In order for a particular process or trusted solution to take on a new direction, it is essential that a leader step forward, someone who will guide the necessary changes along a successful course. Online marketing, in particular, often encounters episodes of criticism where participants voice their concerns about the industry. However, instead of making the required effort that is needed to resolve the problem, very few of these participants ever do anything besides complain about the shortcomings they`ve come across.

Humans were born to complain, it`s ingrained in our systems. Subconsciously we know that in order for change to occur, someone needs to speak up about it. This usually results in an accumulation of concerns, which ideally leads to someone taking action to ensure that a change is made and the problem is transformed into a solution. The majority of the time, however, everyone sits back and waits for someone else to make the change on their behalf. In order for change to be effected, there needs to be a strong standing of people willing to enforce it. Without a leader to guide the group, the transformation is often given up or surrendered due to lack of encouragement or support.

A corporate blog can be a potent business tool for many companies, as long as effort is made to keep it up to date and relevant. A corporate blog can act as that vital connection between the organisation and the public (especially if it is an international org.), as well as a portal of views and advice on the particular industry or services offered.

With blogs being rather easy to setup, many companies have invested their time, knowledge and commitment to corporate blogs. But a major concern is how long they will last in today`s demanding working world? For most people, the working day is already pretty full, crammed with new assignments, meeting after meeting, and business travel etc. Without being specifically assigned to the blog (sometimes even when they are), many corporate members move it to the bottom of their to-do list, and the task often gets forgotten.

Online reputation management can be a very hazardous job in its own right. A lot of companies are happy to hand over the reins to outsider management agencies in order to solve their reputation blunders. These days they`re spoilt for choice because there are many ‘qualified` professionals who claim they can fix all your problems in a jiffy. Cheap, speedy services are easy to offer, but are they that easy to deliver on? When companies find themselves in a rather uncomfortable position with the public, they tend to want to take the quickest and least damaging route out of the limelight. Little do they know that this route could be more damaging than they can afford.

Many say content is king, but I would like to take it a step further and say content is god. The line between content and advertising is blurring and one of the major ways to be recognised online is to have content that others seek. The days of advertising to create a buzz and receive hits on your site are decreasing, while Web 2.0 is becoming more popular.

I realise “Web 2.0” is a term loosely thrown around, what I mean by it is that the internet is becoming more of a community. Information and sites are being passed on to friends and other community members through social media sites, email and blogs. People react more to personal recommendations than adverts and pop up banners; and one of the best way to receive a “thumbs up” is through attractive content on your site. In the context of this post, attractive means: useful, informative and fun content that the user will find worthwhile.

Branding. We all know what it is, yet some still struggle with it. Building a brand for yourself or for your company can be daunting when starting from the ground up. However, to keep up with today`s larger brands like Coca Cola, Google and Paris Hilton, you`ve got to put in a huge amount of time, effort and money. For those of you clever people out there, don`t try and compete with them, unless you have budgets like theirs and are prepared to throw a lot of cash at your market. Sorry folks, but that is the only way you`re going to reach their level, unless of course you`re prepared to distribute explicit home videos and walk around saying “that`s hot” to everything. This route doesn`t come highly recommended.

You may say that excellent content sells itself, but I say that well-written words are just not useful enough, especially if your client is selling non-tech, non-business and non-entertainment based products. One pagers of content distributed on e-zine and review sites are a shot in the dark for high volumes of traffic. Perhaps you can think of a viral idea that`s going to make a local hockey team fly out of the water. But can you think of ideas for window glazing, au pair services, locksmiths and Czech translation services, while you`re at? You may say I`m dreaming, and to that I say: you`re just asleep.

Getting familiar with your target market can be a daunting task. It can also be very simple if you know who you are targeting with your product or service from the start. Getting the name of your brand out there, and in the faces and minds of your ideal market, is the first step to achieving your goals. However, you need to know whose faces and minds you need to expose your brand to, in order for your brand to receive maximum exposure.

Catching the eye of your target audience can be tricky because of the lack of information out there relating to the public`s preferences. A lot of the time you are left to guess who you think would receive the most benefit from your product or service. This could cause you to miss out on a part of the market that you should be directly aiming your campaign at.

According to an article I read on the net recently, Yahoo! have been keeping busy by getting some extra exposure on radio channels in the United States, appearing as an attempt to up their game against Google. Their added features have created a new possibility of competition in the search engine industry. Yahoo!`s proactive approach carries the slight potential of disrupting Google`s comfortable spot at the top of this industry. The more exposure Yahoo! gets, the higher the chances are that some of our clients will be asking to make sure they are in the top 10, not only of Google, but Yahoo! too.

In today`s advertising scene, radio and the internet are finding a middle ground, to some degree. Internet companies are extending their advertising to radio stations, as such in the case of Yahoo! However, it seems that radio is lacking the insight into realising what fruitful opportunities are being missed by not fully utilising the internet`s advertising benefits to expose the positives of radio advertising in addition to other forms of advertising.