How To Win Buyers And Influence Sales with MARKETING AND BRANDING

Successful companies market brands, while others just sell products. Have you ever wondered why you prefer to buy a certain packet of chips or pair of shoes more than the other? Do the other chips on the counter fill your stomach any less or the shoes don’t cover your entire feet?

If you’re someone who’s fascinated by marketing and branding - budding entrepreneurs, freelancers, thought leaders, marketing students etc. then this article is for you.

Purchases has never just been about fulfilling needs, it’s been about connecting with the product you’re buying on a deeper level. That’s why people market their products and create brands. Brands are more than a name, more than a logo, it’s more than solving a problem or offering a solution... a brand is an emotion, a story that resonates with what we as consumers go through, an advertising that appeals to the heart.

Let’s start from the fundamentals :

Marketing is born before the product. Marketing helps a company validate if the product is good enough for the market in the first place. Too many people make the mistake of creating an average product and try to push it through world class marketing strategies. When in fact the product should be great enough to sell by itself.

Build something 100 people love, not something 1 million people kind of like." — Brian Chesky, Co-Founder & CEO, Airbnb

The death of marketing begins with the growth of branding. When your target audience is able to replace the solution to their problem with your product or service, you have nailed branding. This starts by building trust and connecting with your customers.

Here’s a checklist with some practical reminders :

1. Do a market survey of your idea and step into the shoes of your customer. Live the problem in order to solve it.
2. The goal isn’t to spend more money than your competitors to get the big numbers. The goal is to satisfy your customer’s and gain an emotional edge.
3. PR articles, social media followers, awards and recognitions are good. Positive reviews, word of mouth advertising, honest recommendations are better.
4. Keep working on your product. Keep improving your services. Marketing should never overtake the solution. It’s only a way to capture spotlight, your product is the show.
5. Identify niche markets to dominate in. Big markets don’t guarantee big bucks.

A Brand is a reputation. What your customers talk about your product, how they connect with you, how they feel when they use your product. A brand is what your target audience thinks of your product, not what you want them to think.

Next, let’s move on to communication...

“Make sure to communicate your idea quickly and keep it straight to the point.” – Paul Bailey, British Novelist

Communicating your message to the market should be like talking to your best friend. Remember to use the ELI5 method - “Explain me like I'm Five”

If you can communicate and connect, not just communicate it can make all the difference. The words you select can help you massively here. If you know your audience well, if you know what they think and how they frame their sentences or search for their solutions, make sure to include them in your messaging.

Use inclusive conversational language. We buy from the people behind the brands represented by logos. Your brand’s marketing communication needs to bring out the human behind the brand. People like people who are like them. They way you communicate should be able to create an environment of comfort and trust through your messaging. Become like the person you’re trying to reach out to. Reflect their energy.

Moving on to which type of marketing should you choose...

Digital Marketing is just another medium to reach your audience. It is not the ‘only’ medium. Traditional marketing still works. Most people feel that they have to choose between the two, when in reality they are both on the same team.

The choice depends on the target market. If your product is targeted to millennials and Gen Z whose primary language of communication is English, they the choice is pretty obvious. But if your product is targeted to Baby Boomers who are still reading the news and watching TV, then digital modes will not cut the cake.

In a lot of ways, marketing can be an integrated approach. The shift of consumer attention might have moved on to digital mediums but that does not replace experiences and human interactions. We should also consider that about 61% of Indian smartphone users have enabled ad blockers on their browsers.

Here are a few ways you can combine traditional and digital in your marketing mix :

1. Experiential marketing through Instagrammable retail stores - around 60% of consumers expect retailers to dedicate more floor space to experiences than products. This can be done through pop-up shops and community events.
2. Sponsored editorial content - Remember the sponsored ads done by your favourite YouTuber during the video. The same can be done by promoting content through traditional news channels. This helps to create authenticity.
3. Print to Digital - Encourage your clients to connect with you on digital media. Make sure to add website url and social media handles on printed collaterals and marketing material. TV commercials can have a clear call to action that leads the viewer to a landing page.
4. Geo-targeted Marketing - Location specific ads can help you get more footprints in physical stores. Online consumers can be incentivized to buy from offline using discount coupons. Offline consumers can be triggered to connect with us online using QR codes printed in stores they visit.

Case Study - The Pepsi Refresh Project (PRP) : A thirst for change

Pepsi shocked the world of advertising in 2010. For the first time in 23 years, they chose not to advertise in Superbowl. They took a digital route instead of traditional and invested $20 million to fund an cause-marketing program call ‘The Pepsi Refresh Project’

The objective of this campaign was to promote their brand using awareness and community driven action. People + Ideas + Pepsi = Refresh the World

It was a year long campaign where consumers would submit their innovative ideas through social media. The best idea would be voted by the public and win grants. Pepsi received a total of 120,000 ideas of which 1000 submissions got 80 million votes.

To everyone’s shock, Pepsi saw a declined in their sales by 6% after 1 year of the campaign. This was a 4.3% higher decline in overall sales of carbonated beverages.

Moreover, Pepsi also lost its market share position and fell to 3rd behind Coke and Diet Coke.

This is a clear example of how digital doesn’t always win against traditional. Pepsi was able to garner a lot of attention through this first mover social campaign advantage but their micro efforts were not linked to the macro goal. There was no valid link between the product and the campaign and Sales was not measured as a metric for success.

No doubt, the campaign helped communities ‘refresh the world’ through funded ideas, but it didn’t help the company itself.

“Get close to the customer. So close that you tell them what they need before they realise it themselves.” - Steve Jobs

Let’s help you get closer to your ideal clients using the CATT Marketing Funnel :

• Wealth = n ^ CATT
• n = Niche (success and wealth depends on it)
• C = Content (blog, posts, videos, lead magnets, live webinars)
• A = Attention (traffic using SEO, social media, paid ads, referrals)
• T = Trust (deep marketing, personalised communication)
• T = Transaction (convert leads into customers via natural sales methods i.e. they are already looking for the product not via cold calling)

Success of your business depends on your selected playground aka your niche. Try to be something to someone, not everything to everyone. After this start focusing on creating different types of content. Content is your digital asset. Post which we will need traffic or attention using various sources.

Attention should naturally lead us to build trust, this is where your audience connects on a deeper level with your brand. Finally if all these steps are followed practically, sales will happen naturally. The effectiveness of this funnel will determine your wealth.

Finally, Market Yourself :

Personal Branding is important because we transact with people not logos or brand names. It’s not enough to be the best at something, people should know that you’re the best too. You can become your own brand ambassador and grow your company brand.

Personal branding is about placing yourself as a market leader. People should divert to you for expertise. That’s why the evolution of personal branding starts from Learning, followed by real world Implementation which will help you gain authority in your subject, then go ahead and write about your practical experience.

Once these three steps are solidified, you can start your consulting journey and help other businesses using your knowledge. Next become a Mentor by teaching others that will scale your understanding to the next level. Finally at this stage you will have enough knowledge, skill and confidence to build your own business.

Hope this blog was helpful for you to take your Marketing and Branding knowledge to the next level.

Please comment your Top 3 takeaways from this article that you will implement from today.

Cheers!

Sonali