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With Apple's big announcement last month, there are now at least a billion reasons to be excited about the iPhone!

In late April, Apple celebrated their 1 billionth download — just nine months after the opening of their app store. What does this mean for marketers? 

As postage rates continue to rise, it's more important for you to find less expensive ways to reach customers. So, why not join those businesses that are turning to e-communications to promote themselves?

The three most common e-mail communications are:

2008 has been a pivotal year in our world. Just think about it: in the course of 12 months, we've experienced the most incredible Olympics ever in China... the rebirth of Saturday Night Live with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin... a wave of Obama-mania which resulted in the first African-American president-elect in our history... and a huge economic upheaval that is {{even now}} redefining our entire economic structure.

Not only do these events impact our everyday world, but they also have huge ramifications for the digital world where we all spend so much of our time...

It happens every day.

You're going to the dentist/supermarket/PTA meeting and you run into someone you haven't seen in years. What happens next? Recognition, check-ins on one another's families and then, the inevitable question: "So, where are you working now?"

And just like that, you're on stage and have to demonstrate that (a) you know what you do for a living; (b) you can describe it to an outsider; and most importantly (c) you can sell it to this person who may be a prospective client.

With the prevalence of email, text messaging and IMs, it seems hard to imagine that conventional mail (a.k.a., "snail mail") could be an important marketing vehicle. And yet, millions of dollars are spent by companies each year to create direct marketing pieces that deliver an experience right to your door.

How do you know if you should reach out and touch someone in their mailbox? Just ask yourself three questions:

Walking down the aisles of your local supermarket, you've probably seen all the product packaging promoting the benefits of organic food. Everywhere we look, we’re taught that organic food is healthier, more nutritious, and free of chemical substances when compared to conventional foods. Some products even claim to protect consumers from cancer-causing pesticides. (I’ll take those in bulk, please!)

So is organic food truly a miracle? An escape from all our processed and genetically-altered products?

Here’s a question confronting our latest crop of graduates: is the value of education worth its cost? It depends on who you ask.

With a four-year degree at a private college averaging $100,000 many college students graduate with thousands of dollars in debt, and often no job in sight. College loans and credit cards are making it easier to look past the expensive costs of tuition, books, and room and board, and the costs pile up quickly.

So is college worth the cost?

In some form or other, guerilla marketing has been with us for a long time. Theater posters plastered on construction barriers... companies paying people to have logos tattooed on their bodies... messages scrolling on the Good Year blimp... all are powerful examples of how it can work well.

Guerilla marketing is defined as "an unconventional system of promotions on a very low budget ... relying on time, energy and imagination instead of big marketing budgets." And these low-key, grassroots ideas are often some of the most effective marketing tools around.

Every day, we're surrounded by these subtle, "here I am" promotions:

"Helping to end world hunger."

It's a tall order. Many of us have poured pennies into those little UNICEF collection boxes, or collected soda can tabs, or sponsored friends in walk events. All with the goal of ending world hunger.

But how much does that actually cost? Is it even achievable?

According to United Nations' estimates, "the cost to end world hunger completely, along with diseases related to hunger and poverty, is about $195 billion a year."

So how are we, with our little boxes of coins, bags of soda tabs and $10 pledges going to make a dent in a problem of that size?

Outdoor media is perhaps the most original grassroots promotional tool.

Think about it: traditional outdoor media includes everything from the old Burma Shave signs to the signs for your front-yard lemonade stand or yard sale. You see outdoor advertising every day but perhaps you've thought it's not the best way to market your product or service.

That may be, but consider this: on a broader scale, outdoor media includes not only billboards but also taxi toppers, bus shelters and benches, and signage in shopping malls. And what about signage in stadiums, movie theaters and convenience stores?