Word of mouth: empower or cower

Since you can't stop online chatter about your brand, provide consumers with a controlled platform to spread the word. It will benefit you both.

This year, a third of marketers at large companies expect marketing budgets to increase by up to 5 percent, while over half (53 percent) of marketers believe their greatest challenge is to measure marketing ROI, according to the recent CMO Council survey in January.

A notable 41 percent switched agencies, 38 percent found different web design firms, and 26 percent went to new PR agencies, citing "lack of innovation" and "no value-added thinking" as the most common reasons for change. Isn't it a question of not seeing measurable results?