Have you heard of 1,2 ka 4 in Marketing?
Hope this line would have taken you back to childhood days where this song became a household slang of being street smart. ( Gen Z, would request to search this phrase meaning on Google on the cult status this dialogue has).
Now you will wonder what is the link between doing 1,2 ka 4 and Marketing? Although everyone nowadays wanting to be street smart in achieving his/her goals, be a personal or business.
The reason I choose the headline was to make you think or persuade you to read my article further. Yes, I am talking of the science of persuasion and Marketing.
Before putting my thoughts in front of you, can you tell me an instance where you have not seen a marketing pitch? Be it a vegetable vendor on street to sales associate in Malls to Politicians(from ..di to..di)who wants to get elected to Boys/Girls looking for a suitable Bride/Groom. My respect to all aunties/uncles who do a hard job of finding suitable leads in marriage as they relentlessly pitch us to prospective MIL or FIL. Everyone in their daily life is used to marketing.
In the above examples, the product is ready but unless you don’t bring out the USP or you are not in front of the consumer at the right time or place do you think the product will sell. No right?
So karna padta hain 1 2 ka 4 ….so let's begin our Lakhan Journey in marketing….
The Fundamentals of Marketing — learning through Bollywood way….
Hope everyone has seen “Sholay”, I assumed so. it’s a story of revenge and so on…. but if you look from the lens of the marketer, Basanti was a perfect marketer. She had a product, a tonga(passenger carrier)fully confident on the ride service but if she had waited for the passenger on the stands do you think Amitabh & Dharam Paji would have come to her. No, but she marketed her horse and his speed comparison with various adjectives to which Amitabh & Dharam Ji finally agreed to take the horse ride. (some may argue this is scripted but still, this scene is seen in day-to-day life if you happen to visit any railway station in India 3 cities).
This happens with all of us unless you understand the need of the consumer, the benefit which your consumer gets by using your product, and more importantly market for the product, your product won’t sell. Believe me even in cold calls, unless you do your homework, the age-old science of permutation of every 8 call gets click is waste of time.
Take out: if you have a product then look from the lens of your consumer if it fits his requirement then it's ok. But if it doesn’t then have the courage to change the product blueprint to suit consumer needs.
Just go a few years back to Nov 2016 where demonetization happened and suddenly cash was out of fashion, PayTM was the first to grab the opportunity to understand & address to needs of consumers. They came with a bang on Nov 9 with a media campaign. They were in front of consumers right when the consumer needed them. if they had not acted on the need or pain of the consumer would they had achieved the status of cash alternative in the market.
Take out: Don’t be one of the options, be the only option available.
One more example I would like to quote from Bollywood (sorry movie again but life should be 70mm screen I believe) … let's look at Oscar-nominated film “Lagan “….. Bhuvan played by Aamir khan had selected all players for the match but his ballers were been hit for boundaries and sixes even with his reserve players. He had to do something different, try some innovative concepts to get back in the game. That when he got “kachra”, a crippled villager. Bhuvan’s observation helped him identify the talent in a disabled untouchable. While the entire village was hostile to this decision, Bhuvan saw in him someone who could spin the ball magically. This was the game-changer for Lagaan.
Take out: Don’t be afraid to experiment, Marketing is science while the market is your lab.
So a final take away in Fundamental of Marketing thru Bollywood way “तुम लोग मुझे ढूंढ रहे हो और मैं तुम्हारा यहां इंतजार कर रहा हूं… Your consumer shall be after you on the back of a good product & marketing strategy.
Digital vs. Traditional Marketing — It's like comparing Ballot boxes with EVM machines… (excuse me for getting in politics but while I am writing this article Bengal election is a hot topic).
Think of the era before Social media (Orkut, Hotmail, Yahoo messenger, FB, etc), Live streaming OTT platforms how would have marketers reached out to you? I know it looks painful to go back and think of that era but still, marketeers were after you right to buy their products. But how?
Yes, the traditional method of marketing or media like Newspaper, Radio Outdoors, Direct Marketing. But did they really entice you to buy products, think as Mercedes Benz ad in a leading newspaper would be still a dream for many readers eventually wasting money and filling the exchequers of Newspapers?
I will give you another example during the festive season or marriage season, you may see many billboards of Jewellery design from brands asking you to visit the store. Imagine public transport and private transport using the same road to reach their destination, do you think how much public transport user would buy the same at the most it will create a wow factor for the brand, but this won’t help it to get sales.
But having said that I don’t want to blame Traditional media as we all have been used the same before the Digital media on slot happened. It has its own merit and demerits while if used discreetly can give good results.
Can you imagine a sampling exercise in digital media or TV? No right that the job of magazine /Newspaper as it reached household doorstep (leave aside the pilferage).
There was an era before YouTube where a movie declared to be hit, or flop used to be determined by the songs the movie has. Still, producers used Radio as a frequency medium to create a hype of their forthcoming movie through songs and this is very effectively used inhouse promotions.
Still, as Deepak said in his week 2 video India 3 has a wide audience base but per capita income is less than India 1 & 2, do marketers can use digital media or Newspapers to reach out to them. No, as this market is still a feature phone market and very price sensitive on data part apart from being marginal literate. Over here marketers have used and will be using wall paintings, branded tarpaulins to make a communication reach to end-user.
So, in the same way, when elections used to happen through ballot boxes results used to take 5–6 days to declare but when it came with the EVM machine within 1–2 hours results were out.
Takeout: Each media has a relevant place and power which used effectively by marketers will make wonders.
CATT: Marketing Funnel.
Hope you have heard of AIDA?
AIDA was established in the US in the late 1800’s the acronym AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. These are the four stages that a consumer goes through when watching or viewing an advertisement. According to Lewis who made this model, first and foremost, the role of an advertisement is to attract customers. Once an ad grabs attention, it has to invoke interest towards the product in the minds of the consumers. After creating an interest, the ad has to bring desire in consumers' minds to use the product, and finally, the consumer has to take a favorable action towards the product by ultimately purchasing the product. The below example will let you know how marketers have been using this model.
But with the onslaught of digital media, this funnel-shaped model and its nomenclature has been rechristened by many smart marketers and used to the core.
Digital Deepak with his many years of experience has worked out a model called CATT. It's not rocket science but an amalgamation of all that he had learned during his growth phase as a marketeer. Now let’s look at the breakdown of CATT.
Let start with Content (again I would like to quote movies and this time I will go south to the Great Thalaiva”)
I will try to explain the CATT funnel of Digital Deepak with help of Thalaiva.
Content: Yes, now what can we talk about content in his movies. All that he does creates a mass frenzy in his supporters that’s how he has built a reputation for his movies. It may be a VFX effect but it grabs the attention of his audience and in a way, the first step of Digital Deepak is followed where you create eye-catching or a piece of content that will make you stop in tracks. Even Rajnikant memes are a great piece of content that is quite popular among youths.
Attention: Now when Thalaiva is ready with content do you really think he needs to worry about holding the consumer's attention. His supporters eagerly wait for any news or any flash which comes from his end or producers' end on the forthcoming releases. He makes himself available in all forums as a simple common man whether it may be taking a stance for Jallikattu or the latest meeting with BJP leaders before the 2021 TN polls. This way he builds an equation with his audience so that the mass hysteria for his movie release starts to build up.
Trust: Yes, nobody can doubt the trust which he has created in mass otherwise would it have been possible for an actor at age of 71, playing a hero, romancing with heroines less than half of his age, doing an eye-grabbing stunt and moreover a style statement which is accepted by his audience. No other actor in India is near his stature except the Shahenshah “Amitabh”.
Transaction: This shall require no proof as all his movies barring a couple have made a minimum of 100 Cr at the box office.
This eventually leads us to a formula which Deepak has devised:
Wealth = n^(CATT)
Where n = your niche (i.e., what you truly believe is our core strength) In the above example core strength of Thalaiva is Entertainment, Entertainment, and only Entertainment.
Takeout: Everyone can’t be as talented as Thalaiva but that won’t stop you from becoming one if you use the CATT model either in business or personal life.
Integrated Digital Marketing.
Ok by now I covered Fundamentals of marketing, Traditional v/s Digital marketing & CATT (Digital Deepak Funnel) but all this Gyan how should we implement or how can we bring it to practice.
Come on you may say hire an agency or take the help of a third party to plan, design, and implement your strategy to get goals. is that so easy, I would request you to study Amazon, Flipkart, Alibaba, and all those digital start-ups who have survived the first phase of MASS TRUST (Copyright of Digital Deepak). I will not discuss more on MASS TRUST now but study how they manage to get going. They made of each available resource in the digital world at that moment by using their business model to get in front of consumers.
The below chart is self-explanatory on how they used the Integrated digital marketing piece.
At the core of the Integrated model is content when you have content weaved around your products or offer in order to engage with the consumer you use the above tools.
You have an email database of prospective buyers where you engage with them with your content, you are in the attention phase now. You use SEO to get in top site ranking on google page along with you do social media marketing so that the consumer whom you want to grab attention gives his time to you.
Once his attention is gained, you build Trust with him either through Social media blogs, regular email updates or you may use paid advertising with testimonials to gain trust in your product or service offerings. Believe me, trust in marketing is not an easy task, it takes donkey years to establish but in digital media, more emphasis is given to peer suggestions who he depends upon.
Now for the transaction, make an offer to the consumer so that he can’t refuse.
Takeout: So, what I explained is a simple layman method of using an Integrated digital marketing model this may vary depending on your product or service, but the core remains the same along with the CATT model.
Phew hope you are still with me as I am now in the last phase of assignment week 2, be patient.
Personal Branding: Mass Trust Blueprint.
You use all tricks of the trade to get sales and thereby generate revenue eventually leading to a profit but in the current scenario where the market is so dynamic, and you are challenged for survival do you think how much time and energy you will have to use? Tremendous right absolutely right but do some of the Big Brands to name a few like Apple, Amazon, Tesla, Mercedes, etc marketeers daily do the integrated digital marketing process. I bet not why? Can you think about that? This is because the MASSTRUST they have a built-in mind of consumer would eventually help in getting future sale eventually generating revenue. Yes, above all mentioned companies do marketing rather Integrated digital marketing in their own sense except Tesla who doesn’t believe in advertising at all. What is common in all is the thought of start-up initiator behind the brand which they build for.
Think what comes to your mind when someone says Apple, you think of premium phones right along with the grit of Steve Jobs, Mercedes stands, or ultimate driving machine pleasure or Amazon stands for a one-stop-shop for shopping on the web with Jeff Bezos crazy work schedule or TESLA stands for a next-gen car with mind-boggling thinking of Elon Musk. This is because they build a personal brand that has a rub-off effect on the product or service they market. Even in Thailava's case, he has become a personal super brand and he uses the same for his advantage.
All the names which I have mentioned have used the above Model lets take the example of Elon Musk for a simple explanation.
He started his start-up in 1995 known as ZIP2 an online city guide. He learned it hard way sold the same to Compaq and started a new start-up in 1999 for an online payment system known as PAYPAL.
PAYPAL was acquired by eBay in 2002 and founded a company called Space X. Around the same time, he founded TESLA an alternate affordable mass-market car and the rest is history.
Just see how beautifully Musk has used the above Mass Trust blueprint, he started the start-up, learn the tricks of the trade while working, started consulting NASA on Space mission but at the same time, he also ignited many minds to think differently with his blogs and tweets thus becoming a mentor all those ambition and dreams of becoming an entrepreneur.
Takeout: Nothing can stop you if you are true to what you do as this creates a MassTrust about you in the minds of your audience.
Conclusion:
I am thankful to you that you have been patiently reading and making some thoughts in your mind by analyzing, lets summarize.
if you think of building a product then look for your consumer if it fits his requirement then it's ok. But if it doesn’t fit the need then have the courage to change the product blueprint to suit consumer needs.
Think of how you can stand out against competition; Don’t be one of the options, be the only option available.
Your consumer should follow you on the back of a good product & marketing strategy.
Use all media wisely (Traditional or Digital) as it is a saying don’t put all eggs in one basket.
Find a niche that no one has, and this eventually will lead to solve your consumer needs and build a relationship with the consumer.
Finally use Integrated digital marketing effectively with help of the CATT & Mass Trust blueprint as this will create a Brand positioning or say a Personal Brand which is always has a rub-off effect on your product or service.
This article is part of the Digital Deepak internship program and yes, of course, feedback see dar nahi lagta but no comment se.
