With all this heat, it’s time cool off with some surfing – on the Internet that is.

While you’re sheltered in your office with the AC blasting, take a tour of these websites. You’ll learn a lot without leaving your desk.

Start by visiting your customers’ or suppliers’ websites. Read the “About Us” section; skim the press releases, check out their customer lists and just generally click around. You’ll be gaining valuable insight to their strategy and operations that can help you build better relationships with them. 

Stop by www.MarketingSherpa.com. Marketing Sherpa is a research firm that publishes case studies and benchmark data for marketers. Though it’s primarily targeted at corporations, there’s lots of high-quality, useful info here for smaller companies as well.  A recently posted case study, for example, discussed how one company got 350 positive media mentions in six months.

If you are planning an incentive awards program for customers or employees, then you’ll want to check out Incentive Magazine’s website (www.incentivemag.com) for hundreds of creative ideas that can help you achieve your program goals.  There are articles on incentive strategies, program planning, using travel or technology as incentives to help you get your program up and running.

Next, visit the Sales and Marketing magazine site (www.salesandmarketing.com) to read the publication’s latest articles. You can also click on the Newsletters button and sign up for SMM’s Management Advisor, E-business Advisor, or Performance e-newsletters. These free newsletters include helpful tips, useful links, and news.

The website for the American Marketing Association (www.marketingpower.com) is another good stop on your tour. There’s a handy dictionary of marketing terms to help you define everything from adaptive selling to zone pricing.  You can also investigate marketing best practices, sign up for webcasts and learn more about hot topics such as branding and multicultural marketing.

Inc. Magazine’s website (www.inc.com) has the one of the best collections of marketing resources for small to mid-size businesses. Click on the Marketing link in the website’s Resource Centers section, and you’ll get a list of How-to guides on topics ranging from building website traffic to grassroots marketing. The Marketing Articles section includes articles on marketing basics, such as how to write a marketing plan.

If you’re into trend-spotting, here’s a quirky site to check out: www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html.  The Google zeitgeist lets you know what's hot and what's not based on an ongoing tally of searches. 

Finally, be sure to surf on over to www.Advantage-Marketing.com for all the previous Marketing Advantage columns and other useful marketing links.

This column appears in the August 2006 issue of Union County Voice magazine.

Ms. Kasprzak, principal of Advantage Marketing & Associates, is a certified management consultant who specializes in helping B2B clients connect with their customers to achieve greater sales revenues. She can be reached at LKasprzak@advantage-marketing.com or 908.233.6265.

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