5 Ebooks For The Digital Marketer To Curl Up With

You’d never know it from my behavior at Costco but I’m no pushover when it comes to free samples. I do have a discriminating eye. Lately, my eyes have landed on some excellent ebooks and whitepapers that I recommend. And, their price is right, although a few will require your contact information.

The Digital Marketplace: An Overview

You know how it is when you’re just looking for one piece of data—smartphone market share, let’s say. For an update on the lay of the land and some interesting statistics (see page 34 for the mobile market share), you can’t do much better than to turn to comScore’s U.S. Digital Future In Focus 2013 as a resource. The 46-page report was released in February.

Source: comScore’s U.S. Digital Future In Focus 2013

Marketing Automation: No Stone Unturned

Accessing content offered by marketing automation companies has consequences. More so than with any other type of vendor, you just know that you've wandered into their perfectly rationalized funnel. You can be certain they will follow up with you. That is the point of content marketing, after all.

Grin and bear it to get Marketo's "The Definitive Guide To Marketing Automation." I started this right before I left on a brief getaway and enjoyed it so much I finished it on the beach. Excellent graphic design, embedded links to additional resources and just a few of the 100 pages were explicitly about Marketo's approach. 

Source: Marketo's "The Definitive Guide To Marketing Automation"

Clients: A Briefing On CFPs And Social Media

It's shorter than the other ebooks on this list and you're not the intended audience. But the CFP Board's "Social Media Guide for CFP Professionals" is a succinct look at how a segment of your clients (certified financial planners) are being prepared to participate in social networks. Especially valuable are the links to supporting documents, including Compliance guidance and best practices. The guide was released at the end of January.

Source: CFP Board's "Social Media Guide for CFP Professionals"

Analytics: Regular Expressions Explained

I make room for the possibility that not all will be engaged by this 24-page instructional guide on using regular expressions in Google Analytics. Even if you’re not a hard core GA analyst, as long as you're open to learning a new, secret language, you will benefit from this 2010(!) "Regular Expressions for Google Analytics" by Robbin Steif. Its 24 pages provide valuable background on using regular expressions (e.g., backslashes, question marks, etc.) to filter and customize your reports. 

"Regular Expressions for Google Analytics," Robbin Steif

Data: The Work Ahead

Speaking of data, check out this 22-page report on how marketers are tackling big data, including collection, hygiene and analysis. Spoiler alert: The title of the report, released in January, is "Data-Rich And Insight Poor." Sponsored by Yesmail Interactive and Infogroup Targeting Solutions, the findings are based on a survey of 700 marketers and include some thoughts on best practices.

Source: "Data-Rich And Insight Poor," 2013

What have you read that's good and free lately?