Commencing My Digital Marketing Skills Journey

Introduction

Many eons ago, I was forcefully shepherded into cyber-land which we now popularly know as ‘The Internet”. At the time this happened I had no interest (really) in the activities of cyber-land. The reason being that I was still enslaved in Caesar’s rat race which some people have termed the corporate life.

At that time my focus was just to do Caesar’s bidding as an IT manager in one of his banks. Even though I knew without a shadow of doubt that I was called to entrepreneurship, I did not have the courage to jump ship. I stuck in there. But the environment in Caesar’s rat race became so suffocating that I could not take it anymore. I jettisoned myself out. That was many eons ago as I indicated in my opening sentence. For you, the uninitiated, this was some few decades ago!

So I played around in cyber-land. I was not sure exactly what to hitch on. But with time I got to pick up training from various people and places on the internet. I got skilled in setting up websites, write articles and much more. Wonderful!

As this playbook got along, I remembered that I was an Entrepreneur and from what I had seen taking place on the internet, I needed to gather myself and my wits to get something going on the internet grail.

And so it came to pass, that instinctively I gravitated towards content writing. Once I heard about writing articles that could be deposited on directories such as EzineArticles. I went for it. I wrote some articles.

But I wasn’t really in it. So I reflected and began to hear noises about digital marketing. As I researched more about digital marketing, I began to notice a common trend.

My bump into CXL Institute

• Optimization and Growth by CXL
  Make growth inevitable through knowledge, research and experimentation. We’re giving marketing, product and experimentation teams an unfair advantage.

The noise was about writing not just convincingly but persuasively. This was in order to attract visitor readership and conversion. I had to learn this if I was going to make a mark on the internet.

With time I pummeled my way into much learning in courses and the relevant jargon. This was to give me the various skills I needed for the much desired entrepreneurial success on the internet.

I kept pushing and pushing myself to attain a level that I would be comfortable with. The reason obviously was that I had come to discover this concept, (is concept the right word I wonder? Oh whatever). The marketers were touting persuasion. Not just persuasion but the psychology of persuasion.

I realised that persuasion was now the big thing in digital marketing. I also read somewhere that most humans are like goats, they don’t take kindly to being openly headed to the sales slaughter link. You have to amaze them into believing one thing yet they know what you really want them to do for you is the same thing they are kicking against! Ha! They proudly declare, “Hey man! Change that. I don’t like being sold to.”

So the business person has to learn how to skillfully steer his prospect into a blindfold position for the credit card to come out and purchase. This is the skill I needed to desperately learn if I was to create a large following of human sheep online. I needed to learn how to psychologically ‘mesmerize’ these human sheep into a large loyal following.

So here I was one evening, searching for the right skilled mentor. Lo and behold, Google threw up this site at the top of the pile. The site appeared to carry just what I needed. It was offering courses in various areas of digital marketing.

As I explored the site further I noticed they had what they were calling Minidegrees. This piqued my curiosity. I dived in to look. And, can you guess? They had a course they were calling ‘Digital Psychology and Persuasion’. Something within me leapt up. I knew this was what I needed to focus on.

I continued to investigate. But alas! I came before a barrier. I could not afford the price they were asking at the time. But as I continued to read, I was relieved to see that they had scholarships on offer.

I decided to read on. I found the scholarship offer came with very stringent conditions. I gave it very deep thought. I was convinced it was something I could do. I took the plunge! The rest is history as they say.

This was about a fortnight ago. I was accepted into the Minidegree in Digital Psychology and Persuasion beginning August 17th 2020.

The site which Google threw at me in my search was CXL Institute. According to the website, from which I have gleaned this information, Peep Laja is the founder of CXL Institute. He states that he is a former champion of optimization and experimentation turned business builder. He also says he does a lot of thinking, reading and writing around business, strategy and optimization.

Obviously this sounds like a guy worth following hence my signing up. And since I got started this week, I have decided that I will be posting articles/reviews on what I am learning each week. This is in appreciation of the guys at CXL kindly extending the scholarship to me. I appreciate you guys.

Now, interestingly the first course I have had is about ‘People and Psychology’. Very interesting topic. With the initial course title it’s like getting into a theology class I once took! But hey it’s a small world.

First lesson I got into, Cialdini’s principles. In my internet travels elsewhere I had come across some writings on the seven principles of persuasion. So this was a pleasant surprise!

So in the eighties Robert Cialdin had written a book he called, ‘Influence’. In this book he outlined some principles which have become prominent references in the marketing world. It’s like if you don’t get a handle on these principles as you market you are unlikely to persuade.

Here are the 7 Cialdin principles I have learned about in this week.

I have summarized the 7 principles in my own understanding.

Reciprocity: A good act deserves a returned favor. This is who we humans are. It’s about scratch my back and I will scratch yours.

Commitment and Consistency: This is about self-image. People commit and stay consistent as a way of believing in perceived values.

Social Proof: Why be the only one going the other way when you can also be validated? There’s safety in numbers.

Authority: By nature us humans tend to obey authority. This is a key principle worth using even in business.

Liking: If you like me, I am likely to easily persuade you into going along with my opinion or product. It’s a well-known principle.

Scarcity: This creates some kind of urgency especially if used in line with social proof. Do you want to be the only odd one out without that particular product? Get it now before it runs out!

Unity: Create a sense of flocking together. You must belong. You are one of us. We care about your feelings and your requirements. You can’t afford to be an outsider.

Conclusion

So, from what I have learned if I can use these principles effectively in my content writing and digital marketing, my conversions will rise and in no time I will also claim championship of optimization like Peep Laja!

On the whole the course is an eye opener and has taken me into a new dimension of business thinking. If I stay the course, I see myself becoming a very powerful and effective Freelance Content and Copywriter.

If you want to sharpen your digital marketing, I encourage you to visit CXL Institute and explore the offerings.