Direct Marketing Links

Can you believe that the end of summer is already upon us? Happy Labor Day to all!

As always, since it's Friday I'll share some of the blog reading that I found especially interesting this week. Enjoy!

Tomorrow's Classroom
Chris Brogan started a very interesting conversation with his article on how a typical third grade classroom may be using social media and other technology as part of the education process. Great food for thought here and lots of insightful comments, too. What a fun time to be growing up--now, if only adults can keep up with the kids, in terms of technology adoption...

Campaign Marketing Critiques
Like most American's, I've been super interested in this presidential campaign. I've especially appreciated how Obama is connecting with his voters and maximizing social and mobile marketing techniques. That's why CK's post on the Marketing Prof's Daily Fix blog hit home. She's asked a number of experts to comment on both the Obama and the McCain marketing and branding strategies. Fascinating!

A New Marketing Catch Phrase?
"Listening by walking around, or LBWA". That's the phrase coined by Mark Hurst in his Good Experience Blog. He talks about how important it is for executives to understand the customer, and brings up a good point that one way to gain this understanding is to experience the company from the customers' perspective. He recommends that retail executives actually walk around their stores and see what the customers are up to. Of, if your firm is online, sit with a consumer and watch him/her navigate your site. Seems like 'no-brainer' advice, but it's certainly essential, and probably something that most senior execs don't normally make a habit of doing.

Traits of Good Blogs
From the 43 Folders blog (I love that name, by the way!), author Merlin Mann lists what he thinks makes for a good blog. One of my favorites: "Good blogs are weird. Blogs make fart noises and occasionally vex readers with the degree to which the blogger’s obsession will inevitably diverge from the reader’s." Love this!

Labor Day Defined By Seth Godin
Gotta end this list with the master, right? Very interesting post about working smart, working hard and working long. Hmmm. I want to be the one that works only a few hours, is most fulfilled and quickly becomes a billionaire... And, no you still can't post a comment to his blog (a discussion held this week on Robert Rosenthal's Freaking Marketing blog). But Mr. Godin is so darn smart, isn't he?