123 eGuides

1 Minute Advice: Branded Entertainment is a Growth Industry

Nowadays, brand marketers routinely employ content marketing as a way to break through advertising clutter and reach a desired target audience. But there is another effective way to rise above the noise of traditional advertising -- branded entertainment.

Branded entertainment consists of paid product placements in television, film and digital media, along with consumer event marketing and sponsorships. A new report from research firm PQ Media shows a healthy market for branded entertainment, which saw more than a 6 percent increase in 2014 over the previous year for a record $73.27 billion in global revenue, with the U.S. representing almost half of that amount. Branded entertainment revenues in the U.S. are likely to exceed $50 billion through 2019, according to the report.

When you notice a brand in a television show, movie, or online video, it is hardly an accident. In fact, there is an increasing demand for products to actually be written into scripts. Deals are also being negotiated so a product that appears in entertainment also secures a premium advertising spot. Still, consumer events overshadow product placements -- and it probably comes as no surprise that political campaigns are among the heaviest users of consumer events. Yup, candidates are brands too!

1 Minute Advice: Buzzword in B2B Marketing? Analytics

It should come as no surprise to experienced marketers, but a recent poll of B2B marketing executives indicated that 86 percent of respondents said marketing analytics are "very important" to their marketing success, and 84 percent of respondents are investing in analytics.

To gain some insight into where B2B marketers are investing when it comes to analytics, the survey asked about "most important capabilities" in analyzing tools for marketing analytics. The leading capability marketers wanted? A "cross-channel view of results" (82 percent). Next on the wish list was "predictive and prescriptive analytics," (68 percent), followed by "dashboards" (64 percent).

Every respondent said they used and analyzed email marketing, and 86 percent said they used and analyzed content marketing. Over 75 percent of respondents said they used websites and paid search, while 80 percent used social media or search engine optimization.

See eMarketer's report on the study here.

 If you're a B2B marketer, you need to read the new 123 eGuide, B2B Marketing 123. It presents a 3 step approach for marketing to businesses that is grounded in timeless principles but recognizes and takes advantage of the brand new marketing world we live in. Purchase B2B Marketing 123 today for just $2.99 at the Amazon Kindle store or in any eBook format, including PDF, at Smashwords.com. This title is also be available wherever eBooks are sold. 

1 Minute Advice: PR is a Perfect Complement to Sales

A tight marketing budget doesn't have to be a barrier to sales. Public relations can be an inexpensive way to make a big impact -- not just for generating awareness, but for generating leads.

Lisa Calhoun writes for MarketingProfs that public relations "is the perfect support to a natural lead nurturing process." She cites four specific ways public relations can complement sales:

1. Building qualified traffic through social media
2. Improving the effectiveness of lead generation events
3. Getting industry thought leaders to work for you
4. Using customer videos for sales support

Calhoun lays out specific how to's in her informative article which you can read here.

Calhoun, head of a Top 100 tech PR firm, concludes, "Your public relations efforts pay off even more powerfully when distributed through your sales and marketing process. There are many more ways to do this—once you get started sharing your credibility, it's addictive."

1 Minute Advice: Struggling with Marketing ROI? You're Not Alone

Which marketing channel has the largest impact on marketing ROI? It may surprise you to learn that lots of marketers still struggle with the answer. eMarketer reports the results of a recent survey indicating that one-third of marketers, both B2C and B2B, can't answer that question.

The biggest struggle, according to the survey, is with social media. For both B2C and B2B marketers, 87 percent of respondents say they use social media, but just 27 percent of B2C marketers and 17 percent of B2B marketers can figure out the ROI of social media. ROI measurement looks a little better when it comes to email: For this more mature medium, used by 80 percent of B2C marketers and 93 percent of B2B marketers, 44 percent of B2C marketers and 66 percent of B2B marketers say they can measure its ROI. (Of course, one might expect that to be even higher, given the tight measurability of email.)

The study suggested something else a bit troubling. According to eMarketer, "many marketers still relied on 'gut instinct' when determining which channels to use for marketing campaigns, as the most-used weren’t always the most-measured."

1 Minute Advice: What Marketers Don't Need to Track

These days, marketers need to focus on meaningful metrics -- data that indicates whether an investment in marketing strategies and tactics is really paying off. ROI in marketing should be associated with "smart metrics," such as the conversion rate from prospects to customers or the cost per lead generated.

In a blog post for HubSpot, Rachel Sprung reminds us there are marketing metrics that are pointless to track, among them:

1. Email opens
2. Facebook likes
3. Ad impressions
4. Blog comments
5. Reports on your entire database

Her point is well taken. The raw numbers associated with the first four in the list are meaningless; from a marketer's perspective, they represent nothing more than a popularity contest -- activity that tells you nothing about leads, prospects, or customers. Item #5 is equally suspect; the most useful database reports are not aggregated, but instead recognize unique audience segments. As Sprung writes, "not all contacts were created equal. Some are from one persona, others are from different industries, and still others are from different locations. By not segmenting based on these characteristics, you are doing yourself a disservice."

So don't let your colleagues, or even worse your superiors, force meaningless marketing measurement upon you. The only legitimate way to measure success is to determine how your marketing efforts translate into qualified prospects and sales.