Simply Marketing: Beginners Guide to Marketing

You must have watched many videos about marketing and must have come across people who give you advice about how marketing works. But mostly it all gets confusing and complicated in your head, doesn't it? If so, you have ended up at the right place at the right time. I will try to dish you the basics of marketing in as simple a way as possible.

Here, we are going to talk about the origin of marketing to modern-day marketing. What are the fundamentals of marketing? Traditional vs Digital Marketing, What is CATT funnel? What is integrated digital marketing? How to build a personal brand and mass trust? Importance of good communication skills in marketing. What is Direct Response Marketing?

People think marketing needs creativity but that is not the case, as marketing is based on science. Marketing has evolved into a fast-paced, precise science in the Internet era.

Where do you think marketing starts, after the product/service is made?

No, actually marketing starts even before the product/service is ready. It starts with finding out the target audience for the product/service. What are the problems they are facing, that the product/service can solve? And once you have a good product/ service, marketing is all about sending the right message, to the right person, at the right time. This will make the product/ service sell naturally.

Alright, now let's understand the evolution of marketing by various milestones in different centuries. Marketing is known to have existed since the origin of trading between people. We have evidence of marketing from the stone age, back then they used clay table tops to write and advertise products. We have come a long way from clay table tops to modern-day digital gadgets.

The timeline of Historic Marketing Milestones(Source of facts: Marketing Museum):

• Pre-Historic predecessors (Up to 40,000 years ago)

Historians have found the evidence of marketing of jewellery and figurines in several Ice-Age caves.

• First record of Marketing Practice (from 3000 BC)

The first evidence was found in the earliest form of written language in Mesopotamia. Advertising practices were done on clay tables.

• Signature on Pottery (Approx. 600–700 BC)

Signatures on greek pottery can be linked to early branding activities.

• Coins as the first Mass Media (Approx. 600 BC)

Coins other than means of payment and goods exchange also served as information across borders.

• Records of marketing in the Roman Empire (79 AD)

Advertising on the walls has been found by archaeologists in the cities of The Roman Empire.

• Early Beginnings of Merchandising (50–100 AD)

Depictions of Gladiators on cups in the age of the Julio-Claudian period were suggesting that such cups must have been used as souvenirs.

• First Printed Advertising (960–1279)

Chinese family businesses selling needles were the first to use bronze printing plates to print posters during the time of the Song Dynasty.

• First Trade Show (11th Century AD)

The first Trade Shows took place in the major cities of Europe like Champagne France, Frankfurt Germany, and Stourfridge UK.

• Early Industrial Merchandizing (14th Century AD)

German painter Lucas Cranach was a Renaissance painter who used woodcut printmakers and engravers to produce the merchandise on a large industrial scale.

• The invention of the Gutenberg Press (1450)

The beginning of the industrialized mass production of printed ads.

• Early Trademark and Branding Activities (1498)

German painter Albrecht Duerer was a famous painter across Europe and used Trademark and Branding legal actions against illegally produced copies of intellectual properties.

• First Printed Newspaper (17th Century)

Among the first printed newspaper ads appear in several Dutch newspapers.

• First Advertising Agency (1786)

William Taylor found the first advertising agency for printing firms and newspapers.

• Sandwich Men (1839)

In London, men were hired to wear cardboard advertising banners in front and back and so they were known as Sandwich Men.

• First Billboard/ OOH Advertising (1830s)

The first billboard ads dated back to the 1830s. The Ringling Brothers are a famous example for starting to use large billboards to promote their Circus business.

• Advertising Pillars (1854)

Advertising pillars were first used in Berlin, Germany in 1854.

• First Academic Marketing Course (1902)

Edward David Jones introduced the first marketing course at the University of Michigan.

• First Cinema Advertising (1910s)
• The Bauhas School of Design (1919)

The Bauhas was founded in 1919 by German architect Walter Gropius in Weimer, Germany

• First Radio Ad (1922)

On 28th Aug 1922, the first paid radio ad was aired by WEAF radio station in New York.

• First Marketing Journal (1936)

The first regularly published academic journal was published by American Marketing Association in 1936.

• Unique Selling Proposition USP (1940)

Rosser Reeves defined the term “Unique Selling Proposition” better known as USP.

• First TV Advertising (1941)

The first TV ad was done by Bulova/Citizen watch company in the USA.

• The Four P’s of Marketing (1960)

E. Jerome McCarthy published his book “Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach” which includes the 4 Ps of Marketing.

• Marketing Management by Philip Kotler (1967)

The most successful book on marketing Management by Philip Kotler was published in 1967.

• Sports Advertising (1973)

Display of ads on player’s jersey.

• Email Marketing (1978)

The first email marketing campaign was done by Digital Equipment Corp. to 400 recipients. The mailing led to a return on investment of 13 million US dollars.

• Metaverse (1985)

The video game Habitat published by Lucasfilm was the first large-scale attempt of creating a virtual community.

• Search Engine Marketing (1990s)

In 1996 the search engine “Open Text” introduced the possibility for firms to be presented in search results in the preferred listing section.

• Marketing Automation (1992)

In 1992 the company Unica which today is a part of the IBM campaign launched the first Marketing automation software.

• Online Banner Advertising (1994)

The American telecom company AT&T implemented the first online banner advertisement.

• Social Media Platform (1995)

In 1995 the platform ClassMates started as a forerunner of today’s social media platforms.

• Search Engine Marketing SEM / PPC (1996)

The search engine OpenText introduced sponsored search results on a pay-per-click (PPC) basis in 1996.

Some of your friends must have had an argument that why we have to learn history when it is useless. But the fact is that we should learn and take lessons from history as history repeats itself in one way or the other.

Fundamentals of Marketing

Marketing must have advanced as per the requirement of the time, but the fundamentals remain the same irrespective of the time. So learning the fundamentals of marketing is a must.

Fundamentals of marketing are like a guide that will help understand the subject of marketing with a broader perspective. As these fundamentals are time tested throughout different ages.

Like all things need a good foundation to achieve their purpose, a marketing campaign needs good fundamentals in place to be successful.

Four P’s of Marketing:

The four P’s of marketing were first introduced in 1960 by E. Jerome McCarthy.

The four P’s are the most important fundamentals of marketing.

That is the reason it has cemented its position in one of the most important milestones in the history of marketing.

Product

Price

Place

Promotion

Product:

Product is what the company sells, whether it be a tangible product or a service.

Marketing a product involves the variants of the product, its packaging and presentation.

Marketing starts before the product is developed as it identifies the pain points of the consumers and helps develop a product that sells naturally.

Price:

Pricing is not just about calculating manufacturing costs and adding the company's profit margin.

There is more to it.

The prices need to be set at a level where it is favorable for both the market and the company.

For that, the marketing team has to check the per unit cost of the product on the market.

The timing of the discount to boost the sales.

Should the company offer payment options to customers, for example, financing options for payment in installments?

Promotion:

Promotion is all about communicating the message to the customers. It’s about joining a conversation in the mind of the customer.

Having a customer persona helps a lot to design communication with potential buyers.

How to position the product in the market, so that it reaches the right audience.

Selecting the means of promotion where the target audience is present. Online? Offline?

In-Store? Or at events?

Place:

The place is all about selecting the right place to sell the product.

To select a place where the customers can find it easily.

Online? Offline? or a Good mix of both?

Digital Marketing vs Traditional Marketing:

The main difference between Digital and Traditional marketing is the medium used to broadcast the message to the audience. While traditional marketing uses traditional mediums such as TV, newspapers, and Radio, digital marketing uses digital mediums such as Social Media, websites, and Email.

While we are well and truly into the Digital age, we should not leave behind traditional marketing as it still has its effectiveness intact. Also traditional doesn’t mean its old fashioned. It is all about knowing where your audience is and having the right balance of both worlds.

Traditional means of marketing include:

• Outdoor (Billboards, bus/taxi wraps, posters etc)
• Broadcasting (TV, Radio, etc)
• Print (Magazines, newspapers, etc)
• Direct Mail (catalogs etc)
• Telemarketing (Phone, text message)
• Window display and signs

Pros:

• Impactful and easy to understand
• Printed marketing materials are more permanent
• More memorable.

Cons:

• More difficult to measure
• Often expensive
• No direct interaction with customers

Digital marketing channels include:

• Social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc)
• Website
• Content marketing
• Affiliate marketing
• Inbound Marketing
• Email marketing
• PPC (pay per click)
• SEM (Search engine marketing)

Pros:

• More options for engagement
• Easy to measure your campaigns
• Makes smart targeting possible

Cons:

• Digital ads can be deemed as annoying
• Less permanent
• Constantly evolving

Both forms of marketing ultimately have advantages and disadvantages, but the trick is to understand your unique marketing requirements, take your budget into account, and comprehend your target demographic.

CATT Marketing Funnel

Wealth = n^ CATT

[n] Niche: Niche is the area of your interest and passion that you choose to get involved in the business. Your success and wealth depend on the niche that you choose. You can choose your niche according to your talent, passion, and market demand. This will increase your chances of being successful.

[c] Content: Create informative and beautiful content that can attract people in your niche. The more you focus on making useful and attractive content the more people you will attract.

[a] Attention: Drive attention to your content using SEO, Social Media, Paid ads, and referral codes.

It is the single most important factor in making your campaign successful and attractive. So grab the attention of people to generate traffic towards your content.

[t] Trust: Winning the trust of your customers is important for long-term customer relationships. Trust is important in real life as well, as trust has become scarce in modern-day life.

There are multiple ways of winning trust in digital marketing. You can use trip wires, re-targeting, and marketing automation for better results.

[t] Transaction: Transaction is where the customer actually goes ahead and takes the action that you want them to take in order to make the campaign successful. That can be anything like signing up for the newsletter, downloading the e-book, fill a form, or buying a product/ service online.

This is a tried and tested funnel that can help you be successful in the niche that you select. Make sure you follow the order that they are mentioned.

Integrated Digital Marketing

Integrated digital marketing is a marketing mix that helps you get the best out of all the marketing channels available online. As the name suggests and you can see in the given image that it is a way of using digital marketing where in you use quality content to attract your tribe through various channels of digital media.

Some of the common digital marketing methods are:

• Search Engine Marketing (PPC)
• Search Engine Optimization (Organic Traffic)
• Email Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Digital Display Marketing
• Content Marketing

Mastering all the above modules of digital marketing is a next-to-impossible task. Each module is a large ocean in itself.

The numerous different digital marketing techniques are like the team’s members in integrated digital marketing, with content serving as the team’s leader. By utilizing each member’s strengths, integrated digital marketing will deliver results that are more than the sum of the individual accomplishments of each person, as opposed to asking each member to work toward the objective of growing the company’s customer base on their own.

Personal Branding: MassTrust Blueprint

The power of a personal brand is that the best known will always beat the best. When the audience receives a message from a person it is more effective as people like to hear from a person rather than a brand.

If you are a well-known brand then the most critical part of marketing is already done, which is winning the trust of the customer. This way a personal brand becomes an influencer and brand ambassador for the companies that you run.

Upside- A personal brand can give rise to many brands from her influence.

Downside- A personal brand cannot be invested in and cannot be sold.

Evolution of Personal Brand

Learn: Learn about the field you are interested in and develop the skills.

Work: Put your learnings and skills to work by doing a job, freelancing, or entrepreneurship

Blog: Go ahead and share your experiences and learnings while doing the work.

Consult: After gaining a certain amount of experience you will be able to give consulting to the needful in exchange for a fee.

Mentor: Doing all the above-mentioned labor will lead you to mastery in your niche, so now you can set up mentoring programs to help others to grow their business.

Start-Up: With all the resources and experience you will have the ability to build your own unique product/service, so start-up.

Follow these steps and build a successful personal brand that will propel your business or career and keep repeating the process for new businesses that you start.

Importance of Good Communication Skills in Marketing:

• Do you want to increase sales of your product/service?
• Do you want to brand and product loyalty?
• Do you want referrals?
• Do you want repeat purchases?

The answer to all these critical questions is good and continuous communication with prospects and existing customers.

Good marketing is all about good communication. And do not misunderstand good communication as good vocabulary and grammar. Grammar is important but what is most important is transferring my thoughts to you effectively.

Write like you talk, as if you are joining a conversation in people’s minds. This will be possible when you understand your audience really well.

To start with write a lot while you are practicing and make it a habit. The more you write the better you’ll be able to write. What writing does to you is that it slows down your thought process and gives you clarity. This will also help you speak well.

What is Direct Response Marketing:

Definition:

Direct Response Marketing is a type of marketing designed to elicit an instant response by encouraging prospects to take a specific action.

Key Elements of Direct Response Marketing:

• Customer Centric

In order to get the customer to respond, the customer needs to know how will the response benefit them.

• Personalization and Targeting

Know your customer really well and what they will respond to and target those specific groups.

• A Clear Call-to-Action

For consumers to know exactly what action to take, direct response advertising with high conversion rates requires calls to action (CTAs) that are distinct, clear, and readily available.

• Urgency

Consumers are motivated to act swiftly when they feel the urgency, which boosts conversion rates.

Benefits of Direct Response Marketing:

• Easily track and measure the marketing campaign.
• Identify the prospects that are interested in the product/service.
• Most importantly establish Direct Lines of Communication with the consumers.

Learn more about how to generate website leads from this article.

So, now we know the evolution of marketing through the ages and various ways to build a successful marketing campaign.

I think that is enough for you to start your marketing journey, to know more about marketing from my point of view follow my blog page and if you have any questions and feedback please write them in the comment section.

If you found this article interesting and helpful, please go ahead and share it with your friends and family members who are interested in marketing as you are.