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Cindy Estis Green - author of The Travel Marketer’s Guide to Social Media and Social Networks [*] and Demystifying Distribution 2.0 - helps travel and hospitality marketers get better at their business. Cindy recently launched DrivingRevenue.travel, a site dedicated to helping travel sales and marketing professionals find out more about how others within the industry are innovating in marketing. It’s a great site - regardless of your industry - well worth checking out.

A few months back, Cindy asked the brilliant Laurence Bernstein of BC3 Strategies and me to debate the question: is digital marketing a core skill for today’s marketers? Guess which side I took.

It was a great exercise. Though I stand by my conclusion, Laurence makes some excellent points in his argument. And I’ll tell you, Laurence definitely wins one point hands-down: our pictures. Clearly, in the future, I’m going to have to get Cindy a better headshot. Read the point-counterpoint for yourself and decide who you agree with.

Photo credit: Point of view by joeydz from Flickr - Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 license

* - Full disclosure: I served as a member of the advisory board for The Travel Marketers Guide to Social Media and Social Networks. I receive no compensation for any sales related to the book.

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Just a quick note to wish all my friends a Happy New Year! Here’s to making 2009 everything you want it to be. I know everyone’s predicting some doom and gloom. But so much of life is what you make of it. So let’s make this the year we want. Not the one we’re being offered.

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Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the mobile, social, local web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today. Or subscribe via email.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter.

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What do Arctic Monkeys, The Biggest Loser, Dancing with the Stars, Ron Paul and a fear of intimacy have to do with each other? And what do they have in common with your business?

According to Bill Tancer - in his entertaining and useful new book, Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why it Matters - all of these popular searches conducted by consumers on the web help researchers like Tancer - and by extension, you - understand customers’ intent. In his book, Tancer helps unravel the hidden meaning behind various search terms, piercing the veil of mystery surrounding, why customers do what they do and what their searches tell us about what matters to them.

The book - an easy read, I got through it in a few hours - offers a number of case studies, each illustrating some aspect of consumers’ online search behavior. Tancer then pieces together disparate data sources, unlocking customer intent inherent in each search. It reads something like a mystery novel - and a fine one at that. While not as “big picture” as John Battelle’s The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture, nor as practical as Grappone and Couzin’s Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day, Tancer’s book makes a fine addition to your business bookshelf. It may not answer every business question you have. But it will get you thinking about what questions you should be asking. And that’s worth every penny.

Pick up a copy of Click today.

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Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the mobile, social, local web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today. Or subscribe via email.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter.

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I picked up a Blackberry Bold the other day - a Christmas present to myself - and now am trying out BB Meta Blog to post from the phone. Look forward to regular content going forward.

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John Mayer is a moron. Sure, he’s written some great music. But rarely has so dumb a sentiment been expressed as in his hit, “Waiting On The World To Change.” John, son, here’s some advice. If you want the world to change, make it change.

2009 likely represents a tough year for many businesses. But one of the things I admire most about small business owners, about innovative managers - about leaders like you - is that you see solutions where others see problems. Opportunity where others see risks. Profits where others see costs.

So 2009 may be tough. But tough times grow strong leaders.

Case in point: I was struck by a letter Newt Gingrich wrote to the RNC about its attempts to link President-elect Obama to Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich’s alleged chicanery, stating, “In a time when America is facing real challenges, Republicans should be working to help the incoming President succeed in meeting them… Furthermore, once President Obama takes office, Republicans should be eager to work with him when he is right, and, when he is wrong, offer a better solution, instead of just opposing him.” (Emphasis mine).

Now that’s the spirit of leadership. Seriously. Don’t just oppose something. Offer a better solution. And not just in politics. Everywhere.

Leaders don’t fix little problems. Leaders fix big problems. Leaders don’t worry about a lack of credit. They ask, “How can we get cash to run our business?” They use techniques like “The 5 Whys” to get at root causes of problems. They make mantras others want to follow.

Leaders don’t wait for the world to change. They change it.

We’re all in the same boat. And we all need to be working towards solutions. If some jackass stands up and says, “your end of the boat is sinking,” hand him a bucket to bail with. Or pitch him overboard. Either way, you’re solving a problem.

Are you ready to lead?

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Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the mobile, social, local web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today. Or subscribe via email.

Oh. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter.

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Just a quick note to wish you all healthy and happy holidays! thinks will be publishing new content over the next week or so on a less regular schedule. So don’t forget to add thinks to your feed reader or subscribe via email so you won’t miss an update. And make sure to follow me on Twitter, too.

Enjoy!

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