DECODING MARKETING IN COVID ERA:

Did you ever notice how come you see some company’s ad or videos playing on your social media which you never followed or bought something from them? How do companies know your taste and age group so they can target you accordingly? Startups like Byju’s which is less than a decade old became the global leader and created a personal brand.

It is possible because they know the importance of marketing and they invest time and energy to decode the marketing rules. In covid era every startup and corporates are working on one thing which is marketing because it is like oxygen to survive in this challenging situation.

In this article I will discuss the fundamentals of marketing, types of marketing, how you can select a niche for any product, role of marketing funnels and through digital marketing how one can create a personal brand. I learned a topic called MASS trust blueprint which actually changed the way I was looking into the business game before this.

Let’s get started about the topic, which I have learned while going through the Digital Deepak internship program.

Fundamentals of Marketing:

Fundamentals can also be known as the formula which needs to be implemented to get the right traffic for final closure.

· It starts with understanding customer and customer needs that leads to creating a product fits. Customer needs and behavior are important so products can be created with need basis rather than based on assumption.

· Marketing is not just about selling the product, it is also about keeping the existing customer happy by communicating with them. We need to take feedback from customers so we can work towards improving it.

· Marketing is a game of perception. Never let marketing become more important than the product as a great product sells itself. A great product needs less marketing as they fully fill all needs of the customer. Product quality needs to be better.

· Effective marketing is all about sending the right message to the right person at the right time. Strategies work better than following a pattern.

Knowing the fundamentals of marketing thus does not mean that we will be successful but along with it we need to build a strong brand and we have to be only 1 whether in category or sub category. Companies like Xerox, Google are brand names which have become verbs and changed the dynamic of the market.

Every company needs to invest time and energy in learning marketing because it is rooted in human psychology and understanding of the market.

Nokia did the same when they entered the market and built a strong brand but failed to maintain the market share because they did not invest in market research and hence do not upgrade the products.

We never say that we need to attend a video meeting as all of says that we have a zoom meeting. Zoom has invested time in understanding the needs of its customer base and in covid era it became the mainstream to conduct any webinars.

When I attended the second week session of DD internship program my focus was only towards digital marketing but I did not focus that there is also a way where still a lot of companies focus and these kind of tools are used since ages. Yes, it is called Traditional Marketing and it focuses its customer base through Radio, TV, Newspaper etc.

Traditional marketing is actually done for brand recall as this helps customers to remember the brand name at any given moment. Companies followed this marketing type because there was no other way to connect with the end customer. Many companies have succeeded in it and the best example is Fevicol which is an Indian Brand. Connect with brand name is show high that we never ask for glue but instead recall Fevicol

This is the best example of brand recall and helps the company to target its customer base through traditional marketing. Fevicol covers a market share of 70% and revenue for the year 2020 was 7,443 crores INR.

There are many other companies as well which use traditional marketing tools in the most precise manner but the way Global economy is moving there are loopholes of traditional marketing and corporates are switching through digital marketing.

The biggest loopholes of traditional marketing are it fails to connect with specific sets of customers as there are no options to connect with our target customer based on taste, city, age group, Income , etc.

Digital Marketing:

Digital Marketing uses multiple channels and technologies that allow an organization to analyze campaigns, content and strategy to understand what’s working and what isn’t in real time. It put you in those same channels, so our best prospects can see you, learn more about you, and even ask questions to learn more about you and your products and services.

In 21st century marketing techniques every business leverages digital channels such as search engines, social media, email, and their websites to connect with current and prospective customers. Digital Marketing has zero geographical boundaries so your business has an ability to reach a global marketplace. It helps us to save more money and reach more customers in comparison to traditional marketing.

Paytm and Zomato are the best examples of start-ups which used digital marketing and became the leader in their category and subcategory.

We all know that digital marketing plays a vital role and companies like Zomato and Paytm have changed the market dynamics completely. Big corporates are following their footstep and now working on to create their presence through digital marketing.

Now we are aware of the importance of Marketing and its tools, but it is important to understand that using such techniques will not help us to generate revenue as there is a process where we have to work to convert prospects into leads and end customers.

We all have heard about funnel when we were in schools and the same funnel is so important that complete business is dependent on it. The advanced versions of funnel are CATT MARKETING FUNNEL. In this topic we will discuss the funnel and its framework.

CATT MARKETING FUNNEL AND FRAMEWORK:

The basic framework of CATT marketing funnel is to understand how wealth is created through selecting the right niche where you want to focus along with the content, attention, trust and transaction. Formula to calculate wealth through CATT funnel is:

Wealth = n^ CATT

[n] Niche- Type of market you want to select as we need to go narrow. We cannot provide services in all markets.

[C] Content- Create useful content through blog posts, videos, lead magnet, live webinars, etc.

[A] Attention- Drive attention (traffic) to your content using SEO, Social Media, paid ads.

[ T] Trust- Trust can be created through marketing automation, trip wires, retargeting.

[T] Transaction- convert your leads into customers with natural sales methods.

When we go for our own Start Up CATT Funnel plays a vital role to understand the niche and how we are pursuing ahead while creating Wealth. It helps us to understand who needs the product, benefits of product and how it is going to help the customer. When all the parameters are met then it is the right time to go ahead.

Selecting Niche is the basic step in CATT marketing funnel and the best way to understand it is by asking three questions

Do you have a talent or skill?

Are you passionate about the skill?

Is there any market for the skill that you have?

If you get the answer it means you are able to identify the niche and able to find the right market to start.

INTEGRATED DIGITAL MARKETING

It is defined as the process of unifying all aspects of marketing communication to deliver seamless and customer centric Experience.

These are tools which are used in marketing for an integrated approach. This also helps us to Understand how technology interacts with real life. It is like speaking a single language in different situations.

Power of Personal Brand

Personal brand does not require any logo or company name for identity. This is based on a single entity which has been Created .There are many examples where a personal brand has more worth than the company. Elon Musk is the best example of the personal brand. In the near future if Elon Musk decides to quit Tesla and come up with a new company, people will trust as personal brand has more impact in the market. People want to hear from people, not brands.

We need to follow a few steps which will help us towards making a personal brand.

1. Learn: The first step is to learn new skills through concepts, facts and procedures.
2. Work: Put your new found skills to work. Implement it in the real world. Work with some corporates and apply the concepts so it will bring new learning.
3. Blog: Start writing your skills which you have learned and share your experience with people.
4. Consult: Now, you are aware of the industry as you have worked in it. Start consulting other businesses instead of working for them.
5. Mentor: mentoring will help you scale your understanding to a whole new level.
6. Startup: It is the last step in a personal brand where you need to go for a startup.

This is a topic which I have discussed earlier in my blog and it really helped me to understand the game of business. Mass trust blueprint will help you in creating the personal brand and bring hell out of Experience.

Conclusion: Marketing is not about concepts but also about executing tools. It is also about conveying the right message at the right time at the right place. It helps us to develop bonding with the customer for life long.