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It is the beginning of the fiscal year, and the marketing budget is fully funded. Giddy with delight, you begin diligently signing contracts and distributing spend for marketing investments throughout the year. But pretty soon, you begin to get the funny feeling that something—perhaps the cost-cutting chainsaw—is in the offing. Your worst fears are confirmed when, four months later, the CFO knocks on the office door and mentions the marketing budget has just been cut by 70%. Suddenly, you are a candidate for "stressed out" marketing.

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This week: When done right, desktop-based applications are beneficial tools that give marketers a way to keep customers engaged with their company by providing them with entertainment, information, or functionality. Here's how marketers are tapping into their power.

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The growth of MySpace has been front and center in the media over the past 12 months, in part because of the continued incredible growth of the venture but also because of social outrage generated by those who view it as an inappropriate and unsafe environment for teenagers. Here, Cliff looks at what has happened with MySpace, what has changed, and what he's learned about the online social networking business model over the past 12 months.

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"User-generated content" is much more than today's most tossed-around-the-tongue buzzword. It's the difference between having a flood of site traffic or just a trickle. Empower your users to create information that their peers want to see, and your site becomes a living, breathing place to be. Profiles, photos, and blogs still have currency in this post-and-share world—but video blogging is the hot now thing that's taking off fast.

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A reference management system is an important part of customer relationship management. But if you're waiting for this functionality to get added to your CRM system, don't hold your breath. This is the first part of a two-part article that examines the importance of an RMS and the choices available for incorporating this functionality into your technology infrastructure.

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Much as you might dread it, planning and budgeting are not going away. So you may as well make the effort to get more value out of the process. It's actually an ideal time for putting basic ROI analysis to use. Here are four ways to use financial insight to create more profitable strategies and tactical plans while building greater credibility with your executive team.

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The elevator speech is that tightly scripted, 30-second introduction that should pack as much information about a person as possible in an engaging, persuasive, and interesting way, right? Unfortunately, even the "best" elevator speech can be an express trip to oblivion instead of a shining personal marketing moment.

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Many of the new technologies that get hype today won't matter down the road. But there are always a few in the mix that need to be considered deeply. Granted, figuring out the difference is hard, especially with the high volume of noise that can exist in coverage of the Next Big Thing the business press.

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Blog advertising expenditures have exploded in the past year. Companies can make a really big brand splash for relatively little money, meaning that blogs provide advertisers an excellent opportunity to reach a devoted audience niche. But blog numbers, until recently, have been little more than curiosities to big brands.

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Your initial contact with a prospective customer leaves little margin for error. The first conversation is the most critical and least forgiving point of the entire sales process. Within the first 20 seconds you must simultaneously establish relevance and credibility—or you will be dismissed as just more marketing noise in the relentless barrage of sellers looking for attention.

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With all the emphasis these days on getting your message out using online media, we simply forget to focus on how to develop the right message. Many a company goes to market without having fully defined its customer value proposition. Don't make that mistake.

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Do your customers look at your products with the same eager anticipation as they once did? Have your customers stayed "married" to you? Would you consider them still in love—or waiting it out until someone better comes along?

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Today's multichannel catalog/online environment is a lot like the summer county fair. In fact, there are some surprisingly apt comparisons.

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Emerging economies are home to 84% of the global population and account for almost half the world's production. What's more, these regions are home to relatively inexperienced (and apparently, therefore, impressionable) populations and potentially high purchasing power. Clearly, this represents a real opportunity if there ever was one. Or does it?

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Is your commitment to customers real? Or are you merely jockeying for position on the latest customer scoreboard?

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