In the rankings of top 20 buzzwords, “conversational marketing” is right there, with a bullet: moving up fast. The latest evidence: this article in iMedia Connection about conversational SEO.

Takeaway for marketers: I’ll reiterate what I said back in November.

Weatherproof may not be broadcasting their two-second commercial on tomorrow’s Super Bowl broadcast, but they’re getting their 15 seconds of fame: For example, here’s an LA Times article about it and here’s a CNBC article about it.

Gawker asks: “Brilliant?” I say: Close, but no cigar. Good idea, potentially very Barnumesque, but bad execution.

Were the misspellings in the press release intentional? Why isn’t their two-second spot on YouTube or Google Video? Is their PR agency pitching the story like mad dogs to every possible media outlet and then some? Why not have the sign held up in the spot be a URL and point people to a microsite so you can measure the results of your efforts?

Takeaway for marketers: Got a great idea? (You’ll know when you do.) Take the time to think it through from all angles so that you maximize your potential when it comes time to make that idea a reality.

Oops.

Takeaway for marketers: No matter how often it’s said, it always seems to bear repeating: Words matter.

Marketing Sherpa’s annual Marketing Wisdom guide is out. It’s a free PDF download, an annual must-read and you can get it here.

Takeaway for marketers: If you’re looking for practical online marketing tips born of experience, here’s 101 of them … free.

Does this sound familiar?

You get a potential client on the hook, have some great discussions, seem to hit it off and the job that needs to be done is right up your alley. So you spend valuable hours putting your proposal together, send it on over, follow up in email, follow up by phone, follow up in email, and spend valuable hours wondering how much more you should follow up before giving up. Oh, and of course through all this you get nothing but radio silence from the other side.

Or this:

You’re recruited for a job that seems right up your alley. You talk to the recruiter who passes you over to the phone interview which results in a first interview which results in a second interview which results in a follow-up interview scheduled for an hour that instead takes two hours and this is great and we’ll let you know and then … nothing but radio silence as days stretch into weeks and more.

From both personal experience and the experiences of people I know, these are all-too-common situations. Why? Is it that difficult to pick up the phone or fire off an email and give someone the status of a situation that’s taken up many hours of their valuable time?

I’ve been in many situations on both sides of this fence. When I’ve recruited writers or Web designers, for example, I might get 20 responses to a note I post on a discussion list. I respond personally to each and every one — and that’s before anyone’s spent more than the time it takes to pop out an introductory email. Sure, it takes a bit of time, but it’s not that huge an inconvenience.

Business travels at the speed of light these days, but it’s also traveling at the speed of rude. That’s flat-out wrong, and it’s up to all of us to redouble our efforts to make things better.

Takeaway for marketers: In a world where rudeness is the norm, a little bit of common courtesy can go a long, long way.

JANUARY 16 UPDATE: I posted a shorter version of this post over on LinkedIn. Looks like it touched a nerve.