Send your mind back to the launch of the iPhone. Although you may not recall the first App you downloaded – what you will remember is the ease of use or the purchase experience. It’s an experience that has led to the Apple’s Apps Store selling more than $200 million worth of apps every month and unleashing the new app economy.

For those of you still relying on fax machines or hiding behind the Berlin Wall of firewalls – Apps are small software applications designed to be used on Smartphones such as the Apple iPhone, the Blackberry or other mobile devices such as the Apple iPod. And now, the Apple iPad.

If you look past the games, juvenile beer drinking apps or childish farting programs (my 10 year old son loves this App) is a world of nifty little programs that are creating fortunes for entrepreneurs and changing the way we do and can do business.

The success of the Apple’s Apps Store has basically kick-started what is now called the Apps Economy with nearly every producer of smart technologies trying to copy Apple’s business model. This includes some the biggest companies in the world like Google, Nokia and Microsoft.

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In a recent article in B&T magazine, David Lindberg ANZ’s MD of Strategy, Marketing and Customer Segmentation was quoted as saying “The way I think of strategy is that marketing is an extension of strategy rather than a separate function.”

He was also quoted as saying “Most of my career, the line between strategy and marketing has been blurred.”

As a marketing strategist, David’s quote got me thinking about the main reasons why business and a sizeable portion of the marketing community still separate business strategy and marketing strategy.

I think marketing is a terribly misunderstood subject in business circles and in the public’s mind. I’m not saying that David is wrong or that he may have been misquoted. But the truth is marketing is too often confused with selling and advertising.

Even the Australia Marketing Institute wants to place marketing under the control of finance. Now that is barking mad…

So here is my question: Is David right? Is marketing just an extension of strategy?

Your thoughts please…

Welcome to my first ‘Incomplete Guide to Newcastle’s New Influencers’ list for 2010. It’s populated with a lot more local Newie bloggers (including business blogs) and a few Newcastle expats.

But, I’m still on the look out for a local user-generated site (please help).

So, if you have time please go and visit as many of our new influencers as possible. And when you get there, don’t be afraid join the conversation. Make a comment.

Some write often. Some don’t. Some use images. Some use words. Some are on radio and most are not. But, they all look at the world in a very different way.

Life In General & Armchair Philosophy

Blackbird Corner, The Spice Rack, Crow’s Garage, pryorcommitment, the best of all possible worlds, Mitchell Davies Blog, My kid is too funny, Belinda-Jane,  Miss Kool, Killing Mind, Glen Evans, Puff Pieces, Adam Purcell.com, Whalen Flynn, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think, An Account of Social Commentary, Five Thumbs Down, That Ducati Guy, Lexxie Couper, The Rant-O-Matic, Tonight,Captain?, Miss Koolmeister, BryAntics, My Take On It,

Art, Technology, Design & Entertainment

eCommerce and Online Shopping Systems, Trends in Communication, Peter Bower, Just Creative Design, Deanjrobinson.com, RocksolidPR, Newcastle Music Directory, The Plastic Age, Matthew Packer, Deadly Bloody Serious, Ivan Vanderbyl, One fine Day, I’m With The Band, Newism, Zen Harris, Living Light, Steve Happ, Jacob Talbot, Hunter Arts Network

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Get Sticky. Now, get it on your iPhone. Yes, my friends the team at Sticky have launched our very first iPhone App.

Its totally free and a fun way for readers of our popular inbound marketing blog, Get Sticky to get the latest updates. Plus its allows our team to explore the mobile apps market.

To download our App search for Get Sticky on your iPhone app store or go to
http://itunes.apple.com/hk/app/get-sticky-inbound-marketing-blog/id350964188?mt=8

Its not going to be on iTunes Top Chart for Free Apps, but we hope corporate marketers will find it useful.

So, why not help a little Aussie team of inbound marketers and download your Get Sticky iPhone app today. And if you could give us a favourable rating in the iTunes score, we’ll love you even more.

Thanks in advance for your support. We appreciate it.

Here’s a blatant promotion on my blog. If you are marketer or CEO who’s organization is struggling to come to terms with the digital revolution. Then, you ought to be interested in our latest news from Sticky Advertising. We’ve dropped the ‘Advertising.’

And, we’ve finally taken the plunge and repositioned the agency as digital with a focus on advanced digital strategies.

Why?  So we can take advantage of a growing need to manage the transition from a mainly offline business and marketing model to a growing digital and social business model. It also means higher profit margins and lower costs compared to advertising’s traditional cash cow of buying media which is now basically a commodity being sold by every Tom, Dick and Mary.

The process of change has been exciting, but at times scary especially for our principal, Craig (Media Hunter) Wilson – it’s his money we are playing with. However, Sticky has quickly scored some big goals by signing up a number of large national accounts. There is talk now of going International.

If you are interested you might want to see our new revamped Sticky and GetSticky sites…

I now don’t feel alone. It looks like the people from the New Institute are joining the conversation about seeing the city of Newcastle as a brand with a public forum at Merewether’s Souths Leagues Club. I believe the forum starts at 7pm, Tuesday 13th October.

Imagine seeing Newcastle as a prosperous and successful city…

Imagine Newcastle as a city that supports thriving manufacturing, service, defence and education sectors, boasting the finest art galleries, theatres and sporting arena’s.

Imagine a city that is, after Sydney, the most popular tourism destination in Australia.

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This week the Australian Marketing Institute announced the 11 successful NSW councillors to represent their fellow NSW AMI members.

It is a shame that there isn’t any representives from NSW’s second largest city or the Hunter AMI Group.

Here are the NSW councillors for 2009/10:

• President: Paul Nicolaou AFAMI CPM
• Deputy president: to be advised
• Christopher Mooney AFAMI CPM (state director to National Board)
• Nicholas Ridis FAMI CPM
• Sean Grant AFAMI CPM
• Louise Nock AFAMI CPM
• Frank Cohen AFAMI CPM
• William Scully-Power AMAMI
• Alan Sarkissian FAMI CPM
• Martyn Riddle AMAMI CPM
• MaryJane Aviles AMAMI CPM
• Michael Locke AFAMI CPM

I’ve got some great online stats from a recent study by Google.

In June’s edition of BtoB Online, it was reported that Seventy-three percent of C-suite executives use the Internet daily. Google’s research was conducted with Forbes of 500 executives at companies with sales of $1 billion or higher.

Image by DeusXFlorida (I’m a big fan of this photo)

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Everyone wants to talk about social media. But very few marketers or brands understand their digital or social media landscape or the importance of influencers.

That’s why, on a beautiful sunny winters afternoon I spent time looking for emerging digital influencers in and around Newcastle.

Picture by freefotouk

I didn’t look for influencers on social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook. That would take to long. I just stuck to people writing about their experiences of products, services and brands on blogs. I also included local brands that are embracing blogging as a method of connecting with customers.

So, welcome to ‘The Git’s Incomplete Guide to Newcastle’s New Influencers.’

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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.