There are two primary schools of thought in online marketing (at least if you ask me, there are). The first school of thought is "The Basics," used by the folks who do search, affiliates and general display. They do it efficiently and it works well at achieving core business objectives, but there's not a lot of risk and there's not a lot of reward beyond the forecasted expectations. The second is what I lovingly refer to as "The Triumvirate," and it refers to the domination of three primary vehicles that work exceptionally well when they are coordinated properly: TV, online …

Here's this article in a tweet (less than 140 characters): "Potential Twitter business model: unlock massive mobile marketing dollars by using tweet content and GPS."

If a news event is contrived, should the media cover it? But guess what? In the age of social media and citizen journalism, for many events, especially on a local stage, this question really doesn't matter. The community takes care of it -- for better or for worse.

Our precious attentions are bombarded not just by email spam and untargeted advertising. Electronic devices are guilty as well.

Yes, it's time for the digital marketing industry to move on from the term "PII" ("personally identifiable information") as the defining benchmark for what information is anonymous versus what is personal when it comes to providing notice and choice to consumers.

If I were a rich man, sometimes referred to as an "Angel Investor," and I were examining all the different companies in the social media space, I'd gather together a little more investment money and do a roll-up strategy that could package a very effective offering for brand marketers.

Facebook's latest change to its advertising guidelines has caused quite a stir. Of course a change in policy regarding advertising on the world's largest social platform will cause a commotion, especially when every marketer and agency is putting in late nights trying to figure out where they fit into the social media landscape. But I would argue that if you are doing a "good" job utilizing Facebook from a marketing and advertising perspective, the new terms of service shouldn't concern you.

In a marketplace characterized by mergers and acquisitions, forces of imagination and invention -- displacement is the dynamic we tend to acknowledge most. Markets are made, adjust and evolve. What is ultimately important prevails, and the obsolete falls away.

I recently accepted an invitation to meet with the CMO of an Internet analytics firm for a demo of her company's flagship dashboard product. It was interesting, but the demo and presentation flow had flaws that overshadowed promising aspects of the product. I started providing feedback one minute into the presentation, including some unexpected and blunt criticism. I could tell it was perceived harshly.

There is a lot of talk these days about the challenges being faced by media companies with single revenue streams, like broadcast TV networks and local affiliates and radio stations. All have seen very significant year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter drops in advertising revenue, their only true source of income. It's hard to find an interview of a high-profile broadcast media exec these days that doesn't contain some envious statement about the dual revenue streams of their cable network brethren, most of whom receive substantial affiliate fees in addition to ad revenue.