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CONTENT TYPE: Article | TOPIC: None

Are you LinkedIn? Do you Spoke, Ryze, Jigsaw, or ZoomInfo? In 2008, will you get a Second Life? If these social-networking concepts are not on your radar, you are ignoring a dynamic trend that could have a profound impact on key areas of your business, such as revenue growth, talent acquisition and development, and operational efficiency and effectiveness.

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Learn what Metcalfe's Law has to do with marketing and networking, hear some best practices with PURLs, and why January is Tech Geek Nirvana. All that and more in this Marketing Over Coffee, a weekly audio program sponsored by MarketingProfs that covers classic marketing tactics and what's new on the technology front.

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Email can be a great call to action for multichannel customers, particularly in retail but also in B2B marketing. We all know that email can play a powerful role in turning Web researchers and site browsers into buyers. In fact, more and more of our retailer clients are building a specific segment of in-store buyers—and getting results that blow away store managers. Lessons learned in these B2C experiences can also be applied to B2B, especially with the advance of more strategic account management approaches that cross business and geographic boundaries.

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Designing an account registration and sign-in process that doesn't frustrate users is very difficult to achieve. It looks easy at the outset, but a pile of subtleties can sneak up, making something that should be simple... instead stressful for the users. Here are eight common design mistakes we often see as we watch users try to create accounts.

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There is an entire industry devoted to helping companies determine customer satisfaction levels through surveys and analysis. But how much real value does knowledge of "satisfaction" contribute to helping you keep profitable customers? The answer, unfortunately, is "not much." Though surveys do serve a purpose (primarily showing trending: "Are we doing better or worse than last year?"), they don't tell the whole story. The following are three fundamental reasons why it's dangerous to rely on customer satisfaction surveys to help improve your customer experience.

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Naming. Doesn't matter what you're naming—your product, your business, your Web site or heck, even your child, your choice is important. Here are a flock of—actually, 18—ideas, strategies, and tools to make your name discovery a little easier.

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If you haven't done it yet, now is the perfect time to map out plans for your email program. Any changes you might make in the first few months of the year will stand you in good stead; any plans or changes that you implement in the first quarter should pay dividends for the balance of the year. Here are several actionable ideas.

CONTENT TYPE: Article | TOPIC: Writing

Learn some tips for writing provocative and compelling copy, get some insight into how to best use online calendaring services and how they differ from each other, and make New Year's resolutions that are both important and achievable.

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A "press kit" is a collection of a few vital pieces of information that makes it easier for the media to tell your story accurately and with full details. By putting the power of your press kit to work, your company can enjoy more accurate media coverage, more exposure for story ideas, and more complete information through press coverage.

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In the face of mounting competition and hype from rival networks Facebook and MySpace, LinkedIn has stayed true to its mission of creating a network for business professionals. I've been a member of the service for years, but until recently it had not had the critical mass necessary to get traction. Over the last six months, however, I've seen a flood of people using the service to connect professionally. As I said, LinkedIn doesn't pretend to be MySpace or Facebook. The design is clean, but a little stark, and it could use a little more personality to make it more engaging. In this video tour, I focus on what LinkedIn does well within its network and how you can apply the same logic to your own community.

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Notoriously private, Warren Buffett doesn't have a lot to say publicly, except for his annual letter to shareholders that usually makes the rounds of the Wall Street Journal, Business Week and other top publications. However, for his marketing programs, and specifically GEICO commercials, Buffett has an open checkbook.

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If you've ever heard George Carlin's famous "Seven Dirty Words" you can't say on TV, you can safely avoid using all seven in your subject lines. They will definitely get you blocked. Here is a list of 100 more that you should avoid using as well.

CONTENT TYPE: Article | TOPIC: Writing

What will happen when ideas become commodities just like everything else? Some people certainly buy ads from advertising agencies on the strength of the agency's own brand name, but is the value of those brands under threat?

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Not a day goes by when I don't see complex technical terms thrown around in the press or on blogs. I often wonder whether the average marketer knows what half of these terms mean. This series of articles and videos is aimed at graphically illustrating (this is where the whiteboard comes into play) complex terms in ways that normal, non-geek people can understand. Herein is API (application programming interface). One of the core tenets of Web2.0 is the idea around "open APIs," as you've no doubt heard before. The concept behind the API is really pretty simple when you break it down, as this video explains.

CONTENT TYPE: Article | TOPIC: Social Media Marketing

There's a new air of excitement behind the mobile Web. Initiatives like Verizon's recent announcement to open their network, Google's Open Handset initiative, new wireless auctions, and the iPhone have energized users. For the intelligent marketer the question must be, "Is mobile the right medium to reach my constituencies?"

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What is marketing automation? What are the four methods of measuring Web site traffic? Find out in the latest episode of Marketing Over Coffee, a weekly audio program sponsored by MarketingProfs that covers classic marketing tactics and what's new on the technology front.

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With product marketing, your company will be able to prepare the sales channels to relate to the buyer and enable these channels to focus on the most effective messages and programs. You will be able to develop outbound marketing initiatives that move prospects into and through the pipeline to drive revenue and increase customer retention and loyalty. You will have people on your team who are always thinking about how to use what they know about the market and buyers to influence the product strategy. With this change, your marketing will be more than just selling and advertising. It will help you define the target market, position yourself as different and superior in that target market, and permit you to stay ahead of the competition.

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In Part One and Part Two of this series, the author discussed using "voice of the customer" (VOC) in defining innovative core products and services. The focus was on breakthroughs in the basic product, on hitting the home runs. Here, we take a different perspective—using innovation to acquire and retain customers once the core product or service is defined.

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Marketers love talking about products like the Swiffer or iPod, two colossal successes in terms of brilliance in innovation and new product development. In fact, rumor has it there are more consulting firms taking credit for Swiffer's development and success than can fit into the new Yankee Stadium. The puzzling question remains: Why aren't there more examples of unabashed new product successes?

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Work of any kind requires an understanding of the appropriate tools for the job, and social media is no different. Here are some suggestions for a starter set of social media tools. The actual applications will change, over time, because technology tends to do that. But the basic functions should evolve a little more slowly.