Each year for the last 4 years, Marketing Sherpa has published a wonderful freebie called “Marketing Wisdom”. It contains over 100 case studies contributed by marketers and ad agencies, plus accompanying benchmark guides.

The editor of Marketing Wisdom, Anne Holland, noticed 3 trends when compiling the latest reports from contributors for the 2006 edition:

a) “Shotgun” tactics in marketing copy isn’t as effective as a targeted spiel. By “shotgun”, I mean trying to appeal to as many different types of potential customers as possible in a campaign.

b) Segmenting email marketing campaigns is worth the effort

c) Buying ads on search engines is worth considering, *even* if you have top organic rankings.

I highly recommend perusing Marketing Wisdom 2006 - it’s free, an entertaining, educational read formatted in easily digestible chunks. I think that everyone who reads it will find some great ideas that are applicable to their own marketing.