A study presented at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting, found that 11 percent of Florida high school students and 4 percent of middle school students had smoked hookah at least once.

For those of you who don’t know, a hookah is a big water pipe that is smoked socially like the one pictured in this post. The practice is rapidly growing in popularity among teens and college students.

With so much talk about social networking and herd thinking, it’s not surprising that social smoking is in vogue.

Every time one door is closed on tobacco use, another opens. Socially, smoking a cigarette is becoming taboo, but the hookah on the other hand becoming accepted. The problem is that it’s worse for you than smoking a cig. The urban myth is that because the smoke passes through water, it’s less harmful.

Tobacco has always had a social element to its use. Smoking was considered cool. Cigar clubs abounded in the 1990’s. Now hookahs are entering into the most social of generations. Is it any wonder?

The time of silo interactive activities is over.  The time for integrated interactive strategies is now.

Integrated interactive planning is about producing measurable results for less.  This economy demands the reinvention of your marketing plan.  Most companies can no longer rely on a fat media budget to drive business.  Now is the time to look differently at your interactive strategy because it may provide a way for you get through this recession and come out stronger on the other side.

The first thing you have to do is forget about silos and remember that all of your interactive, traditional and non-traditional marketing activities must work together.

The first thing to do is to realize that your web site is the most efficient sales tool/retail location you have.  It’s open 24/7, you don’t have to feed it, clothe it, move it, pay it(much), or insure it.  It won’t call in sick, argue with you or goof off on the computer.  That’s why we’ve put it in the center of the Interactive Integration Wheel.

Second, forget about silos.  Forget about branding being separate from web development.  Forget about search being separate from online media.  Instead, consider how they all can fit together.  Duh?  Maybe it seems like I’m pointing out the obvious, but we see all too many marketers who keep everything separate.

Specialists often find it difficult to think about the interaction all the different marketing activities that go into a successful integrated plan and prefer to work only in their comfort zone.  So, the danger is that one activity will receive more attention than another, creating an imbalanced marketing plan.  It would be like spending 90 percent of the budget on a beautiful website and only 10 percent driving people to it….or vice versa.

Third, think of every circle outside the hub as being a hub of its own wheel.  For instance, social networking would be surrounded by Facebook, Myspace, twitter, YouTube, blogs  and a few hundred others. It’s kind of like a never ending galaxy of opportunity and much of it is in the economy of free except for the labor required to make it happen.

Fourth, some activities on the wheel are one way communications and some encourage a dialog with your customers or sales force.  Dialog that makes or saves money should receive top priority.  Customer service is a prime example.  You can provide customer service online with FAQs, chats, e-mails and as a last resort, phone support.  If you’re successful in supporting your customer without a phone call, you’ll save money and return more to the bottom line.  The best part is you can document the ROI.  If you have a call center, imagine the savings if you could cut 10 percent of the cost of phone support.  Think you could find something else to do with that money?

Fifth, somethings won’t fit.  Just as some media won’t fit your target audience, some interactive activities won’t fit your marketing needs.  For instance, if you’re marketing to teens, twitter is not a good choice.  Myspace might be.  On the same hand, don’t discount an activity until you’ve thought about it.

The more you want to prove ROI, the more attractive integrated interactive strategies become.  You can see the results.  Your CEO can see the results.  And you can soften the blow of a draconian budget cut by redirecting a little of the money into a highly effective arena.

We’ll be the first to admit that on the surface, integrated interactive strategies can look a little intimidating.  But there’s gold here.  If you’re interested we’d love to talk to you about how we can move your business forward with a comprehensive interactive plan.  Not just a website, not just an e-mail campaign, but an overall plan of attack to make your marketing budget more effective.

A local business publication conducted a panel discussion about the economy last night.  They assembled a panel of economic experts to give the attendees a perspective on the economy.

Here’s the news flash.  It didn’t sound as bad as the newspapers make it out to be.  The experts expect the recovery to start in the third quarter of 2009 and continue into 2010.  They went on to say that the Midwest is in far better shape than either of the coasts.  Iowa’s unemployment is 4.3%.  Certainly we’ve lost some jobs, but the housing boom didn’t hit us and the housing bust hasn’t really hit us.

So why do the newspapers, and all media for that matter report such dire news on a continuing basis?  Well, if you think about it, the Des Moines Register has laid off people, the Minneapolis Tribune has filed for bankruptcy, the Chicago Tribune is in big trouble as is the New York Times.  Maybe subconsciously they don’t want to feel alone in their misery.

And it’s working.  I spoke with an architect friend who said that he had a couple of major projects on hold because his client said they thought going forward would look bad.  Look bad?  A successful company being successful looks bad?  Wouldn’t their customers be more confident in the stability of the company to see them building and expanding?  Wouldn’t their customers feel better about doing business with them because they were successful?

There is good news in the economy.  IBM’s earnings are up 12% without resorting to layoffs, downsizing or government bailouts.  Just running a company well.  And they are not apologizing for their success.

Warren Buffet says this is a “fear based economic climate.”  Who created the fear?  The media? The politicians?  Who?

My advice to the media to increase ad revenues is simple, publish the positive economic news too.  If confidence increases, maybe marketers will see clear to invest in their companies and advertise in your medium.

My advice to marketers is don’t believe all the hype.  Do business.  Invest.  Grab share.  And don’t under any circumstances be embarrassed about your success and  worry about what people will think.  They’ll think you have outsmarted everybody else.

In cataclysmic economic conditions, the mouse beats the dinosaur most times.  It’s the classic big machine, small brain versus the big brain, small machine battle.  The larger the company, the more difficult it is for that company to be nimble enough to adapt to challenging economic times.  It’s the plight of the dinosaur.  Too big, too slow to adapt.  Too much invested in the status quo to change.  After the asteroid hit the earth, it was a mouse-like creature that survived.  It had a higher brain to body weight ratio.  It adapted, survived and evolved.  In times of plenty, a big machine can look attractive, but when you face big challenges, look to the big brain, small machine to help you thrive.

THE SKY IS FALLING, THE SKY IS FALLING.

We all know how the story turns out.  It’s a children’s story that has a lesson adults, marketers and companies can learn.  The media is screaming how bad things are which has created a crisis of confidence in our economy and the companies that fuel it.  How much of it is real, even the economic experts don’t know.  But what do you do if there is a crisis of confidence about your business?  Do you run a newspaper ad trumpeting how “rock solid” your company is and draw attention to the possibility that it isn’t so rock solid?  Here are some thoughts you might be able to use if you’re in that spot.

1.  Circle the wagons

The first thing you should do is build confidence internally and with your sales channel.  Be honest and realistic.  Limit the number of spokespeople, but give every employee the ability to talk confidently about your company’s status.  Five talking points repeated over and over can lead to belief internally and externally.

2.  Have a plan

Be realistic about the crisis.  Is it real, perceived or imagined.  There really are only three ways to address a problem.  Ignore it, change the subject or address it head on.  Ask yourself which is the best way to make it go away.  Each course of action is reasonable under certain circumstances.  An over reaction can make the crisis of confidence worse, no reaction can too.  If the problem is really a crisis, address it head on and let people know how you’re addressing it.

3.  Monitor the rumors

Find out what people are saying.  Press, employees, bloggers and influencers.  Respond and correct in an appropriate fashion.  Don’t over react.  Rumors are natural.  Talk to vendors, suppliers and anybody else important to your business when rumors might affect your relationship.

4.  Communicate, communicate, communicate

If your company has a confidence crisis, you need more communications than ever.  Uncertainty erodes confidence.  Knowledge creates confidence.  Let people know what you’re doing, how well you’re doing it and what the results are/will be.  Give your most important audiences access to information.  The more you can divulge the better.

5.  Be confident

We’ve watched really strong companies like the Principal Financial Group go from $70 a share to $8.50 a share.  Why?  Is the company fundamentally different in December 2008 than it was in December 2007?  Maybe it’s had some  things happen over the course of the year, but fundamentally we have to believe it has the same intrinsic strength that it had when it was $70 a share.  You have  the same talent, experience and ability you had last year.  Building confidence starts with you.

6.  Be thankful for a strong brand

Hopefully, you’ve built a strong brand that people trust.  If you have brand equity, you can lean on it.  You can advertise just as you have before.  Your consumer will gain confidence from seeing your company advertise.  They’ll be more likely to believe that this crisis of confidence is momentary…an aberation.  They won’t lose trust and in the end, the trust of a customer is all any of us in business have.