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The 20 Best Marketing Books Of All Time (in alphabetical order): The Anatomy Of Buzz by Emanuel Rosen. Before word of mouth marketing became a profession unto itself, Rosen was busy trying to figure out why certain brands get attention and how they do it. This is one of those classic business books that every marketer should read. The Art Of The Pitch by Peter Coughter. If you are in marketing, you will have to get good at presenting and selling your ideas. I've read countless books on the topic, and this is the only one worthy of reading, studying and applying. Woe the marketer that doesn't heed these words. The Cluetrain Manifesto by Chris Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger and Rick Levine. If you could point your finger at one book that changed the face of marketing, it would be this one.

Influence by Robert Cialdini. An incredible book about how we make decisions and what influences them (hint: it's not what you think)... and this was published long before behavioral economics became so very cool. This is profoundly powerful because of all of the science and research behind this book. Most marketers haven't paid any attention to this book, and it shows in the vast majority of terrible work that we're exposing the public to. The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen. Marketing isn't just about the ads. Marketing is also about the product and how to bring it to market. So many companies do everything right and yet still lose market share. If you're interested in marketing and you haven't read this book, it is a must-read.

Life After The 30-Second Spot by Joseph Jaffe. Another one of those seminal books that you can look back at and marvel at just how prescient it was. This one is almost a decade old, but still resonates with some very deep thinking about where advertising is going. The Little Red Book Of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer.

The number of presentations has continued to grow, with over 70 events held this year, according to the firm. The addition of the NewFronts, digital video's attempt to steal some ad dollars from TV budgets, has significantly crowded the calendar.

"Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on upfront events… What's interesting to see is just how useful they are and how much they affect marketers and buyers decisions," said Bob Flood, VP-media consultant at Advertiser Perceptions.

With the end approaching for this year's upfront talks, where networks secure commitments for ad time in the approaching TV season, research firm Advertiser Perceptions asked over 300 marketers, agency executives and media buyers about the dog-and-pony shows that kick off negotiations. More than half -- 61% -- said attending the presentations didn't affect their decisions about allocating ad dollars.

Local search marketer

Link development specialist

nline reputation management expert

Planners should for example, be expected to be able to: Intelligently interrogate buyer data and apply it to the development of communication strategy Have a least a passing knowledge of some of the fundamental laws of markets and the dynamics of brands Decode tracking data and usefully apply it to the development of strategic recommendations Have point of view on how and when to use quantitative research – and be able to articulate to clients which companies to use and why Interrogate customer segmentation data Commission quantitative projects Write a research recruitment screener Design both qualitative and quantitative questionnaires Know the different the types of both qualitative and quantitative research available, their methodologies, uses, and the suppliers thereof Conduct their own qualitative research Bring to bear an informed understanding of how different kinds of communications work in different kinds of circumstances, for different kinds of brands, across different kinds of channels and touchpoints Develop effectiveness models for campaigns and activity Formulate recommendations on how to evaluate the effectiveness of communications Provide an informed perspective on the new and emergent models of effectiveness Understand the methodological differences between the principle copy-testing suppliers (know your enemy) Evaluate the commercial impact of communications activity Have an understanding of econometric modeling

Just to be clear – the planner is an advertising person. Planners work with research, but in advertising. Ultimately, they must be able to interrogate, synthesize and apply this information and insight to the development of creative work. And that does of course involve the application of intuition and imagination too. For as Stephen King wrote, “the whole process of advertising is not a safe, cautious, step-by-step build-up.”

The skills listed above are not acquired overnight. They take time to develop. And acquiring them can sometimes feel like a long and arduous journey. Sexy and cool it ain’t. The implications should be obvious: If you don’t have a boss who can teach you these craft skills, move on. If as an agency you’re not investing in the craft skills of your planners, you’re failing them. And if as a planner you’re not interested in acquiring the craft skills and find it all a bit tedious, you’re failing yourself. Worse, you’re in the way.

Ad pages at Newsweek dropped 16.8% in 2011, but its fortunes seemed to improve after Ms. Brown's March 14 redesign. Ad pages in the first quarter were down 30.8% from the year-earlier period, then dropped 24.5% in the second quarter, 10% in the third and 3.6% in the fourth, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. Newsweek said its December ad pages were up 15% from December 2010.

The "Mad Men"-themed issue, which will be dated March 19, will include a cover story on the series and a feature on the role of advertising in U.S. culture.