The Twenty-First Century Life Skill: Digital Marketing
By: Rishi Biswas
Tags: Digital Marketing, 21st Century Skills, Personal Branding, Digital Marketing Career, Online Marketing

How to translate your name to a brand?

January 23, 2020 3:40 pm

An email notification virtually made me whoop.

‘I want to hire you (as an intern)’

For a fraction of a second, I sat perplexed. I knew what I had to do. 😊 😊

Here I stand today, working on the first assignment, as a part of the Digital Marketing Internship Program (Batch II) under the mentorship of Deepak Kanakaraju, the digital marketing maestro of India.

Maybe a couple of years back, I wasn’t too demanding, and all these were to happen! 😃

Jokes apart, I would consider myself blessed to get an opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge from the person I was following (if not stalking) across social media channels over two and a half years.

A flashback to March 2018: An awesome bored afternoon 📱

It was on an otherwise ordinary afternoon in March 2018, that I happened to tap on a YouTube popup on my handset. A video recommendation stared at me, waiting to be opened. It was from ‘Digital Deepak’. I remembered scanning through Lesson 2, ‘The Various Modules in Digital Marketing’ the previous night.

‘Analytics’, I reflected. It was this mechanism that made me run through the corresponding chain of visuals. Back then, I barely knew that I would be interning under one of the ‘best known’, and unconditionally the best digital marketing masters in India someday. 😎 😎

Balancing the uncanny equation of oblivion and uncertainty, I have learnt to prioritize the present, the most precious phase of our existence. As an independent writer, the best manifestation of knowledge acquisition, I believe, lies in their real-life application. Having spent the last six years of my life churning out content for websites, statements of purpose for students, and of course, poetry, I have enjoyed walking in multiple shoes.

Back in my head, I knew I had to master the latest digital marketing skills. This would make me a part of a learning loop, where I can keep imbibing knowledge throughout my life!

I won’t lie, but it was back in 2018, that I craved for an opportunity to gain first-hand industry knowledge from Deepak. Meanwhile, I obtained the Digital Marketing Basics Course Certificate in July 2018.

My affair(s) with writing ✒️

(And side effects)

Forlorn beaches, chalky lobbies, or misty city squares. Only if words were compelling enough to psychologically seduce the cosmos!

A snapshot from my travel blog

I catch my inner self talking to me about random faces, about distant places, and about eerie associations. I pen down scattered patterns of remembrances. And some of these faces become characters in my stories. Creativity pushes me to explore the unknown. Hailing from a Journalism and Mass Communication background, and being the university topper back in 2016, I was very much into writing. However, I celebrate my freedom as a writer, than as a journalist (You know what I’m talking about). I was already cherishing my individuality as a freelancer, and emphatically turned down offers at reputed media houses in Kolkata, and away. Well, I might be choosy, however, I respect my creativity and freedom as a writer.

This image speaks it all!

Well, we all market ourselves to survive!

Cruel world, huh?

Meanwhile, each day seemed to be an expense to me, as I struggled to pick up digital marketing skills. I never got to study in a foreign university. However, writing statements of purpose for students and getting them through ignited the sensation of accomplishment in me. Each day, I was a different person with the respective set of goals, and enjoyed walking in a different professional hat! However, I felt the urge to explore deeper into digital marketing. For the last couple of years, I craved like hell to be a part of this progressive industry. Besides, the explorer in me pushes me to conquer my extremities. Last January, I launched my blog, Travel Freaks_Travel With Us, where I share my travel stories. Well, then, this may be the time, and I am cherishing the present. In fact, the timing couldn’t be better. To grow my audience on social media and monetize my blog, I do require advanced digital marketing skills. And I got a perfect start on February 25th. So, it’s time to recapitulate the prime takeaways from the first session of the much-awaited Digital Marketing Internship Program.

120 Odd Minutes on the Screen

Lesson 1: Tapping the market Needs: The by-product of solutions

Every need has a by-product

Well, are you aware of the invisible bridge between human cravings and their solutions?

The first lesson in marketing was all about understanding where the gold remains buried. Working hard doesn’t count. Working wisely does.

Let’s take an analogy. Be it mobile phones. 📱

Need: Wireless communication

Solution: Mobile phones

Need 2: To protect mobile phones from scratch

Solution 2: Glass covers

Need 3: To attach glass covers

Solution 3: UV liquid glue

Need 4: To clean glass covers

Solution 4: Glass cleaners for mobile

Need 5: To protect mobile phone from drops

Solution 5: Back covers

And it goes on.

Think of anything. Deepak used real estate as an analogy. Interior designing, vacuum cleaners, and other products find their way all the way down to your home, just because you ‘have’ a home.

Takeaway: Working hard doesn’t count. Working wisely does. You need to find where you should invest your energy!

Lesson 2: Choosing a niche Blending passion, skills and market opportunities

Being unique in your approach

A heart surgeon earns more than a general physician. (One of Deepak’s analogies I heard in the past)

Well, I would recall this time and again, whenever I think of choosing the niche. Although one can find three broad niches, ie. health, finance and relationship (fashion being the fourth one), everything else remains connected somewhere within these.

Deepak demonstrated how to choose a niche by using Google autosuggest and tools like ‘Answer the Public’ and ‘Keyword Tool.io’. Viewing product reviews would also help in assessing the needs of the industry.

It only calls for brainstorming, before you find where you should channelize your efforts. As human needs increase, so do opportunities. Finding your niche wouldn’t be tough, as long as you align your interests, skills and market opportunities.

Takeaway: Narrow down your preferences. Specialize. Go deep. Deeper. A little more.

Lesson 3: Emerging as the leader If you come second, you’re no one. The world remembers the first.

Lead your niche from the front

No, I don’t have any condolence to offer Edwin Aldrin. Not because he was the second person to walk on the moon. But because I don’t know his name.

Even Indira Gandhi is better known as the first woman Prime Minister of India, than the third Prime Minister of the country.

An infinite number of niches are available to pick from. You just need to be choosy ‘enough’.

Now, what quantifies ‘enough’? Well, this should be the extent that outperforms your competitors. Got it?

When you know your niche, you need to be one of its kind. In the process, you can emerge as the market leader in that specific category. It all depends on your mindset, and how deeper you have the potential to explore. In the process, one can emerge as the category leader.

Takeaway: Whatever niche you choose, you need to be No1. In case someone else is already sitting at the top, subdivide the market and find something fresh.

Lesson 4: Revisiting global economics 📊 Recession will kill your competitors if you establish your individuality

Well, it was after a decade or so, that I got an opportunity to study Economics!

At 27, I feel like being an average-aged Indian. As Deepak pointed out, the Indian economy is likely to strengthen, as the average age shoots up. This explains the potential that the economy has in store for people who know how to mine the gold!

Ride the growth!

Here are some key takeaways from this lesson.

1. As the average age of a country goes up, the economy strengthens (All the way to 50 years of age).

2. After 50, the economy is likely to follow a downward curve.

3. India’s average age is 27, therefore, opportunities are immense.

4. Debts create money.

5. When people start repaying their debt, it leads to deflation, which in turn, may lead to recession.

6. However, as long as you deliver value, you will find customers, as people would pay for quality (value).

7. Recession would destroy your competitors, if you can survive it. This will further help you emerge as the market leader.

We are at the beginning of an economic boom. You just need to focus on your opportunities and convert them into possibilities.

Deepak also recommended the movie called ‘Big Shot’, as well as a few books on Economics, titled ‘Currency Wars’ and ‘Economics 101’. Presently, I’m keenly waiting for Edge of Sanity (authored by Deepak) to knock my doors.

Takeaway: Don’t worry about job crisis due to recession, just focus on your unique strengths. Surviving the recession would make you one of the leaders.

The Bulb On Moment! It Happened Then… ⚡️ ⚡️

Lesson 5: Mastering communication skills Ideas won’t materialize, unless you get them across

In reality, marketers sell their words to survive. The digitized world has witnessed the transplantation of the same concept.

Think of content marketing. It involves the conceptualization of messages that you tend to convey to your target audience. Email marketing, too, involves understanding consumer psychology and getting your sales message across through winning content.

Even visual language has a role to play in communicating your ideas. Unless you come up with compelling templates, your messages won’t be visually appealing to make their mark.

Deepak rightly pointed out the importance of writing, and how the upcoming assignments are likely to be writing-oriented. As a writer, I would agree that our thought process slows down when we write. As a result, people tend to remember things more insightfully.

The power of communication

Deepak also offered a few boosters, that would strengthen communication skills, when practised with dedication.

· Reading different types of books, both simple and complex would work wonders. To be an established marketer, one needs to be a good communicator, as well as a good listener.

· Listening to podcasts half an hour a day would definitely help.

· One of the best ways to leverage your communication skills is to churn out creative things. 500 words a day would be enough to start with (This helped me when I got started with content writing)

· Watching English Sitcoms like Seinfeld, Office or Silicon Valley is highly recommended.

· To master colloquial languages and local slangs, watching standup comedy shows would do.

P.S. I still love reading comics!

Takeaway: Be a good communicator, as well as a good listener to be an established marketer. Language skills matter. Learning Chinese would help the new-age marketers, besides English.

Lesson 6: Future of Digital Marketing Digital marketing is more of a life skill than a communication skill

Marketing won’t die, as long as our civilizations exist. What makes digital marketing a life skill is the ability to channelize marketing knowledge in every possible industry.

Translate ‘Chances’ to ‘Changes’

Throughout human evolutionary history, the concept of marketing and sales has thrived in some form or the other. Right from the barter system to trade and commerce, marketing continues to spearhead every industry.

Deepak pointed out digital marketing to be just a better form of marketing. Once you learn how to make others pay for what you have on your offering, you can survive even if all industries dry out.

The world is fast digitizing, and the volume of information consumption is huge. Over 50% of internet users browse websites through mobile devices. As this trend continues, digital marketers simply need to target the right groups and win business.

Deepak also recommended the book ‘Scientific Advertising’ (1923) by Claude Hopkins in this context. Well, he used to do split testing almost 100 years back! And this is still a fresh concept in digital marketing. Marketing won’t die, well said, Deepak!

Takeaway: Marketing + Technology = Digital Marketing

Lesson 7: Integrated digital marketing Content will continue to rule the cyberspace

While demonstrating the trademark model of integrated digital marketing, Deepak resonated the concept, ‘Content is the King’.

Deepak’s Trademark

Strategies will change. Trends will come and die off. Content will continue to rule the cyberspace, positioning itself at the centre of the integrated digital marketing concept!

A well-conceptualized digital marketing strategy takes the customers through content, published in several formats. Think of social media content, email content, articles, blogs, reviews, guides and all forms of published content. From the marketer’s psychology, you can give your customers a more comprehensive experience, when you take them through the content tunnel. It establishes a lasting relation, which, in turn, can strengthen your brand image.

Leapfrogging from paid advertising to sales may be a one-trick pony. It won’t build a consistent customer base for you.

To understand how integrated digital marketing works, read the article Content Marketing 2.0.

Takeaway: Conquer more of the cyberspace, it is virtually endless!

Lesson 8: Personal branding The best known will always beat the best

Translating Names to Brands

Being the best in the area of your expertise is not the same as being the best known. To conquer the market, you need to be the best known in your respective domain. Being the best comes as a bonus, if you are one.

Deepak’s analogy in personal branding made the concept breezy enough to understand. To turn your name into a brand, you need to establish your individuality in the respective industry. Showing your personality or character in social media would be a good option to get started. This will strengthen your business, when you launch one.

The secret to stand out from the crowd lies in establishing yourself as a brand. Publish your content in various formats in the internet.

Be your own brand! 💪🏻

Takeaway: From a name to a brand: personal branding holds the key. Don’t try to squeeze yourself into the crowd, just try and establish your individuality.

Now what?