Blog for Every Business Owner: Digital Marketing for Businesses
Hello everyone, I’m Rajat Rastogi the Founder of Internet Gurukul the best Digital Marketing agency in Meerut. My new goal is to shift from the agency model and focus on content creation. I aim to generate a plethora of quality content, connecting with people both offline and online.
Empowering India’s Digital Marketers
My goal is to help create many people in India who will earn at least 1 lakh per month. You don’t need to purchase any of my courses unless you’re earning that amount. In the future, I might offer courses because I need to earn money too.
Scaling Your Skills
Today, I’m going to discuss the next-level skills you need when you want to scale your business. This Blog is about digital marketing for businesses. As a business owner, you must understand what companies need in terms of digital marketing.
Understanding Business Fundamentals
If you want to excel in digital marketing, you must understand business fundamentals. Many business owners might think they don’t know the business. But what I’m going to share with you are basic MBA concepts. These concepts will open your mind from a business perspective.
The Courage of Marketing
Many people think that if they solve a problem, their product will go viral. But let’s take Uber as an example. Uber is solving a problem and doing a good job. But it took them 12-13 years to report a profit. As a business owner, can you afford such a long loss? Probably not.
So, I believe that we should become good marketers. Only then can we sell our products effectively. You might be a good cook and make delicious food. But until it reaches the right audience, there’s no sense in making it.
The Evolution of Marketing
Marketing doesn’t happen on its own. Word of mouth exists, but it’s not as effective as we think. For instance, if you like my YouTube channel along with 10 others, will you recommend all of them to your friend? Will they watch all those channels? Probably not. So, word of mouth isn’t a guaranteed way to scale.
Let’s talk about how marketing has evolved. This is crucial because understanding this evolution will help you grasp what marketing is and what we can do in marketing.
The Production Concept
Let’s start with the production concept of Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motors. Cars used to be made by hand, which was time-consuming and expensive. Henry Ford introduced the assembly line, making the system so efficient that products started being made very quickly. This allowed him to achieve economies of scale.
The Product Concept
Next came the product concept. We started productizing our offerings and improving the quality of our products.
The Selling Concept
Then came the selling concept. I’ve seen this in my childhood. Many people used to sell by ringing a bell. However, this concept evolved because people understood that their reputation was getting tarnished due to aggressive selling tactics.
The Marketing Concept
We wanted our business to be sustainable and our customers to come back again and again. This led to the evolution of the marketing concept, which is what we’re studying today.
A person wants to offer a product that he wants at the right time and the right place. If he wants it online, he can get it online.
Today’s marketing is about a shop where there’s a line of different people, and the shopkeeper has different products for everyone.
The Relationship Concept
The relationship concept in marketing is a bit dicey. If your average ticket price is low and your efforts are increasing, then relationship marketing might not be the best approach. For example, if you’re selling flour for Rs. 10, what can you do for Rs. 10? You have to save at least Rs.1. If a meeting takes 2 hours, it will cost you some salary.
Network Marketing
Network marketing is another concept where you hire a friend who already has established relationships and can sell to their friends. However, this approach can be risky as it can potentially harm personal relationships if the product or service doesn’t meet expectations.
The Importance of Ethics
Ethics is subjective. What is right for one person might not be right for another. For example, if a farmer’s son earns 1 lakh per month, it’s a big achievement. But for someone who has grown up in a wealthy family, buying a big car or office might not be a big deal.
The Power of Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a powerful tool in today’s business world. For example, I interviewed a company that was playing with affiliate marketing. They had multi-tiered the course and offered a 50% affiliate commission.
The Limitations of Relationship Marketing
I believe that relationship marketing can’t scale. It’s not wrong; it’s just not feasible for large-scale operations. Schools and colleges do relationship marketing because they have a limited number of students.
Holistic Marketing: The Future of Marketing
Holistic marketing is the concept of today. What is being taught in books is outdated. It’s from the 1970s and 1980s. Today, companies are playing a big game with employee discounts. An employee will buy a product for themselves, adding relevancy to the product.
Employee Discounts
Employee discounts are a big game. For instance, if my product costs Rs. 100 and my margin is Rs. 20, I can offer a discount to my employees and still make a profit. This also adds relevancy to the product.
Network Marketing
Network marketing involves leveraging existing relationships to sell products. For example, if you’re an Apple employee and get a 10% discount, your friends might be inclined to buy Apple products through you because of the discount.
Digital Marketing
Utilizing digital channels and technologies for advertising, promotion, and customer engagement.
The Power of Social Responsibility
Social responsibility is another important aspect of marketing today. Many companies claim to be carbon neutral, but does it impact us? Probably not. However, many companies connect their products to a social cause, and this can influence consumers’ purchasing decisions.
The Importance of Understanding Your Audience
Understanding your audience is crucial in marketing. If we’re going to do social responsibility, we need to understand the cost of the audience.
The Rise of AI Marketing
The newest thing in marketing is AI marketing. It can go beyond digital marketing. Earlier, you needed to hire an agency or a team. Today, you can do it in-house. This is the reason I sold my agency. I understood that I could make more money by doing it myself.
 Read more:- The Future of AI in Digital Marketing: Opportunities and Challenges
Conclusion
Holistic marketing is a comprehensive marketing approach that considers all aspects of a business and its customers. AI marketing is a new marketing approach that uses artificial intelligence to automate tasks and personalize the customer experience. Both holistic marketing and AI marketing are important for businesses that want to succeed in today’s competitive marketplace.
