What’s not so easy to find? Hard facts and case studies that demonstrate if any of this creates profit on a sustainable basis. Yes, the occasional viral video hits the jackpot, and once and a while a local business scores big on Twitter. But day in and day out? Don’t bank on it.

Online marketing, is just that: marketing. Unless you’re amazon.com, that’s not the same as sales.

Especially for the B2B world, selling is a personal contact sport. Only to the extent that online tools enhance relationships and awareness, can they indeed lead to sales. Same for direct mail, brochures and printed collateral which are increasingly rare and correspondingly effective these days.

You’re gettng word of mouth, referrals and testimonials? Great. Increased credibility and visibility though internet channels? Super Duper! Top of mind presence though e-mail and direct marketing? Very cool.

Still, and especially in tough times, your business must address the question of selling. Not blog posts. Not impersonal e-mails. Not customer service. Selling. It’s a separate in-the-moment skill that has to be carefully woven into the texture of your company.

Taking a lot of time to develop, update and enhance your selling skills, product knowledge, and customer knowledge (and that of your team) isn’t fast, sexy or cheap. Which is precisely why so few companies get it right.

In his new book Linchpin, revolutionary business thinker Seth Godin helps us find the art in our work, regardless of job description. Here’s a 60 second interview about what we can bring to each day of our working lives:

Linchpin Meetup

From Seth: This is first ever unofficial Seth Godin Linchpin worldwide Meetup. It’s a completely non commercial chance to find and connect with other members of Seth’s tribe, an opportuity to talk, challenge, and inspire your fellow travelers.

The first ever Rancho Cucamonga Linchpin meetup will be held on June 14, in the Copies&Ink meeting room. As of this post, we’re up to 7 attendees, but wherever you live, there’s a meetup near you. If you’d like to participate here’s some information.

This is a huge problem for small businesses, where marketing gets stuck between a dozen other priorities. Even dedicated marketers within large corporations are frequently are pulled off task, and lose sight of the big picture. Last but not least,  marketing gets stuck in no man’s land: perpetually caught somewhere between the sales and human resources team.

I believe that every great company deserves great marketing. To make it accessible we’ve created a simple system based on accountability. We put a deadline in place, and you’ve got to check in on a regular basis to report progress. Beyond that, the BrandOne Marketing Coach Program is designed to help you get clear about your company and its marketing.

If having your own personal marketing coach sounds interesting, feel free to check out the program in more detail. The Marketing Coach 2 minute slide show covers the philosophy and general outlines of the program, which will be FREE to all participants who enroll during the first 60 days. I hope you’ll join us.

There’s more about our marketing services at the BrandOne blog site.

Perhaps you’re old enough to remember video of John Cameron Swayze delivering the iconic Timex slogan: Takes a Licking and Keeps on Ticking. Fans of the recent TV series Mad Men were recently reminded of the classic Think Small print ad campaign for Volkswagen. Both ads were conceived and penned by the legendary copywriter Julian Koenig.

Seems like great copywriting is largely a lost art. A recent blog post by from a well known e-mail marketing company posited that “e-mail copy that sells” must include benefits, subheads, short blocks of conversational copy, a well crafted subject line, etc. All of these elements refer to form, and little falls to content. There’s nothing about reaching out to the reader with a single coherent message. Nothing about capturing the readers’ imagination. Nothing about ideas that are compelling and memorable.

And then there’s the disturbing adulation of psychological trickery in web marketing content as well as the ascent of highly paid Google AdWords strategists. All of this seems to nicely coincide with the collapse of our economic system. It’s like the dot com bubble all over again, this time accompanied by credit default swaps and insanely over-leveraged financial institutions. Lack of substance might be the appropriate words to sum things up.

In the good ol’ days, marketers were gifted writers who worked in a commercial setting. Though these writers of short sentences weren’t revered by their peers, today one can find much to appreciate in their work. A fascinating account of the advertising world, including a contemporary interview of Mr. Koenig can be heard on a recent installment of This American Life.

Today’s e-conomy can be looked at as a house of cards. Much is free or cheap on the internet, and the temptation to do-it yourself is the order of the day. The problem is that talented graphic designers, skilled commercial artists and great copywriters (for that matter all stripes of writers) need to eat too. Ironically, their talents are needed now more than ever.