Marketing 101: Introduction to Marketing
Marketing in its highest form is used as a way to expand the positive impact of your
organization on the world.
Yogananda said, “If Wrigley’s can advertise to get people to chew their gum, why shouldn’t we
advertise to get them to chew good ideas?.”
In a letter to a devotee asking about marketing, Swami Kriyananda said, “With ingenuity, you’ll
find that there’s no limit to the ways in which one can advertise both creatively and dharmically.”
Suggested Reading: Success Through Yogic Principles, Secrets of Effective Advertising
What is the goal of marketing?
To achieve positive change using effective, science-based marketing plans.
What kind of marketing science is used?
Formative Research or informed research that is not biased by our beliefs about will or will not
work in a marketing plan. It is the discovery of a marketing framework that will appeal to your
target audience. It includes things like current events and public frames, surveys, interviews,
and focus groups; as well as an analysis of the marketing strategy of others in your field (based
on the variables of a marketing framework).
What is a marketing framework?
• The messaging of your marketing which includes the content you write and the words
you use, and slogans or “phrases” that capture the main message that you want to express that
is the most powerful and magnetic to your target audience.
• Any of your main imagery and media
• Logos or brand identification graphics
• Your social media strategy
• The keywords that you will use to help people find you on Google or Internet searches
(also called SEO which stands for search engine optimization)
What is a target audience?
The group of people or “personas” (personality types) that represent the groups of people to
whom you will market. Things that are important in defining your target audience include their
likes and dislikes, aspirations and goals, what they care about or are passionate about, their
questions and needs, and their demographics (age, location, language, gender, financial status,
education, etc.).
How do you use information about your target audience to market more successfully?
Think about your target audience(s) in terms of their life values or core values, and what about
them are similar to what your organization or business has to offer. Think about them and what
their behaviors are in relation to how they will receive your marketing efforts. For example, how
will they find you when they go online, what will they think when they see your ads, or what
topics would they care about when opening your newsletter. And think about who they are, what
their daily life is like, and how they can be best reached. Then support this by testing your
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Marketing 101: Introduction to Marketing
beliefs about their behaviors, and what marketing messages they do respond to using
formative research.
What are examples of core values that can be used in marketing frameworks?
Any word that in its essence describes something that people ascribe to giving them joy in life
(that which we are all searching for). For example:
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Youth (Children) or Family
Security
Love - Connectedness
Oneness
Inner Peace
Acceptance
Self-discovery
Independence
Vitality
All of this information can then be compiled together to determine your successful niche and
marketing plan or strategy.
Your niche is your place in the market of your business or organization that makes you unique,
resourceful, and successful! It is what you have to offer that is special, in a way that is special to
your target audience.
Your marketing plan or strategy most likely includes a list of your marketing goals, objectives
for the next year in order to meet those goals, as well as the actions or tasks you will take in
order to meet those objectives. It often includes a timeline or plan of action to help people to see
the scope of the project. The marketing plan is key in helping your organization stay on track,
visualize its goal, and focus on what can be done that will help you to reach more people and
achieve success!
It is now proven, that organizations and businesses who serve from their heart, in a true effort to
help others, by Sanatan Dharma, have the greatest chances of achieving success:
“Sanatan Dharma, rightly understood, is rooted in the foundations of the universe. As a
teaching, it excludes no practice that is designed to ennoble and uplift the mind, to awaken
selfless love in the heart, to inspire longing for the truth, to loosen the bonds of egotism and
selfishness, and to deepen our awareness of what is as opposed to what merely appears to
be.
“Put more simply still, the goal of Sanatan Dharma is twofold: the upliftment of human
consciousness, on the one hand, and the expansion of our self-identity through love, on the
other, that we embrace all life and all reality as our own. Any practice that inspires people in
this direction, even if it doesn’t define the goal so specifically, belongs rightfully within the
domain of Sanatan Dharma.”
--Swami Kriyananda from the book “The Hindu Way of Awakening”
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