Informed Success: A Bibliography for Student Entrepreneurs

A detailed review of what businesses need to know about influencer strategies, social media and how digital communication works.

Digital influencing is one of the most exciting and disruptive new industries, forecast to be worth billions by 2020, but those charged with making this an effective part of their digital strategy rarely understand how this emergent industry works. When it comes to online growth, digital influencers are now consistently outperforming traditional media and brand advertising, even if much of what they do remains a mystery to many people.

Sara McCorquodale is the UK's leading authority on the influencer space, and this new book demystifies exactly how digital influence works, interrogates the phenomenon, analyzes its problems, and forecasts its future. A compelling and deeply insightful book, this will be a must-read for anyone whose business success is dependent on prospering online.

In "Influence", readers will gain a foundation of knowledge into how and why digital communication has become so dominated by influencers, as well as gaining invaluable, never-before-heard insights from the influencers themselves. They will understand how digital trends emerge, the building blocks that make bloggers, vloggers and instagrammers so compelling, and why the context in which influencer marketing emerged is so closely linked to its ongoing success.

Thanks to Sara's independent analysis of influencer media and marketing, readers will finish the book with a clear understanding as to the problems now faced by businesses and brands around the world, and how such issues can be identified, tackled and overcome.

E-commerce startups have exploded in the marketplace, selling merchandise and services directly to consumers, often through mobile phones. They skip the middlemen, avoid the lower margins of retail channels of distribution, strike deals directly with manufacturers and suppliers, and, in doing so, save consumers money. Among the companies that are part of this e-commerce revolution are Dollar Shave Club, Casper, Quip, Peloton, and Hubble Contacts.

In "Selling Naked", Hubble Contacts co-founder and co-CEO Jesse Horwitz shows entrepreneurs and enterprise companies alike precisely how to conceive, launch, and grow an e-commerce brand by using paid marketing social media channels. Horwitz shows entrepreneurs how to test consumer interest before spending a dime by placing mock ads on Facebook and other social media. Using this method, Hubble Contacts got an astonishing two thousand signups in four days, and as a result, raised $3.5 million in seed money. Hubble ran a second experiment to see if consumers would actually sign up for the service, which led to a second multimillion-dollar investment. Horwitz shows how startups can cut through the metrics bullshit to focus on the one metric that really matters; how to use third-party tools rather than build everything from scratch; and how to tell a great story to investors and frame your digital offering. In addition to running Hubble, Jesse Horwitz now works with established Fortune 500 enterprises to help build their e-commerce brands within the landscape of a larger retail environment.

"Selling Naked" is the definitive playbook on how to start up a successful direct-to-consumer business.

The bestselling social media marketing book

Marketing your business through social media isn't an option these days--it's absolutely imperative. In this new edition of the bestselling "Social Media Marketing All-in-One For Dummies", you'll get comprehensive, expert guidance on how to use the latest social media platforms to promote your business, reach customers, and thrive in the global marketplace. Social media continues to evolve at breakneck speed, and with the help of this guide, you'll discover how to devise and maintain a successful social media strategy, use the latest tactics for reaching your customers, and utilize data to make adjustments to future campaigns and activities. Plus, you'll find out how to apply the marketing savvy you already have to the social media your prospects are using, helping you to reach--and keep--more customers, make more sales, and boost your bottom line.

* Includes the latest changes to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, and more
* Offers tips for engaging your community and measuring your efforts
* Explains how to blend social media with your other online and offline marketing efforts
* Shows you how to leverage data to learn more about your community

Don't get left behind! Let this book help you get the most from every minute and dollar you spend on marketing.

And just like that, everything changed . . . A global pandemic. Panic. Social distancing. Working from home. In a heartbeat, we went from happy hours to virtual happy hours. From conferences to virtual conferences. From selling to virtual selling. To remain competitive, sales and business professionals were required to shift the way they engaged prospects and customers. Overnight, virtual selling became the new normal. Now, it is here to stay. Virtual selling can be challenging. It's more difficult to make human to human connections. It's natural to feel intimidated by technology and digital tools. Few of us haven't felt the wave of insecurity the instant a video camera is pointed in our direction. Yet, virtual selling is powerful because it allows you to engage more prospects and customers, in less time, at a lower cost, while reducing the sales cycle.

"Virtual Selling" is the definitive guide to leveraging video-based technology and virtual communication channels to engage prospects, advance pipeline opportunities, and seal the deal. You'll learn a complete system for blending video, phone, text, live chat, social media, and direct messaging into your sales process to increase productivity and reduce sales cycles. Jeb Blount, one of the most celebrated sales trainers of our generation, teaches you:
How to leverage human psychology to gain more influence on video calls
The seven technical elements of impactful video sales calls
The five human elements of highly effective video sales calls
How to overcome your fear of the camera and always be video ready
How to deliver engaging and impactful virtual demos and presentations
Powerful video messaging strategies for engaging hard to reach stakeholders
The Four-Step Video Prospecting Framework
The Five-Step Telephone Prospecting Framework
The LDA Method for handling telephone prospecting objections
Advanced email prospecting strategies and frameworks
How to leverage text messaging for prospecting and down pipeline communication
The law of familiarity and how it takes the friction out of virtual selling
The 5C's of Social Selling
Why it is imperative to become proficient with reactive and proactive chat
Strategies for direct messaging - the "Swiss Army Knife" of virtual selling
How to leverage a blended virtual/physical selling approach to close deals faster

As you dive into these powerful insights, and with each new chapter, you'll gain greater and greater confidence in your ability to effectively engage prospects and customers through virtual communication channels. And, with this newfound confidence, your success and income will soar. Following in the footsteps of his blockbuster bestsellers "People Buy You", "Fanatical Prospecting", "Sales EQ", "Objections", and "Inked", Jeb Blount's "Virtual Selling" puts the same strategies employed by his clients--a who's who of the world's most prestigious organizations--right into your hands.

Prepare for a successful career in social media marketing or a related field with the unique emphasis found only in "SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING: A STRATEGIC APPROACH, 2E".

Each chapter in this popular book includes a section on creating a personal brand, which is useful to current or future professionals at any stage of career development. This edition emphasizes how to use social media techniques, detailed in the book, to develop and maintain a strong personal brand. Helpful discussions also address a full range of online and offline elements you can use to create a viable personal branding strategy. You learn how to use graphical concepts to structure and strategize within what is otherwise a chaotic social media milieu. This edition summarizes many of today's best practices for marketing activities on social media platforms to assist you in functioning most effectively and dealing with the rapid change that is a hallmark of social media.

The tools you need to follow your dream of starting and running an online business!  With the right knowledge and resources, you can take action to start the online business you've been dreaming of.  

This comprehensive guide provides tips and tricks for turning your dream into a reality.  The sixth edition of "Starting an Online Business: All-in-One For Dummies" will teach you the basics and beyond. It will prepare you to set up your business website, offer your products in an online store, and keep accurate books. The authors help you navigate the primary legal, accounting, and security challenges related to running an online business.

* Fund your business for success and future growth
* Use SEO strategically to drive traffic to a well-designed site
* Market your business effectively as an entrepreneur
* Stand out, build customer relationships, and sell on social media
* Keep up with ecommerce trends to stay a step ahead

With some guidance, you can find your market niche, create a business plan, and decide on a revenue model. Then, it's time to set up shop! "Starting an Online Business" can help bring your dream of an online business to life and guide you on the road to success.