Anyone believing that online worlds like Second Life have reached the point of saturation had better take a second look at the marketing climate. Current trends point toward even more growth and expansion into virtual environments as the list of Fortune 500 companies launching operations in these online words continues to increase.

The firms I talk to about community building seem to fall into two categories – those that want a Web community right now, and those that question the very value of communities.

Yahoo managed to please its CEO while holding serve in comScore’s search engine rankings for February 2006, but Microsoft, Ask, and Time Warner/AOL gave up some ground. Among brands people sought through search in 2006, MySpace topped a Hitwise list of searched brand terms

Travelocity’s chief marketing officer Jeffrey Glueck recently spilled out some ROI numbers on paid search that has the industry buzzing. Glueck said 96 percent of Travelocity’s conversions came from branded keywords used for paid search.

In a recent update, Google has added a new feature to its personalized homepage that might signal a focused effort to snatch another one of Yahoo’s strongholds away. By allowing users to give their Google homepage a more artistic look and feel, the company is sending a clear message that it wants to become the primary portal for everyone’s Internet experience.

Strewn around my house are pens, coffee cups, calculators, USB memory sticks, and assorted swag from various companies I’ve met over the years. What is the purpose of all this stuff? Does having a leather portfolio with a vendor’s logo on it make me more likely to buy their products?

RainToday.com’s recent report "What’s Working In Lead Generation" got me thinking about the relationship of thought leadership to branding and lead nurturing.

In B2B marketing, all three serve the same purpose: to establish your company as a trusted adviser, so when a prospect is ready to buy, he or she will think of you and will want to speak with your sales reps.

In marketing, with few exceptions, there’s no umbrella or blanket model that can be applied. Even if Coca-Cola’s omnipresent branding has worked over the decades because soft drinks are for everybody, most products are intended for select groups of buyers, target markets, with different motivations.

We hate to say "I told you so." Wait. No, we really don’t. Analysts at Piper Jaffray & Co. took a good, hard at look at things and decided we are in the midst of a media – well, everything – revolution and it’s all the Internet’s fault. E-Life as you know it is about to change.

Though the authority of Wikipedia is still debated

Branding is important when it comes to social media marketing. If you are trying to use social media sites for exposure and traffic not only is it important to brand your domain name, but it is also important to brand your user name by keeping it consistent throughout all social sites.

In the latest of its efforts in social branding, Yahoo has announced a partnership agreement with Pontiac to develop an online hub geared specifically to the community of enthusiasts supporting the automobile manufacturer

For the second straight year, Google tops the list of worldwide brands in BrandChannel’s annual survey. The surprise, however, is the surging popularity of YouTube and Wikipedia, with both claiming spots in the top 5 rankings for the first time.

Branding your business is simply giving the public and your customers an image of your company.

I’ve been thinking about brands that are making a difference in our lives and society, and I used the term “worthwhile brand” to define them.

Search Engine Marketing is now the standard online, a beeline to a measurable ROI. But as marketers try to wrap their heads around social networking, and invent ways to utilize it to their advantage, it’s becoming clear that the branding opportunities are quite appealing, nearly boundless, limited not by money, but by imagination.

My last post, Positioning for Extinction, stirred up quite a debate. Laura Reis, a big proponent of highly focused brands, suggested that Weber stick to charcoal grills and launch a new brand for gas grills.

More than one-quarter (26.7%) of the French online population visit a blog at least once a month.

I just came across Laura Reis’ post about why Weber should limit their brand name to charcoal grills (excluding gas) and I just have to disagree.