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Sadly, the value of most conference panels is questionable, due mostly to the lack of effective moderation. But done well, a panel can be enlightening and instructive and can serve the needs of the audience (and the speakers) equally well. In other words: Yes, there is a right way to moderate a conference panel!

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Most marketers have email addresses for less than half their customers and prospects. If this is the case for your company, it might make sense to explore email appending. Let's first look at the process, and then we'll examine how one publisher implemented its communication plan.

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General search engines like Google and Yahoo aren't designed for B2B companies, which is why so many experience disappointing results. Recent developments with smaller Vertical Search Engines (or VSEs) are providing a strong alternative. But, as with any growing industry, it's important to research and understand these alternatives before making the plunge. The advantages of vertical search will go a long way toward providing professionals with relevant business results while also helping advertisers and marketers target a very specific and relevant audience. Following these guidelines can help navigate this important industry trend.

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Marketers are better served by liquid fluidity in their thought processes and approaches. That way they can adapt to sudden changes and new, hot technologies as social media continues its march forward. As this natural process continues to unfold over time and communities evolve, their information needs and consumption of media will evolve, too. With increasingly diverse and changing marketing environments, successful marketers will focus on social media principles rather than tactics.

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So many brands and companies are constantly reinvigorating their businesses and positioning them for growth. There is a constant need to innovate, reinvigorate, update, recalibrate, or just simply fend off the competition in an effort to better explain "why buy me." To move forward, companies and brands need to first take a look at their current brand positioning. But for a moment, even a brief moment, it would make sense to go back to the brand drawing board to answer the question, Just what is brand positioning anyway?

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What is viral marketing? Is keyword density still a factor in SEO?—that and some other stuff that we've been testing... 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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There is a new wave of branding that aims to occupy every minute of the customer's day with an unbroken theme of branded experience rather than the momentary brand rush of purchase. Experiential brand building is taking on new and all-encompassing dimensions. IKEA, for example, is no longer just a flat-pack-furniture and homewares store. It's a construction company that builds IKEA houses, based on the IKEA promise of easy living and affordable design. Welcome to the world of living branding—a new breed of 24/7 brands that are likely to occupy more and more of our lives, from our waking moments to when we retire to bed.

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Are we in a recession, or poised to enter one? Maybe, maybe not. However, let's assume that the US economy will be in a recession and that as marketers we need to work within that reality. Here are five tips for what you can do to market your products or services in an economic downturn.

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To inspire long-term relationships with this new breed of luxury consumer, you must understand how they want to relate to your brand.

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The New Year is in full swing. You've probably made a few personal resolutions, but what about making some resolutions that will help you improve your email marketing? Here's our guide to the six marketing resolutions that will make a difference to your business in 2008.

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The role of the Chief Marketing Officer has evolved since some of the first CMOs, such as Mark Mears of Blimpie International and Phil Gospels-Strumpette of Coca-Cola, came on the scene in early 1990s. The CMO role—which initially tended to emphasize advertising, brand management, and market research—continued to evolve over the past 15 years as a result of the emergence of new media, the growing number of sales and service touch points, more complex distribution models, and the fragmentation of customer segments. The CMO has moved from focusing primarily on brands and clever advertising to a larger, more strategic role designed to enable a company to meet the ever-changing needs of a diverse and global customer base.

CONTENT TYPE: Article | TOPIC: Writing

Just as city planners utilize master plans to promote healthy municipal growth, a "Customer Community Master Plan" enables marketing executives to determine an overall customer interaction plan that will allow your company and its relationships to thrive and prosper. In other words, such a master plan avoids pitfalls.

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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.