Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? Marketers Who Breakthrough and Burnout In 2009

Times, they are a changin’. Slashed marketing budgets, scale-backs, lay-offs, buy-outs and bail-outs – and that was just December! With the marketers and shoppers in a bit of shell shock as we head into 2009, look for some pretty radical changes in who will lead the pack (or the herd) out of the malaise and become the new marketing thought leaders for 2009. With the inauguration of the new Prez and new thinking, look for a back-to-basics mentality with marketing. Do less with more and track it to the tee. Set-it-and-forget-it banner campaigns and big budget PR blow-outs are replaced with grass-roots marketing efforts between knowledgeable service reps and customers. The past year was painful, but needed as we hit the reset button. Here’s who in and out in the coming year:

BUSINESS:

1. HOT: Dan Miller, 48days.com: Dan’s hayseed, awe shucks attitude can turn-off and turn away a leathered marketer. But don’t be fooled. This guy knows his stuff. Plus, he’s built a multi-million dollar self-help and career coaching business with zero advertising. You can learn a lot, if you stop and listen.

NOT: Seth Godin, Seth’s blog: A genius, yes. But his last 3 books seem to be re-hashes of the same material. Plus, at this point Seth’s an icon,  and sitting in the ivory tower. Theory is replaced with proven execution in 2009.

PRODUCTIVITY:

2. HOT: Leo Babauta, Zen Habits: Leo started his blog from the ground up as a grass roots testiment to productivity and improvement. If you want to improve your work habits, your personal life or eat a few less Oreos after 9 P.M. read his stuff for a week. It works.

NOT: Tim Ferriss, 4 Hour Work Week: With things melting down in 2008, the idea of becoming a serial vagabond becomes less apealing in ’09. His stuff is great, but as corporate bootstrapping happens, the whole “I’ll get to your email when I’m damn good and ready” routine, probably wears a bit thin with most people.

BLOGGING/SOCIAL MEDIA:

3. HOT: Rae Hoffman, SugarRae.com: Apparently, she got into the internet marketing industry by accident, but you wouldn’t know she’s not a decade long veteran of the online marketing wars. She was one of the first to speak on blogging at Internet Retailer in 2005, and is one of the best resources on the subject – from someone who’s done it from the ground up. Chris Brogan gets the nod here as well.

NOT: Anybody who was big prior to blogging and social media and drives traffic based on name recognition alone. Blah.

ECONOMICS:

4. HOT: The folks over at The Invisible Hand. If you don’t know much about economics or don’t realize that the macro picture drives what the results are in your business, you should be listening to this little ditty in 2009.

NOT: Malcom Gladwell: The Seth Godin of Economics and macro trends. In 2009, look for directed focus on yourself, your business and the micro side of life.

INTERNET MARKETING:

5. HOT: Sterling and Jay, the boys at Internet Business Mastery: Look out. These guys a two man operation, and they’re probably better marketers than your organization’s army of e-commerce and merchandising experts. This crew of info-prenuers are the must read in 2009 for any marketer regardless of the size of your organization if you want to get back to basics and remember what its like to drive traffic and sales on zero budget.

NOT: Jay Conrad Levinson: Wrote a classic, a decade ago. Out of touch for 2009.

Got your own list of what’s coming in 2009? Contact me, I’d love to discuss.