How many people at your company are trained, equipped and empowered to talk to customers?  If your organization is large, chances are the percentage of customer-facing people is smaller.  How many customers does your company have?  How about potential customers?  No doubt the numbers stack up in a heavy ratio against people inside the company that are trained to engage them.  Traditional advertising and marketing provides a cushion, putting out messaging to the large customer population to influence their purchase behavior.  Simply put, one way is easier, two-way (and multi-way) is hard. MORE >>

I will resist the urge. Already there are too many write-ups about the inspirational campaign from a social media perspective. I'm going to keep telling myself, “Please don't write about Old Spice MORE >>

As the convergence of different marketing tactics takes root in agencies, vendors and marketing departments of companies of all sizes, I’ve started to think about what it takes to ultimately be a “ five tool player &# in the digital space.  Ed Boches wrote a great post yesterday about labels in creative and digital – and that got me thinking it was time to document these thoughts.  What did I miss? Creativity and Appreciation for Technology. Understanding the Community. It’s more than just market research , it’s the practical application of it. Business Acumen. MORE >>

There are regular chats on Twitter, and then there's hashtagsocialmedia.com. Marc Meyer and Jason Breed have done an amazing job over the last year plus bringing in some highly respected and social-media-knowledgeable folks like Chris MORE >>

Let’s face it.  Etiquette is a lost art.  Forget “interruption marketing&# for a minute and think about how people interact on a regular basis.  New technologies change that behavior as people seek to leverage the convenience they provide. When the phone was invented, an etiquette had to evolve on how to greet a new call, what’s an appropriate time to call, how to converse without interruption.  Lots of room to improve here still – I can’t understand why politicians don’t have to follow the “do not call&# list rules, but that’s another story). MORE >>