Links for October 24 2010

Quote: How many companies push words on a paper and crank out brochures, yet call “marketing”? Marketing needs to be more about segmentation, sensing, sizing, understand pain points, and creating an attractive value proposition.

Quote: There’s been lots of talk this year about using advertising to “monetize” social media tech like Facebook and Twitter. I want to go out on a limb and suggest that the idea is a deal with the Devil, at best, because it misses (and misuses) the point of the media.

Quote: When I write, I try to keep everything simple. Because I read so much when I was a kid, I usually have no problems with clarity, sentence structure, and grammar. My old and good friend Johann Schumacher advised that I should write the way I speak. “Don’t try to use fancy words,” he cautioned, “Be yourself.” Julie Ridl gave me some great advice also: “Include lots of first-person anecdotes in your how-to writing.” I hear their words each time that I sit down at the laptop to write.