Do you think about me?

A lesson on branding and positioning yourself in the market

In today’s blog post, I want to talk about branding. You opened this blog post because I asked if you think about me. But I didn’t ask on a personal level. I asked it from the angle of branding and business.

Let me explain:

What comes to mind when you think about the following things?

• Online eCommerce

• Luxury Electric Cars

• Men’s Shaving Razor

You probably would have thought about Amazon, Tesla, and Gillette, almost instantly.

This happens because they are the market leaders in each of these segments.

Our mind doesn’t have too much space. We usually can remember only one or two brands in each category.

If you think about the No.2 online eCommerce store in India, Flipkart will come to mind. However, No.3 is forgotten sooner or later. (Remember SnapDeal? They are failing already because they are No.3).

In every market, with maturity, there will only be two major players who will dominate. And the 3rd player and beyond will be completely forgotten.

For example, think about a mature industry like airplane manufacturing. We have Boeing and Airbus, nothing else. When Warren Buffet started investing in airline companies, there were 400 companies. With time, brand consolidation happens.

What are the 2 major brands of carbonated drinks or soft drinks? Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Two-player market. There was a third player called RC Cola in the USA founded in 1905. It disappeared from the market. No one remembered it.

People usually want the No.1, then they will also consider a No.2 but never the No.3.

When you look at the smartphone OS market – you have just two. Android and iOS.

This happens because people’s mind space is valuable and they don’t want to have a list of multiple options for each product category.

Let me expand on the question I asked in this blog post title.

Do you think about me?

The actual question is – who do you think about when someone mentions Digital Marketing Training in India? Do you think about me then?

That is the goal of marketing – to build a brand where you can become the leader in a category. To capture the mind space of customers in such a way that you are the obvious solution in a specific product category.

You see, people do not have the time to remember a lot. They clearly remember No.1 and maybe No.2. To demonstrate this, I ask this question when I am talking on the stage to the audience.

• Who is the first prime minister of India? 99% of the people give an instant answer.

• Who is the second prime minister of India? Only 50% of the people have an answer.

• Who is the 3rd prime minister of India? Only 10% can tell.

However, if I ask who is the 1st woman prime minister of India, again 90% of the audience can give an instant answer. So you see, though the 1st woman prime minister of India is the 3rd prime minister of India, she is remembered more than the 2nd prime minister because she is No.1 in the category of “women prime ministers”.

This is an important lesson in niche selection.

If you cannot be a leader in a niche, select a category in which you can be a leader.

When I started my career, I saw that there were a lot of digital marketing experts in the world. There is no way I can compete with them in terms of reach and content.

So I carved out a niche for myself. I said I will focus on Digital Marketing Training – only in India. I keep that focus and today people think about me when they think about Digital Marketing Training.

Many education companies in India teach Digital Marketing as one of their courses. They have a lot of other courses apart from digital marketing. No one thinks about them because they are not the leader in one category. They are trying to be everything to everyone.

Remember the old saying? Be a master of one trade than a jack of all trades.

If you want to sell training in India in the digital marketing niche, it would not be wise to compete with me and also become another digital marketing trainer in India. (Though you are welcome to if you think you can beat me).

But a better idea would be to select a sub-category (like SEO or Social Media) and then become a leader in that category. So whenever someone thinks about an SEO expert, you come to mind.

Focus requires discipline. It is usually easy to get excited about new business ideas, projects, and product categories. However, results do not come from diversification.

Results come from focus. Zen-like focus. On one thing.

And you need to keep that focus until people think about you as the leader of a specific category. Now that I have captured a significant market share in the digital marketing category, I am moving to the business coaching space and teaching people how to build startups. I am doing this cautiously and patiently. Startups and digital marketing and so closely interrelated. And I am doing this after 8 years of focusing on digital marketing. Maybe I will be known as the “MicroStartup Guy” instead of the “Digital Marketing Guy”.

I have been blogging on DigitalDeepak.com since 2013. Till 2016 nothing much happened. But slowly people started to know me. Today, I get most of my customers through referrals and word-of-mouth. And that’s because I was focused and consistent.

That’s the power of category leadership. People come to you and you don’t need to reach out to them. However, category leadership takes time and effort. And it’s an effort that is worth investing in.

I hope this blog post gave you new ideas and inspiration. Will you focus on one thing and become the leader in it?

And back to the first question, do you think about me when you think about “Digital Marketing Training in India”?

Comment on this blog post and let me know what you think.