Marketing for Dummies

by Alexander Hiam

Marketing is the most important thing that you do in business today, even if your job title doesn't have the word marketing in it. That is because marketing, in all its varied forms, is concerned with things like attracting customers, and What could be more important? Ever try to run a business without customers? Marketing encompasses several specialized fields – from advertising to public relations, from selling to strategy, from database management to packaging and product design. How can you possibly be an expert at even half of these tasks? But at some point, anyone who wears a marketing hat has to handle problems in these areas and more. Marketing For Dummies shows you how. While this guide delves deep into the classic four components of marketing – product, price, placement, and promotions – it reaches beyond the basics of how to design a simple marketing program and gives you insight into Sure, marketing can be a great deal of fun – it is, after all, a rare aspect of business where creativity is not only tolerated but essential to success. Yet in the long run, marketing is all about the bottom line. And Marketing For Dummies has a great many solutions of use to anyone who faces the challenge of finding and satisfying customers.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Reference, Management, Ebooks, Audiobook

Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm getting more into the marketing stuff at work, and wanted a quick and easy intro to the terms and the layout of the field. It did its job to give me the intro, but you better not stop here if you plan to learn ANYTHING.

[David Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I read to research this post was Marketing For Dummies by Ruth Mortimer et al which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. This book is a UK edition so a lot of the suggested websites have an english slant. One of the key things in marketing is doing research which includes finding out what your competitors are doing. One excellent way of doing although not mentioned in the book is if you go to Linkedin you can subscribe to updates from a particular company & they give you revealing information. A site mentioned in the book is http://statistics.gov.uk this site gives you stastics on just about everything imaginable, although obviously mostly in Britain.

If you are creative about where you advertise you can make more profit from what you spend. If for example you take a full page colour ad in a national newspaper it will cost approximately £60,000 which is fine for a big company but if you're a small company you may be better off advertising in a trade publication which may target just as many potential buyers but only be a few hundred pounds. Of course if you aren't using one of the big social media sites you are missing out and should have events specifically for your followers on these sites. A good example is Cadbury's noticed that many of their followers would like to see the Wispa bar & Gold Wispa reintroduced. They not only reintroduced them but put film on their social media sites of the head of their Facebook site pressing the button to start the production line when it was restarted. They also reminded people if they want them to manufacturing these bars they must buy them.The book I read to research this post was Marketing For Dummies by Ruth Mortimer et al which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. This book is a UK edition so a lot of the suggested websites have an english slant. One of the key things in marketing is doing research which includes finding out what your competitors are doing. One excellent way of doing although not mentioned in the book is if you go to Linkedin you can subscribe to updates from a particular company & they give you revealing information. A site mentioned in the book is http://statistics.gov.uk this site gives you stastics on just about everything imaginable, although obviously mostly in Britain.

If you are creative about where you advertise you can make more profit from what you spend. If for example you take a full page colour ad in a national newspaper it will cost approximately £60,000 which is fine for a big company but if you're a small company you may be better off advertising in a trade publication which may target just as many potential buyers but only be a few hundred pounds. Of course if you aren't using one of the big social media sites you are missing out and should have events specifically for your followers on these sites. A good example is Cadbury's noticed that many of their followers would like to see the Wispa bar & Gold Wispa reintroduced. They not only reintroduced them but put film on their social media sites of the head of their Facebook site pressing the button to start the production line when it was restarted. They also reminded people if they want them to manufacturing these bars they must buy them.

[Terrance · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read most of this book. As a marketing manager, it gave me some pointers that are helpful in a marketing career. Marketing is about creativity, but the technical aspects of the subject matter are very important to know as well. If you don't have a degree in marketing (or some sort of business or communications degree), this book isn't going to teach you what you need to know for a career in marketing.

[Roderick Vonhogen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent overview of the basics of marketing with a couple of downsides:
- it is *very* generic and not that interesting if you already know the basics of marketing
- it seems to be targeted towards a predominantly American audience in all examples
- it is very dated and incomplete: since the book is now 20+ years old it doesn't give you much insight into marketing in the age of social media. I should have looked around for updated versions of the book...

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book to learn more about what I can do in the new Marketing Club from the second semester of this school year. With plans to help create a marketing strategy for a pop-up restaurant and the tap water campaign (in collaboration with SIS and YISS students), I felt that I needed some more knowledge on what marketing really is, and if there are any skills or concepts that I would have to learn to be more productive.

The whole book itself was more focused on how to grow a startup company or how to create a marketing strategy for a company that sells products in local markets, which did not necessarily fit my situation. However, I do admit that the book was filled with amazing insights and new concepts of marketing that I have never thought of before.

For example, I realized that the promotion for the tap water campaign might work better if we were in collaboration with other well-known organizations so that we might gain more credibility and authority when approaching to the community. I used this idea that I learned from the book to see if there were any opportunities to participate in one of Arisu's (Seoul's government-supported tap water organization) events -- and I realized that there was a tap water creative drinking contest, and the marketing club participants joined in.

Overall, although it might not have been the exact book that I was looking from the start, this book is the best in easily explaining complex marketing concepts one-by-one so that even beginners could understand the information.

[Alicia Gadi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read it all, but it's pretty useful for consulting more than reading it through until the end. As I've said, it's ok for a starter. Maybe I was looking for a book of creative marketing more than a theoretical reading, but it's fine as long as you focus on the parts you're interested in.

[Youp · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this book to get some more insight into marketing for my job as data analyst. It gives some pointers for starting business owners who plan on doing their own marketing. Obviously not meant as literature for professionals with more experience.

[Teresa Nguyen]

Painful

[Gunjan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written in simple language for easy understanding and with good tips and pointers. Somehow, the information seems to be in bits and pieces. I was looking for a more comprehensive book.

[Zachary McClain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audiobook

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a really hard time getting into this book. It had a lot of good ideas and examples, but seemed to be geared towards those who already have a marketing program in place and want to improve it. Since I have no experience in marketing and am just starting out as an entrepreneur, it wasn't very helpful. Maybe later on down the road it will be. I liked the end of the book better than the beginning, but it was still very boring and seemed to drag on and on. Hence the reason it took me 3 months to finish.

[Lionkhan-sama · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really disliked this book. In my modest opinion, the author is trying to make a few tidbits of information (most of them common sense) into a full-scoped book. I decided to read this book to get more of an insight into how marketing works (I am not a marketer and am in no way interested in the subject) but I must say I barely gained anything from reading this book. If anything, it has made me hate marketing even more, as I see it as a "false" and "empty" thing pretending to be a subject worth studying.

Of course others will disagree, but that's the impression this book has left me with. I found myself just wanting to be over and done with it.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty dry to read all of the way through, though I can't deny the fact that it was comprehensive. I thought this would be helpful for me as someone in healthcare marketing but the principles and way the material is presented seems to be well-suited to the local small business owner in restauranting or retail.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is marketing 101: a basic reference guide. I found a lot of this book's content common sense for someone who has worked in a business for any amount of time. It is need-to-know knowledge, but it is not in the least bit inspiring.

[Rory · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's ok and maybe lots of people will get lots from it.

It wasn't really anything new for me; but then I knew a fair bit before reading.

It didn't help me with my marketing. But then I am in a difficult industry where marketing accounts for only a small part of decision making.

[Carla]

many marketing ideas

[Megan]

I'm a dork who likes to learn. What can I say.

[Martha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good in general, but less helpful.

[Anthony McDowell · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a novice like myself with no formal marketing education, I loved this book! 28 pages of notes

[Pat Council · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome. Easy to understand and great information that gets results.

[Sam Motes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very high level but gives a good overview of marketing concepts for the non-marketing professional.

[Kaloyan Roussev · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good introductory book on classical marketing. It can get you started

[Michael Lombardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

5.3/10

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good textbook style overview. Handy as a reference

[Tonica]

This is another book that the owner had me read. He was a firm believer in Dummy books!

[Igor Tkachenko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a good book to systemically overview contemporary marketing.