Two years ago less than half of all consumers used search to find a local business but today that number is upward of 74%! However, most small businesses today still don't have a website in fact less than 10% of small business owners are online. For them the problem is not just that they don't have a website but promoting their website as well.

Drop.io 's CEO Sam Lessin presented “A Brief History of Privacy in this Data-Deluged World” at the Ignite II kick-off of Web 2.0 in NYC. loved Sam's thought captured in the following quote: “For the first time in history it is now cheaper and easier for people to be public than to be private. The web, and specifically the web 2.0

Here are a few companies in alphabetical order I thought had shown some real promise at the Web 2.0 Expo Ascentium – A model for the agency of the future I spoke to the CMO, Romi Mahajan who explained Ascentium 's go-to-market strategy to me. Not only do they build cool marketing campaigns but they can connect to your sales process.

Bill George author of True North's speech on Leadership at the World Business Forum The world is crying out for leadership – what can each of you do to make the world a better place? Today's environment is a product of a leadership crisis – leaders who take responsibility for their firm. They lose sight on why are they called to lead.

John Chambers CEO of Cisco's speech on Next Generation Companies at the World Business Forum Keep an eye on Market transitions – always be looking at what's going to happen in the next 18-24 months. The importance of Market Transitions cannot be understated. Web 2.0 will usher in a new way to collaborate. is all about.

Colin Powell gave a short speech over lunch at the World Business Forum He relayed a story about two Captains in the Army he had the pleasure to lead as a means of highlighting the importance of Situational Leadership. One time he told two of his Captains to “take that hill”. The 1st Captain ran off and proceeded to take the hill.

Everything is shaped by the customers. As customers change Tesco needs to change. They use the balanced scorecard (called the Tesco “steering” wheel) – 5 parts into equal weight – customers, community, finance, operations and people. The system is powerful because it is simple. Simplicity it the most powerful tool in business.

Rudy Giuliani former 107th mayor of New York's Q&A at World Business Forum How is NYC doing today? It's doing wonderful – crime remains the lowest in the country, its clean, it's a place that you either love or hate. Is the $700 billion bailout plan the right for America? What went wrong?

Jim Collins author of Built to Last and Good to Great's speech at the World Business Forum Good is the mortal enemy of great – I been curious to understand what systematically makes companies great. We now have over 6000 years of corporate data to compare what's different. And they are the ones that can carry you through a crisis.

Jack Welch former CEO of GE's Q&A at the World Business Forum What going on with the economy today and who is at fault? One crowd is these damn investment bankers - when these investment banking firms went public they were playing with others people money – before they were playing with the partners' money. None right!

Then you quickly realize that not every problem is a crisis. How do you identify the crisis? Well studying the facts helps (laugh) – the best way to identify a crisis is to get the best analysis – sometimes you can skate across the surface of issues but sometimes you need to drop into the entrails. What about the role of communication today?

A live interview with the CEO, Peter Friedman, from LiveWorld at Web 2.0 Expo about the launch of their new product called LiveBar. If you ever dreamed of adding community to your website without having the hassle of a major integration effort involving your IT department then LiveWorld's newest product called LiveBar is for you. in April 1996.

Because of Google – everyone today has access to research that we have never had before. So when you are considering a purchase what's the first thing you do – Google it. Therefore shoppers (B2C) and buyers (B2B) are armed with more data than ever before and its going to get worse thanks to social media. In Web 1.0 But in today's Web 2.0

How much should you spend each year on media? In business publications, online, radio, even TV? For B2B marketers this can be quite a quandary. But thanks to B2B Magazine – they have compiled a list of the Top 100 B2B advertisers and how much they are spending on each. link to full report ) But how can that help you?

So I can't help but think there must be something redeeming here for businesses. One thing I am investigating and heavily considering for 2009 is a Virtual Events Strategy. It's like a virtual tradeshow but a space all your own for your own business events. Don't miss his insights into what you should be doing. Learn more on [link

Environmental concerns are not new and Green IT efforts are gaining ground at many companies, both big and small. Of course, Green IT solutions are available to companies, but what else can businesses do to become more green? BearingPoint is searching for some new thinking on the topic. And yes, the winner gets a green prize!)

Normally email and profit don't go in the same sentence at least in the minds of most B2B marketers – but actually they should. Everything has a cost associated with it and email is no exception – so this podcast focuses on how much lift in revenues and profits you can get out of your email program if you are in B2C or B2B marketing.

Every once and a while you meet someone who inspires you to elevate your game to a whole new level and for me Doug Simon is that person. first met Doug on a panel speaking about Web Video and he invited me to do a vlog with him. Candidly I have wanted to use more video for my own blog so I jumped at the chance.

IP Technology is poised to converge the TV and Web experience. Some cornerstone elements of this convergence are: - VOD allows users to take control of their own experience because with DVR you must know what you want to watch before it airs! And just another thought - Can you envision a crossover of web programs to TV?

When people start talking about communication delivery as being cheap or free, it's often indicative of the amount of effort they tend to expend. This is because the perception of FREE skews how you think about the tool. It's one of those "just because you can, doesn't mean you should" things. I'm seeing a correlation, here. Subject line.

Why is this so dang difficult? The time for companies to try and be all things to all customers is past. Not that it was ever a good idea, but with the power shift to customers going on today, being ambiguous and wishy washy doesn't leave you open for more opportunities, it reduces those willing to give you a shot in the first place. Who wants that?

I read.a Mostly on the web, although I'm a Prime member of Amazon and run through a fair number of books, as well. I've been noticing lately that, in order to keep up, I've become a scanner. I've also noticed that people I talk with have become scanners. It's a self-preservation move. There's simply too much information to keep up with. sub heads.

I was reading my latest Wired magazine and found an article by Scott Brown, Facebook Friendonomics. He talks about the idea that friending has taken over the roll of the rolodex. He also laments the fact that he's never been un-friended, nor has he ever un-friended anyone because, well what kind of a jerk would actually do that? Lots of them.

As more and more marketers and salespeople grapple with how to segment their leads and personalize their messaging, the question of demographics is asked. If you've created an emarketing campaign lately, you've likely been asked, what's the customer profile you're targeting? Nothing. And, sometimes it may indeed work out that way.

Dunkin’ Donuts already has plenty of NFL promotions, but try this one for the Super Bowl. Dunkin’ Donuts slogan is America Runs on Dunkin’ - Yeah and I love, love, love, their coffee. They don't have any stores in St. hope my life insurer isn't blog savvy, probably not so I'm not worried. Anyway here's the promotion.

The social media idea path is like watching cells grow and multiply. Here is the exciting path of this idea related to Dunkin’ Donuts and the Super Bowl. Sunday, January 20, I’m on Twitter the night of the Green Bay/New York Giants NFC Championship game. Excellent. on Wednesday, January 23, I received the resonse below. Michelle.

The Society of New Communications Research named its 2008 fellows today , and I’m lucky enough and honored to be one of them. The SNCR fellows are a thoughtful group of men and women passionate about how societies communicate.

I am paraphrasing a quote attributed to former House Speaker Tip O’Neill who said “All politics is local.&# Given how technology has collapsed time and space, it is accurate to say then that all politics is social, as in the social communities that have common interests shared on the web in many forms.

Just a quick post to give Senator Obama a pat on the back. did a google search for MN GOP caucus locations and the Google Ad at the top was Where to Caucus for Obama. Now that's really reaching out to the other side. You would think one of the other GOP candidates would have ranked high organically or paid given that search term.

This week I attended an interesting symposium at the University of Minnesota. The Chair of the symposium was Christine Greenhow, Learning Technologies, College of Education and Human Development. One of the audience members also aptly raised the issue of access to the neighborhoods by those with hearing and sight disabilities.

NewComm Forum - Society for New Communications Research conference, www.newcommforum.com/2008/ This is an excellent conference to get to the details of how social media and new communications will impact your profession and company or organization. Time 18:33. It is a production of Supportive Oncology Services and Multiplicity Media.

Yesterday was a wonderful case in point of fast paced dialogue between the Obama and McCain campaigns. With the help of live news coverage and coordination of the campaign reporters, you may think, the campaigns stayed on top of every word the other makes. They are then able to respond, almost as if they were having a dialogue. 4) Product launch.

Time 23:15. Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall of a corporate meeting on social media? Many of the readers of this blog and listeners of the Marketing Edge podcast have been in those sessions where ideas are evaluated about whether to have a company blog, launch a podcast series or include bloggers in the media relations strategy.

The airline America loves to love, Southwest, is in a bit of a safety issue with the FAA and Congress. It is reported that some safety inspections were not conducted or planes not grounded. This post is to highlight Southwest’s PR handling of the situation. As is the tradition of Southwest, they are upfront. Excellent. Great work, Paula

Thank you to Valeria Maltoni, the Conversation Agent , for interviewing me on social media and journalism last week for her blog. The profession of journalism has changed considerably since my days in front of the camera and the mic. early & mid 80s if you must know) Now, the web makes every medium - multimedia.

I’ll be in Phoenix visiting clients and family, and I thought it would be good to have a Social Media Breakfast. It will be at: Cafe Carumba. 7303 E Indian School Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85251. It’s a casual gathering of marketers, PR and corporate communication professionals sharing ideas about social media.

Time 21:28. You’ve probably heard about Eliot Spitzer and his, well, lapse in judgment. We’re not going to spend too much time rehashing the ins and outs of what happened and the political significance (or lack thereof, depending on your perspective). So I’ve been around the block on political communication.

Time 20:22. Tiki Bar TV is one of the most popular vidcasts. This wonderful comedy short-form with colorful characters and a winning drink recipe at the end of every show is an excellent example of great work in this new genre — one in which marketers can access a community of fans. ” They even invited me over for a drink.

Twitter is a social networking combination blogging site. It is where people can follow the quick thoughts of others throughout the day. Many people share ideas in a sentence or two then link to a long piece, video or audio file. You are my inspiration @pchaney, at least for this blog post. Efficient communications – benefit: speed to knowledge.

Time 11:40. The Kellogg Foundation describes itself with these words: Where Everyone with Ideas and Dreams for Helping Vulnerable Children is Welcome. Last year it distributed its largest amount of program dollars, $357 million. Communications were much different when it was founded by WK Kellogg in 1930.

Time 16:56. major change for a company marketing today is the transformation from “messaging to the masses&# to “valuing the individual.&# We discussed this issue with David Meerman Scott, author of the New Rules of Marketing and PR. would term it a function of transforming from the industrial age to the service age.

Time 13:37. spoke on a panel last week at the Bulldog Reporter Media Relations Summit in San Francisco. This trip was a great exchange of ideas with many early adopters and PR and marketing practitioners. During a keynote session at the conference with Robert Scoble, I realized how new social media is for the majority of communication professionals.

Time 18:34. Marketers can no longer hide in an ivory tower from the conversations that are taking place among consumers, investors, customers and all of the publics in which companies operate, according to author Joseph Jaffe , our guest on this episode of the Marketing Edge. Tim set up a Twitter profile for Q&A for tonight’s event.

Time 21:04. Before I head off to a great conference on social media at the NewComm Forum, author of The Age of Engage Denise Shiffman spent time with me on the Marketing Edge podcast. because relationships take time and are hard to predict. It's a down to earth, health food restaurant.

In surveys with readers of the San Jose Mercury News, Chris O'Brien, reporter and innovator on the issue of news in the US, presented four major findings about how people get information: Google. Other people are a major resource of information. Choice. Conversations. Integrated - Newsrooms must be fully integrated across blogs and multimedia.

Since marketing is about words and positioning, I'm going to remain neutral on this issue by saying that the advocates of global healthcare will use the term globalization and the opponents of global healthcare will use the term outsourcing. Global health care facilities are attracting Americans for everything thing from dentistry to transplants.

An excellent panel sponsored by the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association was convened last night, great crowd and questions. The central question of the night however, seemed to be elusive. The panel was billed as Who Controls Social Media in the Enterprise, and it didn't seem to me that there was a clear answer. Panel Members. Thanks.

Time 15:19. The idea of a group of people sharing information can apply to hobbyists (like whitewater,try KayakMind , a product launch team, or a global force of loyal fans. One of my current favorites is Natasha Bedingfield Many companies struggle with whether such a beneficial collaboration is a technology question. Jump on

Quelch poses a clean, concise list of 5 major rules for branding that I have chosen to apply to the 2008 presidential Democrat ticket, specifically with the idea as some are advocating that an Obama/Clinton ticket is a smart choice. The rules are from John Quelch. He served previously as a director of Reebok International. Think Coca-Cola.

A horse with Hooters, now that's classy. It caught me off guard this morning when I read stories about Hooters joining on as a new co-sponsor for this year's Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown, just in time for a likely triple crowning of the thoroughbred. mean, this is a horse named after UPS, you know brown trucks, brown uniforms.

The future of news is both a fiscal and emotional issue. Newsrooms across the country are struggling with the economic realities across the spectrum from energy costs to the impact of the internet. On the emotional side, the press, vilified as it is by those whose agenda it suits, still remains a cornerstone of a free, democratic society.

Time 21:37. have said for a long time that social media is more a movement than a market. The nature of social media and the timing of this technology fits perfectly with the Millennial generation. The millennial generation is comprised of individuals born in the 80s and early 90s.

Time 24:19. This podcast you’ll get the big picture of social media with Robert Scoble ,the co-author of Naked Conversations along with Shel Israel and managing director of Fast Company TV. It's a world where distance and time matter little, and sincerity and participation matter a lot. Put Makeover in the subject line

The conversation on Chris Brogan’s blog about personal branding, strip malls and billboards has developed in a way that I think is a bit off the mark. don’t disagree with Brogan or the comment on the blog post by Christopher Penn that many social sites can and are used as billboards for personal brands.

Is it a coincidence that the top two hospitals on US News and World Reports honor roll of the best hospitals in the US also have strong social media programs? I'm delighted to make that connection with two friends who do an outstanding job at their respective leadership positions in social media for Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Mayo Clinic.

OK, I'll admit it, I'm a freak for RVs. All kinds, Class A, Class C, even conversion vans have a soft spot in my heart. Maybe it's because of the feeling of freedom I get on the open road, or the sheer comfort of some of these beautiful home away from home on wheels. Paul, MN at the state fairgrounds. It's all here at the FMCA conference.

Next week I will be hosting two political shows on OoVoo during the web-based video conferencing platform's political days. You can sign up at [link] for my slots on Wednesday, July 30 at 1:00m Eastern Time or Thursday night July 31 at 10:30 pm Central Time. Now does this trip mean Obama has foreign policy experience? See you next week

Wait, I must be missing a major ingredient here. get that the Food Network gets millions of viewers, hey I’m one of them. But why does Next Food Network Star runner-up Adam Gertler need cable to do his twist on what internet viewers want him to cook? Check them out in the last episode of Food Network Star. Will the financial model work?

For example - Divided We Fail sponsored by AARP, Business Roundtable and other groups, Clean and Fair Campaign 2008 a group set up on Facebook by members of the Public Relations Society of America, PRSA The Story of Stuff with Annie Lenoard, the National Right to Work among many others. Share them with your fellow readers

Early this morning www.twitter.com/newsgang shared this article from CNN.com about how Wall Street arrived at its financial crisis and how to avoid it in the future. It highlights how short-sightedness and incentive compensation plans contributed to taking on higher risk. Another aspect of the crisis is how financially connected we are globally.

Time 28:03. My guest on this edition of the Marketing Edge and I were on a panel a while back discussing how journalism is changing. Joel Kramer has spent his career in journalism. He was the editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune for the majority of the 1980s and served as president and publisher through much of the 1990s.

Time 19:32. Social media continues to work its way around the innovative companies in the Fortune 500. It pays when you have products that can inspire an emotional commitment, oh say like a ‘65 Mustang. Ford is laying out a great social media plan for the introduction of the 2010 Mustang model. Marketing Edge Contest.

So there I am minding my own business scanning Twitter and David Mullen follows me. think, hey who’s this Mullen character, check his profile, then blog (which is my standard procedure before following) and read his piece What My Toddler Taught Me About Crisis Communication. It's a solid piece. feel like that all the time. More vintage Wright.

Time 22:14. How do big corporate brands implement social media? One answer is, they don't, their customers do it for them. That's one way, others include: Providing social tools – Facebook applications or widgets. Cause collaboration – Supporting in dollars and actions a cause involving company and customers. Fast Forward to Today.

Time 9:14. Here's a new way to look at your marketing department, as a newsroom. Because it is a powerful way to tell a story, a way to insert your company into news cycles, a way to be a part of the action, a way to be a thought leader, and a way to create dynamic valued information that works with a sales cycle.

I enjoyed George Colony and Forrester's exceptional work in research and analysis for more than a decade. Like Colony, I have lived through the 90s enterprise tech ascent and the ‘01 free fall. Recently Colony listed 5 reasons this tech recession will be different. The consumer landscape is very different than it was in 2001. And you

Open house will be held on Saturday, June 26, 2008 from 11 am - 1 pm. Front of the House. My husband and I just moved and are seeking to rent out our Alameda house. UPDATE: We’ve rented the house. Thanks everyone! While it's a beautiful home, it was too good of a time to purchase another one! Here are the details. Available immediately.

I have only been on a Facebook for a year or so. mainly use it to keep in touch with personal connections, and rarely use it for professional reasons. believe that the “casual” aspect of Facebook does make it more difficult for business-to-business companies to leverage the full potential, with early success for consumer related companies.

Starting a blog is easy. Getting and maintaining the motivation to post regularly is not. originally started my blog in May 2007 as a way to discuss how PR is an integral part of marketing. started writing one post a week, grew to two posts and then even did a weekly digest of interesting articles. thought – I want to be original. del.icio.us

Sarah Palin. Oh my gosh. While I’ve voted mainly Democrat, this post isn’t about the politics of the election. Rather, did you SEE and HEAR those interviews with Katie Couric and Charles Gibson. There is a huge interest in her that her initial interviews will be a pivotal point in her candidacy. Now don’t get me wrong. Very smooth.

Vice Presidential Debate. Disclosure, while I lean toward Democrats/Independent, this post purely provides insight on Palin’s performance, not the content.  . Last week, I wrote about the one-on-one interviews Sarah Palin had conducted. highlighted her weaknesses and provided some media recommendations before the vice presidential debate.

I was honored to guest post on a few blogs regarding virtual events and trade shows. If you’re interested in learning more about virtual events, check out these posts:  . Bonjour Events: Planning a Successful “Virtual&# Event. Julius Solaris’ Event Manager Blog: Virtual Trade Shows are Around the Corner. ”.  . del.icio.us

The other day, I met someone the ferry, and we started chatting about our jobs. Inevitably, the question was asked, “What does your company do?” ” My initial reaction was to respond with the two sentence description that was developed via a messaging session. œMy company is a webcasting and …”.  . ”.  . So how did I respond?  .

The posts that I learn the most from are by those who are willing to show their mistakes and what they’ve learned. This not only humanizes them but also makes us feel just a little bit less stupid!  . My Top 5 Pitching Blogger Mistakes.  . Number 5: Oops - I thought that was MISS Blogger, not MISTER Blogger.  . What mistakes have you made?

B2B marketing professionals in today's economy are always looking for new ways to do more with less and still gain a competitive advantage within the marketplace. First up in our B2B Marketing interview series is Tom Pick of WebMarketCentral. Tom also writes for the WebMarketCentral Blog, providing resources and tools for the Interactive Marketer.

The next interview in our B2B Marketing thought leader interview series is with Dianna Huff, B2B Marketing Communications Consultant. Dianna also writes for the Marcom Writer Blog , and provides some great tips to help B2B marketing professionals develop integrated marketing campaigns for effective. lead management. This is a great question.

As a follow-up to my post about the importance of reputation in email marketing , I interviewed Spencer Kollas, director of delivery services at StrongMail , about the latest technology solutions to manage reputation and optimize deliverability. Where do most marketing automation and CRM solutions fail when it comes to deliverability?

In today's commoditized business climate I think what sets companies apart with a complex sale is how well they build and cultivate relationships. Over the years, I've observed a truth; and this truth will requires many sales people to reconsider how they think selling should be done. They are time constrained and too busy to think or strategize.

It's surprising how many marketers now say they do “lead nurturing” but in reality they are just sending monthly email campaigns or monthly newsletters with some call to action. If all you do is send generic email marketing messages to your early stage leads over and over and over again, you're missing the point. We need the human touch.

In B2B marketing, when you have many potential buyers who are involved in the buying process, how do you connect with these people in a memorable way? If you look at most lead generation messages, they often contain industry jargon and abstract ideas. Interestingly, that's part of the reason many of them don't work. If not, people will ignore you.

If you don't have time to search though multiple blogs I recommend you check out Alltop. The site was launched by marketing wiz, blogger, author, entrepreneur & venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki. What's different about Alltop? It's really a selection of the top 50 RSS feeds (i.e. mostly blogs) in 20 categories.

Marketing Expo is March 5, 2008 and you can register here The gang at MarketingProfs put together conference that's worth checking out. Now here's the best part. no conference travel required. The B2B 2.0

This morning I was talking to a marketing leader about his 2008 strategy and he brought up some concerns he had about the economy and its potential impact on him and others. Can you blame him? We have to remember that regardless of the economy, sales people are still expected to perform. Maddox writes, “According to the [IDC] report.

I just had a great interview with Robin Carey, co-founder of the Customer Collective. Salespeople have become the second choice for information among buyers who'd rather just go to the Internet. This trend actually creates an opportunity for those who think and act like trusted advisors. You can listen here. What's The Customer Collective ?

What do you do with leads or inquires once you generate them? This basic question is overlooked by so many and yet it's the leading cause of failure in what would otherwise be effective lead generation programs. The ones that aren't qualified yet (but are a fit) you put into a lead nurturing process. ” They are: Web analytics. Database services.

The faster we can get new sales reps producing revenue the better. So what works? Jill Konrath shares 5 great tips for new sellers on her Selling to BIG Companies Blog and it's definitely worth a read. particularity liked tip number four about creating an “account entry campaign.”. Define your goals – Be clear on what you want.

More companies than ever are using third party providers for teleprospecting and lead management operations, however there is little information on how to select, engage, and measure these vendors who will add that essential human touch. During the interview you will hear Sridhar discuss: Why his client's decide to outsource.

I don't know about you but I seldom meet a B2B marketer who has time to think. And it seems that the pressure keeps building as more of us seek to do more with less. That said, it's vital for us to think before we execute. It's not about doing more campaign activity… it's about doing the right things repeatedly better.

You're invited to join me at ITSMA's (IT Services Marketing Association) upcoming Marketing Leadership Forum May 6-7, 2008 in La Jolla, CA. Generating demand has become a top priority for most companies in today's slower environment. The most successful programs are much more targeted than in past years and favor quality over quantity.

If you're too busy to listen to my podcast or simply prefer to reading over listening, Sridhar Ramanathan, whom I interviewed on how to select and optimize outsourced teleprospecting partnerships, posted his the talking points on his blog. Pacifica Group: Part II: How to Select and Optimize Outsourced Teleprospecting

In the complex sale, the length of the buying cycle makes the connection between on-the-web activity and the off-line decision to purchase much more difficult to trace. So the challenge is connecting our website data (analytics), with marketing data (inquiries and leads) with the sales process and revenue (closing the loop).

Last year, I wrote a post on giving away ideas to proactively educate and attract future customers. was surprised that it generated such a lively discussion. Michael Stelzner wrote the following comment on my post back then, “I have been giving away my trade secrets for years (against the advice of advisors). The results have been amazing.

”We know more about our prospects (leads) than we know about our current customers” was a shocking statement I heard from a client and it stuck with me. In fact, it's the impetus for this post. while back I was in a meeting with a marketing leader of a Global 100 software firm. He shared a story about their new CEO at the time.

I participated in a webcast and podcast combo on the adding the human touch to marketing automation as part of the Marketing Mastery Series sponsored by Eloqua , MarketingExperiments and ON24. You can watch the webinar recording here. Because the webinar was a brief 20 minutes, we held all audience questions for a podcast interview right after.

B2B Marketers are increasingly emphasizing lead generation and as a result, BtoB Magazine just published their inaugural BtoB 2008 Lead Generation Guide today. highly recommend you check it out. It has a lot of studies, expert columns, market statistics and vendor lists that are worthwhile.

After a talk on lead management, I spoke with several marketers from a company where one said, “We don't need to qualify our leads because our web forms do the qualifying for us. then we send them to our sales team.”. Here's the problem with that model. long and detailed web forms often cause people to lie or simply leave altogether.

The biggest obstacle to go-to-market success (and lead generation ROI for that matter) is the lack of good execution. The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council's latest study, “ Driving the Bottom Line from the Front Line ,” assessed the go-to-market processes and capabilities of global companies. agree with their findings.

Webinars and webcasts are a key tactic in lead generation toolkit. The challenge with webinars is that if you don't do a super job, attendees will bail on you and they may never register one of your events again. That's why I found this chart What Causes Webinar Attendees to Bail? by MarketingSherpa useful. Content was not as advertised.

I was was recently interviewed by Dave Stein, CEO and Founder of ES Research Group , and author of How Winners Sell (a great book by the way). During the interview we talk about the following topics: What works to get sales and marketing alignment. How the marketing funnel impacts the sales funnel. Reengaging and optimizing past sales leads.

In professional services organizations the people who bring in the big revenue clients are often called rainmakers. They're the one's that make it all happen and become almost mythical in the process. In today's challenging business climate, we could all use more rainmakers. Try what's worked before. Experiment and adapt. Don't let up.