123 eGuides

123 eGuides. 3 Proven Steps, Just 3 Bucks.

123 eGuides are authoritative guides published exclusively in electronic format to provide maximum value at minimum cost. Every 123 eGuide is just 3 bucks or less ($2.99 to be exact).

123 eGuides are designed for today’s reader who wants information in a quick, convenient, easily readable format. Each 123 eGuide is intended to provide a functional overview rather than a detailed roadmap. Every 123 eGuide always includes additional resources if the reader wants to learn more.

Check the "Available 123 eGuides" link above to see what's available. 123 eGuides are available wherever eBooks are sold, including the Amazon Kindle store and in any eBook format at Smashwords.com.

Free eGuide: On Your Own 123

123 eGuides wants to give back during this trying time. Until April 20, we are offering our popular eGuide, "On Your Own 123: Launch a 1-Person Business in 3 Proven Steps," absolutely free!

This eGuide includes valuable information about starting, growing, and managing a 1-person business, including: the ups and downs of working for yourself, legal considerations, branding your business, sources of capital, establishing a place of business, professional advice, basic systems, getting business for your business, the importance of satisfied customers, using sub-contractors, when to add employees managing receivables, tracking and analyzing expenses, managing cash flow, having sufficient insurance, paying taxes, meeting employee requirements, and managing your personal life.

To get your eGuide free, simply visit https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/177376. Use the code AG100 at checkout and you will be able to download the eGuide in the format of your choice, including EPUB, Mobi (Kindle) or PDF.

Be sure to take advantage of this free offer by April 20.

1 Minute Advice: Fastest Growing Brands Have Cross-generational Appeal

Last year's fastest growing brands, according to Morning Consult, cross generations in their appeal. In 2019, the firm ranked the fastest growing brands by measuring the share of consumers who say they would consider purchasing from a brand over the course of the year. The brands were ranked from 1 to 20 (fastest growing = #1) as follows:

1. DoorDash
2. White Claw Hard Seltzer
3. Postmates
4. Impossible Foods
5. Venmo
6. Kind
7. Ring
8. Cash App (tied for #7)
9. Purple Mattresses
10. Amazon Prime
11. Jersey Mike's Subs
12. Uber Eats
13. Grubhub
14. Chewy.com
15. Gillette
16. Nesquik
17. Trolli
18. One Hundred Grand Candy Bar
19. Hulu (tied for #18)
20. Harry's Shave Club

Interestingly, DoorDash was the #1 fastest growing brand across four generations: Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X and Boomers. Postmates was #2 with Gen Z and Gen X. White Claw Hard Seltzer ranked in the top 7 with all four generations. Impossible Foods ranked in the top 5 with Gen X and Boomers.

For more about this study, go to: https://morningconsult.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Morning-Consult_Fastest-Growing-Brands-2019-Report_FINAL.pdf

This post is brought to you by 123eGuides.com. 123 eGuides are a series of authoritative guides about branding, marketing and small business published exclusively in electronic format to provide maximum value at minimum cost.

Check out the new book featuring 156 best and worst brands of the 50s and 60s!

 

1 Minute Advice: Becoming an Environmentally Conscious Brand

Can brands stand apart by becoming environmentally conscious? The soap brand Dove wants to find out. According to AdWeek:

"The Unilever-owned beauty brand launched a vending machine-style installation in New York’s Grand Central Terminal to celebrate its move to 100% recycled plastic bottle packaging across Dove, Dove Men+Care and Baby Dove products, where technically feasible in North America and Europe. The activation on Jan. 31 invited people to donate a recyclable plastic item in exchange for a free bottle of body wash in the brand’s new packaging.

"Dove’s 'Proud Of What We’re Made Of' installation tied into the brand’s new sustainability commitment. According to the brand, the move to 100% recycled plastic will reduce its CO2 emissions by 27,265 tons per year.

"Dove worked with experiential agency New Creatures to build the structure with materials including aluminum and wood. The machine was also powered with an internal lithium ion battery that was pre-charged with solar power. The structure stood 12 feet tall and 15 feet wide, drawing passersby with a gold replica of the brand’s icon of a dove.

"To receive a new bottle, consumers could insert a used plastic item into the left side of the pre-stocked machine, activating a colorful light show around the border of the bird. Afterward, the right side of the machine dispensed a full bottle. According to agency Edelman, which handled PR for the event, more than 2,000 people donated used plastic items that the brand recycled post-event."

Now that's a creative way to be environmentally conscious!

This post is brought to you by 123eGuides.com. 123 eGuides are a series of authoritative guides about branding, marketing and small business published exclusively in electronic format to provide maximum value at minimum cost.

Check out the new book featuring 156 best and worst brands of the 50s and 60s!

Half Price Sale on eGuides, March 1 - 7

We're celebrating "Read an eBook Week" by cutting the prices on all eGuides in half! From March 1 through March 7 only, you can purchase any eGuide at half price. This special promotion is only available on Smashwords.com, where you can select your choice of eBook format, including Kindle (mobi), EPUB and PDF.

To take advantage of this half-price sale, just click on the eGuide titles below that interest you. When you check out, simply use the code EBW50 to get the eGuide of your choice at half price -- just $1.50 each.

Low Cost / No Cost Marketing 123
3 Steps to Effective Marketing with Little or No Money

B2B Marketing 123
A 3 Step Approach for Marketing to Businesses

Branding 123
Building a Breakthrough Brand in 3 Proven Steps
Second Edition

Product Launch 123
Launch a Product or Service in 3 Proven Steps

Sales Leads 123
Generating, Qualifying, and Converting Sales Leads in 3 Proven Steps

On Your Own 123
Launch a 1-Person Business in 3 Proven Steps

1 Minute Advice: Public Trust Falling Across Industries

Edelman's Trust Barometer, a well-respected annual measure of the public trust of companies and organizations around the globe, shows a decline in trust across all industries from 2019 to 2020, according to a report by Marketing Charts. According to Edelman, public trust fell in fifteen industries over the course of one year although the percentage declines from industry to industry were fairly modest (from 1 to 5 percent). The top five most trusted industry sectors (in order from one to 5) were Technology, Manufacturing, Retail, Transportation and Education.

You can view the entire Edelman's Trust Barometer here in pdf form.

This post is brought to you by 123eGuides.com. 123 eGuides are a series of authoritative guides about branding, marketing and small business published exclusively in electronic format to provide maximum value at minimum cost.

Check out the new book featuring 156 best and worst brands of the 50s and 60s!

1 Minute Advice: Here's What Shoppers Want from Advertisers

Alert to advertisers: Shoppers want something from your advertising when they're searching for common products. A survey of 1,000 adult shoppers, as reported by Marketing Charts, indicates that half of respondents (50 percent) want advertising that is "more relevant to my current needs," and more than half (47 percent) say they want relevant advertising to appear when they're researching products that address personal needs. It seems as if they also want advertising to be more proactive: 43 percent of respondents would like advertising to "guide me through a store to find the exact product I need."

Are you meeting shoppers' needs with your advertising?

This post is brought to you by 123eGuides.com. 123 eGuides are a series of authoritative guides about branding, marketing and small business published exclusively in electronic format to provide maximum value at minimum cost.

Check out the new book featuring 156 best and worst brands of the 50s and 60s!

1 Minute Advice: Are You Forgetting This Audience?

Time and time again, marketers pick Millennials and younger generations over Boomers and older generations as the most attractive audience for advertising campaigns. When it comes to buying power, marketers are dead wrong. As Mark Bradbury writes for MediaPost, the age 50-plus audience outweighs younger generations in many key statistical areas, such as:

• Over 7 million more U.S. households are headed by those age 50 (HH 50+) and older than those below age 50.
• The share of total consumer spending among HH 50+ rose to over half (52 percent).
• HH 50+ spent $350 billion more than younger HH in 2017.
• HH 50+ generate $67 billion more income annually than younger HH.
• HH 50+ are 77 percent more likely to own homes than younger HH.
• Over the next five years, HH 50+ will grow at about twice the rate of younger HH.

This post is brought to you by 123eGuides.com. 123 eGuides are a series of authoritative guides about branding, marketing and small business published exclusively in electronic format to provide maximum value at minimum cost.

Check out the new book featuring 156 best and worst brands of the 50s and 60s!

1 Minute Advice: Beware the "Brandless Brands"

As much as anything, consumers will be seeking out value in 2020, and that means strong growth for "brandless brands," otherwise known as store brands or generics. Andrew Lipsman, a principal analyst for eMarketer, says "...today’s consumers are looking for value and aren’t necessarily attached to particular brands—or possess fondness for the retailer over the brands on the store shelves.”

In fact, retailers growing the most in terms of traditional stores tend to be those with their own store brands, generic brands or discount brands. In the first half of 2019, for example, the top two retailers in store openings were Dollar General and Dollar Tree, both discounters of merchandise not known for promoting any specific brands. Other examples include the growth and strength of retailer-specific brands: In the supermarket arena, for instance, such chains as Publix and Trader Joe's are heavily invested in their own private label brands. Other retailers, such as Target and Amazon, create their own unique brands that appear nowhere else and compete with traditional brands.

While "brandless brands" may not spell the end of traditional brands, brand marketers need to be aware of their growth and popularity with consumers.

This post is brought to you by 123eGuides.com. 123 eGuides are a series of authoritative guides about branding, marketing and small business published exclusively in electronic format to provide maximum value at minimum cost.

Check out the new book featuring 156 best and worst brands of the 50s and 60s!

1 Minute Advice: The New Digital Landscape for Brands

Brands need to compete in the new digital landscape, and sometimes that means pushing the boundaries beyond the ordinary. It isn't enough to simply utilize digital media, brands need to authentically connect with a consumer's digital life. In an insightful commentary for Forbes, Shannon Andrick details three novel, creative ways for brands to navigate the digital landscape:

1. "Reinventing the app as the new brand hub" - Shannon writes that "brands are designing the app experience around the needs of their best customers, increasing functionality and making the experience more personal and intuitive."
2. "Virtual personification helps reach the aspirational customer" - Shannon shares the fascinating example of Gucci, who recognized that younger consumers may not be able to afford Gucci clothing, so the company created a "digital clone" that can be "dressed" in Gucci instead.
3. "Gaming provides a new platform for advertising and marketing" - According to Shannon, "While game development may not be the best fit for most brands, you can capitalize on this trend through advertising, sponsorships and other partnership opportunities."

Read more here. 

This post is brought to you by 123eGuides.com. 123 eGuides are a series of authoritative guides about branding, marketing and small business published exclusively in electronic format to provide maximum value at minimum cost.

Check out the new book featuring 156 best and worst brands of the 50s and 60s!

1 Minute Advice: Consumer as "Prosumer"

What has the sharing economy done to marketers? It has turned the consumer into something entirely different, according to  Wharton marketing professor Cait Lamberton: "Traditionally, you have a firm that provides a good or a service, and the consumer acquires it. In the sharing economy, the consumer is also a producer. There is this new term now in the lexicon, being a 'prosumer.' ... There is a balancing act between the different identities of the consumer in this space."

How do marketers deal with this new reality? Lamberton says, "...in some ways, we have to get out of our own way and listen to consumers talk about their experience instead of trying to impose the roles that we expect should govern their behavior."

Read more from Lamberton, or listen to her being interviewed on Knowledge@Wharton's podcast: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/sharing-economy-marketing-strategy/?

This post is brought to you by 123eGuides.com. 123 eGuides are a series of authoritative guides about branding, marketing and small business published exclusively in electronic format to provide maximum value at minimum cost.

Check out the new book featuring 156 best and worst brands of the 50s and 60s!