Welcome New Readers

If you are new to the Marketing Genius blog, or if you're returning after an extended absence, please accept a sincere welcome.

It occurred to me to that it was time for a "reset." In the words of Admiral James Stockdale (Ross Perot's running mate VP from the presidential election of 1992), "Who am I, and why am I here?"

I'm the founder and leader of this band of bloggers. My name is Skip Lineberg. I am one of the founding partners (along with Michael Haid and Steve Haid) of a marketing firm, Maple Creative, based in Charleston, West Virginia. Our company is in its sixth year, and this blog has been around since April of 2004. I started this blog on the same day that I saw a blog for the first time. I'm not a bit ashamed to admit that it was Seth Godin's blog that inspired all of this. (Seth - count me among your legion of fans and admirers!)

We had the distinct surprise and honor of winning an award as one of the People's Choice Best Blogs (Honorable Mention) in 2005. That was, without question, the tipping point for this blog. Thanks, again - by the way, to the gracious folks at Marketing Sherpa who run the annual "Best Blog" contest.

Today, our blog is read by friends and followers across the globe. We average about 90,000 hits per month. And we are extremely grateful to have loyal 125 subscribers, who receive our content directly, as soon as it is posted. (To our subscribers and loyal followers--we sincerely appreciate you, and we love to hear from you!)

Over the course of this blog's history, I've had the joy of writing, working, blogging and collaborating with a cast of highly talented colleagues. I like to refer to them as Mapleonians. If you are a regular reader ... or if you work your way through the archives you have heard from many of them.

What do we cover on this blog? Quite simply, we cover anything that is marketing related. You will find theory, as well as "how to" tips. You'll find useful resources and handy rules of thumb. We share case studies and real-world stories, ranging from local to national to international. You will occasionally see commentary on oddities and curiousities. We'll hit on topics ranging from the latest technology to what's hot in pop culture (and why it's hot).

Why do we blog? (I love this question!)

We blog because we are creative. This blog is a creative outlet for all of us--the Mapleonians. We love to create, to think, to observe and to write. We see the world through marketing eyes. Sometimes things make sense through those eyes; other times things do not. We blog because we love interacting with you, our readers. We blog because it lends credibility to our work and to our collective knowledge base. Our blog has gotten us noticed more times than I can count. It has brought us inquiries from prospects and from the media. Blogging has enabled us to meet, interact with and become friends with other marketing professionals across the blogosphere. It has increased traffic to our Web site in a quantum manner, an increase that was previously unimaginable. Today, more than 70% of the visits to our Web site come by way of this blog.

So, here you are. Know that you are welcome. Please come back often. And finally ... please tell us two things, fellow marketing geniuses:

1- What else do you need to know about how this evolved?
2- What would you like to see covered here at Marketing Genius ... what can we help you with? What interests you?