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Lean Startups are all the rage. Eric Ries’s recent book, The Lean Startup, debuted at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list. There are now lean startup meetups in 94 cities and 17 countries. Eric Ries has been written about in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review,Wired, Fast Company and appeared on the cover of Inc. Magazine.

Today, over 80% of organizations have adopted agile development practices in some parts of their software organizations. Among startups, the percentage applying agile may be even higher.

So what percentage of organizations apply agile methods to marketing?

Who knows? There’s no data. But the total lack of data suggests that only a very small percentage of marketers apply agile methods.

The question is “Why?” This makes no sense.

Although the words are clear, many people have not encountered the term “Content Marketing”. Given that it’s the hottest thing in marketing this side of Pinterest, it’s worth spending some time talking about what exactly is meant by Content Marketing, and how does it differ from traditional marketing using white papers, brochures, webinars and other traditional forms of content.

Every year thousands of sales books are published, each promising to turn a struggling salesperson into a rainmaker – i.e., a salesperson who consistently brings in lots of revenue. Most of these books are junk. Either they’re plain wrong or they’re barely warmed over versions of self-help pablum. But last year’s Rainmaking Conversations by Mike Schultz and John E. Doerr contributes some new angles to the genre, and sits on the shelf next to Neil Rackham’s Spin Selling as my favorite sales advice and methodologies books.

What’s the fastest growing social media site, currently ranked at number 5, ahead of LinkedIn and Google+? If you didn’t know it was Pinterest, particularly if you’re a B-to-B marketer, you can be forgiven. Pinterest is an obvious social media channel for retailers and for B-to-C marketers, but it’s pretty much ignored by B-to-B marketers. I think that spells opportunity; who wouldn’t want to participate in a fast growing, very engaged community with almost no competition?