By Steven J. Slater, guest blogger on Pat Lovenhart’s blog

I gave a marketing presentation to Johns Hopkins University business graduate students this past summer, on how only the strong brands will survive rough economic times.  This was before the effects of the economy really hit.  I was not trying to be prophetic, just pragmatic and get the point across the importance of positioning.

There are so many programs dedicated to social media and web technology development in this region, it is hard, if not impossible, to keep up with everything. This includes forums for showcasing new undertakings.

If you are not already on mailing lists (see info below), I suggest you check these out. You may get some new ideas and can also investigate what your competition’s doing. Even if your endeavor is unique, you’re still vying for a fixed pool of capital (and possibly some of the same target markets).

The downturn in the economy and the dearth of reliable, lucrative exits for venture investors will create unprecedented change in early stage financing for entrepreneurs.

It was time to bring the role of new media (Web 2.0, social networking for business) into my marketing research course material. The course needed to include newer online techniques and resources for gathering and analyzing data. These techniques cover finding, observing and listening to the chatter, and then analyzing and learning from the vast amounts of data.