Major sources of quality marketing information

Where can you go for the newest and most relevant marketing information? The following are several sources of information, each with its own benefits and disadvantages:

College Courses - Remember your marketing professor (fondly, I hope)? Was this person a practicing professional who taught as a sideline or a full-time teacher? If the latter was the case, the professor had one luxury that most of us lack; he didn't have to prove anything. And as most of us have discovered, Real World 101 can be quite different from the rarefied atmosphere of the classroom.

Advertising Agencies - Agencies can bring you one major benefit. They can use the experience gained from all of their other clients on your behalf. Of course, this does not mean the experi¬ence will always work in your favor. Failures can be repeated as easily as successes.

It is important to ensure that your agency is providing advice for your benefit instead of its own. For instance, many traditional agencies rely far too heavily on broadcast and print media adver¬tisements, and it is no coincidence that media is a primary source of revenue for these agencies. Meanwhile online advertisement has proven to be one of the cheapest and widely targeted means of advertisement.

Industry or Niche Groups - An excellent source of timely marketing information. Such groups not only offer worthwhile information, but are also excellent places to network. But you should keep an eye out for the "old-boy network." Some industry or niche groups are controlled by, individuals whose primary purpose is to promote themselves. Their friends and business associates. Such a group will be of little use in your professional development.

Conferences and Seminars - These are great places to learn and network with certain exceptions. My favorite is the Direct Marketing Association Annual Conference which includes some of the world's brightest marketing minds on its programme. While once devoted almost exclusively to direct marketing, the DMA has broadened its scope to include integrated marketing campaigns.

Books and Cassette Tapes - Another excellent source of information, provided that the information is timely (look for recent copyright dates) and the authors are practitioners and not just theorists (like full-time professors). Several excellent books and cassettes are listed in the resource section.

Fellow Marketing Practitioners - When I was a marketing manager in the software industry, I belonged to a high-tech mar¬keting group. All of the members performed similar roles on the client side with no suppliers allowed. Our monthly luncheons were filled with useful information from sources we could trust com¬pletely because they were not trying to sell us anything. Perhaps your industry or niche market has a similar group.

Online Marketing Resources- The internet is a resource pool of information, where you can get basically any information about marketing, you can gain a lot from free article publications and relevant online marketing websites.

My career in marketing has spanned both sides of the client/agency relationship. This experi¬ence, combined with a solid foundation in the highly measurable discipline of direct marketing, has given me a somewhat cynical view of traditional marketing wisdom. I say the words “show me” so often; I should be made an honorary citizen of Missouri.

My recommendation is that you adopt this same healthy skepticism about marketing. I back up my point of view with case histories, proven results, and a lot of practical experience. But I don't have all the answers, and neither does anyone else you will come in contact with.