Marketing - The Devil of the Business Activities

Hey Connections, I hope everyone are safe and doing good during the unfortunate COVID 19 pandemic. I have written this article on why Marketing is much more deeper with facts and strategies than we already know, and have received the full support of my mentor Mr Deepak kanakaraju who is the top Digital marketer of India.

I'm sure everyone of you have learnt and heard about the term "Marketing". But would you believe it if i tell you Marketing has a deeper and more interesting facts and ideologies than Christopher Nolan's movies? Thats right! Reading this Article might just change your perception about the term itself.

Now let me tell you that your thoughts and ideas have lied to you about Marketing! Its not what you think it is. The written statement is powerful isn't it?

"Marketing refers to the Activities a company undertakes to promote buying and selling of a product or a service" - But there is so much more to it.

I'm sure most of us have purchased a product or a service from a company because we believe the product fits us and have ended up appreciating their Marketing techniques.

What if I tell you, You can make 1 Crore without any complicated methods but a rather very simple financial Goal, Amused? Sounds Interesting, Right?

Have a look at the chart i have mentioned

In the given Chart lets take an example where a business sells products worth Rs 100, It would require 1,00,000 customers to reach the optimum target of Rs 1 Crore

Similarly, Product cost Rs 1,000 - 10,000 Customers and so on.

Imagine turning it into a Marketing funnel! Let me introduce you to the laws of Marketing which can be a stepping stone to the success of your career and most importantly why Marketing is known as "The Devil" of the business activities

Just like Daredevil saves the day in the Hell's kitchen. Marketing will save your business if resourced correctly. Lets get going!

The Fundamentals of Marketing

I want you to know that Marketing is a "Science" and not creativity or selling.Why? I'll tell you. Do you agree with me that Marketing starts even before the manufacturing of a product. A good example is TATA Nano.

When Tato Nano was announced in the month of January, 2008 it was over hyped to be the car of every Indian. The price of Nano was said as Rs. 1 lakh or $2500, as said by Ratan Tata, the Chairman of the Tata Group at that point of time. It became a dream car for every person belonging to the lower middle class and even the lower class.

Tata Motors basically Segmented and targeted the following groups of Indian population:

1. The Middle class

• Mainly the lower middle class
• Upper lower class

2. Usually the two-wheeler users

3. Family with 3-4 members who have troubles while travelling on a 2-wheeler.

Tata Motors positioned the car as per the following catch lines and slogans:

•  1 lakh car to fulfill all your dreams!
•  Cars are not just for the rich

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

A Precious point about Marketing is not just about selling it is about keeping an existing customer happy by communicating with them so that they remain a customer for life!

Example - Tanishq jewellers, Their Marketing startegy includes involving the customers into their events during festivals or promotions which is a way of showing the customers "We care about you and have not forgotten you".

The Most effective type of Marketing always includes ...... Guess... Thats right ladies Gossiping! :D Which can also be called as "The Word of mouth" Curious how many marketing materials won't interest you but an advice from your close friends or family will definitely do the trick

Building a Strong Brand

A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. A Great idiom about a Brand is "Dont be the number 1. Be the only one!"

A Simple question to understand Branding 'What do you guys do when your Thirsty and do not have any water bottles with you'? You go to a Shop and ask for a Bisleri! Correct? The word, The Brand "Bisleri" comes to your mind when you need water. Now why did you say it? Bisleri represents Water its been set up as a brand. Thats exactly the definition of a Strong Brand.

Choose a category and always be the leader in it. Deciding where to compete is half your success. Example - The leader of the search engines would always be Google, And texting app would be Whatsapp. Zoom for video Calls.

If you can't be the leader in a category due to the high competition choose a sub cateory example - Zomato searches restaurants. Now in this example no other search engine invented could compete with Google, which is why a sub category was choosen which is Food. Similarly Trivago for Hotels.

We need to understand Marketing is a valuable investment in a business because it gives Direct returns.

Niche Selection

In very simple terms a Niche is the area of expertise in which you will specializse. Have a look at the above chart. In order for you to have a perfect Niche you require three things in your possesion

1) Talent 2) Market and 3) Passion

You need to have passion for what you seek, Secondly there should be a market for it and lastly the Talent is required in the picture and then Bingo!!! You have selected a good Niche for you.

Example - JK rowling decided to write Harry potter novels because she had passion for writing, There was immense market for fictional Novels and most importantly she had the passion to innovate and was very creative with her work which is why Harry Potter became a world wide phenomenon.

When you get the right Niche you become worthy of success as Captain America is worthy of mjolnir. In the Chart above the Blue section is what is Niche for the person or the brand.

Digital Marketing Vs Traditional Marketing

As well all know Digital has dominated the 21st century. But have you thought how would you select whether to go Digital or Traditional.

Did you know a TV Advertisement can reach upto millions at one go at a lower cost. The reach of Digital Marketing is nowhere close to that of TV.

The difference between Digital and traditional is the medium through which an audience encounters a Marketing message.

Lets take a marvelous example - If you are google searching holiday ideas for your next weekend gateway, the chances are you will see an Ad for Holiday tour companies on Television as well.

You must have seen Ads on newspaper, Banners those particular Ads are meant to reach the audience who are not very active digitally. But yes, You can be creative in the banner Ads as well check out these Ads which are more popular than any Digital Ads you see online.

So each Medium is choosen with respect to their target audiences, and as we all know it is the Digital Era so Digital Marketing would win in this game. But yet again it depends on which is the best fit advertisement for your customers. Digital Marketing is the best when it comes to English speaking audiences.

Direct Response Marketing

So have you ever seen an Ad online where there is a way to connect with the brand or the seller. Yes, That is exactly Direct Response Marketing. My Mentor Digital Deepak posts his Ads online with the link to reach the Landing page or else an email to connect with him. Using these methods we can find out how the traffic is responding to the Ad also how many are likely to convert. Brilliant, Isnt it?

Most people who run Ads do not know if Ads work or not, Marketing Guys in companies and agencies run branding campaigns which do not give specific results. The direct response marketing encourages the traffic to take a specific action.

The CATT Marketing Funnel

CATT Model which is Content - Attention - Trust - Transaction.

We all know that the content is the king of Marketing (Or Queen) Lets not be biased :P

Before we start let me inform you the credits of inventing this funnel goes to our mentor Deepak kanakaraju.

It is important to generate sales through marketing. The marketing funnels are used to track down the customer’s engagement with your product or a service. By choosing a proper marketing funnel which helps to generate more sales, customer interaction and building trust within your target market. To have a proper knowledge of the market for generating more wealth we follow the CATT funnel. CATT funnel is based on your niche. The more you know about your niche the more wealth you can generate. To know more about the Funnel, we follow the following formula as:

Wealth=n^CATT

n= Niche

C= Content

A= Attention

T= Trust

T= Translation

Niche(n): Niche is finding the right market requirement and fulfilling that requirement with your skills and interest as discussed before

Content(C): Content creation is the key factor for attracting the niche towards the product and service. Content can be in the form of videos, images, emails, blogs, webinars. In digital marketing the content is mostly focused on videos and images posted on social media marketing or email marketing, signing up for the newsletter or subscribing for the emails, writing blogs and podcasts are used. Where traditional marketing content was created in the form of designing billboards, paper advertisements, outbound marketing like events and shows to attract the niche.

Attention(A): Grabbing attention is increasing the traffic towards your content, and this will help to increase traffic at your website or blog or any social platform. Content is created in the form to attract the specific target market at a specific place. The attention of teenagers and young adults can be found through social media advertising while to grab the attention of the adults above the age group of 30 can be grabbed through TVs and newspapers it all depends on the target audience selected. Attention can be grabbed through search engine optimization, paid searches and paid ads on google or other social media platforms.

Trust(T): Building trust is the important factor for building brands, and it takes time. The more the trust the more the strong brand is built. Due to the digitalization it has become easy for the companies to talk directly to their customers. With the help of emails and social media it has brought the companies close to its customers. They can talk to the customers, have proper feedback, solve issues and even promote the company to individual levels. Interacting more with its customers at digital level is helping to build trust and this helps to retarget the existing customers while launching the new products or services.

Translation(T): When the trust is built it becomes easy to convert the leads into customers through natural sales. After building trust the customers become the marketers and they promote the product on their social platforms, and this gives increase in leads which are further converted to customers and the cycle continues.

Let me explain you the concept in very simple words

CATT funnel is how your audience will go through the entire journey with you.Things that you need to know before you start to market your product.

Marketing starts even before you make the product. The first step of marketing is to identify the customer and what the customer really needs.

Then you need to create a product that meets the needs of the customer.

You need to ask yourself a few questions.

Who needs this product?

Where can I find them?

How much are they willing to pay for the product?

How is the product going to help them?

Will they buy the product once or will they keep buying it again and again over a duration of one month, one year and so on?

Once you have clarity about these questions, half your work is done.

The core of marketing lies in understanding your customer and what the customer truly needs. If your product can help make the customer’s life easy, then the product will market itself.

Marketing is closely rooted in consumer psychology. This is why artificial intelligence can never replace marketing. Marketing requires a close understanding of what people want, the way they think and how the product can move them from their current state to their desired state.

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

Integrated Digital Marketing

If you look around nowadays, you’ll see far too much advertising and marketing. Brands are constantly fighting for customers ‘ attention. 

When we analyze the Digital Marketing world, we see that the same has been happening: wherever you are, you’ll face a dozen ads and pieces of content.

So, if you want to drive better results and get the best strategy up and running quickly, to generate leads and sales, you need to cut through the noise of marketing. 

Integrated Digital Marketing encompasses the idea of creating a unique form of expression that’s easy to identify in all of the channels your customer uses. It’s like using a single language to speak in different situations.

Let me amaze you guys with examples which is considered the best way to learn something :D Have you see an army of Robots working together to achieve something?

Yes Exactly like this, But only difference is not to destroy the world but virtual robots to help you optimise all the Digital Marketing methods to reach to the audiences. Yes, That's Integrated Digital marketing.

If you have attempted to purchase products on Amazon like a Phone and considering you changed your mind at the last minute. You start seeing Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Youtube recommendations and even emails of the product. See, that is the purpose of the campaign.

The idea behind integrated digital marketing is that, while each individual strategy doesn’t have a huge impact on its own, when used in conjunction, you can create a more influential online presence.

Personal Branding

Here comes the last chapter of the story and the very important climax, Personal Branding

.Like the Gotham's Clown Prince of crime said! Lets say tomorrow you receive an email from Mukesh Ambani's mail ID about the products and services he is offering to you rather than the company mail. How would you feel about it? Amazing! It would feel like you are interacting with an actual person who understands your needs and requirements rather than a bot of the company who handles reliance's mails

But for your audiences to feel that way you need to promote yourself so that they remember you for it, Its simple you have to create a value for them.

Personal branding is the practice of marketing people and their careers as brands.It is an ongoing process of developing and maintaining a reputation and impression of an individual, group, or organization.Whereas some self-help practices focus on self-improvement, personal branding defines success as a form of self-packaging.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 telling of your story, and the impression people gain from your online reputation.

 It takes alot of time for a person to build their personal reputation and brand. There are certain steps for it. You have to first learn your niche/Interest and dedicate your outmost to it.

2) You need to work in that field for a long time frame and you have make a passion about it.

3) Write as many Blogs as possible, Promote it!! It'll make maximum people know about your thought process and your presence

4) Once you know you have mastered the skills, Its time to help the people around you like a good Avenger :D

5) Start teaching and guiding about the subject, and now the final step its time to start your own company from which you can earn the maximum revenue.

Fun Fact: Elon Musk has more number of follwers on Twitter than his company.

EPILOGUE

I'm so happy that i could write this article and learn and guide most of the readers through the exact meaning of Marketing. Lets Summarize everything

1) Marketing starts before the manufacturing of the product, The purpose of marketing is to understand the need of the customer.

2) Build a Strong Brand, If not in the category a sub category should do the trick.

3) Selecting the right niche is the first step of Digital Marketing

4) Digital Marketing and Traditional Marketing have their own Pros and Cons.

5) You get to know how many customers and audiences have shown interest in your brand by Direct Response Marketing

6) Suppose you like a girl in your class, you want her number would you directly go and ask for her number? Definitely Not. You will talk to her, Initiate a friendship, Build a trust, hangout together for sometime and then you ask her for her number and a date! Works right? That's CATT Funnel for you where you show your content to the target audiences, Attract them, Build a trust and then finally go to the transaction.

7) While using Digital Marketing to showcase your products, it's always best to automate the system and target your audience by integrating various digital marketing methods.

8) To make yourself a Brand using Marketing techniques and MassTrust graph. Mostly to build a trust for you in the eyes of your Traffic, it will reflect on your enterprise as well.

Well, To show you some of the brilliant Marketing Strategies in my Mind here are some where not much content is needed. The brands have a strong image and you get to see them almost everywhere online

Avengers Endgame was one of the movies where the trailers did not include much of the footage or even tease any of the plot. Still it created alot of Hype and became the number 1 grossing movie in the world till recently Avatar surpassed it again.

Durex in my opinion has the most creative content, Ideas for the Marketing. Hats off to their Marketing Team.

Steve rogers had a bet with Nick Fury for 10 bucks that he knows everything about Marketing. Nick Fury claims he's wrong. Guess Cap read the article and lost the bet :P

Let me know in the comment section what else you feel about Marketing!! :) You can check out Vijay's Blog as well for more information.