Is your business still thinking of marketing as a set of campaigns? It might be time to switch gears and start thinking more about connecting with prospects and customers via community. Today, we learned that two major brands are rethinking their strategies (also read here)

Yesterday, I managed to wade into a bit of a crapstorm that we'll just call the Ikea Verdana Incident of 2009 (AKA Verdanagate). I heard last week about Ikea's decision to stop using their customized version of Futura and switch to more universally available Verdana for their catalog. Now if that last sentence sounded a bit like ancient Greek to you, don't be alarmed. Futura and Verdana are fonts and apparently Ikea's decision has been construed by certain circles as one more sign that the apocalypse is upon us. So, what's going on here? And what is the connection between Ikea, their customers and their passionately loyal fans? Further, what how does this relate to other businesses that engaging in the work of creating strong relationships with their customers?

From Marketing Vox comes Half of Communicators Think Twitter's a Fad. Actually, I would wager that you could substitute just about any business-related profession in place of "Communicators." It happens every time a evolutionary shift takes place and individuals are confronted with the need to change. The data behind this latest article comes from Ragan Communications and PollStream. And for more commentary on the study, definitely read blogposts from MarketingCharts and Ragan (the comments are insightful, as well). For me, here's what the study drives home.

Habitat, a UK-based home furnishings company, received a lesson this week on how NOT to market its brand. Turns out whoever is minding their Twitter account decided to take advantage of all the buzz surrounding Iran and use related hashtags such as #MOUSAVI to peddle their wares.

Sometimes, a name change can be refreshing for a company. But mostly, they turn out to just amp up whatever was sucking that instigated the need for such a change. Evidence? Enter "The Hut."

Is your organization thinking about how to implement a brand ambassador program? The video here is a slightly modified version of a presentation I gave earlier this week to nonprofit leaders in Austin. Come inside for the video and highlights.

How do you communicate with your current customers? Do you only send them mail when you're launching a new product or email them when there's an upgrade to purchase? Have you taken a good hard look at what you communicate and how often you communicate it? Is it all BUY, BUY, BUY? If so, that's a prescription for buyer fatigue. The reality is that sales are driven by relationships not broadcasted advertisements.

Are you getting caught up trying to sell a process? Perhaps trying to sell a process that is probably easily replicable? Or worse, trying to sell a process that’s proprietary and mired in so much paranoid legalese and bureaucratic crap that the client really doesn’t know what they buying? Josh Kamler at tiny gigantic urges [...]

The modern concept of branding and word-of-mouth-marketing focuses primarily on getting customers to become raving fans and talk positively about a company to their friends and colleagues. In the past few years, this focus has come to also include the value of getting employees to be raving fans of their own company, to speak openly [...]

The modern concept of branding and word-of-mouth-marketing focuses primarily on getting customers to become raving fans and talk positively about a company to their friends and colleagues. In the past few years, this focus has come to also include the value of getting employees to be raving fans of their own company, to speak openly [...]