FYI, this is just a quick post between sessions… with a full recap of yesterday and today later tonight.

What’s Next?

So South by Southwest (SXSW) is famous for launching twitter, making twitter popular and last year for the launch of geo-location tools Gowalla and Foursquare. What’s this year’s big application or tool?

Zip. Zilch. Nada. Sorry to report that nothing is really hot besides the aforementioned tools (twitter and geo-location). Geo-location apps Gowalla and foursquare are really big this year, with both releasing new versions in time for SXSW. But nothing else has generated a ton of hype. I’ll search back through tweets from hash tags to see if there is anything new that I missed.

I’m not disappointed or surprised, because it’s hard to live up to that hype year in and year out. There has been a ton of great sessions thus far, I’ve met a lot of great folks from a variety of disciplines, but I haven’t met the next killer app.

Our next Marketing Works column in Small Business Monthly is now available in print and online.

This month we are reviewing a print ad campaign by Adamson for Hortica Insurance.

David: I like the over-the-top, exaggerated characters and saturated colors in these ads. Even business-to-business customers are bombarded with marketing messages from all directions; these should stand out nicely in any publication.

Spoke is excited to announce our new monthly column called Marketing Works starting in January’s issue of Small Business Monthly. The goal of this column is to review award-winning marketing tactics and explain why they worked and how small business owners can apply these tactics to their own business.

Read our first article reviewing a self-promotional postcard campaign from Atomicdust.

If you like fine print, you’re in luck. In the first major revision to product endorsement guidelines since 1980, the Federal Trade Commission now specifically requires online marketers to disclose any ‘material connection’ they have with a product or service they mention.

You’ve no doubt seen disclaimers in marketing efforts:

• not a real doctor

• past performance does not guarantee future results

• results not typical

Because social media, blogging, and word-of-mouth marketing make it especially difficult for consumers to identify paid endorsements, the new regulation requires that these relationships be made clear to the intended audience. If a company is providing free product or cash to someone to promote their product, the marketer must disclose it.

This is a good thing.

The FTC exists to (among other things) protect consumers and prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices. By holding ‘mommy bloggers’ to the same standards as traditional sources of advertising, the FTC hopes to make consumers less susceptible to unsubstantiated or false claims (looks like the acai berry diet’s days are numbered).

In full disclosure: as a writer I love to use purple, extra fine point Sharpie pens. The Sanford corporation does not pay me to say this…but if they’d like to, I’m available (Wait!?! Is that Mont Blanc on the other line…?).

There’s a handyman at my house today.

I’m not exactly sure what the problem is, but something is leaking somewhere. Honestly, I didn’t even try to figure out what the problem was before I left the house. All I know is – there is water where it shouldn’t be, and somebody needs to set my pipes straight.

I had just the man for the job (and it wasn’t me). For the record, I’m not the least bit handy. If you give me a screwdriver, I hope it has a swizzle stick in it (and perhaps a nice orange wedge garnish).

That said, I could try to fix it myself, it doesn’t seem entirely impossible. With a few hours work, I could probably dig around in the house, look up things on the Internet, and even ask the folks at the hardware store…heck…

I might even fix the problem.

But. I could also:

• waste valuable time, and not fix the problem

• do more harm than good

In this case, outsourcing was my best solution. In the time my handyman fixes the leak, I will have written (and edited) this post, written copy for one client, sketched out ideas for a new campaign for another, and outlined two statements of work for new business.

By outsourcing to a trusted expert, I was able to do what I do best, and empower somebody else to do what they do best.

Anything else seems like flushing common sense down the drain.