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That's a question that could probably deserves as its own forum. Here are some quick thoughts.

If the past 20 years are any indication, then I think it's fair to say that there is no way, with any certainty, to predict how we will be marketing in the future. The biggest change in the past 20 years has been the internet and that has all but revolutionized the way companies market. Ironically, the internet has helped create a global economy but it has also fostered the ability for individualized marketing. Cell phone technology, social networking, blogs and tivo, just to name a few, have all impacted the marketing landscape. In terms of the future I think you'd have to ask Steve Jobs or Bill Gates to tell us where technology is going and that would help us figure out what the new marketing strategies will be.

I think the biggest problem I see with email is a lack of content. Most emails I get from companies are straight promotions, the electronic equivalent of direct mail. Since one of the benefits of email is the low cost of delivery, I think more companies should develop email ideas that can be delivered on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. In order to get your customers to open the email I would want to give them something interesting or useful to read. Let's say you are a local bicycle shop. Rather than just sending an email to announce a sale, you can inform your customers about upcoming races in the area, or local charity rides. You can request customers to submit photos from previous events. You can provide links to manufacturers' web sites. You might even get one of your manufacturers to sponsor your email.

I think a blog is a potentially great idea, but it's a lot harder than it looks. You have to be able to spend the time to make it interesting and worthwhile and then you have to keep it going, which takes a real commitment. Done well, it allows you to exhibit your expertise in your field, which is a valuable asset for generating new business.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult for a first time author to get a book published by a major publisher. You don't mention what type of book and that could play a role in which publisher might make the most sense. Of course with the internet more people are self-publishing and trying to build awareness online through the various social networking sites, blogs and other commercial sites. Good luck!

I'm glad you liked the article. I originally purchased a company with a partner using private money mostly through friends and family. We were able to grow by using cash flow from the existing business. I think one of the keys to our success is directly related to your other question about how to win business from bigger competitors. We have strived from the beginning to have the principals and our key executives very involved in all of our projects. Larger companies usually hand the work off to junior people once they land the business, but we believed that if you hire us you are hiring us for our expertise and experience. Therefore, we are very hands-on, at a senior level, with our customers and work very closely with them. If any of our customers have a problem they know they can call me directly. In addition, since our infrastructure is most likely much smaller than many of our competitors we can usually offer price advantages without giving up our margin.

Next, we have designer and he wants to know:

Q. How often should you purge your Mailing List? Also, for newsletters...is technology changing the way we communicate? With cell phone usage, I find it's better to keep messages one or two sentences long to get a point across effectively. If there are too many characters and text, people are not seeing the whole email and end up just deleting my emails. Thank you.

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