Marketing, a misunderstood word.
Have you ever wondered what Marketing truly means?
If you are someone who has come across this term and wants to know more about it then this article should give you a clear picture. It doesn’t matter if you are a student, business person, freelancer, home maker, etc. This term is applicable to you in ways you can’t imagine.
What is Marketing?
Marketing is often confused with advertising. Advertising is actually a part of marketing but it alone doesn’t do justice in defining what marketing really is.
Marketing begins even before a product/service is created. Understanding your end customers needs via the process of researching, gathering data, finding out the problems people face and coming up with a product/service to tackle that problem is an integral part of marketing.
Marketing is a never ending process, after the product or service is made, establishing a brand presence in the market, advertising your product, different kinds of campaigns to raise awareness about the product or service, fall into marketing.
Post development product feedback, upgrades, improvements, customer service come under marketing as well, as it is a part of brand image which plays a major role in the products/services life.
It is essentially creating a relationship with customers in order to fulfil their needs and becoming their go to solution provider for the niche that you choose.
“ The best marketers are always creating relationships. Relationships with customers, brands and other marketers.” — Kurt Uhlir (CEO & Co-Founder, Sideqik)
Marketing consists of 4 P’s
· Product
· Place
· Price
· Promotion
Product
It is any product or service that the company provides to the end customer. There are various factors a marketer considers when it comes to product or services like :-
o Variations of the products or services
o Packaging and Presentation of products or services
o Before and after sales service
Place
This is basically the outlets where the products will be made available either online, offline or both.
The locality also matters as the need of the product could be based on the location.
For example :- inverters would be more useful in places where there are frequent power outages, over a place where power outages are rare, so the availability of that product needs to be made more abundant in localities which have that problem for best results.
Price
This is deriving the cost of the product and setting a suitable price to acquire the product or service after taking all factors into consideration.
Price has to be set by in a manner where in it is possible to compete in that market and it is not too over or under priced, without losing the value of it. It also factors in seasonal discounts and schemes, along with various payment mode options.
Promotion
It is the process of raising awareness and advertising the product, service and brand. It aims to leave a lasting impression on the customer. In order for the customer to buy your product they need to know what it is, and should grab their attention in the form of providing a solution to a problem that they are facing.
Promotions can be done online, offline, in stores, at events etc.
Traditional Marketing VS Digital Marketing
A lot of people think that digital marketing (social media, websites, ads etc) has been taking over traditional marketing(newspaper, television ads, radio, banners etc), but the fact is that digital marketing has opened up new avenues when it comes to how advertising and marketing have been perceived.
Traditional marketing has a massive reach which allows awareness to be spread more efficiently due to reach.
Digital marketing allows more specific targeting when it comes to appealing to a particular niche.
For example :- If a person is selling golf clubs, they would want to target people who are interested in the sport which is possible by digital marketing. If they use traditional means they would have more reach, but the engagement percentage will be lower when compared to targeted advertising. It would not be cost effective so in this case digital marketing would be a better option, but even certain elements from traditional wherever applicable should be applied for best results. They could advertise during a golf tournament broadcast to target those potential customers of that particular niche.
Traditional ads would be more useful for products that a wide variety of people use so reach would benefit since it would be a more commonly used item like Shampoo, Cars, Movies etc.
For best results a strategic blend of digital marketing and traditional marketing would be the way to go.
The CATT Funnel
The wealth that you create depends on the customers in your marketing funnel.
Wealth = n^CATT
Niche (n) — Success and wealth is determined by the niche you choose.
Content (C) — Create content that is relevant to the chosen niche to attract people who are potential leads.
Attention (A) — Get on top of search results, ads etc. Drive attention (traffic) to your pages, traffic can convert to leads.
Trust (T) — Build trust with your audience with trip wires, marketing automation and retargeting.
Transaction (T) — Convert leads to customers with natural sales methods.
Considering the above you must be wondering how to choose a niche.
The niche that you choose has to be a combination of the following 3 things
· Passion
· Talent
· Market
The above three go hand in hand to pick the perfect niche for a person to target.
For example :- If a person is passionate about music, they also talented when it comes to singing, but there isn’t a very big market in their reach for the genre they sing. Then it remains a hobby, but if they research and find the kind of music popular in that region and create that content then that is the niche that is where all the aforementioned conditions are met.
Integrated Digital Marketing
Integrated digital marketing is strategically creating a marketing plan which utilizes multiple mediums to provide best results.
Content Marketing :- Creating posts, showing reviews, instructional videos etc, is an important part of it as it is informing the customers of your products and services.
Email Marketing :- You used emails to keep your existing and potential customers updated on your latest updates regarding the products and services redirecting them to the relevant content you created to generate more traffic.
Paid Ads :- Redirect targeted leads back to the created content which reinforces trust.
SEO :- Getting on top of search results by accurately optimizing searches for relevant content.
By creating quality content and marketing it right you are creating a brand image which you are using to gain peoples trust so they consider buying your products. Trust is the most important as a good product would suffer if the image of the brand producing it will be bad.
Personal Branding: Creating MassTrust
Creating a personal brand is beneficial as people connect better to a person instead of a company. It is the human factor that will build trust among your audience.
For example :- Elon Musk is a person and he himself is a personal brand, he has a bigger following than SpaceX and Tesla. Both are companies created by him but his personal brand helps build better trust among the audience in those companies.
Creating trust among masses is MassTrust. The above shows how because Elon Musk has built his own personal brand it helped other sub-brands he created.
Learn :- Keep learning and acquiring new skills through theoretical and practical application.
Work :- Start applying those skills in real world scenarios, it will give you better insight about the practical applications of the skills.
Blog :- Write about your experience and understanding it will help you build your brand.
Consult :- After sufficient experience and mastering the skills, consult other businesses and assist them achieve success.
Mentor :- Mentor others and pass on the knowledge you have acquired, this will also help in elevate your understanding of concepts.
Startup :- Start your own product or service with the help of your experience and understanding of the market which solves problem improves convenience with your skills.
Conclusion
Marketing is creativity and science hand in hand. From understanding the customers to creating products and services and educating the masses, improving life.
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