The past few years have been especially busy, so much so that we've neglected our own marketing efforts. Our previous Website was in dire need of a makeover, and we felt it was time to eat our own dog food so to speak. In other words, like the sites we design for our customers, we wanted our site to offer compelling information about what we do and what makes us uniquely qualified to do it.

Senior executives engage in market research when they are seeking to quantify demand for their current products and potential demand for their new products.

Marketers and brand managers are responsible for building brands. Their success is often measured by an ability to develop forward motion or 'momentum' for the brand. Momentum can help deliver high brand awareness scores among target customers. It can also bring about positive publicity which supports paid marketing efforts.

Why is Disney synonymous with such a potent phrase as "Family Entertainment"? Why do Apple's customers Think Different? How did Starbucks become that Third Place, the gathering spot between work and home?

The most successful brands hold a strong, favorable and unique position in our minds.

Jill is the company's new Marketing Vice President. Her mission: develop a strategy to revitalize the brand and grow revenue 10%. She has thirty days to develop her new strategy and present it to the Board of Directors.

To prepare, she reviewed all of the current primary and secondary brand and market research. She commissioned a new survey of promising market segments.

There is a throwaway line in the film American Psycho. The movie's demented central character, Wall Street executive-turned-serial killer Patrick Bateman, is describing what he does.

I'm into murders and executions, he says without pause. His fellow actors seem to hear Mergers and Acquisitions and aren't privy to his Freudian slip.

Companies that create successful brands do so, in part, because they understand their employees well. Starbucks, Disney, Apple and Walmart are excellent examples.

You've probably heard the business wisdom: "If you don't measure it, you can't manage it." Until recently that's been one of the dilemmas for many marketing organizations. Much of marketing was too subjective, difficult, or expensive to measure. Even when measurable, the results came in too late to act on.

By now, everyone has figured out that the Internet is important to their business. To some, the Internet is their place of business. To others, it supplements their other channels. Whichever position you're in, success on the Internet has become critical to achieving your objectives.

We all use search engines every day, but how many of us really know what goes on behind-the-scenes that make the engines work? Knowing even a few simple facts about search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, and AOL can lead directly to being able to leverage them to increase sales and profits.

If you've researched ways to improve your search engine rankings, you've no doubt been introduced to the concept of link building. It's one of the most effective ways to improve your rankings. The challenge is that all links are not created equal. Here is your guide to success.

First, a little background. Search engines like Google assess the number, relevance, and the quality of Websites that link to yours.

If you've researched ways to improve your search engine rankings, you've no doubt been introduced to the concept of link building. It's one of the most effective ways to improve your rankings. The challenge is that all links are not created equal. Here is your guide to success.

First, a little background. Search engines like Google assess the number, relevance, and the quality of Websites that link to yours.