THE ULTIMATE BEGINNERS GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE DIGITAL MARKETING AND PERSONAL BRANDING.
All businesses start from the same point : an idea . It is what happens to that idea that determines business success . According to Entrepreneur magazine , nearly half of all new start-ups fail within the first three years . And one of the many reasons for being unsuccessful is that they are not able to convey their idea to the market and hence the downfall . Marketing , digital or not works on some timeless principles that one must implement to be effective in selling their products.
This article will give you insights on the following topics :
- Fundamentals of marketing
- Digital Marketing Vs Traditional Marketing
- CATT Marketing Funnel
- Integrated Digital Marketing
- Power And Evolution of Personal Branding
KEY FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING
Marketing is based on science .
Many people think that marketing can be done only if a person is cunning enough to convince a person , that is absolutely false because marketing is based on science . Why science ? Because just like science you can prove whether a theory is true by experimentation the same way you can prove whether a product has potential in the market by evaluating the needs of the market by surveys, polls etc.
Marketing starts BEFORE developing
Wait what ? Yes you heard it right . Marketing starts before you develop a product . This is where many people go wrong. Most people first develop a product and then try to market it and then fail because it does not meet the needs of the people . The right marketing is when a person first tries to understand the needs of a person and then develops a product to fulfill those needs at the right time . So the secret to effective marketing in a jist is selling the RIGHT PRODUCT to the RIGHT PERSON at the RIGHT TIME .
Never let marketing take over your product
What do I mean by that ? Marketing is a battle of perceptions and your product is the actual reality . Most people make a big mistake of spending a lot of money in marketing , ignoring the quality of the product . But because of the marketing they do it gets them customers but since the product quality is low it , rightly said by Deepak Kankeraju accelerates the death of the brand. For example : Let’s say there is a restaurant with beautiful furnishing and amenities and it has banners and ads everywhere but when you go there the staff is rude and badly dressed up and the food they offer is stale and the quality is bad . How long do you think this restaurant will work ? Not for long someday it will have to shut down.So one must always keep in mind to never let marketing take over the quality of the product .
Adapt to survive
For a business to survive for a long term one must cater to the needs of the current market and market the products that cater those needs . Take for example : In October 1998, Nokia became the best-selling mobile phone brand in the world but later in a few years it had a massive downfall . Why ? Because they were not ready to adapt to the current needs of the market . And products like these will eventually fall though they market as much as possible . So here is another fundamental truth about marketing ADAPT to the needs of the market.
DIGITAL MARKETING VS TRADITIONAL MARKETING
The main difference between digital and traditional marketing is the medium through which an audience encounters a marketing message. Digital marketing uses digital channels such as websites and social media as tools for marketing communications while traditional marketing uses traditional channels such as billboards and printed media and broadcasting mediums such as TVs and Radios.
The key to a great marketing campaign is to find the right balance between traditional and digital.
One reason why digital marketing can be upheld in this currently is because of the fact that the campaigns can be tracked as to its effectiveness ,which is unlike traditional marketing where tracking is very difficult . Hence , digital marketing in this era is recommended so as to reach the people in a place where they can be found which is the internet .
CATT Marketing Funnel
Now let’s talk about marketing funnels . A marketing funnel describes your customer’s journey with you. From the initial stages when someone learns about your business, to the purchasing stage, marketing funnels map routes to conversion and beyond.
The CATT Market Funnel is the ultimate funnel that one can use to take his digital marketing to an entirely new level . The CATT marketing funnel is a formula one can implement with a given niche to achieve desired wealth.
WEALTH = n ^ CATT
[n] Niche : Your success and wealth depends on the niche you choose
[C] Content : Create useful content that attracts people from your niche through channels such as blogs , posts , videos etc.
[A] Attention : Drive attention or digitally speaking traffic to your content through SEO , Social Media , Paid Ads etc.
[T] Trust : Build trust with your audience by using different means such as trip wires , marketing automations and retargeting.
[T] Transaction : Convert your leads into customers with natural sales methods .
INTEGRATED DIGITAL MARKETING
Integrated digital marketing , as the name suggests, is the integration of all digital means to market a particular product or content . Many people make the mistake of using one means example Facebook Ads or Google Ads only to achieve their desired goal and thus face disappointment in the course as it costs them money , time and in the end sometimes even get some unqualified leads .
If you’re not tackling digital marketing with the right integrated approach, you’re leaving connections, conversions and revenue on the table. Not to mention the fact that you’re leaving windows and doors open all over, allowing the competition to slip through and convert customers before you can get to them.
Given below is a method of integrated digital marketing recommended by marketing expert Deepak Kankeraju .
Integrated digital marketing is the best way to reach your desired goal by putting the right amount of efforts and at the right place . But the key to successful integrated digital marketing is to find the right combination of those means for your product or service .
THE POWER OF PERSONAL BRANDING
Why Personal Branding ?
The era where if you are a business brand and people used to trust has changed tremendously with the evolution of the internet . Today people want to hear from people not brands because that’s what is a natural way of approach because if we think a brand logo can’t talk to people but a person can because they really have feelings, connections and thoughts that they can convey. Hence people can connect more with a personal brand than a business brand.
But like every other thing personal branding has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Advantage : A personal brand can give rise to many brands under it.
Disadvantage : A personal brand cannot be sold and invested in.
EVOLUTION OF A PERSONAL BRAND
Evolution of a personal brand begins when a person LEARNS a skill , WORKS on it by implementing the knowledge , BLOGS about the experiences and learnings and when he eventually gains expertise in the process he starts CONSULTING people with the knowledge he has and then takes his consulting to another level by MENTORING and then ultimately sets up a STARTUP by hiring people and selling his own product or services .
This is how a person evolves into a personal brand in time .
CONCLUSION
I hope this post helped you in kickstarting your journey in marketing and taking it to new levels . But don’t just take in knowledge , Implement it and you will definitely find success . Please comment down below your one takeaway from this post that changed your mindset about marketing.
LEARN . IMPLEMENT. LEARN
Yours Truly,
Sophie Reddimalla
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