I’ve been looking again at MySpace, as a recent blog post detailed. One of the things I’ve been looking at is the depth of engagement. Is a friend relationship enough to market on? What is the value of a MySpace friendship?
Over the last five days, I’ve been sending out 200 messages a day or so [...]

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Funny - here at work at the Student Loan Network, I just had a meeting with our marketing director about a press release. The topic of the press release was to emphasize how we’re still open for business despite all the credit market turmoil, how not everyone is going out of business, etc. What was [...]

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I had an epiphany of sorts in the shower.
What a lot of new media folks talk about - audience building, impressions, and the dreaded M word, monetization - is not marketing.
Marketing is the sharing of ideas.
So what is all the stuff we in new media talk about? Sales. Whether it’s pay per click ads, podcast [...]

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What I’ll Be Sharing at PodCamp DC
A few people have wondered what I’ll be sharing at PodCamp DC. I’ve got two sessions blocked out, plus possibly a panel - we’ll see about the last part.
Session 1:
New Media Marketing: How New Media Powers Business. 10 AM Saturday. I’ve been working on refining this ever-evolving presentation which [...]

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Andrew Baron Selling Twitter Account, Database For Sale?
Chris Brogan raised the question people should be asking about Andrew Baron’s eBay sale of his Twitter account.
What are you buying? What’s the value?
Laura Fitton said on Twitter: “you can’t sell relationships.” You can’t. But you sure as heck can sell data.
In the case of Twitter, you can’t [...]

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Marketing Sucks
Marketing sucks. That’s the perception that many, many consumers have about marketing, for good or ill. Here’s an example of what I mean. Richard Mondello, a high school senior in Dover Plains, New York, recently wrote on his blog:
In my opinion, marketers will always be marketers. It’s their job to manipulate you into purchasing [...]

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A few folks have been mentioning Snapple’s new soft drink, Snapple Antioxidant Water.
“Wait, it’s water, it’s not a soft drink!” I can hear Marketing shouting.
I beg to differ.
Exhibit A: water.
Ingredients: Water.
Serving Size: 1 cup (240ml)
Servings per Container: About 2.5
Calories per serving: 0
Total calories per bottle: 0
Total Fat: 0g % Daily Value (Fat): 0%
Sodium: 0 mg
% [...]

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Learn to use the power of the Dark Side of the Force. Listen to the best marketing podcast ever produced in a doughnut shop with my friend and co-host John Wall. In this week’s episode, it’s a Google showdown between for-profits and non-profits, and why it will make your keyword costs go through the roof.
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Google announced a slew of products specifically tailored to non-profits two days ago.
First, all their apps - Google Apps for Domains, etc. - are all free.
Google Checkout transaction processing is free to non-profits until 2009.
Here’s the game changer. Google Grants is an application process to qualify for free AdWords advertising. Where commercial organizations pay out [...]

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Today, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced that they had acquired Coffee Equipment Company and its Clover system of coffee machines, single-serving cup makers that will let Starbucks customize your coffee for you.
So what?
The So What is this: Clover coffee machines are networked. They all speak to headquarters via CloverNet, and monitor EVERYTHING about your cup [...]

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