The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Marketing
Do you want to learn Marketing? Here we have the complete beginner’s guide to marketing.
What is the Law of Marketing?
The Law of marketing is nothing but the basics and fundamentals of marketing. One should be an expert in the basics and fundamentals of marketing and then jump to the medium of marketing like Digital marketing in our case.
So, if we learn marketing and its basics first, then we can use its media wisely.
In this topic i.e., Law of Marketing we will discuss the basics of Marketing, what Marketing is? What is the purpose of marketing? Is Marketing a lifelong process or it will end at some point in time? What are the different components of marketing? Can we Market a bad product and generate leads? and more…
Now we jump to our topic.
What is Marketing?
Marketing is a scientific process, not a creative process. Yes! You read it right. Marketing is a science. Because Marketing starts before creating the product. We have to start marketing before creating a product.
You can read complete introduction to marketing here
According to Wikipedia,
“Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services;…”
By this definition, Marketing is the process of
- Exploring the needos of a target market: We have to decide our target audience first, whom you want to sell the product. For example, we are making an anti-dandruff shampoo, then our target audience are those who have dandruff in their heads. And we have to explore more, what our target audience need, that other products are unable to fullfill. Like this we have to explore the needs of our target market
- Creating a value to meet the needs of a target market: Marketing is the way to build value and trust in the market. No one buy a product which doesn’t have any value or on which they don’t trust. So by marketing , we have to create value in the market. So, that when we launch our product then we can achieve our target.
- Delivering value to meet the needs of a target market: The third point is we have to deliver the value in terms of goods and services to our target audience. Building trust and delivering a Valuable Product is very important in marketing. If you are not able to build trust, then you can’t sell your product well.
What is the purpose of marketing?
The purpose of marketing is to build a brand and capture a position in the minds of the customers.
As said earlier, marketing starts before we create the product. So, the purpose of marketing is to build a brand and capture position in the minds of potential customers. You may have seen, different forms of advertisement whether digital or traditional about the brands. The ads you see continuously will stick to your mind. And when you want to purchase the product, you select that company’s product which you saw continuously.
According to Hubspot.
“Marketing is the process of getting people interested in your company’s product or service.”
By this definition, we came to know that the purpose of marketing is to make your brand in people’s minds.
Marketing is about sending the right message, to the right person at a right time.
Is Marketing a life long process?
Marketing is not a lifelong process, marketing will come to an end. Look, when we say search engine, Google comes to our mind, and Google becomes a verb also. When you want to search for something you will say just google it. So, in search engines, Google does not need to market itself. So, Marketing will come to end after building the brand.
What are the different components of marketing?
Advertising, Copywriting, Sales, etc are the components of Marketing.
Many people think that Advertising is nothing but marketing, but this is wrong.
As discussed above Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering values, whereas advertising is the promotion of that product. So, advertising is a component of marketing.
Like advertising, copywriting, and sales are also the components of marketing.
Can we Market a bad product and generate leads?
A great product sells itself, you just need marketing to make awareness about it. One should focus on the product first, and then on marketing. If you market a bad product then good marketing will accelerate the death of your company.
So, one should focus on the product and make a good product. As marketing is also needed after the sale occurs. Because once a person builds trust in you then you can sell other products to him.
What is the best Marketing Channel?
The Words of mouth is the best marketing channel. If you have a great product or service, then after using it customers will suggest other people use it. This word of mouth is the best channel of marketing, and you won’t get it but by a quality product.
For example, I join the DDIP internship program after one of my students, call me and tell me, Sir, this is an amazing internship program. Then I joined this DDIP program.
Difference between Digital marketing and Traditional Marketing
Now, after understanding Marketing and its concepts. It is important for us to understand the difference between digital marketing and traditional marketing.
Marketing is broadly classified into two types
- Traditional Marketing &
- Digital Marketing
Traditional Marketing is a form of marketing in which the targeted audience is offline.
Digital Marketing is a form of marketing in which the targeted audience is Online.
Digital Marketing is also called Online marketing whereas Traditional Marketing is also referred as Offline marketing.
Both online and offline marketing has their targeted audiences and both have their own market share.
Examples of Traditional Marketing/ Offline Marketing:
TV ads, Radio ads, Newspaper ads, Hoardings, Pamphlets, leaflets, etc are examples of Traditional Marketing.
Examples of Digital Marketing/ Online Marketing:
The ads you see online on Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Blogs, LinkedIn, all are examples of Digital Marketing.
5 Brilliant Ways To Use DIGITAL VS TRADTIONAL MARKETING
Some of the key differences between Digital Marketing and Traditional Marketing are
1. Reach: Digital Marketing will have a global reach, whereas Traditional Marketing has a local reach.
2. Measure: Digital Marketing is measurable, whereas Traditional Marketing is not measurable. You can measure everything like demography, gender, age, interest in digital marketing, and this can not be done in Traditional marketing
3. Personalization: You can run personalized ads in Digital Marketing, and this cannot be done in traditional marketing. In Digital Marketing, you can run ads based on the interest of users, this is impossible in Traditional marketing.
4. Brand Awareness: If you want to make awareness of your brand, and you want to build your brand, then you need to use all types of marketing. But Brand awareness is most effective in the traditional type of marketing.
5. Trust: People will Trust more on Traditional marketing when compared to digital marketing. For example, people will trust the thing they see in newspapers or listen to the radio more than the social media ads.
These are the 5 basic differences between Digital and Traditional marketing. We will cover it in more detail in a separate article dedicated to both the marketing
Building a Strong Brand
When we understand the basics of Marketing, and types of marketing with their differences. Now comes Branding. Yes, you have to build a strong brand. As said Earlier, A good Product(Brand) sells itself, we need marketing to just kick start it. So, after understanding the marketing concepts and their purpose. Now we have to understand that we have to build a Strong Brand.
Choose a Category
It is said that “Deciding where to compete is half your success”
So first choose your category, and become the leader in that category. Choosing the category is the most important step as said above.
Like, Google, Xerox, & Zoom are the leaders in their categories and they become the verbs now.
If you cannot become a leader in a particular category then go for the sub-category like Zomato is a search engine for Restaurants, Practo is the search Engine for Medicals, likewise, LinkedIn, and Facebook both are social media platforms but LinkedIn is for professionals.
Remember “People only remember the No. 1, rarely they remember the No. 2. For example, if you take a survey regarding the Prime Ministers of India, then Most people will answer only the First Prime Minister of India, and for Second Prime Minister of India, the percentage will be low, and for the third and fourth Prime minister of India people hardly know. So, You should try to become the No. 1.
Similar cases are for Search Engines, Web Browsers, etc.
In the conclusion, you have to choose a category where you want to compete, and then you have to become the No. 1 in that category by making a strong brand.
Why Learn Marketing?
You might have a question in your mind that why invest your precious time, energy, and Money in learning Marketing? You can learn other things also.
You should learn marketing because
- It will give you or any business direct ROI (Return on Investment), no other field like production, manufacturing, Accounting, administration will give you direct ROI.
- It helps businesses to reach their goals and drive profits to their businesses
- It is rooted in Human Psychology, since years human beings are using marketing to sell their products and services. So, marketing has a long shelf life.
- It helps business in understanding the behavior, and thinking of consumer and more.
You might think that you can outsource marketing to an agency, but this is not the right way. As we discussed in the basics of marketing that Marketing starts before the creation of the product. So, as an Entrepreneur, you should learn Marketing and by the knowledge of Marketing, you can create the product that customers needed. So, everyone should learn marketing. Yes, you can hire experts for the execution of the plan.
So if you know how to market and sell then your career is safe. If you need a job then you can market and sell yourself for a job. You can even do affiliate marketing by marketing others’ products and by selling them. One of the Affiliate marketing services is of Fiverr. Here you can read in detail about the Fiverr Affiliate program and if you are an Entrepreneur then you can sell your Products and Services.
So, marketing is one of the best things that should you invest your time, money, and energy in it.
The Importance of Communication skills
Good marketing is all about good communication. If you have a good product or good services and you are not at good communication skills, then you can’t sell your product. Good Communication Skills is mandatory to market and sell your product. It doesn’t mean that you should have sophisticated English but at minimum, you should communicate to others and the others should understand what you are saying to them. The only question to ask is Am I able to transfer my thoughts to you effectively?
For good Communication skills, you have to listen more. It is a technique in Language learning LSRW, the more you listen, the best you can speak. And the more you read, the better you will be at writing.
As we don’t have English as our primary language, it is a global language to communicate. So, we have to improve our English speaking skills. One way for gathering thoughts in English is you should write more. Because writing is a slow process, when you write you think, gather your thoughts, and write. So, if you are writing regularly on a topic, then you can speak easily on that topic. Because you will have a larger vocabulary on that topic.
In the end, you should be a good communicator to become a good marketer.
The CATT Marketing Funnel
The CATT marketing funnel is the most important funnel or direct method to become rich.
So, we say wealth = n^CATT
Now, what is the formula stands for
“n” means your Niche. Your success and wealth depend on the niche you select. As we discussed earlier, “Deciding where to compete is half your success”. So your niche selection is of utmost importance. Now the question hits your mind
How to Choose the Right Niche?
It is important that you have the combination of Talent, Market, and Passion for selecting the Right Niche.
Yes the best Niche, is the combination of the above three.
If you have talent, and Passion but no market, then you will become a struggling artist no one will purchase the thing. Likewise, if you have Passion, and Market also but you don’t have talent in that field then also you are not going to sell the product or service.
So, you need to have a combination of the three Talent, Market, and Passion.
“C” stands for Content: After selecting your Niche, the second most important step is Content. You need to create useful content for your audience. Whether you write blogs, you make videos, or you give live webinars, etc, all come under Content. So after niche selection, the important step is Content making.
“A” Stands for Attention: After the selection of Niche, and creating content, here comes attention. You have to drive the attention of your audience to your content. You can drive attention to your audience through SEO, Social Media posts, Paid ads, and also by referrals.
“T” Stands for Trust: After driving the attention of the audience, you have to build trust. As said earlier, building trust is the most important thing in marketing. If your visitor doesn’t have trust in you He will not become your customer. You have to utilize different channels to build trust with your audience.
“T” Stands for Transaction: At last, here comes the transaction. Above all the hard work you have done to make sales. Then here is the last T i.e., transaction. After driving traffic and building trust, the most important step is to convert these leads into customers with a natural sales method.
So, this is the CATT marketing funnel for you. Hope you understand the funnel. We will learn this funnel and each topic in detail in our future posts.
The Integrated Digital Marketing Framework
The integrated digital marketing framework is the framework in which we integrated all the digital marketing channels in a way that we can generate sales through it.
A lot of beginners, use Paid Advertising and they complain that paid advertising is not working for me. On the other hand, a lot of people do content marketing but they are unable to drive sales. Likewise the case with Email marketing, and SEO.
The public uses all the digital marketing tools separately. Because they are using it separately, they are not getting sales.
The Integrated digital marketing framework comes into the picture right now to execute the CATT funnel.
You have to do paid advertisement, and drive traffic to your content, and then from this, you will get email addresses. Then you have to do email marketing to those people, and it will build trust – and you know building trust is more important-. Meanwhile, Search Engine is also noticing the content on your website. You do SEO and tell search engines that we have this content, you can send people to our page for this kind of content. And now you are getting traffic through SEO also. At the same time, you are sharing your posts on Social media also, and you are gaining traffic from there also.
At last, by this integration, you will execute your CATT funnel and generate sales through it.
CATT funnel vs Integrated Digital Marketing Framework
The Catt funnel is the framework how an individual user goes through different stages whereas integrated digital marketing is how you execute it
The Power of Personal Branding
Personal branding is the most important, and strong Branding. It is said that “The Best Known will always beat the best”. So you should be known around the world (or your audience) to beat the best in the market.
For example, they may be many digital marketers, digital mentors in the market but Digital Deepak is the Personal brand of Deepak Sir and it is a well-known brand. So we join his unique internship program, and we are writing this assignment. So you have to build a Personal Brand to beat others.
Personal branding is also important because people will love to hear from people, not from brands. If a company mail you, there is a high chance that you spam it, but when you receive a personal email, you will definitely read it. So, this is the power of personal branding.
Like everything it also has the downside that people won’t invest in the personal brand, and it can’t be sold but on the other hand, the person (influencer) can give rise to many companies by his influence.
So, Personal Branding is most important for achieving success.
Mass Trust Blue Print
Mass Trust Blue Print or you may say it the evolution of a personal brand.
Here we discuss the cycle of evolution of a personal brand
The cycle contains
- Learn: You have to learn new skills. You have to learn new skill through concepts , Facts, and procedures. You have to learn new skills by understanding its concepts, and then remember the facts and practice its procedures.
- Work: After learning the skill , the next step is you have to work on that skill. Working on a newly learned skill makes you perfect in it, and you will dig deeper in that skill. Without working it is very hard to perfect that skill.
- Blog: When you write , you will have a deeper knowledge. So, after learning a skill and working on it practically, here comes the step to write about it. Blogging is one of the important step in the evolution of Personal brand, and building the Mass Trust. So, you should write what you learn
- Consult: After working on a skill, and blogging. Now, you should start consulting on that skill. As you have developed your personal brand with your blog. Now consulting other businesses on that skill will make your personal brand strong. So, start consulting.
- Mentor: The other step in Mass Trust Cycle is mentoring. Mentoring is the best way of learning. A mentor will teach many students the skill he learned. And by Mentoring the skill you learned will be more clearer to you and you have a deep knowledge in it. And By mentoring, you can learn more and more
- Startup: Now you are in the position to start your startup. Start your new product or service by the understanding that you have developed about the market, the problem you are solving and your own skills you developed through this cycle.
This is a cycle because you have to repeat these steps continuously and start learning new skills regularly and implementing this cycle.
Digital Automation Tools
Digital Automation tools are very important to spped up the process.
This article has been written as an assignment to the internship program by DigitalDeepak.com. The first assignment was Farhan Bajrai 2.0