Carol Bartz, CEO of Yahoo!, recently identified the volume of information flow as one of the largest challenges facing corporate leaders today.  In marketing, the issue is not simply one of volume but of information richness.  Well beyond the reams of rational data about customer click-thru rates, viewing behavior, etc., the emotion and human insight embedded in unstructured information available via social media (e.g., dialogues, comments, ratings) elevates this challenge for marketers above volume alone.  Read More »

By Laura Morris

It’s that time of year again – predictions and “what’s in/what’s out” lists.  Thought I’d jump onto the bandwagon by sharing some of the themes we’re hearing from leading B2C marketers as we ask them “what’s next?” for marketing.  Here are a few of the more provocative ways F1000 executives think your job is likely to change in the decade ahead.

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By Rob Hamshar

In this day of the attention economy, most B2B companies have bolted electronic publishing houses onto the front of their marketing engines.  For many, it’s constructed out of little more than a marketing agenda, a keyword index, and reluctant technical staffers-cum-copywriters.  Given its emerging status as the divine path to high-quality sales leads, the online content manufacturing business is burgeoning across nearly every industry. But to the potential buyer conducting research online, this development has been a blessing and a curse, as picking through such a swelling mass of relevant style-over-substance content leads to frustratingly few instances of “I’m glad I read that.”  More often it leads to feelings of boredom combined with a vague sense of being misled with hype, slanted content, unsubstantiated claims, and complex arguments.  Why?

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After my gloomy 2009 retrospective, I thought I’d try for a cheery 2010 prognostication. Then I looked at the unemployment rate, continued declines in construction spending, the looming bust of commercial real estate and quickly recalled why I’m a self-described realist (others call it cynic, take your pick).

So how about an even-handed assessment of things to watch for in 2010? Even the cynic can provide that.  Here are three big macroeconomic and marketing-specific trends every marketer should follow in earnest: Read More »

As followers of the Chinese Zodiac prepare to usher in the year of the tiger, marketers appear to be ushering in the year of the re-org.  Having seen their markets soften, crumble, and begin to show signs of life—all in the last 18 months—marketing leaders are rethinking the organizations they’ve built.  Even if the basic structures we’ve built appear to be viable, new segments need to be addressed and  new teams need to be formed to address markets that look very different from the ones that we faced just two or three years ago.    

Unfortunately, many of the marketing reorganizations that will kick off in 2010 will take a year or two to implement.  Right around the time that key players settle into their new roles, teams start to gel, and new processes start to fire on all cylinders, market conditions will have changed, and it will be time to start all over again.  Read More »