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.

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!

1 Minute Advice: Most Valuable Brands in the U.S.

BrandZ has issued its annual report on the Top 100 Most Valuable Brands in the U.S. These are the top ten, according to the report:

1. Amazon
2. Apple
3. Google
4. Microsoft
5. VISA
6. Facebook
7. McDonald's
8. MasterCard
9. AT&T
10. Verizon

The top ten account for almost $2 trillion in brand value -- slightly more than half the total value of the top 100 most valuable brands.

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 Revival of Defunct Retail Brands

It's an interesting phenomenon: A retail brand goes bankrupt and disappears for a while -- only to be resurrected anew at a later date. "What's old is new again." Here are four interesting examples, as reported by Tucson.com:

Children's clothing brand Gymboree went bankrupt and was purchased by its former rival, The Children's Place, in March 2019. The Children's Place plans to reinstate the Gymboree brand as a "shop-in-a-shop" in more than 200 of its stores, as well as bring the brand back online.

The ill-fated Toys R Us is being revived by Tru Kids Brands as a more contemporary, smaller experience-oriented venue. Two new stores, in New Jersey and Texas, will pilot the concept in stores that will be a mere 6,500 square feet compared with the former Toys R Us footprint of 20,000 to as much as 50,000 square feet. The new stores will feature toy brands in "interactive and playground-like environments."

The renowned New York toy store, FAO Schwartz, graced Fifth Avenue for decades until it went bust in 2015. The ThreeSixty Group snapped up the remains and reopened a store in New York's Rockefeller Center in 2018. Expansion into airports is planned for the revived brand.

American Apparel had nearly 200 stores when it filed for bankruptcy in 2016. New owner Gildan Activewear purchased the company's trademark, opened an LA store in 2018 and sells the brand online.

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 Holiday Sale Through Jan. 1, 2020!

From Dec. 26 through Jan. 1, you can get every 123 eGuide at half-price -- just $1.50 each! Simply click on any of the eGuides below. The links will take you to a page where you can order your eGuide in any eBook format. When you check out, include the code SEY50 to get your eGuide at half-price.

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: Pros See Social Media Ad Costs Going Up

Social media platforms will continue to push ad costs higher in 2020, according to professionals who analyze the social media space. According to Social Media Examiner, "Facebook advertising is going to get much more expensive" (Charlie Lawrance) and "LinkedIn advertising costs are currently high" (AJ Wilcox).

Michael Stelzner, founder of Social Media Examiner, says, "Facebook has more than 7 million advertisers and shrinking available inventory. The ever-increasing costs of ads across every major social platform will encourage marketers to dust off their content marketing playbooks. Smart marketers are making investments in high-value video content that’s super-useful to future customers. We’ll see increased use of IGTV and YouTube content in social marketing. And yes, that YouTube content will be promoted using Facebook!"

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 forthcoming book featuring 156 best and worst brands of the 50s and 60s!

1 Minute Advice: Smartphones Dominate Digital Media

This should come as no surprise to marketers, but it's important to know: In the U.S., smartphones now account for 70 percent of the total time spent with digital media, according to Comscore, as reported by Marketing Charts. When combined with tablets, mobile devices account for more than three-quarters (77 percent) of time spent with digital media as of June 2019, a significant jump of 11 percent over June 2017. Desktop computer usage accounts for just 23 percent of time spent with digital media.

The highest concentration of smartphone time with digital media is spent with apps, accounting for almost two-thirds (63 percent) of the time spent with digital media. Another interesting data point: U.S. smartphone owners now exceed the number of users with home broadband.

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 forthcoming book featuring 156 best and worst brands of the 50s and 60s!

1 Minute Advice: Email Marketing Trends for 2020

eMarketer has issued a comprehensive report on email marketing that details some of the major trends for next year. Among them are:

• Personalization - While this is "a leading trend across marketing communications," says eMarketer, "most emails are still not very personalized."
• Consumer Privacy Regulation - Email marketers are used to dealing with email-specific regulations and have become adept at following the rules for permission-based marketing. However, recent consumer data regulations will potentially impact email marketing because of broader privacy rules.
• Frequency - A majority of Internet users  (69 percent according to recent data from eMarketer) want more control of the frequency of emails they receive from marketers. Those email marketers who understand this are using a data-driven approach to ensure that they are matching their email frequency to the expectations of 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 forthcoming book featuring 156 best and worst brands of the 50s and 60s!

1 Minute Advice: What's in Store for B2B Marketers Next Year

What strategies are B2B marketers interested in pursuing in 2020? As reported by Marketing Charts, a recent survey indicated almost half (47 percent) of B2B marketers intend to pursue personalization, 42 percent are interested in account-based marketing, 41 percent see video marketing as a key strategy, and 39 percent intend to pursue inbound marketing.

Nearly half (48 percent) of B2B marketers use social media and say they see an ROI from it. LinkedIn is the social media channel of choice -- 86 percent of B2B marketers rank it as the channel they use the most.

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 B2B Marketing 123 eGuide!

1 Minute Advice: How Brands Secure Customer Trust

A recent global survey of senior brand executives conducted by the CMO Council indicates that brands have certain priorities for securing customer trust. As reported by Marketing Charts, over half (51 percent) of survey respondents say "respecting the data that the customer has voluntarily provided" is a top priority. Close behind (49 percent) is "communicating in a personalized way, honoring the data the customer has given." It seems as if customer data has a direct link to customer trust in the minds of senior brand executives.

More than half (55 percent) of the surveyed executives indicate "their organization’s ability to follow through on the privacy, permission and personalization promises they make to their customers is high."

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.

Have you heard about the book, Boomer Brands?

1 Minute Advice: Attributes of a Successful Product Launch

Marketing Charts reports on a survey conducted by Bain and Company that reveals key attributes of a successful product launch as determined by "launch leaders." Five of these attributes are:

1. Use social listening - More than one-third of launch leaders use social listening data to help guide their product launch strategy.
2. Use authentic messaging that evokes emotions - Almost half of launch leaders indicate that their messaging or campaign was seen as authentic by the target audience.
3. Focus on a specific audience - More than half of launch leaders target a specific audience with their product launch rather than trying to reach a broader audience.
4. Make a splash early on - Launch leaders invest the largest part of their media budget in the prelaunch period and the launch date.
5. Tweak and test - Launch leaders keep an active eye on what's happening in their campaign using real-time data, adjusting their strategy quickly as needed.

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.

Be sure to check out the Product Launch 123 eGuide!