Marketing Accountability on Another Level; Seth Godin's Profoundly Important Post

Seth Godin recently wrote a post on marketing ethics at his blog that has marketers talking.

I applaud Seth's passion and his clever way of addressing marketing ethics in his book "All Marketers are Liars." It's a topic our profession needs to dialogue on and care about.

I realize that business ethics books don't sell very well, so I'll keep this short and hope you'll look at Seth's post. Seth's point is that marketers take on personal responsibility for the decisions they make that they cannot rationalize away. I think he is dead on and am delighted to see him take on this important topic. Persuading managers on the merits and importance of thought and discourse on ethics is easily the most challenging area of business to tackle -- especially for those farthest from ethical behavior.

I could try, but I doubt I can write it any better than Seth did in his final sentences:

"We're responsible for what we sell and how we sell it. We're responsible for the effects (and the side effects) of our actions.It is our decision. Whatever the decision is, you need to own it. If you can't look that decision in the mirror, market something else."

Can a Blog, Long Neglected, Be Resuscitated? My Re-Entry Into the Blogosphere

It's common blogosphere wisdom that to keep a blog alive, you need to keep to a rigorous publishing schedule. Well, if you've kept up with my blog, or even if you haven't and you notice the dates of previous posts, we're about to put that assumption to a test, as I make my re-entry into the blogosphere.

But first, a little disclosure. For those cynics out there, you may see this (perhaps, rightly) as rationalizations for my extended absense from the blogosphere. Truth be told, I have been working on something very related, however, at this time, I cannot share anything more. So onto the disclosure.

While I started Marketing Today to support my consulting business, I later joined Aon Corporation in 2000 where I eventually became Director, eMarketing. More recently, I joined a Fortune 100 corporate marketing and brand department where I have been responsible for a number of enterprise-wide marketing programs as well as campaigns and the corporate website. Why don't I share the company's name at Marketing Today? Simply put, to avoid the perception that I am speaking officially on behalf of the company (if you're interested in who it is, you can easily check my resume at www.businessmarketing.net or Google "Peter DeLegge"). I enjoy the ability to share my personal views and experiences on marketing on this blog without concern for people confusing my views with those of my employer. (Now back on to my excuses for not being a more frequent blogger!) However, having a full-time position as a manager of a Fortune 100, doing a blog, being a fairly new father (okay, he's a toddler now, but all it takes is one person asking me to post pictures and you'll have an idea how much I enjoy this responsibility!) and writing a book can be a lot to juggle.

So here's what I am up to lately:

- Public speaking. I'm doing one of two Marketing Thought Leader keynotes for the DMA's upcoming B-to-B Interactive Marketing Conference in Arizona this week.

- The book. I'm working on a book on B2B interactive marketing on a major publisher that will come out in 2007 that has kept me pretty busy. I'm looking for great, best in class examples of B2B marketing integration and online marketing. I'm covering a diverse range of company sizes and industries, so if you feel you have something exceptional, don't hesitate to contact me. If you're in marketing (please no sales calls, I'm already overloaded) and looking to share, feel free to send me a LinkedIn invitation. My profile is at http://www.linkedin.com/in/peterdelegge .

Okay, I'm officially back in the blogosphere. So, does anyone have thoughts to share on blogs whose authors have been, well, less than frequent with their posting activity?