Nike's "Just Do It" didn't just happen.

The tagline and the brand that's been built around it was developed through a process–and a fairly long one, at that. It most likely entailed numerous interviews in focus groups with athletes and aspiring athletes to understand not only their wants, needs and thoughts about Nike, but what drives and inspires them to compete and/or workout. The process included market, competitor and SWOT analyses, demographics, consumer psychology studies and a host of other data and research.

Have you ever Googled yourself? There is no shame in admitting it. I have, and not because I am completely self-absorbed, self-centered or have a grandiose view of my own brilliance. I am just curious as to what information pops up when someone enters my name. What is it about me that stands out among all the other Lilli Ceasers in the world? (Of course there couldn’t possibly be any other Lilli Ceasers like me in the world. Right? Right!).

If you’re not looking ahead you’re falling behind. To help you stay on the leading edge in 2010, here’s a list of top trends you should consider when developing your marketing plan for 2010.

So I guess you figured out by now, that no one really has the magic bullet. But there are a few things that you, the marketing professional, can do this year to help make your firm successful. And seriously, if there were such a formula that produced marketing results, then that would probably negate any need for our strategic services. Don't you think?

Besides going to the gym and trying not be such an agressive driver, here are 5 new year's resolutions we can all shoot for this year.

The FTC recently extended their guidelines for endorsements and testimonials in advertising beyond traditional media to include social networks and blogs. Starting December 1, 2009, you must disclose any relationships with advertisers when you endorse a product or service on a blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or any other online forum. What does this mean for you? If you’re active in social networks or contribute to a blog and offer an endorsement, you must announce:

MRI Starch, the venerable market research company that has been measuring the effectiveness of advertising for more than four decades, recently completed a survey to find out what makes a print ad sell. The findings include a number of valuable take-aways professional services marketers can use to improve our own positioning and branding efforts. Here’s what Starch learned:

The goal of online marketing like banner ads, pay per click (PPC) campaigns and email blasts is to drive prospects to your website. Most professional services online marketing campaigns send users who click on links to their homepage or maybe a practice area or service area page. But what will your prospects do once they get to those pages? They’ll disperse, and you won’t have any way to capitalize on their interest. Landing pages help you convert prospects by providing them with relevant and valuable content.
 
What is a landing page?