123 eGuides

1 Minute Advice: Data Concerns Could Lead to Brand Break-up

What's the best way for a brand to alienate a customer? The use of a customer's data without their knowledge.

According to a recent survey reported by Marketing Charts, about 8 in 10 consumers would break up with a brand that used their data without their knowledge. The survey was conducted with 20,000 individuals across 20 countries. It appears from the survey that, particularly in the U.S., consumers are becoming more concerned with online privacy. Almost three-quarters (72 percent) of U.S. respondents "expect brands to protect consumer interests when using their personal data, and two-thirds want brands to be transparent when using their data with partners." A little more than half (52 percent) of U.S. consumers will share their email address, and only one-quarter (25 percent) will share their mobile phone number.

The second most important reason for breaking up with a brand is unresponsive customer service. Spamming is also a highly rated turn-off.

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.

Giving Thanks Sale: 50% Off Our Three Most Popular eGuides Until Dec. 1

We're thankful for great marketers like you this holiday season, so we're making a special Thanksgiving offer: Take 50% off the price of our three most popular eGuides until December 1, 2017!

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

Regularly $2.99, Just $1.50 Now Until Dec. 1
Order here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/603790
Enter the code EL32M to get your 50% discount.

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. 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.

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

Regularly $2.99, Just $1.50 Now Until Dec. 1
Order here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/77081
Enter the code VK73GM to get your 50% discount.

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.

B2B Marketing 123
A 3 Step Approach for Marketing to Businesses

Regularly $2.99, Just $1.50 Now Until Dec. 1
Order here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/475773
Enter the code GM35H to get your 50% discount.

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. It focuses on:
 1. Understanding audience: Step 1 discusses the special nature of B2B audiences, the B2B purchasing environment, identifying audience hot buttons, audience segmentation, the new audience dynamic, and how to match products to audiences.
2. Leveraging the media of today and tomorrow: Step 2 presents an overview of all B2B media and covers general media trends, developing an audience-driven media strategy, basics of B2B online marketing, B2B use of social media, how to evaluate media ROI, and inbound vs. outbound marketing.
3. Creating a customer-centric culture: This section addresses the need for a customer-centric culture. It discusses customer-centric strategies, developing a customer-centric marketing plan and budgetary planning.

 

1 Minute Advice: The Five Levels of Marketing Maturity

Based on research with 2,400 consumers, MECLABS Institute, who operate the information service MarketingSherpa, have created a framework they call "the five levels of marketing maturity." It is a very effective way for marketers to analyze where they fit in the marketing-to-customers equation. According to MECLABS, "Each level is inclusive of the level that came before it and builds on it."

The five levels in ascending order are:

1. Incentive-based marketing
2. Customer experience-based marketing
3. Value-based marketing
4. Customer-centric marketing
5. Customer-first marketing

Accompanying this framework is MECLABS' "conversion heuristic," which has a direct relationship to the five levels. The blog post detailing this heuristic and describing the five levels makes for fascinating reading. It can be found here:
https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/b2c-marketing-2/5-levels-marketing-maturity/

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: The Marketing Power of Amazon

Every marketer is aware of the e-commerce power of Amazon, but the leading online retailer also wields awesome marketing power that even small marketers can take advantage of.

Of course, Amazon is an unparalleled marketplace for selling products, and it offers numerous ways for product marketers to make their products available. Products can be offered for sale and fulfilled by the seller or by Amazon. Printed books, eBooks, and audiobooks can be created and sold through Amazon. Even professionals such as assemblers, electricians, and house cleaners can sell their services on Amazon. Amazon's affiliate program offers marketers the ability to sell any product on the Amazon.com site via their own websites and get a commission.

Advertising on Amazon is another option for marketers, since its customer base is enormous. Imagine, for example, advertising your product to 90 million members of Prime, Amazon's paid customer membership program. According to eMarketer, Amazon is the fifth largest generator of digital advertising revenues in the U.S. -- smaller than Google and Facebook, but larger than Twitter and Snapchat. eMarketer projects: "Amazon’s ad revenues are growing faster than almost every other major ad publisher, with a 48.2% increase expected in 2017. By 2019, Amazon will earn $3.19 billion in net US digital ad revenues, amounting to 3.0% of digital ad spending."

Is Amazon part of your marketing plan?

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.