Vol. 3 , No. 4     January 28, 2003

In this Newsletter:

Don't Miss the Top Ten Section Halfway Down!

See below for Advertising, Subscription and Contact information.

Chris Maher
Frog Soup And The Mental Commons

Every surface in our landscape seems covered with an advertisement. Our waking moments are filled with inferences and implications about what’s handsome and beautiful and exciting and socially acceptable. Our work days are shaped by the quest for new, ever-more-clever ways to launch guided marketing missiles.

It might be time to turn our talents and fierce advocacy against the noise, and start reclaiming bits and pieces of the "mental commons."

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Kristine Kirby Webster
Branding: Reap What You Sow

The consumer thinks of branding as shorthand for duping them into buying something they think they need, only to find it falls short after purchase.

The brand’s true strength lies in creating a relationship – not a one-time sale. A brand only has value over the long-term.

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Jared M. Spool
Designing for the Multiple Personalities of Users

Jared challenges the assumption that there's one right approach to how your site looks and behaves. Your users or visitors fall into specific personality types whose needs will be met in certain ways by the same product or service.

Encourage your web team to design for both types of users.

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A Note to Readers

Time Goes By

We nearly missed it. I’m talking about this month -- January is when we celebrate our birthday.

It was two years ago when we sent out our first newsletter to (we thought) an impressive 900 people. The lead article that week was "Confusion: Marketing's Explanation for the Presidential Voting Fiasco."

Since then, we have strived to provide a solid base of marketing know-how to you, our reader -- our most important constituent.

What has changed in two years? Actually, quite a bit.

MarketingProfs used to have little information about online marketing -- now our archives are bursting with a ton of articles about bo th online and offline marketin g. We hired the best Chief Content Officer in our space of the publishing world. We've been recognized by many other major sites (including Business 2.0, Harvard Working Knowledge, Entreprenuer.com) as one of the best on the web for marketing know-how.

Plus, we've grown from our original subscriber base of a mere 900 to over 66,000 – nearly all through word-of-mouth referral. (We read our own articles on viral marketing!)

Two years ago, the conventional wisdom was that it was silly to go up against the well-funded or deeply rooted competitors.

Here's one lesson that's been reinforced in me during these past two years: Don't listen to the conventional wisdom.

It’s a lesson we can all apply to our own businesses, too. If you have a vision, you can realize it, whatever obstacles seem in your way. You just might have to work hard along the way.

Until next time.

Allen Weiss
amw@marketingprofs.com
Publisher
MarketingProfs.com

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Laurel J. Delaney
5 Reasons Women Are Naturals At Going Global

Women are launching businesses at twice the rate of men and becoming a major force both in the traditional and the new global e-business marketplace.

Here’s five reasons why women are naturals at going global and how absolutely indispensable they are in international business.

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Cliff Atkinson
The Big Picture: The Holy Grail of Business

What’s more important than everyone in a company sharing the same "Big Picture," the same strategic vision?

The truth is, as much as organizations talk about the Big Picture, few have fulfilled their quest to actually make it a physical reality. It's time to turn that around.

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Tamara Halbritter and Kevin Sullivan
Showing Stability Through e-Newsletters

Stability is a vital component of a healthy company. Buyers buy from companies who will be there in the long term, with stable products, prices and support.

Here's how to communicate this to your marketplace in a powerful way.

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Tig Tillinghast
Dear Tig: Frequency Vs. Reach and Exaggerated Click-Rates

Tig debates frequency versus advertising reach. And he wonders: Does everybody lie around their banner ad click rates?

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Contact

Publisher:Allen Weiss
amw@MarketingProfs.com

Content: Ann Handley
ann@MarketingProfs.com

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