MD.SAFIQUL ISLAM’s Post

The Secret to Marketing Is…There Are No Secrets I’ve been in marketing long enough to know that there are no “secrets.” None. Yet everywhere I look, I see headlines shouting about “Top Secrets for LinkedIn,” “Digital Marketing Secrets,” or the “Ultimate Secret to Success.” Let me be honest: marketing isn’t about some magic trick that only a few people know. It’s about showing up consistently—even when you don’t feel like it—and crafting a great story about the customer. That’s it. Sure, there are trends, tools, and techniques that can help amplify your efforts. But no amount of “secrets” will make up for the fundamentals: • Showing up, day after day. • Knowing your audience deeply. • Speaking to their needs, not your own. Even AI, which is being touted as the “next big secret,” isn’t a magic bullet. AI is an incredible tool—it’s a game-changer for creativity and efficiency—but it’s still just that: a tool. It amplifies the effort you put in and helps tell your story better. But without consistency, authenticity, and a focus on your customer, even AI falls flat. Some brands have mastered this beautifully without chasing “secrets” or trends: • Dove: For over 20 years, their “Real Beauty” campaign has remained consistent, focusing on authenticity and challenging traditional beauty standards. • Warby Parker: Their commitment to affordable, boutique-quality eyewear with a clean and transparent customer experience has defined their brand since day one. So, here’s a simple, helpful tip (not a secret): • If you’re out there every day in some shape or form, you’re checking the box on consistency. If not, you have work to do. • If your story is about your customer, you’re checking the box on the right story. If not, you have work to do. Ignore the secrets. People are smarter than that.

Marketing Eras -------------------------- Marketing eras refer to the different phases in the evolution of marketing practices and strategies. Here's a brief overview of these eras: 1. Production Era (pre-1920s): Focused on maximizing production efficiency and distribution. The belief was that consumers would buy products as long as they were available and affordable. 2. Sales Era (1920s-1950s): Emphasized aggressive sales techniques and promotion. The idea was that with increased competition, selling skills were necessary to convince customers to buy products. 3. Marketing Era (1950s-1990s): Focused on understanding and meeting customer needs and wants. This era introduced market research and customer-centric approaches, emphasizing the importance of creating value for consumers. 4. Relationship Era (1990s-2010s): Stressed building long-term relationships with customers. Businesses aimed to create loyalty through personalized interactions, customer service, and ongoing engagement. 5. Digital Era (2010s-present): Characterized by the rise of digital technologies and the internet. Marketing strategies now include digital advertising, social media, data analytics, and content marketing, focusing on targeted, data-driven approaches. These eras reflect the shift in marketing practices from production-oriented to customer-centric strategies, driven by changes in consumer behavior, technology, and market conditions.

The overwhelming majority of effective marketing is information received now but which may influence a decision later. Most marketing, despite how we try to do it in B2B, is not pushing for an immediate response, nor an increased readiness to buy, but an effort to register a memory to be recalled when a problem is felt. This is the inconvenient, non-linear nature of marketing. Brand marketing and advertising works by creating mental associations to problems and desired outcomes, which are primarily acted on by the buyer when they recall that association in a moment of relevance, or with the aid of a timely nudge through demand gen. Another way of looking at it is marketing gives the buyer information and associations that help them make future buying choices, rather than attempts to control and corral their behavior. What all of this means in practice is that a majority of the marketing that changes buying propensity doesn’t create conversions, and may not even create a click. It is about the communication of information and the development of mental structures, shaped around the ways that buying happens. All while being interesting and memorable. For all that we obsess about activity measurement, signal tracking, identity exposure, and intent interpretation, marketing has always been about understanding the audience and communicating in a way that places us as a viable option to their problems. This highly difficult foundation is what sets up the signals we all seek, and the high intent activities we all desire. Starting from the dashboard and working out will never be as effective as starting from the customer and working in.

Marketing is about customers, not channels. Channels are just a medium to reach your customers. They carry the message to your customers. But at the end of the day, you are marketing your products to customers, not to channels. Still, most brands plan their marketing strategy by channels. Not by customers. That creates some fundamental issues - --> Wrong budget allocation Spending too much on acquisition and too little on acquisition. Relying heavily on existing customers and not doing enough acquisition. --> Wrong messaging along the customer journey. Not able to promote products effectively as different products would serve best during different stages. Also, all customers are not created equal. Not taking care of their VIPs effectively. Treating them like everyone else. You can solve this by looking at 2 main customer buckets - New Customers Vs Existing Customers You can further break them up by  - New customers by organic (or cheap acquisition) - New customers by paid - Existing customers (recent) - Existing customers (VIPs) - Existing customers (lapsed) To align marketing with customer you need to - Monitor revenue per customer bucket - Marketing budget per customer - Product performance for each customer bucket - Communication strategy for each customer bucket With multiple agencies handling different pieces of the puzzle, the CMO's role is to connect everything. Most brands struggle to stitch consistent customer journeys along multiple channels. But to scale it's really important to have your marketing customer-centric, not channel-centric. I am Rahi Jain. I help brands to create a single view of their customers and align their marketing around customers instead of channels.

Stop thinking of marketing as just a function. Think of it as the pulse of growth. Here’s how strategic marketing fuels B2B tech companies: Too many companies focus on: - Generic strategies - Broad audiences - One-size-fits-all approaches And miss out on the power of specialized marketing. We believe in personalized, purposeful marketing. Here’s why it matters: 1. Drives Targeted Growth ↳ Focuses on niche markets. ↳ Tailors messages to specific audiences. ↳ Delivers higher engagement. 2. Enhances Brand Vision ↳ Aligns marketing with company goals. ↳ Strengthens brand identity. ↳ Builds long-term customer loyalty. 3. Boosts Execution Efficiency ↳ Streamlines marketing processes. ↳ Improves campaign effectiveness. ↳ Maximizes ROI. 4. Personalizes Customer Experience ↳ Understands customer needs deeply. ↳ Delivers tailored solutions. ↳ Increases customer satisfaction. 5. Accelerates Market Penetration ↳ Identifies and targets key opportunities. ↳ Speeds up market entry. ↳ Outpaces competitors. 6. Adapts to Market Changes ↳ Stays agile and responsive. ↳ Adjusts strategies quickly. ↳ Maintains relevance. 7. Strengthens Competitive Edge ↳ Differentiates from competitors. ↳ Highlights unique value propositions. ↳ Captures market share. 8. Leverages Data Insights ↳ Uses data to inform decisions. ↳ Tracks and measures performance. ↳ Continuously optimizes strategies. 9. Fuels Innovation ↳ Encourages creative solutions. ↳ Drives product and service improvements. ↳ Keeps the company ahead of trends. Strategic marketing is not just about selling. It’s about creating a vision and executing it with purpose. How will you use strategic marketing to fuel your growth? ♻ Repost to spread good business. hashtag#b2bmarketing hashtag#marketingstrategy

Looks like today is "Marketing ≠" post day. So, here is my take: Marketing ≠ Driving traffic Marketing ≠ Lead generation Marketing ≠ SEO optimization Marketing ≠ Sales support only Marketing ≠ Content creation only Marketing ≠ Simply trends following And, definitely, Marketing ≠ Write greeting cards for your clients. Marketing is Product Intelligence. It’s about crafting solutions that resonate deeply with consumers' needs and aspirations. Marketing is Pricing Strategy: It’s the art of pricing your offer competitively while ensuring perceived value and profitability. Marketing is Placing Opportunities. It ensures your products are where they need to be, making the buying process as effortless as possible for the customer. Marketing is Promotional Engagement. It involves engaging and captivating potential customers through targeted communication that informs, persuades, and retains them. Marketing is People-Focused. It centers on building a solid connection with customers, understanding their journey, and enhancing their interactions with your brand. Marketing is Process Optimization. It streamlines operations and touchpoints to deliver customer satisfaction efficiently and consistently. What does marketing mean to you? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments! #Marketing #NotMarketing

🌶 Hot take: Marketers can only set the table — not force-feed the customer. I'm reading through one of the marketing classics: Diffusion of Innovations by Everett M. Rogers. Honestly, I can only read about 20 pages a day; every page is packed with weighty marketing gold! 🤓 One thing has been recently knocking around in my brain: Rogers, of course, fleshes out the classic s-shaped adoption of a product/innovation over time where innovators are the first to adopt and laggards are the last to adopt (see the image below "Rate of Adoption"). But, hold on, this chart has a few surprises: 1️⃣: What's rarely talked about is that the time it takes a laggard to decide to purchase is almost double that of an innovator. 2️⃣: Presuming that the company uses mass media to spread their messaging, it takes significantly longer for it to even get on the radar of a laggard than it does an innovator! 🤔 All this should feel common sense to a marketer who's been in the game a while. But we rarely talk about it. It's always assumed (or it feels like it) that marketing will start pumping out the messaging and folks will just start a stampede to the "Contact Us" button while throwing money at salespeople. 💰 I, for one, would like this to happen just once. But it hasn't yet. Any marketer worth their salt will tell you it takes time 🕐 to capture a market. Marketing is a practiced study in human psychology. It's carefully understanding the different markets you play in, crafting messaging that resonates with the innovator and early adopter, and showing up where they hang out. Once you've captured them as customers, the messaging and channels pivot to cross the chasm to reach the majority and finally the laggards. But this is a process played out in time. Force it and try and be all things to all people, all at once, and your marketing program will be dead on arrival.

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This is how you can actually make your marketing work and get sales 👇 You have to follow the 3-step reverse marketing strategy. Here it is: 1️⃣ Start by setting a revenue goal for a specific period and figure out how many products or spots you need to sell to reach it. 2️⃣ Make your content centered around understanding your target audience's problems and desires. ↪Show how your product or service uniquely solves those problems and infuse any of their objections into the content as you’re selling the product. ↪This is so when people are binging your content, they can sit back and think that, "Oh, this solves my concern”. 🤔 3️⃣ Analyze data and analytics to see what's working. ↪For example, if your top-selling skincare product is salicylic acid, examine the content that led to those sales. ↪Then, refine future content using similar topics but with different approaches like analogies or examples. Using this strategy is guaranteed to bring in sales because it not only aligns your goals with audience needs but also optimizes your content based on data insights. 👉P.S: What's one challenge you face when it comes to implementing a marketing strategy? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!