Business Entity, understanding the Economy is a must. It provides you the insight into the ups and downs of the market, behaviors of the audience. Economics decides the percapita Income, which is a benchmark for commencing business. Many of you will agree that knowledge about Trade and Commerce is an essential part of expanding and growing business. One who understands economics would agree with me that it is a cycle in which events repeat after a period of 8-10 yrs, you may link it to some depression, Dotcom bust, Oil prices or the recent pandemic. I am sure everyone has to be adaptable to the new norms and make provisions for the same. In the current slowdown also some of the organizations are making money. Ecommerce and online platforms are milking the opportunity to boost their profits. Business Entity's backed by a sound financial base and a good product will always do well.

There isn't any perfect marketing plan to suit your business, one may work for your business which would not be apt for the other entity. It is always recommended to have an alternative or a backup plan an intermediate reviews. As we discussed that marketing is a critical function that needs a blend of art and science. So to conclude we need to keep the audience/customer at the center stage and revolve all the strategies around him to meet his desires and turn him into a lifetime ambassador.

Views are welcome !!!! Your thoughts, please !!!!