Best Free Online Marketing Guide For Online Entrepreneur

In October 2022, the ClickZ Marketing Masters podcast returned for its second series. Across twelve insight-packed episodes, we spoke with marketing leaders from PwC, Mastercard, Snapchat, and more. Industry experts including Raja Rajamannar and Margaret Molloy have examined the role of the marketing leader in areas such as championing AI, social media marketing, and embracing simplicity. Each episode kicked off with the same question designed to discover the characteristics of truly effective leadership, from the industry’s leading directors, VPs, and CMO: What makes a great marketing leader? The attributes of an effective marketing leader 1) Franklin Parrish, Senior Director, Brand, Marketing, and Creative Services at Kaiser Permanente: Using storytelling for strategic planning “A great marketing leader can communicate up and down the chain. They know what their goals are, and what the strategy for achieving those goals is. Also, they can connect marketing activities to busin...

30-second summary: Agencies and consultants have proposed many buzzwords as the answer to everything. These are second and third-tier, with brand de-positioning a true source of competitive advantage De-positioning involves highlighting a positive feature about your product or service, that indirectly shines a negative light on the competition Todd Irwin, CSO and Founder of Fazer, unravels de-positioning, how to put it into practice, and looks at Starbucks and Apple as two masters of de-positioning Trends and buzzwords come and go. In my twenty-plus years in the branding business, I’ve heard that the answer to all a strategy needs is “disruption,” “differentiation,” “relevance,” “a unique selling proposition,” “a unique customer experience,” or “ personalization .” The most recent cure-all is something called “brand purpose.” This idea centers around the idea that “What” you do, and “How” you do it, aren’t as important as “Why” you do it. This “Why” is supposed to be something...

2022 has been a year like no other for digital marketers. A brief scan of the ‘trends that will shape digital marketing in 2022’ published at the end of last year promised plenty, from the rise of the metaverse (thanks mainly to Facebook’s rebrand to Meta ) to the importance of video content . Many of these trends have carried brands to new heights. From Duolingo’s metaverse launch to Publicis Sapient’s video storytelling division, ClickZ has spoken with brand leaders across 2022 about their successful campaigns and what made them tick. But no one could have predicted what 2022 would look like. 2022: A truly unpredictable year Rising inflation , and mixed fortunes in social media platforms have created a challenging landscape for marketing leaders. Many, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, were hoping for huge growth in post-pandemic consumption. Instead, we have seen significant layoffs , and whilst there is some optimism about budget growth in 2023, the past few years have taugh...

Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 170-year heritage and employs over 325,000 people across nine countries. At this scale, innovation is a challenge. So, when the changing marketing landscape is calling for exceptional customer experience, how does marketing innovation occur? The answer for Walgreens Boots Alliance is a digital incubator under its No7 Beauty Company division: The Beauty Incubator. Targeting lifelong relationships with its customers, The Beauty Incubator created The Pro Derm Scan service, which assists customers with identifying the right skincare products for their skin. This digital incubator has transformed customers’ approach to skin health and skin longevity. Exceptional customer experience, delivered through agile innovation, improved online skincare advisor customer conversions by 3.6 times and increased average order value by 48%. We spoke to Munnawar Chishty, Global Vice President and Marketing Director of Beauty, Walgreens Boots Alliance, to find out how the ...

30-second summary: This article explores the challenges and solutions for brands during the first recession of the digital era Matt Rhodes, Chief Strategy Officer at House 337, offers a six-point brand action plan for 2023 We examine brand responses to previous recessions, and the ways that digital can enhance strategies this time around We hurtle towards 2023 as another once-in-a-decade recession looms. Central Banks in the US and Europe are raising interest rates and warning markets of the potential for a recession deeper and longer than the 2008 financial crisis. Inflation and the cost of living are rising across the globe. And there is the issue of war in Europe taking lives and threatening food and energy supplies. As the International Monetary fund said in an October 2022 report , “The worst is yet to come, and for many people, 2023 will feel like a recession.” All of this means another swathe of articles telling you why turning off the marketing taps is a bad idea. And...

The Covid-19 pandemic brought a new normal to many industries, and marketing was no exception. A drastic shift in shopping trends occurred as more customers moved to online platforms for their retail needs. This catapulted the retail media space in record time as brands witnessed the increased need and pushed to make their digital mark.    Retail media is essentially the digital version of shopper marketing. It consists of advertising sold within digital properties where products or services are also sold, such as retailer websites and apps, or online marketplaces. It can display close to the point of sale when a customer is actively searching or shopping, creating a customized target approach.   The retail media boom   According to Forbes , retail media is expected to grow 5 times in five years, with a $48 billion increase in spend from 2019 to 2024. In addition, Amazon Advertising reports that nearly 74% of Amazon shoppers discover new products and brands while br...

30-second summary: Testing helps you understand what motivates your customers and whether you’re spending your time and budget Ad hoc testing looks for an immediate lift, but holistic testing looks for long-term gains. Good testing begins with a hypothesis and uses scientific methods to remove bias and random results. Successful email testing can deliver insights you can use throughout your company. Whenever I meet with a new email marketing team, one of my first questions is “What kind of email testing do you do?” Often, the answer is “We tried that, but it didn’t work out.” Or “We don’t have enough time between campaigns to think about testing.” Another popular answer: “We always test the subject line and go with the one that gets the most opens.” If you see yourself in any of these answers, don’t feel bad. A/B or A/B/n testing is an exact science, and it takes time to become an expert. But these skills are important to learn. That’s because testing can reveal deep insi...

30-second summary: I’ve seen huge corporations that create a new “Black Friday” page every year Most businesses fail to apply reuse and learn their past seasonal campaign’s data to further amplify ROI Pre-holiday traffic boosts can be hard to reverse-engineer unless you organize and recorded well Holiday marketing is tough, but it doesn’t always have to be this way A pre-holiday marketing strategy can turn any business ROI around: It can literally either make or break your ROI for the whole year. Businesses get so obsessed with generating more sales over the big holiday season that they neglect their biggest asset: Data. This results in ill-informed decisions made for the following year. Businesses keep following the same routes year after year without relying on the previous year’s results or learning from past mistakes. It is understandable: Unless you capture your (and your competitor’s) stats while the campaigns are still underway, it will be hard, if not impossible, to...