123 eGuides

1 Minute Advice: Digital Ads to Overtake TV Ads This Year

Before the end of this year, we may witness an historic event in the world of marketing. According to eMarketer, digital advertising is poised to just squeak ahead of TV advertising in the United States by the end of 2016. The numbers projected by eMarketer are $72.09 billion for digital advertising vs. $71.29 billion for television advertising. If this projection holds, that means digital advertising will represent almost 37 percent of the total media spending in the U.S.

One of the areas fueling digital ad growth is, not surprisingly, mobile ad spending. This year, mobile ad spending will skyrocket 45 percent to almost $46 billion, says eMarketer.

Most of the digital advertising is in display ads, and that is likely to continue through at least the year 2020. eMarketer projects that Facebook will capture most of display spending (34.5 percent of total U.S. display spending) with Google accounting for 13.8 percent.

Online marketing is one of the key components covered in the eGuide, Low Cost / No Cost Marketing 123: 3 Steps to Effective Marketing with Little or No Money.

Small business owners are always looking for the most cost-effective way to market their product or service. In fact, many small business owners want to find a way to do effective marketing while spending little or no money. This eGuide documents a practical, proven way to do just that, combining online marketing, public relations, and community engagement – all of which have little or no cost associated with them.

Purchase Low Cost / No Cost Marketing 123 for just $2.99 at the Amazon Kindle store, in any eBook format at Smashwords, or wherever eBooks are sold.

 

1 Minute Advice: PR Professionals Miss the Mark on Brand Awareness

Public Relations (PR) is undergoing the same kind of dramatic shift other marketing disciplines have seen in recent years. It is no longer good enough for a PR practitioner to boast about broad coverage that can be linked to "brand awareness," because these days, brand owners want measurable proof of ROI.

Kate Lobel's timely article for Marketing Profs outlines five areas that PR professionals should be focusing on:

1. SEO - Lobel calls SEO "the king of measurable channels."
2. Measurable Metrics - Lobel discusses metrics beyond traffic that are important.
3. Resources - Lobel highlights Google Analytics which, instead of being a PR person's "nightmare" should become "your best friend.
4. Your Clients' KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) - each client's goals are more important than a PR person's campaign goals, says Lobel
5. Integrated Channel Strategy - Siloing a PR team from other marketing functions only leads to trouble.

Read Lobel's article here (free registration required).

PR is one of the key areas covered in the eGuide, Low Cost / No Cost Marketing 123: 3 Steps to Effective Marketing with Little or No Money.

Small business owners are always looking for the most cost-effective way to market their product or service. In fact, many small business owners want to find a way to do effective marketing while spending little or no money. This eGuide documents a practical, proven way to do just that, combining online marketing, public relations, and community engagement – all of which have little or no cost associated with them.

Purchase Low Cost / No Cost Marketing 123 for just $2.99 at the Amazon Kindle store, in any eBook format at Smashwords, or wherever eBooks are sold. 

1 Minute Advice: Marketers Still Struggling with Marketing Mix ROI

With all the efficiency, targeting, and personalization digital marketing has brought us, it has also created a dilemma for marketers: How to measure its effectiveness. Even more of a conundrum these days is how to measure the ROI of the marketing mix, according to data shared by Marketing Charts.

Marketing Charts cites a recent study that indicates "of 7 challenges identified, marketers were by far the most likely to say that creating the most efficient results-driven marketing mix across channels was problematic." Marketing Charts goes on to say that even Chief Marketing Officers are finding that "digital channels have proven difficult to measure for ROI, with only a minority feeling confident in their ability to measure various channels, despite increased measurability being a key motivator for switching from traditional to digital channels." It gets worse, because "few CMOs in the US [are] able to quantitatively prove the short or long-term impact of their marketing spending."

Marketing mix ROI seems to be the biggest challenge of the new multi-channel world of marketing.

1 Minute Advice: B2B Marketers Don't Measure the Right Things

B2B marketing tends to be more complex and challenging than B2C marketing, especially because of the lead qualification process. In B2B, marketers often find that a prospect needs a variety of information, delivered at various stages, to make the ultimate decision to purchase a product or service.

This makes measuring the right things particularly difficult, as a recent report from Forrester Research confirms. In "Metrics That Matter for B2B Marketers," vice president and principal analyst analyst Laura Ramos writes, "More than half (61%) of the marketers we surveyed admitted that most of their data work went into reporting on how they did, not showing how marketing drives better business results." According to the report, B2B marketers tend to:

• Measure only what's easy
• Focus too narrowly on funnel metrics
• Track quantity over quality
• Fail to measure factors that lead to improved performance.

Instead, says the report, marketers need to "measure performance at key points throughout the customer journey." Specifically, the factors that drive performance that should be measured are: volume, velocity, value, effectiveness, and efficiency.

Learn more about this Forrester Research report here. 

And consider ordering a copy of B2B Marketing 123. This eGuide 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 available wherever eBooks are sold.