Today is a great day at Jazd Markets. We are thrilled to announce we’ve formed a partnership with the technology content gurus at Technology Business Research, Inc. (TBR)!

We’re committed to forging strong, mutually beneficial partnerships with like-minded businesses (learn more about partnering with Jazd Markets here) and this relationship with TBR is a perfect fit for us.

Both TBR and Jazd Markets are committed to providing their customers with the expert knowledge they need to make smart buying decisions. This mutual commitment to empowerment through education is at the core of this new content interchange.

TBR’s expert market research and analysis will contribute to and enhance the industry news and analysis Jazd Markets directories already offer.

Come August, Jazd Markets users will be able to leverage new content on computer, software, telecom, mobility and the professional services industries through TBR’s market research and customer satisfaction studies.

That is the question.

Ever tried to use a hammer to tighten a screw? No? Then I would stay away from using Twitter as a push marketing tool.

Confused? Well, I bet if you did use a hammer to slam in a screw you wouldn’t be irate at the hammer manufacturer for the dents and cracks its product left behind. You’d know those marks were left because you used a great tool for the wrong purpose.

This is how I approach the Great Twitter Debate. Is it a huge Marketing Time Suck or is it an Innovative Marketing Tool?

Now, I’m by no means a Twitter fan girl. Its frequent crashes are frustrating and finding the right platform with which to access your stream can be annoying. I mean, come on. Why isn’t the Twitter platform the best platform?

That aside, I believe Twitter is an Innovative Marketing Tool . . .  When used correctly.

I’ve found it to be a very useful to listen in on conversations about my company’s brand.

Twitter allows us to be the flies on the wall in our customers’ and in industry experts’ closed-door meetings. Think your latest product launch went off without a hitch? Well, before you give you and your team the proverbial pat-on-the-back, head to twitter and search your company name. What was your customers’ experience? Did the industry have a reaction to your incredible new product or service? If they did, was it positive or negative?

In the positive and negative scenario, creating and keeping up a corporate Twitter account allows you to react to customer feedback and industry feedback in real-time.

Find an unhappy customer? Reply to their Twitter handle and offer your personal assistance. Find a brand evangelist? Reply to their Twitter feed with a heartfelt “Thank You,” or better yet, a tangible reward. Doesn’t need to be big reward – ask them to Direct Message you their address and send them a tchotchke you keep on hand. The people at TechSmith do this very well. Tweet something positive about their screen capture tool Snagit and they’ll send you a titanium spork!

My advice to you is, if you haven’t set up a twitter account for your brand yet, do so soon. Use it as a tool to engage your customers and to network with like-minded businesses in your industry.

Just stay away from hammering your products home. You’ll only wind up bruising your brand.

Video adds immediate value to any marketing campaign. It’s an engaging means of communication and if done well can enjoy a life long after its initial marketing campaign is completed.

Here a few suggestions where to use a video after its campaign has run its course.

• Social Media: Don’t forget to update your corporate Facebook or Twitter status to include a link to your video and a quick sentence telling your fans what they’ll get out of watching it. Include it on your company’s LinkedIn page. You could add a link and a call to action in your status or you could create a discussion forum for your customers based on the subject of your video.

• Newsletters/Emails: What benefit to customers does your video spotlight?  Create a newsletter or an email campaign around this topic and send it to your customers and prospects down the line.

• Blog: Embed your video in a blog on the same topic. Including video to a blog not only adds content value, it also adds value from a visual standpoint.

• Other People’s Blogs: Add a google alert on the subject of your video and see if you can find people writing about a similar subject. Leave a thoughtful comment – no dry marketing speak allowed – along with a link to your video.

• Press Releases:Don’t forget to include your video in a press release! Studies have shown press releases with video included see more views. It’s great for SEO purposes as well.

Have other ideas on where to post video? Let us know in the comment field below – we always love feedback!

I was an early adopter of Facebook.

Actually – to date myself in Internet terms – I was an early adopter of Friendster. And then MySpace. And then, finally, once it opened up to more than just college students, Facebook.

Now, I’m not bragging about my Social Media savvy here. Rather, I’m admitting that I am an Internet Addict. And because of my addiction I’ve noticed a few things . . . a few things about how companies use Facebook to engage a wider client audience.

Here are a few practices I suggest avoiding.

Posting a Zillion Times a Day

No one is that interested in your company’s goings-on. Not even your mother.

For the most part people don’t use Facebook to find out what’s new with the corporate sites they’ve trusted enough to “Like.” In fact, they have little tolerance for too much interaction with companies.

It’s a personal tool, so when you use it for your company you’ve got to keep that in mind and respect that your fans have let your company into their inner circle.

I suggest updating once or twice a day in pre-determined and thoughtfully spaced out intervals. What does that mean? That means don’t post twice, right in row, at lunch time. It means post once around lunch and a second time as you’re leaving for the day.

Think about how you check your own personal Facebook and take your own habits into consideration. I check mine around lunch and then when I leave for the day. If your corporate Facebook follows suit then I’ll see both of your posts before they’re buried in my news stream. And I won’t be frustrated that I saw your company’s posts when I snuck on to Facebook on my iPhone around 10 a.m., and then again at 3 p.m. You get the idea.

Including a Link and Only a Link in Your Status Updates

Think about it. If you were in a business meeting and someone asked you about what your company has been up to lately, you wouldn’t write down a link to a recent Press Release and mutely pass it over to them, would you? If you would, then we’ve got more to discuss than Facebook practices.

When given a chance to show personality, passion and enthusiasm for your company, TAKE IT.

Sounds like a no-brainer, right? But you have no idea how many corporate Facebook pages I’ve seen that just throw links up, SMACK! in their status updates. No explanations, no engaging text. Just the ugly URL to whatever it is on which they want to direct their audience to click. Avoid this.

No Logo

Now I know internally everyone thinks the picture of a seedling depicts the potential growth your clients companies could see if they just sought out your services. But I can guarantee these potential clients with whom you’d like to engage – as well as a fair share of your current clients with whom you already engage – will have no idea who your company is or what it is your company does.

If you think your logo needs a bit of dressing up to attract Facebook fans, by all means (after discussing it with your marketing team) dress it up a bit. Just don’t forget it.

What are some Facebook tips you suggest?

One thing is likely a certainty and that is that marketing budgets will continue to shrink placing ever more importance on the few dollars left to spend. Conventional thinking tends to error on the side of eliminate every thing except those that are directly linked to leads, the pipeline and deals more specifically. Sounds like the right plan but how many marketers really measure the results with enough clarity to really know which campaigns and venues really delivered. The truth is far fewer than one would expect.

Directory marketing has traditionally been one of the first to go in down economic times largely because of the perceived lack of traffic and the inability of the advertiser to engage the prospect in any form of meaningful interaction. Is this the result of Directories being a poor lead generation and pipeline staple for advertisers or more a reflection of the current weakness of capabilities and traffic associated with them. I beleive the truth is a little bit of both and there lies the opportunity for marketers and directories alike.

If one looks at the reason that Directories exist it is to help buyers quickly find sellers. What a great place for marketing to spend lots of money and get real value in the form of qualified leads ready to make purchases? Sellers want to be there simply put becasue they want to hang out where the buyers are. So having a complete listing of all companies in a space and their complete portfolio of products well populated is essential to the value that a Directory can offer a buyer and by association the sellers. In fact, that is today one of the last things that Direcotries do. There are very few tools for buyers to narrow in on the best fit vendor and when they dig into the company roster what they find are the few companies that have some form of sponsored (paid) listing only. In markets where 100′s if not 1,000′s of companies provide valueable services and products there are sparsely few represented. It is the underlying economics of the Direcotry which cause this maldy in the first place. Directory operators, often times B2B Publishers, have put the cart before the horse and built Directories with an eye toward how can we get advertisers to spend display ad dollars on a CPM basis with us. How much space can we actively sell to the 100 or so clients that we now sell display ad space in the paper based publication to?

With all this given as the current State of the State in B2B Publishing and Directories there are emerging options that will be game changing for the buyers and the sellers. JAZD is partnering with a very select group of B2B Publishers to create the de facto vertical market Directory platforms. JAZD directories are built under one basic premise which is that you must help the buyer quickly find the right product at the right price. To accomplish this the buyer must find complete listings of companies and products and have the ability to compare them and get real ratings and reviews from other buyers that have made similar decisions. In short, the Directory must be built for the buyer. With a foundation of 1,000′s of buyers every month finding the right companies to purchase from the sellers will be able to spend marketing dollars to accomplish what they have wanted all along. The ability to represent their company in a differentiated light to qualified suspects and prospects that are actively considering making a purchase.

JAZD has engaged marquee B2B Publishing partners in Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Communications, Life Sciences, Healthcare, Hotels and Technology over the past several weeks. JAZD will launch these Directory markets during the summer of this year. Finally, a Directory business that is built to serve the ultimate client the Buyer. Sellers will love the capabilities to distinguish themselves in front of select Buyers and take advantage of the flat rate, performance based  options that put immediate and tangible results within the shrinking budget of every marketer.