How To Learn Marketing If You Didn’t Study it in The University
Why every curriculum should include it in future? Which books should we read today to improve marketing skills, and grow our business?
The education system of early 20xx taught me to do the job. Getting good grades and going to interviews was the goal of every student in my class. The 8 to 5 routine, the daily hustle and bustle, sleep, and alcohol on the weekends waited impatiently for us.
Working in MNCs over the years made me less willing to take risks. I needed validation for all decisions big and small, either through endless brooding in search of an unforeseen epiphany or through validation from someone- a friend, brother, or a neighbor.
Approvals, presentations, strategies, visions, diplomacy, favors — all these are part of MNC culture. Unless you’re a Harvard graduate who’s considered a God-sent soul, you can’t just skip these hurdles.
Over time, I realized that the education system isn’t teaching us some vital skills that could have helped in my profession or life.
Our lives could be different if we’d learned these traits during our graduation years.
My tactics of starting my blog, writing book reviews, launching my novel, giving presentations at the office, negotiating salaries, lobbying the neighborhood association, and looking for a house could’ve been different.
Marketing and study of human behavior was not a subject in my graduation.
In the outside world, we sell either our skills, a product, a strategy, a course, our time or our house. There are no limits. We may have to sell some damn thing.
But, we don’t know how to sell? No one taught us during our graduation days.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a mathematician, an engineer, an accountant, or an arts-student, institutes shouldn’t limit marketing only to management professionals.
Otherwise, situation will force everyone to learn it. For each one of us is an entrepreneur. We learn it either before, or after falling down on face.
Why You Need Marketing Skills More than Ever
In this contactless life of technology, we can reach almost anyone in seconds.
- People have access to enough grocery stores.
- Multinational companies always have enough people to take on important projects.
- Companies with a B2C model have so many content creators available at the click of a button.
- People have innumerable web series to watch that they never stop.
- No one can read all the written books. Readers don’t even get to know 90% of the books published each year.
- To turn an invention into reality, scientists need money from entrepreneurs. They’ve to choose a project from hundreds of inventions.
- An entrepreneur’s day is filled with presentations. Every hour he’s selling either a strategy or a project idea.
There was a time when people worked in their own little room and others bothered to come to them and see their work. Times have changed. Creators need to go to customers. Everything is available in multitude. To make a difference, we need to market ourselves, our products, and our ideas.
What Happens if You Only have a Domain Knowledge?
Nowadays, it’s not enough to have an edge, there are an unlimited number of people who’ve the same expertise?
But, is your expertise known to everyone?
They need to see that you stand out from all the sellers who’ve a different or same level of knowledge.
Imagine someone marketing their skills without being an expert
Or
An expert waiting for clients at her home.
None would work.
A congruent mix of optimal expertise and moderate marketing skills is the need of the hour.
My friend once couldn’t answer a question in front of the entire class. He knew the answer better than anyone else. He was 16 years old.
The professor couldn’t see his hesitation. After all, the professor was not a magician. My friend even struggles today to express himself.
It is easy to overcome such weakness in colleges, but difficult to overcome in the outside world.
People like my friend take time to showcase their skills. Sometimes no one has that much patience.
Apart from technical knowledge, institutes should teach marketing and behavioral skills as well. Every student needs it. We don’t want to discover it out there in the world and then learn it.
How can You Improve Your Marketing Skills if You haven’t Studied Marketing and Human Behavior?
Let us divide professions into below broad categories and find out the books that can help you to start in this direction:
1) Professionals Who Only Deal with Internal Customers.
People in this role market their ideas, projects and strategies to internal stakeholders.
Here is an awesome book which can improve your stakeholder relationship-
Here are few excerpts from the book that I follow on a day-to-day basis
- Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.
- Arouse in the other person an eager want
- Talk in terms of other person’s interest
- Dramatize your ideas
2) Professionals who Deal with External Customers.
This can be a difficult role. In my experience, we need to manage our anger, frustration, and sarcasm when dealing with external stakeholders. We need to build our brand on a foundation of trust, equality, and empathy.
Even when we work for a company, we need to respect the connection between people to people, rather than only sticking to the customer-supplier rationship. And, getting a domain knowledge becomes key before we even talk about marketing.
Read the one above by Dale Carnegie, and you should also read the one below, I took from Alexandra Rynne’s list of marketing books.
3) Artists
Digital marketing plays an important role in connecting with potential buyers. Internet has opened non-existent doors for all artists to show case their work to potential customers. However, digital marketing is changing every day, and there is a lot of material available already, however you can checkout how to use lean practices for digital marketing and also check out these books-
Here are two books you should read, and one of them I chose to read from Ankur Warikoo’s 2021 list and found it useful.
4) Entrepreneurs Who Deal with Consumers(B2C)
Although books can help, but you need a mentor as well. You can discuss ideas and take suggestions. However, the mentor should also have expertise and experience in selling products. Never hesitate to pay a consultant if she can add value to your business.
You can also choose a mix of both, such as reading a book and getting advice to learn the process.
This Seth Godin’s book will be helpful
5) Entrepreneurs with a B2B (Business to Business) Model
An influential network is key to improving your marketing techniques. You need to have the right contacts in the right place. Relationship Management plays a major role.
A suitable book would basically depend in which type of industry your business deals in. For general practices, above books also hold good to start with.
Here are some very informative articles on Medium about Digital Marketing:
We can’t sit back, relax and say we don’t know how to market. The fact is that marketing techniques have evolved over the last 10 years. All institutes worldwide will take time to realize and incorporate it into each of their curriculum.
You and me need to learn by ourselves, and also make our younger peers aware of its necessity.
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