More journalism, less marketing.

Excerpted from an article by Mike Moran on Search Engine Guide:

I read a recent interview with marketing guru Guy Kawasaki by Lee Odden, where he said he didn't know anything about search marketing except to "write good stuff." It sounded almost apologetic, but you should know producing content people want to spend time with is, in fact, the most important part of search marketing. And small businesses will be happy to know it doesn't cost much more for lousy content than it does for good stuff—although it does take more talent and more time. So, what is a small business to do about creating good content? My advice is to think more like a reporter than a marketer.

Read full article.

"Should our CEO blog?"

Jason Calacanis, founder and CEO of Mahalo, speaking  at Milken Institute Global Conference 2008:

Yes. "How do I stay in control of my brand if our CEO gets critical comments to his blog posts?" -- Well, the truth is, you don't. Just let go. Brands are assets in the public domain. With production capabilities and financial assets off-shored and out-sourced, brands are ever more important as the only remaining indispensable value of a company, and yet they are ever more volatile. In this open-sourced, hyper-transparent economy, your customer owns your brand, and no brand platform, no brand book, no rigid compliance guidelines designed to protect your idea of your brand, can change that. Brands are social funds. Your mission is to raise their intellectual and emotional capital. The creation of brand equity is a cooperative act based on the values that you share with your customers. And, by the way, marketing's job is to promote these values, not to invent them.

Excerpted from Tim Leberecht’s post on Matter/Antimatter: “The future of business is social: notes from the Milken Global Conference.”

Report: Marketers missing boat on targeted e-mail marketing

By Carol Krol

Compiled from B2B Online

In a sign that marketers are missing out on targeted marketing advantages offered by e-mail, 85% of marketers don’t personalize initial e-mail messages, according to Return Path’s Subscriber Experiences e-mail study released Tuesday.

The e-mail marketing company subscribed to 61 different e-mail programs from retail, consumer goods, travel and media/entertainment companies. Among its findings: Marketers are not acknowledging new e-mail subscribers. On average, marketers sent their first e-mail message nine days after a person registered to receive such messages, and 60% of marketers never sent a welcome e-mail message at all. 

Integrated marketing ''more essential than ever''

Compiled from Association of National Advertisers (ANA)

Marketers across the board are embracing integrated marketing communications (IMC), reflecting the fact that it is now "more essential than ever".

That is according to a new survey of members of the ANA (Association of National Advertisers), the results of which were published on Tuesday (May 20th), revealing that IMC campaigns are employed by 74 per cent of marketers for many of their brands.

Bob Liodice, president and chief executive of the ANA, commented: "Integrated marketing is more essential than ever, as power has shifted from the marketer to the consumer.  However, marketers are still struggling with entrenched, parochial structures that inhibit these efforts from achieving their enormous promise.”