Marketing is not just a professional niche, it’s a skill – a skill applicable and beneficial to all. The mainstream idea of marketing seems to be limited to the selling of products, yet the scope of the skill is not. For e.g., When going for an interview, you are marketing your skill. When trying to convince parents for a trip, you are marketing your desires. Interacting with businesses, interacting with consumers, building a brand identity of your persona requires the skill of marketing: an ability to sell your ideas and your visions to those around you.
Marketing is crucial, particularly in a capitalist and commercial setting but another fundamentally irreplaceable part of our lives is technology. From the last decade, technological developments have been exponential and the growth of an online world is phenomenal – it is vast, diverse, and easy to navigate. Imagine if the above two important aspects of our everyday lives were to collide, to bring about a new range of skillset that could drive people towards a fulfilling path confidently!
In reality, they do and we call this collision ‘digital marketing’.
In the simplest terms, digital marketing is just making use of the internet, with social media and search engines being the most substantial, along with electronic devices used to access the internet to reach out to consumers. A consumer is anyone who consumes, where consumption can refer to a range of physical products, ideas, methodologies, or content. While marketing is all about meeting the right person at the right time, the right place to be is on the internet. Thus, digital marketing is vital for business and brand awareness, as well as self-promotion and personal branding strategies, on an individual as well as collective level.
While the need and desire to express ourselves and to communicate with others has been profound since time immemorial, never has mankind seen such capacity of one-person publishing to the whole world at the click of a button. That is exactly what we do on the internet. With such power, each individual can change the mindset of millions with their words.
The very core of digital marketing is influence. The term ‘influencers’ is thrown around frequently for a few popular people, yet we all on the internet influence someone: either positively or negatively. Generally, humans are emotional beings. We fail to curate our words in a way that serves us and others as a consequence of our nature. The art of digital marketing provides each individual with the know-how of gaining control and crafting, not just their words but all content and strategies, to serve a chosen purpose. They learn the power to influence consciously.
None of us could disagree: Irrespective of whether it is a company or an individual, success is often driven by a brand image.
Evidently, an image is reflected in the person/company’s content – their communication and their influence. Once digital marketing takes a grip, content takes a turn and develops a conscious brand image that drives sales. These sales, and not just material objects, are a direct by-product of developing trust. If a gist was to be given on the base knowledge of digital marketing, it would be this: Trust is built among those who connect.
Hence, we refuse to limit it to professional skill; it is a lesson that shapes personalities, carves lives as desired, and allows people to take the wheel and turn to the road of success.
Did we shatter your perception of digital marketing? Good! You’ve already mastered step one into the course.