This month’s big Top Twit mover is @rob_mcclintock rocking up the charts with 1,834 followers. Highest new entries are Laynie Kelly as @marketingmuscle with 1,243 followers and Lynn & Justin as @Lynn_and_justin with 784 followers.

But, still at number one is the local Herald’s Twitter poster boy, Jacob Cass @justcreative with an incredible 14,322 followers.

What’s more, I’ve stumbled across our very first local satirical twitterer, the fake @jodi_mckay.  I know, it’s against my rules, but I’m going to let this one go. I hope he or she or they will entertain us for years to come. Besides, it may jolt the real Jodi Mckay into joining the conversation.

Read the rest of this entry »

Is it the Hunter AMI Group or is it the NSW Australian Marketing Institute? Who cares, they invite you to afternoon with The Connected Marketer.

Talking about: Using social media and online networking to connect with customers

The economic downturn has forced businesses to go back to basics and focus on their lifeblood — their customers. Marketers are being looked upon to find ways of staying relevant to their business stakeholders through various communication techniques, with ever-decreasing expense budgets.

Read the rest of this entry »

Al and Laura Ries new book War in the boardroom is an intuitive and enjoyable look at why management and marketers don’t see eye-to-eye.

Chapter by chapter Al and Laura use thought provoking observations to highlight the clear difference that exists between left-brain management and right-brain thinking marketers. Management are highly verbal (bullies), logical (anal) and analytical (bean counters), marketers are highly visual, intuitive and holistic. The results are different mindsets which lead to conflicting approaches to branding.

Al and Laura draw from their wealth of knowledge of working with some the world’s biggest brands to illustrate their point.

Reading this book was like exercising daemons from the past, reliving my own personal battles with management.

It’s a must read for both marketers and management.

I’d like to personally thank the brains trust at the Australian Marketing Institute for pointing out the bloody obvious “Marketers should have the final say on industry positioning.”

After 70 odd years since its establishment and nearly 40 forty years since Al Ries and Jack Trout wrote a series of articles for the Advertising Age on positioning, the penny finally dropped.  The Institute has finally recognised the importance of positioning and it being a key responsibility for marketers. It’s an epiphany.

I knew there was a reason for paying my membership.

Read the rest of this entry »

What is happening with Technorati? Is it losing its authority with the blogging community? Is it having growing pains? Or is it going mainstream? I don’t know.

Not so long ago, Technorati was the best way to see how much influence you had in the blogosphere. Blogger’s lived and breathed Technorati’s authority rankings. Many bloggers built their reputations on the back of it.

What’s more, it helped start a crazy for blogging lists. Not hundreds, but thousands of blogging lists. Lists that made you, an A-Lister, B-Lister or just a very lonely person with a point of view.

Read the rest of this entry »

I know marketing is a challenging subject for chief executives. I know boardrooms are full of analytical people struggling to come to terms with emerging marketing trends. I know marketing professionals have a tendency to follow rather than lead.

Despite this, I would like to throw-in a relatively new marketing concept of Inbound Marketing. I can reassure people it isn’t just another crappy made-up term to sell a marketing book. And my GOD, there’s been a load of crappy marketing books lately.

Read the rest of this entry »

I read with interest an article by marketing legend Al Ries titled ‘Metric Madness: The Answer to Mathematical Failure Seems to Be More Math.’

Al Ries talks about what he calls ‘Metric Madness’ a notion that companies can run everything by the numbers – especially marketing and how its becoming the hottest concept in business.

Sadly for us downunder, ‘Metric Madness’ is being championed by our very own peak industry body – the Australian Marketing Institute. They’ve been pushing it for five years.

Al Ries says “Marketing is certainly not 70% mathematics. It’s not even 1% mathematics.” Not in the hallways of our Institute.

Read the rest of this entry »