Is Digital Marketing a Fad?

Undoing The 4 Marketing Mistakes of My ‘fratpreneurs’

Is Digital Marketing a fad? Yes or No? Well, there is no one-word answer to this. I’d say, you could be turning it into a fad if you are making these 4 marketing mistakes that I will dwell upon today.

Apart from deconstructing the 4 Mistakes, I will also share practical tips to undo these mistakes and enjoy better business growth, and ensure that your marketing efforts yield the best results.

Reading this blog would be helpful for business owners, entrepreneurs, digital freelancers, mentors, consultants, and content creators.

I am an entrepreneur and I often end up being in the company of other entrepreneurs in my fraternity. Let’s call them ‘fratpreneurs’.

When we meet up, I am often asked for tips on digital content creation for their brands. But one question I always ask them is- why do you think you need blogs ( or whichever Digital Marketing element they are focussing on these days)

Most often than not, they don’t have an answer. Simon Sinek in his book, ‘Start with Why’ urges all organisations/brands/business owners to — well, ‘Start with Why’.

He says, “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe”

This is Mistake#1 that I often help my friends who are business owners, CtrlZ from their business life.

Digital Marketing is a great tool that could help you scale your business if used wisely. But many of my friends, simply follow the herd and end up figuring out stand-alone elements of digital marketing, like email marketing, Facebook ads, Social media, blogs, etc., based on what their competition is doing, or other market leaders are doing, without deep diving into understanding their respective ‘whys’.

And this is how Digital Marketing can turn into a fad.

But you do have a choice to do this right — By being a better marketer and resultantly a better brand.

Is Digital Marketing the Holy Grail?

Here is Mistake#2 my friends make. They feel digital is the only way to market products in today’s times. The truth is digital is not the only way to market your products or services.

The right marketing mix depends on the product category and target group. For instance, mass or generic products may be better suited to traditional marketing.

While traditional marketing platforms have wider reach at a lower cost, ( eg, Radio- 65% reach- Newspaper- 465 Million, TV- 800M to 1 Billion), they do not allow personalised content. Hence, you cannot do deep marketing and natural sales while marketing on these channels.

If your products are suited for the affluent English speaking population of India (100 M people), then Digital Marketing may be more effective for you.

Becoming A Better Marketer

Once you make an informed decision that Digital Marketing is the right marketing technique for your business, keep your thinking and learning hats on.

A fair warning here. Before getting caught up in the labyrinth of digital marketing tools and tricks- know the basics of marketing. Mistake#3 my friends make is that they jump into the digital marketing bandwagon without understanding the basics or fundamentals of marketing.

So my tip to my friends who are starting out in Digital Marketing is:

‘Don’t focus too much on digital tactics and tools, get to know the fundamentals of Marketing first.’

So why should you know the basics of marketing before jumping into digital marketing? The answer is simple and IMO obvious.

Marketing is a Super Set

My friends often confuse marketing with sales or advertising. Advertising, sales, copywriting, Direct Response marketing, Digital Marketing are simply elements of marketing. So once you know the basics, you can decide on the right marketing mix that works best for you.

It’s Forever-Green

Digital marketing techniques are dynamic and keep changing. But the rules of marketing are evergreen and have a long shelf life- as they are deeply rooted in human psychology. Many skills get outdated over time and are replaced by AI or technology.

Marketing is a game of perceptions that humans can understand. The art and science of marketing to humans can only be supplemented but not replaced by technology. So, it is a very safe career and skill, as it will never go out of fashion.

ROI Oriented

Your marketing efforts give a direct return and are often the last investment you make and hence you get to see an immediate ROI. This makes marketing efforts measurable and yes, gratifying.

It’s a Core Business Activity

It is not a good idea to outsource the marketing strategy to an agency. As a founder, you need to be involved in designing the marketing plan, so that you continue to stay in touch with the market and customer needs. If not, you are at the risk of suffering from what, Theodore Levitt, the late Harvard Business School marketing professor, calls, ‘Marketing Myopia’.

You can outsource the execution of your plan but never the marketing function itself.

Logically this makes sense. But several unstated objections that my frat buddies don’t often voice out is- can I do it? This objection often comes up camouflaged as — I dont have the time, inclination or patience for marketing — sales or leads is what I need. Or I am not a marketing person. I don’t think marketing is ethical. So I help break it down for them.

Firstly, you don’t need good English to be a good marketer. But I’d say you should be able to communicate your thoughts effectively and simply.

Write as you talk to a friend. You don’t have to write college essays or academic papers with complex sentences and sophisticated vocabulary.

Your content becomes more unique when it is based on personal experiences and case studies. Writing brings clarity. And also others look up to as an authority.

Break down your writing habits into smaller goals. The more you write, the more clarity you get. And you are able to communicate better. Practice writing every day.

You watch sitcoms right? Why not learn conversational English from them. English is not our primary language. Learn conversational English from such shows that people connect with.

Another tip I often slip in is

‘Think in English- to improve your communication skills.’

Marketing has earned a bad name in some pockets. You may have come across pushy salesmen or loud posters or unrelenting tele-callers or FOs selling stuff you never need. But marketing is different from sales. In fact, if marketing is done right, sales happen naturally and organically. So, marketing doesn’t end with sales. The sale or transaction is just a milestone, not the end destination of marketing If you’re in for the long run, focus on building long-term customer relationships.

My friends who lose patience and are only concerned with business performance indicators like increasing leads/ sales/ footfalls, I often encourage them to read — The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek where he explains

“When leaders are willing to prioritize trust over performance, performance almost always follows.”

Trust is a scarce resource, in fact, it’s more scarce when most things are being sold online. You already have trust with your near and dear ones, but how do you create mass trust? Marketing is the game of developing trust for your brand with your Target Audience. The ideal way to start is to build a personal brand first.

People like to hear from people not from a brand or logo. A personal brand needs to have a consistent story that humanises the brand. It cannot be sold. That’s the downside, But a personal brand can start another brand as brand ambassadors. As you build a brand, the requirement for marketing goes down.

“Trust must be continuously and actively cultivated.”― Simon Sinek, The Infinite Game

I urge you not to focus on sales obsessively. This is a short term perspective. Marketing encourages you to think long term and focus on serving the customer throughout their lifecycle.

For those who feel — “I am not a marketing or creative person”, I sit them down and tell them one thing.

Marketing is more of science and is not about creativity.

Marketing doesn’t mean pushing your products after you create them. It starts with understanding the customer needs and then creating the right product fit. If your research and insight into the customer needs and market gaps are right, the product will sell itself.

Once they are ready and open to the idea of taking charge of their marketing and ready for more- I tell them about-

The Single Law of Marketing That You Need to Know- Serve Your Market Well

Simon Sinek also encourages businesses to focus on customer-centricity to have lasting growth, when he at a summit, compared the culture at Microsoft with that of Apple.

“At the Microsoft event,” he said, “the majority of the presenters devoted a good portion of their presentations to talking about how they were going to beat Apple. At the Apple event, 100 percent of the presenters spent 100 percent of their time talking about how Apple was trying to help teachers teach and help students learn.”

In his book, ‘The Infinite Game’, he explains how to think like an Infinite player like Apple, in the market.

“Where a finite-minded player makes products they think they can sell to people, the infinite-minded player makes products that people want to buy. The former is primarily focused on how the sale of those products benefits the company; the latter is primarily focused on how the products benefit those who buy them.” — The Infinite Game, Simon Sinek.

I trust that by now, you are ready to play the ‘Infinite Game’ of business with the ‘Infinite Mindset’ of a Go-Giver marketer and are ready to learn how to best serve your markets.

I will now give you a primer on two frameworks that will help you understand how best you can best serve your market in a sustainable way, using Digital Marketing.

Integrated Digital Marketing Framework

Digital marketing often includes elements like blogs, content marketing, email marketing, Facebook ads, SEO. Many people pick and choose one element and feel that they get little success out of it. This is like only exercising to become healthy and not focussing on mediation, diet and sleep.

Instead of looking at all elements of digital marketing as individual pieces of a puzzle, everything needs to be integrated, like a machine and must complement each other. Your integrated digital marketing framework should be focussing on the strengths of each element of digital marketing and supplement the other, instead of simply getting results from different elements individually.

You can follow the CATT funnel that simplifies the execution of the Integrated Marketing framework. It is a marketing funnel based on a simple formula to generate wealth.

Wealth = CATT^n, where ns tands for business niche.

Let's understand each element of the CATT^n formula.

Niche Selection

Instead of focussing on a business niche, Mistake#4 most friends make ( and even I did when I started out) is, they have a mass-market carpet-bombing game plan.

They want to be everything to everyone. But then they end up being nothing to anyone.

They may be more aggressive and make more sales in a month, but over time the effort involved becomes tiring.

It’s like running on a treadmill. You would get exhausted running and the minute you stop, you will fall off. But long term brand building reduces your need to market over time.

If you want to play the long term game- you need to define your niche that s unique.

My advice here is

Dont look to be a market leader. Look to be the only one by building a unique niche in a category you wish to serve.

At the same time, dont enter a space where no one is. Enter a competitive market and not a competition-free market. But, take a unique angle and differentiate at some level.

So, make sure that your niche is not too narrow so that there is little scope, nor too wide that it gets diluted.

Further, validate your niche with your ‘Ikigai’. Find your sweet spot where your Talent, Market and Passion meet.

While my friends understand the need for talent and market in choosing a niche, they dont get why passion is required to earn money in a seemingly profitable niche. This is when I explain to them- if you only have the talent and there is a hungry market, but you have no passion- you will get tired.

As already suggested, It makes sense to start as a personal brand and build influence. You can then build sub-brands that have your name attached to them. While your personal brand cannot be sold, you can exit from the sub-brands that you build and earn above-normal profits.

While I have already discussed the merits of starting out as a personal brand, here is the evolutionary trajectory of a personal brand that you should follow, as recommended by DigitalDeepak.

Remember that each stage brings more and more clarity, helping you become a leader in your niche. Don’t skip the steps.

For example, dont start off with consulting without doing the work as a freelancer or employee. Or dont start mentoring without blogging and working.

Also, note that it’s not linear but is a continuous loop. You need to continuously do all these steps to grow as a brand.

Bell The CATT

While the CATT funnel looks linear, its execution is based on the integrated marketing framework, where each element complements and supports another.

Content — 80% of your content should be focussed on offering value to your customers. Develop a Go-giver attitude.

“Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.”― Bob Burg, The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea.

Create useful content that attracts people and is useful to them. Using lead magnets, Blogs, Videos, live webinar.

Attention- Get the attention of your TG using Social Media, Paid Ads, referrals and SEO.

Trust- Instead of focussing on selling, build a relationship with your customers using tripwires, Marketing Automation and retargeting. Deploy Deep marketing where you send highly personalised communication to the customers based on their Customer Avatar.

Transaction- Use natural sales methods where the TG is already looking for your product and already trusts you. You still need to encourage and enable them to make the transaction and hence need to have sales pages/ sales letters/ sales webinar.

The Making of a Good Marketer

Good marketing involves targeting better, i.e. sending the right message to the right person at the right time. So, Instead of creating a new conversation, join an ongoing conversation that your TG already has running in their minds. For this you need to get deep insights into who your TG is and what are they thinking and asking.

So is marketing manipulating your audience? Some people may mis-sell their product, but that will always boomerang. Keep your good Karma points up and ensure that your product delivers what it promises.

While marketing helps you get discovered and build a market perception, you cannot compromise on the product. Positive W-O-M ( Word-of-Mouth) helps you create new customers. Your customers become your brand ambassadors. But this is a double-edged sword. The inversion of the W-O-M game ca be disastrous as negative news works faster.

Keep your ear to the ground and listen to what your customers have to say about you to keep getting better in this infinite game of marketing.

Let’s Make Marketing Great Again

Is there something you think you want to tell your ‘fratprenuers’ about marketing that they may need to know? Comment here and let me know.

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