Then I asked her how long she'd been surveying people, and she told me, and I said, "You have such a nice speaking voice. You're probably very good at what you do—you know, I just started with a business that could use someone like you—do you have any spare time?"

She said, "Actually, no—that she does this only part time and she has another full time job in advertising/marketing."

I said, "Perfect!"

As it turned out, she just wouldn't let me give her any more info, but isn't this a beautiful way to turn what could be an otherwise unwelcome interruption in your busy day into a potential new member of your marketing force? It also gives me a new "lease on life" regarding former barrage of unsolicited calls I receive daily. Now I actually look forward to them as opportunities!

There you have it, folks—a tasty, sweet lemonade from those tart lemons!

They work well to capture visitors' attention. Best of all, they don't need to be large and intrusive - they just need to be creative!

I expect rich-media ads, Flash ads in particular, to become advertising industry's hot favorite in 2002.

Prediction #4: Watch That Inbox

Permission-based email marketing will be a winner in 2002. The response rates to opt-in email campaigns are significantly higher than other online ad media.

The cost per acquisition is also significantly lower. Turnaround time is faster and results can be accurately tracked.

Expect more companies to move their offline direct mailings online. This is already happening with some companies after September 11.

Expect spam to increase. Spam filters are going to be more aggressive. Monitor your own mailings to ensure that they are not being unjustly filtered out.

To read more on email marketing, go to http://www.internetmarketingfocus.com o.cgi?l=topic-em

Prediction #5: Viral Marketing Infects More

I expect more companies to use viral marketing campaigns to promote and brand their products and services. The volume of viral marketing campaigns will rise - with greater sophistication.

These campaigns are likely to come with more sophisticated tracking of open, clickthrough and success rates with use of 1x1 GIFs and cookies.

To read more on viral marketing, go to http://www.internetmarketingfocus.com o.cgi?l=topic-vm