Product Description

Whether you're looking to expand your business or you're about to start out, this straight-forward guide leads you step by step through every aspect of marketing. Packed with expert tips on identifying customers, using online resources, satisfying your customer's needs and boosting your sales, "Marketing For Dummies" will help you put together a winning marketing strategy and turn your plans in to profit. Discover how to: understand the basics of effective marketing; research customers, competitors and industry; create a compelling marketing strategy; increase consumer awareness; satisfy clients' needs; and, boost sales.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #647109 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 380 pages

Review
"...an invaluable, practical guide to marketing for those new to the subject..." (Marketer, September 2006) "...useful, practical and, above all, reader-friendly...this book certainly takes me to a new level...I heartily recommend it". (Oldham Evening Chronicle, March 2007)

From the Back Cover
Your complete toolbox for creating dynamic, effective marketing campaigns

"What to do. How to do it. In simple everyday language."
— Ira N. Bachrach, President, NameLab, Inc.

Whether you want to introduce a new product or jump-start your existing marketing plans, this friendly guide can help. Packed with expert tips, from identifying customers to using online resources that help you size up your competitors, this updated edition of Marketing For Dummies leads you step by step through the five P’s of marketing -- product, pricing, placement, promotion, and people.

The Dummies Way

• Explanations in plain English
• "Get in, get out" information
• Icons and other navigational aids
• Tear-out cheat sheet
• Top ten lists
• A dash of humor and fun

Discover how to:

• Prepare hard-hitting campaigns
• Plan and stick to your budget
• Use research effectively
• Increase consumer awareness
• Satisfy your clients’ needs
• Boost your sales

About the Author
Craig Smith is the editor of Marketing, the UK's highest circulation weekly magazine, and PPA Weekly Business Magazine of the Year, serving the marketing and advertising industries. He has worked as a business journalist for 18 years and is a regular commentator on marketing issues to the national press and broadcast media. Craig works closely with industry trade bodies the Association of Publishing Agencies and Business in the Community to promote best practice in the areas of customer magazines and cause related marketing. Alex Hiam is a consultant, corporate trainer, and public speaker with 20 years of experience in marketing, sales, and corporate communications. He is the director of Insights, which includes a division called Insights for Marketing that offers a wide range of services for supporting and training in sales, customer service, planning, and management. His firm is also active in developing the next generation of leaders in the workplace through its Insights for Training & Development. Alex has an MBA in marketing and strategic planning from the Haas School at U.C. Berkeley and an undergraduate degree from Harvard. He has worked as marketing manager for both smaller high-tech firms and a Fortune 100 company, and did a stint as a professor of marketing at the business school at U. Mass. Amherst. Alex is the co-author of the best-seller, The Portable MBA in Marketing (Wiley) as well as The Vest-Pocket CEO and numerous other books and training programs. He has consulted to a wide range of companies and not-for-profit and government agencies, from General Motors and Volvo to HeathEast and the U.S. Army (a fuller list of clients is posted at www.insightsformarketing.com). Alex is also the author of a companion volume to this book, the Marketing Kit For Dummies (Wiley), which includes more detailed coverage of many of the hands-on topics involved in creating great advertising, direct mail letters, Web sites, publicity campaigns, and marketing plans. On the CD that comeswith the Marketing Kit For Dummies, you'll find forms, checklists, and templates that may be of use to you.

Customer Reviews

A helpful basic marketing book
I have worked in marketing for many years and bought this book when I first started working in a marketing job. It was a refresher book for me after the marketing education I received. In general, this is a good basic "what is marketing?" book that I would recommend to a non-marketing person who wants to learn about marketing or else to someone who's just begun working in a marketing role.

Marketing for Dummies -Some Pearls
If you are running your own small business and trying to handle all of your marketing effort yourself you will find many excellent tips and words of wisdom that will help get you through various projects while avoiding many commonly made mistakes. If you were in need of a glossary, lists of commonly used acronyms, marketing concepts, or a professional handling of a managerial approach to global marketing you would be better off taking traditional marketing courses and studying your textbooks.

This book was very "task" oriented and included some nice general ideas to remember, and good tips for getting through some common tasks. It is not comprehensive, nor quite as step-by-step as I had hoped a "Dummies" book would be. When I think of a "Dummies" manual I always remember using my old Volkswagens for Dummies to get through giving my old VW a tune-up and valve adjustment. It included step-by-step instructions as well as the nice tips needed for avoiding commonly made mistakes. It took me from the beginning to end of my common projects without any problems. Some of the computers for Dummies types books I have read have also included both step-by-step as well as tips and advice.

Marketing for Dummies was not laid out in the beginning to end, comprehensive step-by-step fashion I have come to expect from the "Dummies" books. maybe Marketing does not lend itself to this, but it would have been appreciated. Marketing for Dummies will make a nice "hands-on" addition for your more complete "traditional" Marketing text collection.

Good for the Non-Marketer
"Marketing for Dummies" is the Marketing 101 of how-to books. It never gets very deep into any one area, and has lots of helpful tips in many different areas. While I'm not going to make a banner or awning for my office, and don't have the money for an all-out market research effort, I was reminded of the sorts of creativity and actions the competition can and does take.

Good for the person who dabbles in marketing and can't afford a real, live PR/Marketer.