123 eGuides

1 Minute Advice: Mobile-generated Inbound Calls Emerging as Significant Lead Generator

An analysis of mobile customers shows a high relationship between mobile use for inquiring and shopping and inbound phone calls, particularly using click-to-call. DialogTech, a market leader in call analytics and automation,analyzed 60 million website sessions and over 400,000 resulting inbound phone calls during the period between November 2014 and May 2015. Calls from mobile sources were up 34% in a six months period. On an annualized basis, that’s an increase of 78%.

According to DialogTech, "we found that search and landing pages are driving a combined 81% of calls for our customers. Compared to display and social advertising, mobile searchers and visitors to mobile landing pages both have a higher level of intent to call a business."

The firm recommends three opportunities for marketers to take advantage of mobile-generated inbound calls:

1. Attribution of calls
2. Personalization of the call experience
3. Disposition of the customer in the customer journey

DialogTech concludes: "By 2019, inbound calls from mobile advertising will increase 114% and marketers who fail to track these leads may be misattributing half of their conversions. Call attribution and optimization is key to capitalizing on this opportunity."

Get DialogTech's free research report here: https://www.dialogtech.com/drive-inbound-calls

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.

1 Minute Advice: Continuing Concern About Marketing ROI

Success in marketing is very directly related to ROI, but ROI remains a continuing concern for most marketers, according to recent research cited by Marketing Charts.

In a survey of over 200 marketers from a variety of industries and company sizes, 71 percent of respondents indicated that their top ROI challenge is "attributing social [media] and content to revenue." This was by the far the largest concern. Next on the list, all within a few percentage points of one another, were the following challenges:

• Aligning KPIs [Key Performance Indicators] with business goals (49 percent)
• Attributing leads to revenue (47 percent)
• Collecting the right data (45 percent).

According to Marketing Charts, "As for reporting and analytics, respondents estimated spending about one-quarter of their time collecting, organizing and analyzing marketing data, with most time instead spent on producing and planning content and campaigns."

One key way to improve ROI is to invest as little as possible, as smartly as possible, in your marketing efforts. Small business owners in particular want to find a way to do effective marketing while spending little or no money. You'll find the eGuide, Low Cost / No Cost Marketing 123: 3 Steps to Effective Marketing with Little or No Money, of value. This eGuide documents a practical, proven way to do just that. It explains a 3-step strategy that combines 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: What are the Best-Loved Brands in the U.S. Right Now?

Morning Consult, a media and technology company, has recently issued its Spring 2017 editions of the "Most Loved Brands" survey. According to the company, the survey "uses nearly 200,000 interviews with U.S. adults to provide an in-depth view of the companies, organizations and brands that define American culture and commerce."

Here are the top 10 overall brands, ranked in order, right now:

1. Amazon
2. Google
3. UPS
4. Hershey
5. FedEx
6. Campbell Soup
7. YouTube
8. Sony
9. Home Depot
10. Lowes

Check out the rankings in eleven different categories here: https://morningconsultintelligence.com/featured/top-brands

Looking for quick authoritative information about branding? Then check out Branding 123, Second Edition. 

The updated, expanded second edition  of this eGuide offers small businesses with fledgling brands the opportunity to apply proven strategies and techniques used by the big guys. Branding expert Barry Silverstein, co-author of The Breakaway Brand (McGraw-Hill), provides readers with a comprehensive yet simple plan to follow so they can (1) build a brand positioning statement, (2) build a brand identity, and (3) build a brand marketing plan. Specific examples and a wealth of additional resources are included. Written clearly and concisely, Branding 123 has everything you need to build a breakthrough brand.

Purchase Branding 123 for just $2.99 at the Amazon Kindle store, in any eBook format at Smashwords, or wherever eBooks are sold.

1 Minute Advice: Should Marketers Use Mobile Texting?

Get ready for the next big thing in marketing: Text. The Electronic Retailing Association predicts that text could become a significant marketing channel, especially for direct marketing, and they have the facts to back it up:

• 223 million consumers use mobile phones; that's 81 percent of the U.S. population
• They each spend almost 5 hours on their smartphones
• While watching TV, 93 percent of consumers have their smartphones nearby
• 97 percent of adult smartphone users text every day, and texting is the number one smartphone activity
• Texts have a 99 percent open rate, almost 5 times the open rate of email
• 78 percent of consumers say they would like to have a text conversation with businesses
• 75 percent of people would like offers sent via text
• 90 percent of leads prefer receiving a text to a sales call.

Note: Each of the above statistics come from different studies quoted by the association in a blog post.

According to the Electronic Retailing Association, what this means is "by simply adding a text option to their call-to-action, advertisers stand to significantly increase their inbound leads and conversions."

1 Minute Advice: How to be an "Omni-Channel" Marketer

One of the biggest challenges for marketers right now is not just cross-channel marketing, but omni-channel marketing. With customers routinely making use of multiple platforms and devices, it is more important than ever for marketers to present what might be called a united front. Everything across all channels should look, feel, and sound alike. More importantly, customers should have a seamless experience, regardless of how they are viewing your digital information.

Obviously, this is no easy task. Writing for MediaPost, Laurie Petersen offers seven good tips to make sure you are moving towards omni-channel marketing.

Among them are these three key techniques:

• Fully integrate mobile. Mobile cannot be an afterthought.
• Make it easy to take the next step. Customers shouldn't have to search around for different ways to connect with you. 
• Fully integrate online and offline. Physical and online stores should be "talking" to each other in terms of inventory control and customer service.

Read Laurie's excellent article here.

Keep in mind that you don't have to spend a ton of money to integrate your marketing channels and do effective marketing, especially if you're a small business. 

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. You'll find the eGuide, Low Cost / No Cost Marketing 123: 3 Steps to Effective Marketing with Little or No Money, of value. This eGuide documents a practical, proven way to do just that. It explains a 3-step strategy that combines 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.