Before a salesman closes a deal, he must have made the product seem interesting to the customer, that this product can solve real problems, last for long enough not to spend on it every second of the day. The process of making the product to look this much valuable to the customer is called marketing. This takes two kinds of approach, either the old method or the new method; let’s discuss.
Old Method; The Big Man on Tv, Radio and Newspaper:
This has been for the Open Market, Print, Radio, and then Television. It used to be the hottest medium of marketing. Once you see the Coca Cola Logo on the Tv, you know it is about to go down.
Everybody wished they could be on television, or be announced on the radio and if by almighty grace, they should be on the newspaper because Mr. President may get to read about them; blown!
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Well you can see that today, there are lots of changes on how marketing is being done. It is no longer about the medium because anybody can design logo and advertise freely on search engines; Google, Yahoo, Bing and Social media platforms; Facebook, Instagram, and even Tiktok. It is now about the What and Who, not majorly about the How.
What are you marketing, does it have value? Can people sort for you without pressure, such as freedom from intrusive ads.
Who are you marketing to? Are these people your real target audience, who will be needing your products or you are just throwing the ads all over the internet for lucky hunting.
The old method may get you to many fronts, but will not gain you any or low attention. It may actually cost you the attention of your already existing customers by driving them away, showing you are too desperate or annoying. You don’t want that right.
This calls for the next and better phase of Marketing;
New Method; The Soft Marketer Buying your Time with Your Consent:
This marketer knows very well that, almost every marketing enthusiast, thinks that marketing is all about the old method and then the new method which is digital marketing. And that the new method is all about ads and seeking for attention forcefully. You know that in a day, once you open Youtube, Instagram or Facebook and even Google to browse, amidst a few lines of search you are greeted with one ad or another. This ad is simply seeking for your attention, which on a norm, you never want to see it.
The advertiser simply thought that he was really getting your attention by registering his brand in your memory. So that you will remember them when next you intend to buy a bottle of soda, you will choose a bottle of coca cola.
Sincerely, do you remember any of those ads when making the choice of what to buy?
The answer is likely, No.
Then why they keep pushing these things to your face!
Even the technologist also understood this issue, and they developed ad blockers. Lol !
DEEP MARKETING: Now let us discuss about you reading this article. You read this article to this very point, because you want to learn the next big thing in marketing right. I am not forcing you to read or wait for the next line. It is called Deep Marketing. No forcing, no pressure, no intrusion, it is simply your choice. That is what the next phase of marketing will be like.
To achieve great success in this method of marketing, there are parameters or tools to use such as;
C.A.T.T.: Content, Attention, Trust, Transaction.
Content: To buy the attention of people, you need to start working on developing your content marketing skills. Or employ good content creators. In recent years a content writer may think that their time is fast elapsing due to the switch to videos, images and all. No, there is no switch. Content is still the king, you just need to create what people want to read, but maybe they never thought it was possible to communicate via words. Create content that you will use to pass quality information with the genuine interest to help and not expect anything in return.
That way, you are ready for the second phase.
Attention: If it will add value, it will gain attention. You read contents on Tekedia.com, because it adds exceptional value to your daily business and some personal life decisions making processes. Well, that is what genuine and helpful content does in marketing, in other words called Deep Marketing.
Now you have your audience’s attention, keep getting creative, research according to their interest, but do not leave your original message outside the window, just so you can satisfy your audience, else you will end up not achieving anything tangible.
Market value, with genuine interest to help; it will draw attention, then keep evolving with trends, innovating with crest and keep to your promise to deliver.
Do not over promise, so that the next phase will be great.
Trust: a marketer who has your trust, can make you buy into almost everything he is selling. But developing this trust is usually difficult, that is why when you build it through Great Content, that brought you their Attention, that you have been able to retain through value aiding provisions, you would never want to lose it right.
Once this trust is achieved, you are ready for the final phase.
- Customer trust can thrust you and your business to the climax of every vertex of success, if well managed. By Chidiebere Moses Ogbodo.
Transaction: If you could have one thing at the end of every hustle, hard work and time spent building a brand, that is not just a fancy logo; it is to be able to make sales. Hard work pays, but it comes in either two ways;
- Relationships that translate into sales or
- Sales that develop into healthy relationships.
At this stage, please and please, do not over do! Not because you are an expert marketer, you create awesome content, gain and retain attention, thereby building trust, that you will now want to play around with the price for your transaction.
Do not waste your customer’s time with a price game. Or presenting what you cannot guarantee its quality. Sell what you know, and can vouch for. It saves energy to explain history.
Rather, if you want to make more money from your sales without losing your hard-earned customers’ trust, then it’s usually better to ask your trust-oriented client what they think is a good price for the product. They may end up giving you a higher price than you would have ever offered. And in the case they offer less, check if your product is actually of lesser quality and maybe you have it in large quantity. You can compensate for the loss in one with high gain in another (same model that Shoprite could have used in Nigeria), you will definitely build partners and not just customers.
Deep marketing is the next big thing. This model is like a refinement of the High Touch Business Model. People want some emotional connection now, to their seller, rather than just buying and leaving your store. If done right, audience/customers turn to partners and partners have many other friends, so they will help you survive, and thrive sustainably in any market.
I hope I have marketed my thoughts deeply? And you are ready for the next big thing.