Twenty-first century tools and tactics to get the word out You want to get the word out to buyers about all the great things your business has to offer. Too bad a big-bucks marketing campaign just isn't in your budget right now. The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Target Marketing is full of clever, practical, and easy-to-use strategies to help you get your message out to the right people, at the right time, and in the right place. You'll learn: • Five easy steps to identify the most lucrative niche markets • Tech-savvy tips on using online surveys and other e-tools to identify your customers' needs • Powerful pointers on viral marketing, blogging, webinars, and other web marketing ideas • Highly-effective and low-budget advertising strategies and customer retention techniques

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.

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.

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.

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.

Attention-grabbing, money-saving ideas. Now small to mid-sized companies, entrepreneurs, and their marketing staff can expand their customer base in new and exciting ways. Written by marketing experts, this guide presents a detailed blueprint for gaining new customers while saving money at the same time. Readers will learn how to create local and national word-of-mouth 'buzz', internet strategies including viral ads, promise-based marketing, and community building; tips on product placement in the media; and much more. Written by a pair of expert authors. Includes dozens of effective, practical, money-saving ideas.