How well you know about marketing? What are its basic concepts and principles?
Marketing is not just about promoting stuff and making sales. To the real fact, the entire future, value, and sustainability of brands are dependent on marketing.
Let me share a few concepts, principles, and theories of marketing that I came to know recently.
What is marketing?
If we start searching on any of the search engines, we might find multiple definitions from various viewpoints of market leaders. But I don’t want to make it much complicated.
Marketing is the activity of “ C — C — D — V — T — P.”
C -> Creating
C -> Communicating
D -> Delivering
V -> Value
T -> Targeting
P -> Profit
In simple, marketing is all about sending the right message to the right person at the right time.
Marketing is not just for making customers. Marketing helps to retain those customers for a more lasting period. It is all based on science but not creativity.
From a local business to a top-end Multi-National Company, Marketing is the first central factor that is to admit. And in the process of acknowledging it, there are some basic principles of marketing that everyone must go through.
Initially, we used to have four basic principles but later, as people’s ideologies, perceptions, and lifestyle changes, the basic principles of marketing have upgraded. Now we have eight principles of marketing.
- Product
- Price
- Place
- Promotion
- People
- Process
- Physical environment
- Productivity and Quality
Though marketing has its unique value and purpose, every business uses it for a single goal of making profits. Have you ever thought of making one crore being you as your boss in marketing?
Every individual can make it happen in four different ways and stages.
- Sell goods of 100/- worth to 1,00,000 customers -> One crore
- Sell a product of 1,000/- worth to 10,000 customers -> One crore
- Sell a product of 10,000/- worth to 1,000 customers -> One crore
- Sell a product of 1,00,000/- worth to 100 customers -> One crore
In the process of marketing your products or services, make sure that marketing is an art of knowing how to reach people.
But how to reach people? Communication is one of the crucial factors to be considered.
Promotion & Communication:
Promotion is the process of informing customers about the product and making them buy it.
When it comes to the promotion mix, we do have four different classifications in it. They are:
- Advertising -> A form of non-personal presentation of ideas/Products/services by an identified sponsor.
- Sales promotion -> Short term use of incentives.
- Personal selling -> Face to face interaction between buyer and seller to make sales.
- Public relation -> Involves a variety of activities to promote & protect a company’s image and its products in the eyes of the public.
Advertising, Sales promotion, Personal selling, and Public relations might involve different works and activities to perform. But communication is the intersection factor of these four.
Good marketing is all about communication. If your targeting is of reaching the people, then it is only possible through better communication.
“ In-depth analysis of markets makes you a good marketer, but in-depth analysis of people and their ideologies makes you a leader in the marketing world”
While communicating with people, make sure that you highlight the benefits of the product instead of its features.
How well we communicate with customers, the same, they will understand our brand and its products. The way we communicate replicates our brand and its value. Don’t hurt any of the customers with your words because they are the actual rulers of a business.
OK! Now you are well aware of the basics and principles of marketing and communication as well. But what medium marketing to choose?
There are around 163 types of marketing around the globe.
Traditional marketing, Digital marketing, email marketing, direct marketing, network marketing, deep marketing, and many others are from those 163 types of marketing.
Digital Marketing: Digital marketing is all about marketing through a digital medium.
Ex: Websites, Apps, Ads on websites, Social media, and more.
Traditional Marketing: Marketing through common mediums like Newspapers, radio ads, wall posters, pamphlets, and more.
Traditional v Digital marketing:
When we compare these two to the recent trends, digital marketing has a rapid growth in the marketing field and is at the top of the priority list.
Though traditional marketing has no rapid growth, it has its importance and range of audience to target.
Based on the products and the target audiences, we can select either a digital or traditional medium.
Ex1: Suppose if we are having music-related products like earphones or Bluetooth, then we must choose a digital medium to market them. Because people who are using digital products like mobiles, laptops, or music players are more likely to use headphones, earphones, and speakers. As they are on the digital medium, targeting them via digital marketing makes you some sales.
Ex2: Suppose if your business is related to real estate like selling plots, lands, houses, and apartments then, choosing traditional mediums like paper ads might increase your sales. To the maximum extend, only elders show much interest in real estate, and they mostly spend their time reading newspapers. So traditional marketing might help here.
After selecting the medium to market your products, planning and developing a funnel is very important. We can convert people as customers through a funnel.
The marketing funnel:
The marketing funnel is a technique and procedure that converts a stranger to a customer. This funnel will have four to five stages based on the strategies planned by the individual.
Let me explain to you the funnel with five different stages that I have recently planned.
Stage 1: Awareness
Stage 2: Interest
Stage 3: Evaluation
Stage 4: Trial
Stage 5: Adoption
Awareness -> Promoting our brand until they notice us.
Interest -> They will decide to find out a bit more about the brand.
Evaluation -> They will start investigating if our brand is credible.
Trial -> They will do business with us in a small way by purchasing sample products.
Adoption -> They will decide to be a customer by purchasing the original valued products.
Another important funnel that we must discuss is CATT funnel.
The CATT Marketing funnel
A cyclic funnel that builds both sales and brand as well.
C — Content
A — Attention
T — Trust
T — Transaction
We must create useful content that helps and adds value to people. After creating content, start driving attention towards your content using SEO/social media/Promotions. Now it’s time to build trust with the audience using automation, retargeting, webinars, and some free value-adding courses. After building trust, start converting your leads into customers. This how the CATT funnel works.
Integrated Digital Marketing
The name itself suggests that integrated digital marketing is an integration of multiple marketing techniques to make customers more satisfied.
This Integration contains different marketing strategies like content marketing, email marketing, social media, SEO, paid ads, and sale.
When we implement every individual strategy, they will not create a huge impact. But when we integrate a strategy with other strategies, a huge impact will be created and brand value as well. The integration of different marketing strategies will always put a step ahead.
The power of personal branding:
A brand is more about trust and value. What makes a person a brand is the value he provides and the support he could offer.
Personal branding will always beat the best. ( A best known will always beat the best). A personal brand will help to run your business with good influence.
Evolution of Personal Brand:
A personal brand evolves in six steps.
- Learn
- work
- Blog
- Consult
- Mentor
- Startup
Learn new skills and facts from a selected niche.
Work with your skills either as a freelancer or employee or on personal projects.
Start blogging. Put all your experiences and techniques in it.
Now instead of working for other businesses, start consulting.
With all your experiences and knowledge, mentor others, and guide them towards success.
Now implement all your strategies and experiences and start your product with a startup in the market.
Make sure that there is no endpoint in this evolution. As long as you are in the market, you will learn things, work on it, consult, mentor others, and start new.
By: Thallam Zithin Kumar
