What will you do when someone throws a challenge at you to do what you kept deferring for ages?
Many of us will simply reject it as usual and ignore it. Only, few will trust their instinct and take the plunge. One such moment did occur to me recently, when Mr. Deepak Kanakaraju, one of the finest Digital Marketing Consultant in India, asked us to join his digital marketing internship program in his webinar. It was unusual for us, not because he sounded impractical with his concept of Learn, Do & Teach, but because he asked us to do something uncomfortable. Taking actionable decisions. Mine was to Blog!
Once I enrolled in the course and attended the first class, I started doing intensive research in marketing and digital space especially in building a Brand and Consumer behavior towards them. This revealed to me many hidden concepts that drive our beliefs and decisions day in and day out. So here I am, in my first ever Blog Article, is all set to open Pandora’s box to help you discover some of the Marketing & Branding lessons I learned: –
Lesson No-1: Stronger brand survives recessions. Build your own!
The world Post Covid-19 era has been predominately talking on recession which has already hit some countries while others are struggling hard to keep afloat. However, what is important to note that in a situation like this, the Brand with strong immunity survives while the weaker ones perish. Imagine Recession as a strain of Covid-19 virus which once infects your system (read: country) will try to multiply rapidly with adverse symptoms like — Higher interest rates reducing borrowing and investment; Falling wages; Falling consumer confidence, Credit crunch, etc. As the spending power of consumers decreases, they start evaluating abnormally before spending on any product or brand. During such times the scope to experiment and try new brands drastically reduces for the consumer. The customer wants to play safe and hence opt for well know, tried, and tested brands. Some of the blockbuster products and brands owned by Reckitt Benckiser such as Dettol, Harpic, Lysol, etc are major success stories. Not that they weren’t successful previously, but in these times, they are a necessity! People fear to experiment with new Brands and opt for them only when the popular ones are not available on the shelf. “The best known will always beat the best”
So, to cut a long story short, focus on building your brand. A brand strong enough to survive recessions and challenging times which is ultimately inevitable. Strive to market yourself to be in Top of Consumer’s Mind. The next time they want to choose a product or service to solve their problem, it should be yours.
Lesson No-2: Build Mass Trust
Ever heard of this previously? NO? Let me explain:
Communication has been the most critical thing which set human apart from other beings. Imagine yourself speaking in the language of codes (like computers) and trying to decipher the meaning of doing simple things. Half-baked information is equally useless since it kills the loop of feedback. So, to market your brand, you need to communicate effectively with consumers and listen carefully to them. Take their feedback seriously and make efforts to include it in your solution. The key benefits of your product should be portrayed in the most simplified way possible. Consequently, people will start identifying your brand. Once they self-associate their problem to your solutions, Voila. You have cracked the code.
Next, they enter the most critical stage of consumer behavior i.e. Trust. To enumerate this, let’s ask ourselves, do we take Pills because we trust the doctor or we trust the medicine brand? Well the majority of us just trust the doctor and the prescriptions. Irrespective of the medicine brand, we take its basis the faith of the doctor. This relationship of trust is built over a period of time either from the reference to existing patients or self-trial. However, once we trust a brand, we keep investing in it. That is why the company spend so much on marketing their product. To be visible and gain your Trust.
When it comes to Sales, the single most important factor is to gain the trust of your consumers. They will transact with you if they trust you. Similarly, when it comes to marketing the no.1 factor is Mass Trust which in turn leads to Mass sales. How do we do that?? Well, Bell the CATT!!
Lesson No-3: CATT (Content, Attention, Trust & Transaction)
The CATT is a model for building the MASS Trust on your brand. You need to create good content first to get the attention of your customer, earn their Trust and slowly they start reciprocating you through transactions. This Funnel works without any shortcomings. So your Niche or innovation needs to be built around this central idea. Let’s explore in detail:
We often hear that “Content is the King”. This is a fact! If you don’t have a good product, it doesn’t sustain itself. If you don’t create good content, there is no audience. So, focus on creating relevant content. Study consumer insights. Make products that actually solve problems. Remember, a poorly written book seldom sells.
Once content is in place, target the right audience. Market your content through mediums where it can reach the maximum customer. Go where the customer is. Do enough to catch the customer’s attention. In digital marketing, strategies such as SEOs, Paid Ads, Viral marketing, etc help to achieve the objective.
You gain Mass trust when you deliver on your promises repeatedly to a large no. of consumers. You create mass influence, sere by the virtue of the value you deliver them. For e.g, Udemy courses are offered free of cost to attract and hook the audience to content. Next, the repetitive engagement ensures this relationship is nurtured over a period of time. Slowly build your Tribe. i.e. your followers.
As you go down the funnel, you have now reached a stage where you have the confidence of customers to do business. Your followers will invest in you. In turn, their community will follow next and you keep converting the prospects. So, the CATT principle ensures the automation of the entire funnel arrangement which keeps bringing consumers back to you.
Last but not the least, aim to market your brand as a company or as a personality in the right way. Keep evolving. As Geoffrey Zakarian said “Determine who you are and what your brand is, and what you’re not. The rest of it is just a lot of noise.”
Happy Learning Folks!
Technically Pravash
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