"A corporate brand is meant to be an organizing principle and filter for all actions, behavior and product development of an organization," explains author and veteran branding expert Scott Lerman. The former president of Siegel & Gale and CEO of Enterprise IG, Americas, Scott founded the consultancy Lucid Brands in 2005 to help organizations shape and develop their "brand story." We had a fascinating conversation with Scott about his work:

According to David Meerman Scott, author of the bestselling book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, the old rules of PR no longer apply. Thanks to the Internet, marketing and PR professionals shouldn't write press releases for journalists in the hope of getting ink.

Hmm, do you detect a theme to the blogs listed below? If you're working on your company's or product's brand, these sites offer advice, insight, real-world examples and more. Check them out:

Brand Autopsy

Brand Infection

Brand New

BrandCurve

BrandNoise

Every marketing writer knows the importance of focusing on the benefits. Your product or service may have a whole smorgasbord of amazing features -- but, unless you explain how those features benefit the prospect, your marketing piece is doomed.