UNLOCKING MARKETING LAW: THE UNSAID SECRET!

Let’s try solving a centuries-old mystery. What did we get first?
A chicken or an egg? (Ande ka funda :P)

Are you wondering when nobody could figure out the answer till now, why are we starting the discussion again?

Ok, I won’t bother you with all the permutations and combinations and let the science answer it someday.
But, I am sure after reading the heading, you must be curious to know the secret. I took this example purposely because maybe we couldn’t answer this question yet, but we can surely unlock the answer of marketing secret which is equally important for all of us, we as marketers (entrepreneurs, bloggers, employees, or anyone planning to start their business soon). What blossoms first, MARKETING OR A PRODUCT/SERVICE?

I believe this answer should be the bible for every marketer as it reveals the secret. I would not be using any technical or heavy words definition and keep it as simple as possible. We aim to be Rancho and not Chatur after all :P (‘3 idiots’ movie reference )

Let’s start decoding the answer. What is marketing? A lot of us confuse marketing to be just selling and advertising. They are surely a subset of marketing but not the pie in itself. Marketing is pure science. It starts with understanding the customers and their needs (market research) and creating a product that fits their requirements (product development). Communication is the icing on the cake.

Explaining it with the help of a diagram, you get the information from the customers about their needs and develop the product accordingly. Then you communicate about it through effective sales tools like advertisement etc. Ultimately prospective customer converts into consumer and pays you accordingly.

Now, I know what most of you would be thinking. If marketing would have been so easy, then no product or service would have ever failed. This happens because we, human beings tend to make things complicated.

It is very simple, we just have to keep few points in mind.

• Define market area
• Choose a category and become a leader in that category. Decoding where to compete is half your success (your niche selection)

• Research consumer wants and needs, Gathering meaningful customer insight, interact with them, don’t make assumptions yourself

• Estimating total Market Demand is the first step in evaluating marketing opportunities

• Develop and redevelop product/service. Do not miss any stage from alpha to beta testing
• Select, train, motivate and control human resources. Develop sales approach and advertising support. Effectively communicate about the product to the customers
• Attract new customers by promising superior value
• Keep and grow current customers by delivering satisfaction

Good Marketing is No Accident

The roaring success of four-wheeler Tata Ace, in a market, earlier dominated by three-wheeler load carriers, was due to a deep understanding of the market needs and customer requirements.

Economics and Financial Goals
If you are somebody you have numbers as their enemy, then my friend it’s time to make numbers your best friend. I don’t expect you to be a mathematician but basic knowledge is required for you to set financial goals. Also, understanding of the world and the domestic economy would be an added advantage. Your aim would be definitely to grow your business and globalization has brought the world closer. The economy is macro and consumers are micro. An eagle got to have both views.

For eg: the flow of money in the economy, recession/ boom will affect the buying power of people. Hence understanding of economy will help you plan better.

When you plan your financial goals, don’t be afraid of big numbers and infact break them. If you plan to achieve 1 crore rupee revenue in one year, it could be achieved easily.
If you set your product/service price to be 100 then you just need 1,00,000 customers. Similarly, if you have a premium product of 1,00,000 rupees then just 100 customers (see the graph below)

Such break-ups make the goal achievable.

Talking about marketing further, since last decade and especially in this pandemic, DIGITAL MARKETING (DM) has really outshined. How can I miss talking about it then?

Digital marketing is marketing your product or service using the internet and other forms of digital communication. Some of its components are content marketing, email marketing, mobile marketing, paid search, programmatic advertising, reputation marketing, search engine optimization.

Digital Marketing is more about marketing than just being digital. Digital is just a medium and with the growing footprint of the internet, for a holistic reach of your product, its digital presence is also very relevant.
However, a lot of people focus on digital tools like SEO, Facebook/google ads, social media, etc but lack strong fundamentals of marketing. It’s like you want to bake waffles without preparing the batter.
How will you decide what is better for you? Traditional or Digital marketing?

Let me help you with a quick comparison. Traditional vs digital marketing.

Traditional marketing is a base that has been constant and deeply rooted in the fundamentals of human psychology and market out there for a long.

While digital marketing is an extension of traditional marketing and is dynamic and will keep evolving and changing.

So, one should make sure that the base is strong so that your base for marketing is ready. If the product/service would require a digital presence as well then you should definitely make yourself equip with DM tools. Never try to skip/replace traditional marketing with DM. It’s a blunder you will be doing. You must be thinking that if your product/service is mainly to be marketed digitally then why to first create a base for traditional marketing? My friend as we discussed in the starting, it is the marketing that will sow the seed of your product, and here by marketing I meant traditional marketing. Can a flower bloom without a seed?
The difference between the both will arise at the communication stage, that is, informing customers about the product.

If the product is generic with a very wide targeting then TV, radio, and other traditional marketing mediums would be preferred. Around 197 million homes ie 800 million to 1 billion people in India have a television (source: Wikipedia), radio has a reach of 65% of the Indian population (source: Financial Express). The newspaper has a reach of 465 million people (source: Business Standard).

However, if the product is concentrated for a particular target group that could be easily approached using the internet then DM should be the preferred means. It is less expensive as well. Since you are reading this blog and so much is talked DM these days that you must be expecting similar numbers for DM as well. Just because we are privileged enough to be having an internet connection, doesn’t change the fact that India is a developing country with a long road ahead.

India just has around 20–25 million online shoppers and target customers with buying power will be 30–50 million by 2025 (target customer refers to someone with an internet, credit card, laptop/desktop, annual income of at least 5 lakhs, and knows English). Numbers are comparatively small but have a lot of buying potential.

One important mantra for DM is “CATT MARKETING FUNNEL” which has been shared in my digital marketing internship by digitaldeepak sir.

Here, n= niche

Niche is the category you will pick for yourself and slowly build a brand around it and become the leader of the niche.

Your talent + passion for something +most importantly its demand in market = together will make you figure out your niche

Combination of 2 and absence of any 1 ≠desired wealth

[C] Content: Create useful content that attracts people from your niche. Blog posts, videos, lead magnets, live webinars, etc.
[A] Attention: Drive attention (traffic) to your content using SEO, Social Media, Paid Ads, and Referrals.
[T] Trust: Build trust with your audience with tripwires, marketing automation, and retargeting. ‘Keeping intact the trust of customers’ should be the No. 1 goal of every marketer.
[T] Transaction: Convert your leads into customers and earn money.

To make sure that adequate ATTENTION is drawn, always adopt an INTEGRATED DIGITAL MARKETING APPROACH.

I would like to put extra emphasis on this point because it is the most common mistake done by all common people (yes I am talking about us ). People use one tool at a time and then get disappointed for not getting the result. What most of us miss that DM is a combination of all these tools. Hence should be used together (combination of at least 3–4 tools ), integration of all. As a marketer, remember, content is the king. Focus on it and get your target audience to know about your content through blog, emails, social media, advertisement, SEO, etc.
Trust me, if you will use all the platforms together, you will succeed.

Once you successfully draw the attention of the customers, the most important thing is to keep their TRUST intake. We at most times are able to drive customers to our blog/website but are unable to retain them. One of the formulas to retain this trust is through PERSONAL BRANDING!

Personal branding is simply developing oneself as a brand by creating such content that people start believing and trusting to what you say.
The power of personal branding is such, that people want to hear from people and not from brands.
That’s why Elon Musk has more followers on Twitter than SpaceX and Telsa. In fact personal brand becomes an influencer and a brand ambassador for the companies that they run.
To help you grow your Personal Brand follow MASSTRUST BLUEPRINT.

Learn new skills →put it to Work through means of a job,freelancing → Create a Blog, sharing your skills and experiences → give Consultation to others through your experience → after gaining a certain level of knowledge and experience, Mentor others who would want to be like you → then ultimately you can even launch your product or service (Startup) with the understanding you have developed about the market, the problem and your skills.

It’s a never-ending circle and learning, work, blog, etc will all keep flowing endlessly. A personal brand is like a safe fixed deposit, if created successfully, would only reap interest in the future.
So, what are you waiting for? Select your niche and start working on your personal brand.

I hope you stayed with me till the end of the blog. I know it got a bit lengthy but marketing in itself is like an ocean. I have tried preparing a strong base for you and we can talk more about it in the future post.

Let me know your take on this blog, any questions, and what could be added in a future post in the comment section below.

Until then, FLY!