Links O' The Week

TGIF! And welcome to our favorite links of the week.

To start off, we've been doing a lot of ranting about the economy of late. And most of the kvetching has been around what's gone on in the mortgage market. Let's face it, most of us aren't happy about this. Today's first link is from the Goodlin Group from my own South Bay neighborhood. Ron Goodlin provides us the take of his CFO on what's going on in the mortgage market, and some of the news is brighter than you may think. It's an interesting viewpoint and I think you'll find this article full of good information on a topic that impacts us all -- direct marketers or not.

Next, and staying on topical issues, Heidi Cohen of ClickZ provides us with Marketing Lessons from the (never-ending) Presidential Primaries. Heidi takes us through twelve campaign tips that marketers can use to assess their online campaigns. From creating a campaign plan to raising sufficient funds, Heidi relates how each of these tips can help you make your online marketing campaigns more successful.

Finally, in a very troubling post, the WiseMarketer reports that Marketing is still struggling to prove it's real value. The reason that this post is so troubling to us is that as marketers, we talk about the value of measurement and tracking, then apparently don't even do it internally to prove the value of what we do on a daily basis. For us, this is just plain crazy. In order to make what we do gain positive attention, we must articulate our success in financial terms. In a sputtering economy, your budget will definitely be cut if you aren't able to effectively prove your value. Yikes!

Finally, finally . . . just for the fun of it visit Diz White's site. My friend, Linda, introduced me to Diz's work, and I've actually been lucky enough to read her newest manuscript, "Life is a Bowl of Cherries." I'm sure that she'll sell the book on her site once it's been published . . . and when she does, quick -- get a copy. The story relates Diz and her husband's journey of finding the perfect cottage in the Cotswolds, a range of beautiful hills in West-Central England, while working as actors in Los Angeles. It's a great tale of the crazy jobs they took to fatten up their bank accounts so that they could afford a cottage in their dream location. Diz is a fabulous writer and as the reader, you get seriously caught up in her journey. What a blast!

Have a great weekend!