There is no doubt that your brand is your most valuable asset. Brands build loyalty. But, if your employees can’t deliver that brand promise at each and every touch point with your customers, then your brand will begin losing value—quickly. Getting your employees on board before you role out your brand to the marketplace is essential.

Although it is essential, many marketers often skip the crucial step of internal branding. Selling your brand to your employees should come way before you try to sell your brand to your customers and/or prospects. If your employees don’t believe in what you are selling or don’t understand it, then it is likely all you will deliver to your customers are empty promises.

Your first step, after you’ve determined what your brand positioning and messaging should be, is to infuse the brand personality into all aspects of the company. Support from upper management is key.
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With all the talk of an impending recession, marketers will have to be better than ever at proving the return on investment they can provide. As sales start to decline, marketing budgets are always among the first to be cut.

With the increase of digital marketing, tracking ROI is becoming increasingly easier. Yet a study completed recently by the Sales Lead Management Association (SLMA) and reported by a recent article on BtoB Online found a vast majority of small businesses do not track ROI on lead generation programs. That brings me to the question—How do these marketers know if their programs are working? Without solid metrics to help justify the worth of your programs, your programs and future ones like them may be hard to validate. As budgets contract, these metrics may be your saving grace.

As marketers continue planning for 2008, marketing analytics should be a solid part of their program.
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In the 2008 planning season, conversations abound about media plans, print advertisements, online advertisements, and a website and/or destination site(s) to support your ads. Developing a comprehensive plan that engages the target audience at the appropriate time and place and is measurable is the ultimate goal. Although this sounds simple, it is no easy task. A plan that successfully accomplishes all of these goals – and incorporates new Web 2.0 technologies and tactics – must be integrated and well planned. 

The planning begins with a media schedule that is developed through what we call a media agnostic approach. Our media agnostic approach focuses on where your audience is and not where you want them to be. After you examine all the media data and determine your media schedule for the year, you might think all the hard work is over. But really, this is only the beginning.

Now you have to develop relevant, engaging ads that will capture your
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