The Complete Idiot S Guide To Marketing

In today's business environment, many professionals are getting back to the basics of key topics such as marketing. In this new edition of the popular The Complete Idiot's Guide to Marketing, author Sarah White gives a comprehensive update on marketing today. She takes a firm foundation of the basics and adds to it accessible marketing techniques including guerrilla marketing, marketing to the Baby Boomer generation, online marketing, targeted affordable direct mail, and more! With all the formal material readers need for positioning products or services including marketing plans, distribution strategies, and more, this completely updated edition is the book readers need for today! New coverage includes sample marketing plans for several types of small business – and a couple of larger projects; practical do-it-yourself strategies and tactics; how to analyze business segments, trends, etc.

• Covers all aspects including Facebook Marketplace, Facebook Places, and Facebook Deals

Offers advice on starting a direct marketing campaign, including tips on doubling response rates, writing creative copy, and evaluating mailing lists.

With the sky-high price of advertising and direct marketing, only Fortune 500 companies can afford to promote their products and services through traditional channels. Add to this problem the greening, graying, and huge youth markets that have learned to turn off Madison Avenue-style promotions, and the vast majority of small to mid-sized companies, entrepreneurs, and overworked marketing staffs are challenged to expand their customer base in other ways. That's why "guerrilla," aka "unconventional marketing," was born. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Guerrilla Marketing, written by marketing experts Susan Drake and Colleen Wells, presents a detailed blueprint of the dozens of new and exciting methods available-methods that save money and get new customers.

Pinterest is a social media site that enables users to create online pinboards of compelling images they find online by "pinning" the images and curating them into various categories. It has exploded into American consciousness with big media attention and exponential growth-most notably reaching 10 million unique monthly visitors more quickly than any social media site in history. The vast majority of early devotees have been women of higher income between the ages of 25 and 49, and the images they pin frequently fall into the categories of clothing, crafts, food, and home décor. This represents a significant opportunity for companies and brands whose products are targeted to this market; however, Pinterest has value far beyond its initial popular use. Companies large and small are hearing the hype and hoping to get an early start with a site that shows signs of continued growth and influence. The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Pinterest Marketing helps small business owners as well as marketing experts at larger companies get on the Pinterest bandwagon and learn how to use this exciting new phenomenon to increase online exposure for their products, strengthen their online presence, and connect with customers in a place where they are now flocking. In it, readers learn how to: Use the basic features of Pinterest, including setting up an account, creating boards, and pinning images. Develop a Pinterest marketing strategy and integrate it with other online and offline presences. Project a brand voice onto Pinterest through strategic pinning and writing compelling pin copy. Create pins that get repinned. Grow a following organically and understand the importance of whom a brand follows. Engage an audience through contests, collaborative boards, and more. Determine who in the organization will pin, or whether to outsource it. Gauge and quantify the success of a brand's marketing efforts on Pinterest.

Describes the basics of marketing products or services, including organizing a promotional plan, designing ads, selecting media, handling publicity, managing a sales force, and conducting market research.

Twitter has tens of millions of users and its active "tweeters" and followers look to it to answer to the question, "What's happening?" Businesses both large and small can quickly and easily send out highly targeted messages to key customers using Twitter. However, simply grasping only the mechanics of Twitter and flogging a message nobody cares about isn't enough to make a measurable difference. Worse, using Twitter the wrong way can damage a company's brand. The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Twitter Marketing blends an understanding of Twitter's powerful tools and reach with marketing savvy and the key to really engaging followers and converting them to customers. It also covers new features such as the increasing importance of search engine optimization.

Whether you are the manager of a large corporation or the owner of a small business, you need to know how to build and maintain powerful brands. This book will help you make decisions about the products and services your company develops or sells. It explains how to develop your target market, how to understand your brand's core values, and how to develop a brand positioning statement.