With the prompting from the boys over at Marketing Over Coffee (and yes, I’m digging the new look), I give you the top 10 posts on Marketing In Progress for 2009.

Admittedly, my commitment to and diligence in blogging this year was sub-par, and in many ways I feel as though I’ll be starting from scratch in 2010. And I’m OK with that. Nonetheless, there were still some real gems in this years top 10, while others simply found some elbow room in Google’s search results. Enjoy, and let me know which one you like the most.

1. Phil Knight, Nike CEO, on Product Marketing: I started these short posts last year, and for whatever reason, Google loves this site for “Phil Knight.” Go figure. (Read all of the quotes here).
2. Squarespace is Trailblazing on Twitter: At the time, I thought this campaign was pretty groundbreaking. Ends up it was a little too groundbreaking, as this sort of thing isn’t allowed on Twitter anymore.
3. David Ogilvy on Content: On quote that Google likes from the legend of advertising.
4. 6 Links Every Entrepreneur Can Appreciate: a best of post of stuff I was reading at the time.
5. Stop Shouting on Twitter: I especially see direct sellers using social media to do too much one-way communication. Stop it.
6. The Greatest Feature of Direct Sales: Probably my personal favorite for the year, if I do say so myself.
7. Infomercials, Billy Mays and the ShamWow: Little did I know this would be Billy Mays’ swan song.
8. Stuart Britt on Advertising: I’d never heard of Stuart Britt before I stumbled upon this quote.
9. Overcoming the 4 Fears of Starting a Business: this is a great resource for any direct seller trying to build a case for building a business.
10. The Illusion of the Ground Floor: Since when did you have to be one of the first to be successful?

While I’m at it, I’ll throw an honorable mention out there: Opportunity Doesn’t Care. Regardless of where you’re at, what you do, or why you do it, this truth applies to you.

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Over the past few months, I’ve been on quite a voracious schedule of ebook reading. It’s truly amazing just how much resourceful content there is out there. Here are five great-reads that every entrepreneur should read at some point:

1. 7 Steps to Smalle Business Marketing Success by John Jantsch, DuctTapeMarketing.com: John really covers the basics here in a refreshing way. I particularly like the way he makes referrals and partnerships a key part of how any small business needs to conduct its marketing.
2. Personal Branding for the Business Professional by Chris Brogan: I first heard of Chris as “the Twitter guy.” Which reinforces the point that he knows what he’s talking about when he talks personal branding. We all need to be reminded of the importance of staying focused when it comes to how we portray ourselves, our brand.
3. Teaching Sells by Brian Clark, Copyblogger.com: These days, if you ain’t giving, you ain’t getting. The Teaching Sells concept makes perfect sense and really clarifies how and why this idea works.
4. How to Be Creative by Hugh MacLeod: Words can’t express how monumental this manifesto is in the marketing world. Just read it.
5. Twitter Power Guide eBook by Christopher Penn: The world has gone all a-twitter. This report by Christopher will show you how to make sense of it and leverage it for your small business.

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Jim has collected an amazing collection of concise marketing tips here worth looking at. Plus, he did it all through Twitter. 

Here are a few of my favorites:

Marketing is like a snowball. You have to keep rolling to see results. You can’t start and stop and start and stop.
     – Cynthia Powell www.ChicksAndCubs.com

Think, do you need your product to succeed or do your customers need your product to succeed?
     – Aronado www.LuckyStartups.com

Don’t try do everything yourself, outsource tasks that don’t directly make you money. Ex: accounting, website design.
     – Kim Cornwall Malseed www.marcomink.com

Do not compromise your fees. Charge by project, not hourly. Don’t waste money on brochures. Have a clear vision of your business/market.
     – Joanne Victoria www.JoanneVictoria.com

Have money and plan set aside for 2 yrs of no-to-next-to-no profit; of course aim for better and sooner
     – Christian Markley; www.blu3digital.com

All action is a response to a felt need: find the need, appeal to the need at least 7 times, and offer a solution!
     – Bill Collier http://blog.freedomist.info

Just get it out there. It doesn’t have to be perfect yet. Don’t let analysis paralysis set in. You can always fine tune later.
    - Christopher Thiede www.buildcommunications.com

A great list, indeed.  I’d love to hear from you on this one, too. Here’s what I replied with on Jim’s blog:

Truly serve your customer. They aren’t a means to your end; you’re a means to theirs. 
     – Brett Duncan 

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I’ve been playing  a lot of Risk this week. Admittedly, it’s the computer version, not the actual board game, but it accomplishes the same thing. The beauty of Risk is that it forces you to make choices, or you can’t succeed. There are a lot of other great lessons in it, too.

Here are 19 vital lessons from playing Risk that apply to your business strategy:

1. Focus your efforts.
2. Have a plan, and stick to it.
3. Be flexible enough to react to new opportunities.
4. When the new opportunities are more promising than your plan, at least consider changing plans. If not, take on only the opportunities that fit into your plan, and either neautralize or ignore the others, and be content that others might benefit from them.
5. Don’t spread yourself too thin.
6. Protect your borders.
7. Monopolize whenever possible, even if it’s just a small niche (continent).
8. Be patient, and know when to end your turn.
9. How you deploy your troops at the beginning of the game has a massive influence on the rest of the game and the choices you can make.
10. Having pity on a weak competitor is not smart, and can sometimes be deadly.
11. Do not stick your head in the sand as a strong competitor gets stronger in a far off place. You will eventually have to face them.
12. Focus your efforts.
13. Play often.
14. Know when to defend, and when to attack.
15. Know when to take advice, and when to ignore it (cuz someone’s who’s not playing and doesn’t have anything on the line is ALWAYS willing to tell you how to do things better).
16. Focus your efforts.
17. Allow sacrifices for the greater good – it’s mandatory.
18. Don’t play too many games in a row; give your brain a rest.
19. Focus your efforts.

Similar Posts on Brett’s Blog:

•  What’s Your Oboe?
• Organically Grown Business

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