AUDIENCE- Marketing in the Age of Subscribers, Fans and Followers

Most companies are still taking one step forward and two steps back in their customer relationships because they don't understand how to build and engage a long-term online audience. The new job every marketer must learn is "Proprietary Audience Development." Audience is a manifesto—a "call to arms"—that every marketer can deliver to their C-Suite in order to permanently put an end to "spammy" digital marketing and social media strategies that may gain a few quick sales but lose a long-term audience.

This powerful mandate challenges all companies to treat their email, mobile, and social audiences like the corporate assets they are. In AUDIENCE, author Jeff Rohrs establishes The Audience Imperative for every company: to use your paid, owned, and earned media to not only sell in the short-term but also increase the size, engagement, and value of proprietary audiences over the long-term. To gain a lasting advantage over your competition, look no further than your email, Facebook, Google, Instagram, mobile app, SMS, Twitter, website, and YouTube, where you can start building audiences that last.

Through research data and case studies, this book details how marketers can gain a competitive advantage with proven strategies, including how to:

• Embrace "Hybrid Marketing" to squeeze more value from "Fossil Fuel Marketing" (i.e., paid media)
• Build "renewable energy sources" (owned email, mobile, and social audiences) that provide long-term competitive advantage
• Create your own Proprietary Audience Development strategy
• Market with the Red Velvet Touch: Serve the individual, honor their preferences, deliver relevant content, surprise them with access, and delight them with your company's humanity
• Test and evolve your efforts on an ongoing basis

Every company needs audiences to survive. They are the source of new customers and more profitable relationships. It's time to restructure your marketing efforts to serve your most important asset. Master the art and the science of Proprietary Audience Development.

"A highly practical book, Audience details the why-to and how-to of building your own brand's 'proprietary audience' of potential customers, supporters, fans, and advocates. Jeff Rohrs has written a succinct, to the point, and extremely useful book that should be on every marketer's desk today."
—Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, PhD, coauthors of Extreme Trust: Honesty as a Competitive Advantage

"This is a strategic book, a plea to recognize (before it's too late) the value of earning audience engagement. In many ways, it's the latest chapter following the line of thought I introduced in Permission Marketing."
—Seth Godin, author

"During a time of unprecedented change, volatility, and innovation, marketers would do well to rethink their obsession with quantity (eyeballs, impressions, likes) and, instead, focus on quality (human beings, employees, customers). Audience reminds, challenges, and inspires us to prioritize, connect, and truly engage."
—Joseph Jaffe, author of Flip the Funnel and Z.E.R.O.

"This is the book I've been waiting for because it ignites a conversation that businesses desperately need to have. To be a 'publisher' in our social and digital world means that your audience matters more than ever—and is the key to your success. An audience for your content is your biggest marketing asset, and Jeff's book shows you not just why, but how to serve, honor, and delight the people in your audience—first, and relentlessly."
—Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs; coauthor of Content Rules

"Without attention and connection, you've got a big pile of nothing—especially in social media and digital marketing. This book provides a unique and thorough analysis of the real motivations of the most important people to your company: your audience. Read it."
—Jay Baer, New York Times best-selling author of Youtility: Why Smart Marketing Is About Help not Hype

"So many brands out there create content without a clear business goal. Jeff Rohrs has the answer: build loyal subscribers. This book will transform your content marketing strategy. Buy it, use it, and pass it on to your CMO."
—Joe Pulizzi, founder, Content Marketing Institute; author of Epic Content Marketing