Marketing Smarts from MarketingProfs

"Search engine robots--the last time I checked--do not have credit cards to buy your product," says Sonia Simone of Copyblogger Media. Which is why, she adds, "It makes more sense for us to look at SEO as a function of content, rather than content as a function of SEO."

"All of us want to belong, and all of us really want to make an impact, and some of us... we invent Facebook," Ekaterina Walter, social media strategist at Intel and author of Think Like Zuck told me during this week's episode of Marketing Smarts.

We covered a range of topics on the Marketing Smarts podcast in 2012. In this episode we share some highlights on creating compelling content, allowing social media to humanize your organization, building community, and navigating the sometimes tricky relationship between marketing and sales.

Beth Kanter and Katie Delahaye (KD) Paine, authors of Measuring the Networked Nonprofit: Using Data to Change the World, discuss performance metrics and nonprofits.

C.C. Chapman, co-author of Content Rules, has a new book out, Amazing Things Will Happen, which is a collection of short pieces, lessons, and observations intended for "anybody out there," C.C. says, "who may be stuck in a rut or maybe just not doing exactly what they wanted with their lives."

John Jantsch believes that if businesses are to grow, they need to be ready, willing, and able to change. To navigate and instigate such change, business leaders need a clarity of purpose and they need to set big, audacious goals.

Before we can effectively communicate with our customers, we need to get their attention. According to Jeff Bander of EyeTrackShop, this means that when evaluating the effectiveness of our ads or calls-to-action or emails or whatever, we need to answer the question, "Did they see them?"

Ellen Valentine, product evangelist at Silverpop and my guest this week on Marketing Smarts, has an interesting perspective on the perennial tension between Marketing and Sales: Technology is to blame! And it's likely the solution, too...

Marketers need to think and act more like executive producers, those people behind the scenes of movies and TV shows who spend all their time "trying to find the resources to create the right kind of content for the right audience," argues Andrew Davis.

"There will be times when your income is zero and you just might as well plan for that right now," Becky McCray told me. She is a resident of Hopeton, Oklahoma (population 30), cattle rancher, liquor store owner, and co-author (with Barry J. Moltz) of Small Town Rules, which, among other things, introduced me to the concept of "planning for zero."

Boston University's Dean of Students Kenn Elmore discusses BU's sometimes-pioneering use of social media, including for "reaching the unreachable." During our conversation, I asked him to explain what he meant by "the unreachable."

Rick Jensen heads up both sales and marketing at Constant Contact, which is an interesting predicament to be in, considering the evolving relationship between Marketing and Sales. I thought he might have something interesting to say about the subject. I was not wrong.

Rohit Bhargava, author and social media strategist, thinks business books need to be useful--to help you solve a problem you're facing. So it has to speak to you from the get-go, draw you in, and convince you it's going to help you solve your problem. And the best way to do that is to start off by telling a story.

This week's guest , Laura Ries, believes in tying a brand's core message (the "verbal nail") to a striking visual image (the "visual hammer"). Her premise is straightforward: To leave a lasting impression on the mind of customers and potential customers, brands must rely on images because they wield a blunt, emotional force that words lack.

Dave Carroll is the man whose guitar United broke. He joined us to discuss his book, titled United Breaks Guitars, about the experiences that led up to his now famous music video, lessons he learned along the way about social media, and the keys to effective, meaningful customer service. I asked him what companies need if they are to avoid a "Dave Carroll" in their future. This is what he told me.