Marketing is nothing but an art of telling stories!
When was the last time you marketed yourself?
What was the last marketing encounter to remember?
Believe it or not, you meet marketers every, day every moment, but you don't even realise.
We are all surrounded by stories all around. And trust me Marketers are the best storytellers.
Marketing is all around us. From the food we eat, the water we drink to the laptop or the tab you are reading this blog on…
Marketing is not just about selling soaps.
When you are giving a TED talk you are marketing. When you ask your boss for a raise you are marketing. In fact, when you are trying to approach a partner for your life you are marketing yourself.
But Marketing is insufficient if it could not make an impact. Right?
I mean if creating is the only point, if writing and painting are so much fun, then why do we even care if we are found, published or recognised?
Well, Marketing is all about making the change happen. It’s meaningless until it is making an impact. Until your marketing has changed someone.
Changed your bosses mind.
Convinced the recruiter to hire you.
Changed the demand for your product.
But why do we often relate Marketing with a competition or a War?
Well, the truth is….Marketing is not at all a battle, its not a war and definitely not a Content to be won.
It’s the generous art of helping someone solve a problem.
It’s not only about shouting, hustling or coercion, but it’s also more of a chance to serve and create something for the masses. That involves understanding the market needs and creating a product or solution to bridge the gap.
Its then, you won’t need to emphasise much on the advertising, but the customers will themselves reach you seeking the solution of their problem.
“The buyer journey is nothing more than a series of questions that must be answered.” — Analyst Firm IDC.
“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customers so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself….the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous.” — Peter Drucker.
While we are talking about Marketing… what do you think, how interchangeably we can use Marketing with Advertising…???
Well almost never!
Yeah, I agree we think marketing and advertising are one and the same thing.
But, NO
It’s NOT
Absolutely NOT.
Advertising, Copywriting, Sales are all the components of marketing, but not Marketing.
Traditional Marketing vs Digital Marketing
While having a marketing budget is important for any business, it’s equally important to spend it in the right direction and make the most of it.
How do you know where to spend it when it comes to digital marketing vs traditional marketing?
For many businesses, reaching the right “marketing” decision is not easy, even though it can make a huge difference in their results.
By gaining clarity on the digital marketing vs traditional marketing aspect, a business can get a better idea of which marketing method is appropriate and how it is should be applied.
Well, if a product is generic such as a mobile phone, it needs wide targeting. And TV ads can help the brand reach millions of people at a very low cost. Along with TV, radio and Newspaper are also great medium for reaching large audience.
While Digital Marketing is the best medium to reach the affluent english speaking population with higher spending power.
Whereas there is a new player coming in the market called Regional Digital Marketing. Now you must be wondering what is it about?
Have you ever heard about it?
Well, if not! Let me clear it for you.
Regional Digital Marketing
Google says that the future of internet in India is going to be about voice, video and vernacular.
But how many brands communicate in vernacular, the choosen language of non english speaking audiences?
“India 2”, as this audience is popularly referred to is not about geography. its about language. anyone who is not an english language consumer, is technically — India 2 consumer, the next billion user.
The hindi consumer band is already larger then english internet and will definitely going to grow by leaps and bounds.
Thus for the brands to build a successful vernacular consumer base, they need a sharp vernacular marketing strategy that reaches the right audience, at the right time and in the right language.
What is Integrated Digital Marketing?
Integrated Digital Marketing encompasses the idea of creating a unique form of expression that’s easy to identify in all of the channels your customer uses.
It’s like using a single language to speak in different situations.
That means it’s a strategy that blends all your marketing tactics. Then, each campaign and approach complement the other, creating a consistent image on the mind of the users and tracing a journey for them to go on.
By being consistent, you can become memorable to your audience.
But integrated Digital Marketing also means having a well-structured and well-defined marketing plan. That includes taking care of the online presence by managing different channels of the digital world.
It involves making sure your organization is on the web, where your customer already is.
All those efforts should point in one direction only and express the same image to the mind of the users.
We can understand this concept by looking at the idea of a digital picture.
What is a picture? Just a set of pixels that work together to make us believe we see some specific form.
Those pixels apart don’t make much sense, but when they gather, we get the proper meaning.
Then, communication happens.
That’s the same with your Digital Marketing.
If you develop a method to unify all those channels, creating the same experience to the audience, your marketing works as a whole and makes more sense to prospects.
Thus, people will go from one touchpoint to another without noticing the difference.
They will go smoothly through the journey without any interruption.
So, to summarize what we’re saying: integrated Digital Marketing is about creating a plan to make sure you’re using digital media and to make sure you’re using it the right way.
Those means of communications include the 3 types of media’
- paid media (paid advertising);
- earned media (organic search obtained with a website or a blog);
- owned media (Social Media, Email, and others).
I’m going to ask you one question, and I want you to think about it for a few moment.
Personal Branding
What do you want to be known for?
If someone mentions your name, business, or brand what do you want them to say?
Some people can answer this question in a matter of seconds, while it may take others a lifetime to figure out.
Let me start by stating that personal branding isn’t just for someone who owns a business.
Personal branding is also essential for any influencer, business coach, or person who wants to share their story with the world.
Whether you want to be known as the G.O.A.T. of entrepreneure, the most entertaining speaker, or as the person who spends their life volunteering and giving back to their community, there is no wrong answer.
If you want to make an impact in the world, creating a branding strategy is definitely the place to begin.
I want to start by going over the personal branding definition — then dive deeper into the importance of having a personal brand online, talk about some personal branding tips and personal branding examples.
Most people define personal branding with a name and logo, but there’s so much more to it than that.
So, What is Personal Branding?
Personal branding is the practice of marketing people and their careers as brands.
It is an ongoing process of developing and maintaining a reputation and impression of an individual, group, or organization.
Whereas some self-help practices focus on self-improvement, personal branding defines success as a form of self-packaging.
Your personal brand is how you promote yourself.
It is the unique combination of skills, experience, and personality that you want your followers to see.
It is the telling of your story, and the impression people gain from your online reputation.
It’s an ever-going process to LEARN - WORK - BLOG - CONSULT - MENTOR - STARTUP.
You LEARN a new skill through concepts, facts and procedure and practice. Than you put that skill in to WORK and go from practice to implementation. Further you write a BLOG about what you have learnt and experienced through your work. It helps in creating a personal brand. Now that you have a personal brand through blog, have work experience and have learnt fundamentals clear. You start CONSULTING. Moving further you start MENTORING. Mentoring scales your knowledge to a whole new level. And then you can start your own START-UP.
This model of personal branding is often refered to as Mass Trust Blueprint.
