Media buyers and baseball coaches are a lot alike. Successful baseball coaching and media buying are both largely numbers games. Both professions are flooded with statistics and data of all kinds, but the best coaches and media buyers know how to focus on the relevant data and actively apply it while ignoring all the noise and second guessing.

We talk about the Internet as the most measurable medium. But you know, the medium doesn't just go and measure itself. As with the other media, you've got to actually go out and collect some data. Unlike traditional media, however, the technology behind the Internet lends itself to such data collection -- hence the "most measurable" title. And of course, I'm talking about tagging.

Question: What do Steve Martin (actor) and the Association of National Advertisers' Masters of Marketing have in common? Read on for the answer.

I was somewhat distraught about my career prospects when I read the proclamation on the front of Wired magazine last month: "The Web is Dead." The articles supporting the title were interesting and by reading them, I realized that things were not as bleak as the cover line seems to be saying they are. The Internet pie is growing, but it is no longer a simple apple pie -- it has morphed into a mixed fruit torte.

At best, marketing measurement tends to slant toward short-term payback at the expense of longer-term brand and customer development. But when you add heavy doses of highly measurable online tactics to more quantitatively elusive offline approaches, the slant can become an outright bias. Unchecked, this can seriously impair the marketer's ability to make smart decisions beyond the next quarter or two. This is particularly acute with respect to fully integrated programs designed not just for lead generation, but for brand and customer development.