Marketing Me - Read, Visit and Watch

Someone asked me the other day, "What is your favorite television show?".

I really don't watch very much television unless it is with my children. Otherwise, I don't have time to follow any particular program like most do. I guess that makes me boring or less interesting in some way. I don't know.

I especially am adamant about not watching the news. I keep up on current events online and find out everything I need to know without some coiffed head explaining it to me.

There are some television shows I find entertaining like Heroes; I Tivo the show, well my wife does and I watch an episode from time to time, but get better synopses from her.

Now what I read is another story.

Magazines

I subscribe to two magazines right now - Business 2.0 and Entrepreneur. Somebody complained that B20 was fluff and spin for VC backed companies only - wow, someone has a full time job pulling that conspiracy off.

Ironically, most of the articles in B20, in my opinion, are directed towards VCs in order to get them to invest in a start up company or industry then might otherwise be unaware of.

What B20 is good for is direction. There are some great companies which are changing the rules which I find both inspiring and prophetic.

Entrepreneur is a good read from the standpoint of starting your own business. But I can do without the half of the magazine which is franchise information like janitorial services, restaurants, etc. I am sure someone likes it because large sections of the publication are geared to that crowd.

Websites - random sampling...

I have a list of links courtesy of Blogrolling which are blogs and websites I read anywhere from hourly to weekly.

Seth Godin - Seth is the king of permission and directed, new media marketing. Formerly with Yoyodine and Yahoo, Seth now has his own company and host of interests (like Squidoo).
I find Seth's blog and books inspirational when marketing you and your product differently. Sometime cantankerous but always eye opening. Good daily read.

Tom Peters - Peters rose to fame over 25 years ago with the publication of "In Search of Excellence" - which explored companies with incredible growth potential and what made them that way. Since then, Peters has written several other books and speaks constantly around the world, a subject which he blogs about often on his site.
Peters regularly interacts with his readers and fans on his blog and the banter is refreshing.

Shoemoney - Jeremy Schoemaker is a web based success story and now shares his wisdom with the world online. Witty, educational and practical, Shoemoney tears through the world of (black, white and gray hat) search engine optimization, ecommerce and marketing with the reverence of a drunk cowboy at a church social. Ignore the grammar and spelling errors, Shoemoney is one of the best sites on the Internet for those wanting to market themselves or products online.

Guy Kawasaki - How to Change the World. First, I have worked for a succession of companies the past 12 years which have been partially or completely funded by VCs making me very opinionated about some capital firms methodologies and motives. Guy appears to be a breed apart in the world of VC's. His blog is eye opening and open to discussion. Great insight on start up companies and the Silicon Valley/Sand Hill crowd.

Freakanomics - Read the book, follow the blog. Economics is fun.

I will post some more titles, sites and reads next time. Keep yourself well read and balanced and expand your mind!