The Wednesday before Thanksgiving always gives me the rush of the oncoming swirl of activities. I can handle the earlier sunsets and colder weather during this coming season of good cheer. (January and February are a bit tougher.)

So, today I feel really thankful that InsureMe has such good bloggers, normally.
And such creative employees. Work is so much fun here.

But back to marketing for a bit.

I started a thread yesterday about how insurance agents get their information. And ended saying that is was not through advertising. We have really learned that at InsureMe. The response we get from ads or email campaigns is pretty slight. We truly have found word of mouth to be the best marketing 'campaign'.

But aside from having a great product and making it easy for people to spread the word, what else is happening in marketing? So on the day before a holiday, I thought I'd post a few interesting marketing Web sites for you to peruse.

I attended the Forrester Consumer Forum and heard from McDonald's, Neiman Marcus, the ad agency for Burger King (think Subservient Chicken or the King commercials), NASCAR, Discover Financial Services, as well as a host of interactive Web sites where consumers post their own content (travel, blogging, pictures ). The whole focus was on humanizing the digital experience. Sounds like a contradiction in terms, doesn't it? The marketing dollars going into those activities are being taken from more traditional commercials and ads. McDonald's is reducing their TV commerical ad funding by 15 percent and applying it to interactive 'fun things' on their Web site.

This is what the analysts and experts were saying about marketing:

• The future of advertising isn't. …
• It is no longer marketing interruptus; didn't we all learn that it is totally impolite to interrupt someone with your message when they are busy doing something they like to do?
• Marketing has to work on an invitation basis; what you are saying has to have enough value so that the audience asks to receive your message.
• Taking that a step further: the message should fall in the ranks of 'worthy of publishing' - like a song, a lyric, or at least a You Tube video. Check out this Microsoft Web site.
• And just in case you haven't seen the Diet Coke and Mento video, check this out. It was reportedly worth $10 Million in traditional advertising dollars, but didn't cost either company a dime.

Happy Thanksgiving and hurry home, Megan.