Ah, so many topics, so little time. How about we keep things simple today: We'll give you a list of best bets, and you pick the ones you want to read. (Don't you wish everything were that simple?)

Okay, here we go:

Echoing our last editorial post, Shel Holtz's Old Tools Still Matter suggests achieving a balance between old and new Marketing tools:

"To hear some people, you’d think business should abandon traditional communication channels and dive into social computing to deliver its messages and address its issues. The audience, we are told, has no interest in being talked to; we must, at all costs, accommodate a growing desire among the audience to be engaged in conversation.

I do believe in the conversation and the shift to a social computing environment and all the consequences for business and communications. However, nothing changes everything and I’ve maintained for years that the new tools should be added to the old, not replace them."

In another piece, Shel also gives us some pointers on big businesses' right to engage in the conversation. (We're taking blogs here.):

"Organizations have every right to engage in the conversation. They are not restricted by any law, regulation, or code of ethics from using channels other than or in addition to their own blogs in order to add their viewpoints to the mix. (...) Denying organizations a voice in the blogosphere simply by virtue of the fact that they are organizations is ludicrous. Insisting that the only voice they should be permitted is the one articulated from their own blogs is unduly restrictive; circumstances or strategy may preclude a blog for one reason or another. However, as long as organizations are ethical, transparent, and factual, they should not be constrained from employing the same tactics everyone else uses."

Bernd Schmitt's Blogging To Build Business takes the conversation squarely into the realm of Marketing 2.0:

"From Microsoft to Monster.com to Sprint Nextel and General Motors -- blogs are being used in old-tech and hi-tech companies to communicate better with customers and with internal audiences.

Obviously, allowing or encouraging a company's own employees to blog raises the risk of less centralized and controlled communications. But it also can allow for more immediate and effective communications."

Grant McCracken's Finding The Cult In Culture is another brilliant piece by Grant, this time on how great brands tend to naturally reach their markets:

"Some brands are in the right place at the right time. One minute, they are muddling in obscurity. The next, greatness is bestowed upon them. Every trend produces winners of this kind: Nike in the 1970s, Filofax in the 1980s, Snapple in the 1990s. (...) Quite often, marketers work to soften the edges of the new brand, the better to expand the market. Not Birkenstocks. Scott Radcliffe, the marketing director at Birkenstock Distribution USA, says "the brand's strong point is its power to elicit both positive and negative reactions. That speaks to the bigger cultural relevance of the brand. That's something I want to participate in. That's not something I'm trying to shake."'

Also be sure to check out Neville Hobson's piece on Transparency (and blogging) - spurred by the WalMart/Edelman blogger relations campaign:

"While our discussion may make for entertaining listening (the robust bit starts at about 38:20 into the show), the point in question is not really about disclosure in emails or who the writer works for (some PR bloggers think that’s the important thing) but about full transparency.

What that means is being wholly open in the blogosphere on what you’re doing so that there is no doubt in anyone’s mind who you are, who you represent (and so the connection you have), your role in the communication you’re embarking on and the relationships you’re trying to build."

There's plenty more where those came from, so be sure to check the other Corante Marketing hub posts here.

Have a great Wednesday, everyone.

Technorati tags: Marketing, Corante, Marketing 2.0, Blogging, Branding, service marketing