2009 Top Marketing Trends – Social media conflicts

The Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) released the second annual Top Marketing Trends, conducted by Anderson Analytics, and they discovered what I think are conflicting results.

High ranking marketing muckity mucks are renewing their focus on the basics and are sick of hearing about the Web 2.0. 

Huh. That's kind of silly. How can you be sick of something that will help you extend the basics and give you more oomph? ...

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Leverage customer influence and heighten your brand value

In my last article, I highlighted Umair Haque's perspective of the shrinking advantage of traditional brands.  However, unlike Haque, I don't believe branding value is shrinking but evolving. Today let's discuss methods in which a company can leverage the immediacy of online connectivity to maintain its branding advantages.

In my mind, it all comes down to this.  For success today, a company has to be willing to listen to their customers and to work with them.  And that means ceding partial control of the branding process to your customers.

If you're a marketing manager going "eep!" right about now, then you're not getting today's customer environment...

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Partnering with Intellicore Design to help companies accelerate at the speed of community connection

I'm pleased as punch to partner with Intellicore Design to offer companies collaborative community solutions, offered on Salesforce.com platforms.

Intellicore Design is the brainchild of Cynthina S. Heinsohn, software developer extraordinaire.  My marketing and communications and sale expertise compliments her design skills. 

We've worked together for too many years to acknowledge and in a variety of roles.  One of the things we enjoy the most with each other, though, is collaborating.  With our long-time friendship, we're able to zip into the heart of a situation, stimulate each other's creativity, and get things done.

What we're most enthused about right now, is finding ways to stimulate connection...

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