BLOGS: Instant Messaging for Business.

The best examples of business blogs are those that provide useful, relevant, enlightening content that their audiences can learn from and apply to their own personal or business situations, and further their success. That's the kind of blog that NOISE aims to achieve each month with Trendspottings, which nearly 1,000 marketing professionals now subscribe to — and the response last month to our post "Are You Ready For Your Brett Favre" suggests we were pretty successful.

Beyond the number of positive personal comments we received, our article in appeared (in no particular order) in online news channels and blogs including:

• Small Business Times
  
• Zimbio.com
  
• Project Clarity
• Bitemarks
• Alltop

A little chest-thumping on our part? Okay, we admit it, a little. But here's the real point we're trying to illustrate: If you're a marketer that includes blogging as part of your overall branding, marketing and communications mix, don't miss the opportunity to make bold, timely statements — statements that could reverberate throughout the blogosphere, garnering you and your company valuable ripple effects of awareness and attention that could, ultimately, add to your success.

Source: NOISE
Reported by: John Sprecher

WEBINARS: Talking the Leadership Talk.

Who are the leaders in your organization? Odds are, they're not just c-suite professionals anymore. Leaders today are emerging on all levels within progressive companies — creating newness, discovering solutions, winning awards, garnering attention or otherwise rethinking the way things have always been done.

In branding your company, there isn't a better place to be or positioning to adopt than that of the leader. And NOISE believes the best way to communicate your leadership is to exercise every opportunity possible to get your leaders talking the talk.

Take webinars. Today, webinars allow interested parties from around the country or the world — literally in any location anywhere there's internet access — to sit in as active, interactive audience participants in a presentation of interest.

Mary Parodo, NOISE president, was one of three honored panelists in a September, 2008 webinar on health care marketing, hosted and promoted by HealthLeaders Media. With some preparation and a little polish (as in professionally-produced PowerPoint slides and video, example here), Mary was able to benefit health care marketers throughout the United States with her knowledge and insight — as well as position NOISE as an industry leader to hundreds of potential clients.

There are lots of ways your leaders can show off their leadership, from webinars and blogs (like this one) to white papers and feature articles. Interested? Let NOISE lead the way for you.

Source: NOISE
Reported by: John Sprecher

GREEN MARKETING: Thinking Outside the Car.

As we all know by now, eco-friendly positioning and promotion — you know, going green — can appeal to a diverse audience of brand-passionate consumers, stimulating sales for and bonding a stronger loyalty to your brand.

Of course, when you're really creative about it, you get the added bump of public relations buzz, in both traditional and social media.

Ripon College is one of those really-creative-about-it organizations. A small liberal arts college of approximately 1,000 students in Ripon, Wisconsin (claims to fame: Harrison Ford was a student here and Speed Queen appliances are made here), the school's marketing minds jumped on the green machine to offer incoming freshman a free (yes, free) Trek 820 mountain bike, free (yes, free) Trek Vapor bike helmet and free (yes, free) Master Lock U-Lock — if they promised to keep their gas-consuming wheels at home.

Oh, and rah-rah marketing bonus: All products are manufactured in Wisconsin.

But the positive bottom lines are many. First, more than 60% of all incoming freshman took the college up on the deal, helping (albeit in a small way) Ripon College reduce its carbon footprint. Second, the school got significant buzz regionally and even nationally, helping elevate its awareness and image. And third, those partnering Wisconsin products (Trek Bicycles and Master Lock) enjoyed a little "PR free ride" on top of the bikes.

Our view? Kudos to Ripon College for the strategy, the creativity, the wheeling (no pun) and the dealing to pull this very attention-getting promo off. Our counsel? Demand that your agency incessantly puts the pedal to the metal and delivers creative marketing like this.

SOURCE: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, NOISE
Reported by: John Sprecher

E-MARKETING: And Along Comes the MISS Principle.

If you're an active e-marketer who purchases and distributes unsolicited e-mail, you know there are a lot of regulations to pay attention to — and some hefty fines waiting to smack you down if you don't. Well, along come the Feds with some new electronic fine print they'd like you to take note of.

Effective July 2008, all e-marketers are mandated to streamline the opt-out process for unsolicited marketing e-mails, making it possible for consumers to remove their information from the e-database via one simple step. The new regulations, part of the CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing, betcha didn't know that), specifically require that your e-blast now allow the recipient to opt out by simply entering their e-mail address. And not a keystroke more.

Oh, and one lesser item — the requirement that all marketing e-mail include a hard street address has been amended. Post office boxes are now cool, too.

So if you're e-marketing, don't forget the new "MISS" principle: Make it simple, stupid.

SOURCE: Marketing News, NOISE
Reported by: John Sprecher