The industry took a significant step in the behavioral targeting and privacy debate by releasing seven best practices principles for behavioral targeting on July 2.

A group of marketing associations introduced seven best practices principles for behavioral targeting on July 2. The principles - a significant step in the behavorial targeting and privacy debate - are designed to make behavioral targeting more transparent to consumers and to educate consumers on the practices of online advertising and how behavioral data is used.

Investment bank Petsky Prunier released a trend report highlighting M&A and investment activity in the second quarter of 2009. It reveals continued slowdown for marketing, information and digital media investment volume and value. Bright spots in interactive and digital advertising were driven primarily by venture capital and corporate investments in social media, online video, mobile marketing and software-as-a-service e-mail marketing.

While a recent Knowledge Networks study found that less than 5% of users regularly turn to social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter for guidance on purchase decisions, many marketers find blogs are an effective way to reach motivated buyers.

Black-out sales, free shipping days, search engine optimization, strategic link baiting—all are proven methods that can, when timed and executed well, ratchet up Web traffic. But if unprepared, dramatic traffic increases can lead to delays, hang-ups, outages, and even outright system failures that can negatively impact campaign success, as well as customer satisfaction and corporate revenue.

TruMedia Networks is launching TruFan today, a social media platform for sports fans built around local fan communities in 122 markets where a major professional sports team is located. The platform was designed to allow fans to post, share, vote on and aggregate timely, local sports media content in a fashion similar to what is done on Digg or Yahoo Buzz.

A solid e-mail database is the cornerstone for any successful e-mail campaign. David Eldridge, CEO of Alterian, and Blake Groves, online marketing consultant for Convio, share their top Dos and Don'ts for building the most valuable e-mail database.

In time for Wimbledon, the ATP, the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits, has teamed up with digital marketing and technology services firm Digitaria to launch an upgraded interactive Web site.

It's pretty bleak out there, and some are predicting that the economy will get worse before it gets better. In this sort of environment, e-commerce marketers need to take a look at the ROI of their outbound marketing, and how effective their Web site is at converting customers coming to the site. Traffic generation spend is wasted if that traffic does not convert, and average conversion rates hovering at 3% or so seem to indicate that the selling conversation that we are having with our customers leaves something to be desired.

The battle over behavioral targeting legislation continued Thursday when members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet met with the Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection Subcommittee.