Big Data has joined the crowd of millions with the fever of 2014 FIFA World Cup on. Much like the social media, marketing, advertising- big data has become important. With a whooping figure of 3.2 billion people who watched the last World Cup, this year the figure is expected to explode even further. Ronaldo's Nike shoes ad is one of the example to illustrate the growth and potential of online videos. It was seen online by 78 million people before it appeared on TV. 12.2 million tweets about the 'first-match' all during the hours match was played, depicts the social captivity of the universe. An event of this magnitude is likely to generate Big Data. The 2014 World Cup is so big that it is expected to have a negative impact on the economy of Brazil, as "major Brazilian cities have the power to grant local public holidays on the dates that World Cup matches are played". Read more at: http://www.infinitive.com/category/big-data/

In the present world, advertising is shifting towards digital media, and experts say that small business owners should keep up with that trend in spite of prevalence of billboards and newspapers ads. Whatever the product is, marketing the product to target customer is critical. With the limited budget advertising decisions should be taken wisely. According to Eric Schiffer (head of marketing firms' digitalmarketing.com and socialmediamarketing.com) "You can easily throw a lot of money down the drain if you don't think about the right strategy and right platforms". Owners can build a local business profile on either Facebook or Twitter, and they will be presented with buttons to "promote" or "advertise" their page. Using this process will enable the owners to identify and convert customers at far less cost compared to search based advertising. According to Sidney Smith "E-mail is still king, and building out your e-mail list is so important". Services such as ConstantContact, Vertical Response and iContact can be used to manage an e-mail marketing list. Companies uses GPS data to push coupons and deals via text messages to individuals near a store. To know more about usage of social media, e-mails, text messages and loyalty cards for advertising visit: 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/small-business-guide-how-to-invest-your-digital-advertising-dollars/2014/04/20/67f5ad6c-c4a7-11e3-bcec-b71ee10e9bc3_story.html  .

Today, companies have the option of collecting information about consumers which was never available in the past. This information is collected through internal sources, such as company websites and sales records, and external ones, such as social media, smartphones and tablets. This vast amount of information on consumers is increasingly referred to as big data. When a consumer visits a website for the first time, cookies are sometimes uploaded on his browser containing a unique ID, making it possible for the company to identify him during his next visits. Once identified, it will be possible to link the consumer to all information the company stored about his profile, which makes personalized marketing possible. Today, because of prescriptive analytics models embedded into their operational systems, websites and apps can analyze consumer information in real time in order to offer personalized travel options instantly. In the next few years, we will witness a gradual move to 1-to-1 marketing in the online travel category, with each consumer treated in a different way in terms of the whole marketing mix. To know more about this visit:

http://blog.euromonitor.com/2014/05/big-data-unique-ids-and-prescriptive-analytics-revolutionising-online-travel-marketing-part-1.html  .

Today's big data and analytics efforts bring welcome relief to banks, insurance companies, healthcare agencies, non-profits, and other organizations that have habitually struggled with finding the most profitable customers and then selling to them. A new set of analytics reports can move these companies forward in connecting with their best customers. According to a research by Fractal Analytics, banking users are struggling in an industry where 40% of cardholders are inactive and 60% are unprofitable. Banks want to increase spending in its existing credit cardholder base, so that it can implement customer analytics framework that was once targeted at improving first-hand understanding of these customers' needs. Once the bank understood who its most profitable customers were, it developed a "genomic" understanding of how these customers spent their money and found that insurance and food expenses were among the leading "spend" categories. This enabled banks to plan and target promotions built around these major spend areas. By doing so, banks increased its value per customer while decreasing expenses on marketing campaigns, likely because the campaigns were better targeted. To know more about this go to: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/genomic-analytics-build-sales-by-finding-your-most-profitable-customers/ .

In recent times, the quickest and the easiest way to reach out to the huge market is through paid search marketing like advertising on Google AdWords or through other engines. Research shows that almost 75% of the North American population remain online. Marketing Analytics allows you to monitor campaigns and their respective outcomes, enabling each dollar to be spent as effectively as possible. According to a study in 2008 by the Lenskold Group "companies making improvements in their measurement and ROI capabilities were more likely to report outgrowing competitors and a higher level of effectiveness and efficiency in their marketing". In search marketing, one of the most powerful marketing performance metrics comes in the form of keywords. It is the keyword data contained within each click which can be utilized to inform and optimize business processes, monitor industry trends, provide customer support and identify the product design. A successful online marketing strategy relies on a winning AdWords campaign. The strength of your AdWords campaigns will dictate how well you rank in Google; without a decent ranking, your site will never be seen by prospective clients. As was published by E-Consultancy Research, it's generally well known that "a paid search campaign will add prestige and credibility to an organization. To know more about marketing analytics go to: http://www.wordstream.com/marketing-analytics .

If customer psychology is to be followed then it is seen that a customer is more satisfied and happy when he has purchasing power. The feeling that the customer has enough money left gives him/her a sense of assurance and satisfaction than when he/she is spending the last dollar, no matter what is the quality of the product. Hence it is better to target customers at the month beginning than at the end of the month.

To know more kindly visit:-

http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6460-customers-love-purchases.html

Inbound marketing is not effective unless one can recognise the target customers. With PR activities it becomes easier to understand the market and accordingly plan the marketing strategies. PR combined with inbound marketing not only saves cost but also makes campaign more meaningful. Content marketing along with PR helps to push products to the potential customers and also initiates other customers as well.

To know more kindly visit:-

http://socialmediatoday.com/valentine-smith/2434076/inbound-marketingnow-added-pr

There are large number of interesting research reports and results available from which we can understand the pulse of the market and accordingly make changes or take decisions to improve our businesses. Research can prove fruitful and effective if they can be utilised properly for the benefit of the business.

To know more kindly visit:-

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kernlewis/2014/02/11/how-to-use-interesting-research-to-help-marketing-your-business/

The advertisement marketing genre is slowly showing a shift towards inbound marketing from outbound marketing. Mass marketing is changing towards concentrated and potential marketing processes. The reason for this paradigm shift is the effectiveness and impact of these marketing strategies on potential customers.

Read more at: http://socialmediatoday.com/andy-donovan/2424266/ad-realities-outbound-vs-inbound-marketing

To do any kind of marketing analysis or to decide which social media to use, good marketing research is required. It helps in taking correct marketing decisions. This article tells us more about the tools and methodology we should use to do social media market research. Read more at:

http://socialmediatoday.com/chrissyme/2444106/how-spot-good-social-media-marketing-research

The way technology is making a progress and competition is becoming tougher with increased uncertainty, big data and analytics tools have become important to your company. There is another matter that is also important - your customers. So, which will you give more importance? Your analytics tools or your customers? It is of no doubt that big data and analytics tools will give you hidden information that is not visible easily, by sifting through customer data. But, you have to remember one thing - analytics tools have no brains. It will never ever answer 'why' - well, that is the biggest answer for your business. The reason - analytics tools never understand your customers!

To attract customers to your shop, or to your website, you have to build an experience within them. Your marketing communication strategies will form that experience and reshape them. You have to address questions like what your customers want and why they want - in short, you have to understand their behavior. So, to excel in business, it is more important to understand your customers, not analytics tools.

How to understand your customers' behavior? Read them at: http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2014/05/21/beyond-analytics-understanding-humans-scaling-business/ .

In a recent study it was found that more than 50% of revenue for small businesses comes from repeat customers. It is important for small businesses to retain their customers rather than acquiring new ones. Customer loyalty program is a good tool for small organizations to retain customers. Successful customer loyalty program requires authentic customer information. A digitally run and managed program will efficiently explore the data available and will in turn provide deeper insight about customers. For more details please visit the following link: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6310-big-data-customer-loyalty.html

Nowadays, companies find that targeting a particular audience is much more fruitful than targeting mass audience. But sometimes, it may happen that targeted audience do not buy the product, and hence targeted marketing backfire. A recent study conducted at Dartmouth College, explores what happens when identity marketing misses the mark. The research was based on two types of identity marketing,

•        Marketing that simply references consumer identity

•        Marketing that explicitly ties consumer identity to a brand purchase

This research suggested that consumers are less likely to buy a company’s product which explicitly links an identity. The reason behind this is, while people may be drawn to brands that fit their identity, they are also more likely to desire a sense of ownership and freedom in how they express that identity. For more details please visit Elizabeth Palermo’s article link: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6277-how-targeted-marketing-can-backfire.html

A recent research suggested that organizations who advertise their products as the best alternatives actually decrease the chances of success with consumers. Researchers call this problem the "maximizing mindset." As per the research, it has been seen that people who think that they have bought the best product often get disappointed with the product. Hence it is important for organizations to change the conversations with their consumers about the product. Want to know more? Please visit: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6411-why-saying-youre-the-best-backfires.html

To manage your sales upwards, you need to click your senses. Have you ever thought, that much talked Big Data is also a part of your ‘sense’?

The way big data and analytics are making a progress, especially in marketing and to increase sales, it can no longer be ignored. Your buyers are now more informed about your products and services and you have to dig in deeper to gain new insights about the mind and heart of your customers.

That’s where big data comes in effect. Lots of customer data are now available and without going hither and thither, you can mine for gold. Yes, gold – because customer data is like an asset to you depending on which you can gain that ‘new insight’ to keep yourself ahead of competition. Click on http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233969  to view on how big data can raise your sales. Who may say, you may be the next beneficiary of leveraging the power of Big Data!

If you are a marketer, then you must agree that social media has brought in an entirely new change. Most likely, you have also started to leverage the power of social media for the success of your business. But, at any time, do not think yourself as a social media expert, a social media guru or the like. Even, if someone tells you that ‘I am an expert in social networking’, do not believe. You must be thinking why! The only reason is social media is still evolving. And, if something is developing, how can he or she be an expert?

Think of mobile marketing. In the past, had you ever imagined how social media will make a mix with mobiles now? At present, it has exploded and at every moment, way of interacting in social media is changing.

While you may be knowing many things about social media, these are the things that you may not know: http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2014/05/16/4-things-marketers-may-not-know-about-social-media-marketing/  .

With the growth of business, small business owners may find that some of the promotional activities are becoming useless. Brands need marketing makeover to sustain them. Hence, marketing strategy needs to be changed from time to time. This article by Nicole Fallon (Business News Daily Assistant Editor), tells us about the four strategies to boost business growth as recommended by Hiscox (small business insurer firm). Read more at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6351-refresh-marketing-strategy.html

Organizations now can get some insights of consumer behaviour by using highly sophisticated click-tracking tools. Remarketing is one such tool which is becoming an important part of organizations' digital marketing strategies. This article by Nicole Fallon (Business News Daily Assistant Editor), tells us about the details of remarketing. For more please visit: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6354-digital-remarketing-tips.html

Google released the Dashboard Analytics Solutions Gallery more than a year ago, but marketers are yet to take full advantage of this free resource. Most advanced Google Analytics users have created custom dashboards but few have imported templates from the Solutions Gallery.This reluctance is caused by unavailability of proper support stuff, limited usage process information &preference of custom made solutions etc. However, Google Analytics Solutions Gallerydashboards can be used to find insights and drive more profit.To use it as your advantage, the following steps can be followed:

·         1^st: Decide about what insights you are actually looking for.

·         2^nd: Create new Dashboard & import from Gallery.

·         3^rd:Filter Gallery results by Popularity, Reviews, Category or Type.

·         4^th: View Data, look for insights, & Automate Reporting.

·         5^th: Edit, Customize or Segment Data as required.

To read more, visit the following link:

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2341320/5-Steps-to-Quick-Insights-Using-Google-Analytics-Solutions-Gallery

In a recent research it is found that most small businesses are now spending their budget in retaining existing customer rather than acquiring new one. The research also found that 61% small businesses generate 51% of their annual sale from repeat customer. To read more about this aspect, please visit Ayaz Nanji's article link as given below:http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2014/24869/small-businesses-focused-on-existing-customers-in-2014