Constant Contact Hosts Small Biz Seminars

Congrats to email marketing company Constant Contact for the announcement they are launching small biz email seminars throughout the LA area.

This is something local newspapers and regional yellow pages should have been doing all along- not particularly email but all types of emerging marketing, and I predict this will be a winner for Constant Contact...great PR, great results, and a program that will expand quickly.

It's even nicer that their LA representative is Kelly Flint, formerly of United Way, since that brings the experience of someone used to having a limited budget and a diverse group of constituents.

Way back when I first got involved in the local interactive scene - in 1994 and 1995 - I held an ongoing series of luncheon seminars for advertisers of the Houston Chronicle. They were very, very appreciative, and in many ways, that helped lay the foundation for the success houstonchronicle.com has experienced (not to dismiss the incredibly progressive and practical interactive management teams over the years).

Anyway, thumbs up and accolades for "REAL MARKETING" to the Constant Contact team. There's no reason that small businesses should have to prowl through the web or take days out of the office attending seminars to get the low-down on email marketing.

A Look At Newspapers Online

It was 11 years ago this week that I came to Silicon Valley. I left the Houston Chronicle where I was part of the Hearst Corp. interactive efforts and Houston Chronicle Interactive, to work with Bob Ingle and Knight Ridder New Media (later to become Knight Ridder Digital).

It was, therefore, very timely for me to see the article today in Business Week, A Cautionary Tale for Old Media, a thoughtful but quick recap of Ingle's vision and efforts.

I have a lot of memories, insights and thoughts about that period of time -- all the major newspaper groups were trying to find a place in the emerging media -- but they are all ramblings. I believed then, and still do, that Ingle had set forth the industry's brightest experiments.

It was also interesting to me that just this week, the Houston Chronicle (which early-on had a lot of dynamic thinking about the Internet) announced layoffs. According to publisher Jack Sweeney the layoffs are because in, "this complex and competitive information and media environment, with consumer choices multiplying daily, our new strategic plan calls for more resources to be dedicated to new technology and product development. We need to operate differently..."

I thought the Business Week story was a great read.