It’s good that two tech groups are joining heads to get Idaho’s software development industry booming. Hey, why not. There’s too much woulda/shoulda/coulda going on in economic development, so the more industry groups can combine forces and talent, the better.

Am I the only one who’s never heard of the Idaho Software Employers Alliance (ISEA)?  I’m no software employer, so that likely has formidable influence on my ignorance on this one.  I guess my biggest hope is that I hear of them from here on out.  I hope they’re good leaders, and I hope I hear not only their accomplishments but also their calls to action.

Have you changed your marketing tactics in recent months to adjust to the new economy? What’s worked and what hasn’t?

Well there is one thing to be noted- hard economic times will force more small businesses to become smarter marketers. They may even get Web sites!

It certainly makes sense to think about new ways to market a business right now – and the biggest growth of marketing will be online. Among the Web marketing tools businesses should consider include “local search” engines like those connected with Google Maps, CitySearch or YellowPages.com that produce results when someone searches for a particular business in their geographic area and pay-for-performance advertising like affiliate ads or pay-per-click ads. One big benefit to these marketing channels: The results are far more measurable thanks to Web analytics software than, say, placing an ad in a local magazine or even sending out coupons. How do you know what type of marketing is best for your company – are you doing everything you can to maximize your online marketing efforts?

In a sputtering economy, small businesses are often quick to rein in their marketing budgets. But that may be a shortsighted strategy. Glum economic times can be an opportunity for small companies to make inroads on their competitors’ turf and re-energize their marketing efforts.

Are you following the new marketing trend?
The caveat is that people who see the down economy as an opportunity aren’t spending their money in the same way. They’re taking money out of traditional advertising and direct-marketing campaigns and putting it online. That was a movement that was already taking place, but the economy is accelerating the trend. – information taken from the Wall Street journal, Journal Reports.

What is this Blogging, Twittering, Facebook, Linked In, My Space… the list goes on… Well it started with the internet and then came the ever so popular blog…

Go ahead and bellyache about blogs. But you cannot afford to close your eyes to them, because they’re simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they’re going to shake up just about every business—including yours.  Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective. They’re a prerequisite.

There’s a little problem, though. Many of you don’t visit blogs—or haven’t since blogs became a sensation in last year’s Presidential race. According to a Pew Research Center Survey only 27% Some newer numbers: According to Forrester, 11.2% of online adults in the U.S. publish a blog at least once a month. Of the same group, 24.8% read a blog and 13.7% comment on a blog at least once a month. The numbers are higher for youths. Of online youths, 20.8% publish a blog, 36.6% read a blog, and 26.4% comment on a blog at least once a month.

Yes, there were 9 million, but how many of them were active? Probably only a fraction. In early 2008, says Technorati Chairman David Sifry, the search company indexes 112 million blogs, with 120,000 new ones popping up each day. But only 11% of these blogs, he says, have posted within the past two months. That means the active universe is closer to 13 million blogs. Kevin Burton, CEO of FeedBlog, argues that the number should be lower, from 2 million to 4 million blogs. -NewsWeek

Well the UK thinks so anyway!

• Two thirds of companies who ignore design have to compete mainly on price. In companies where design is integral, just one third do so.
• More than eight out of ten design-led companies have introduced a new product or service in the last three years, compared to just 40 per cent of UK companies overall. 83% of companies in which design is integral have seen their market share increase, compared to the UK average of 46%.
• Design is integral to 39% of rapidly growing companies but to only 7% of static ones.
• 80 per cent of design-led businesses have opened up new markets in the last three years. Only 42% of UK businesses overall have done so.
• A business that increases its investment in design is more than twice as likely to see its turnover grow as a business that does not do so.