Recently I had the pleasure to meet Ed Madison, president and CEO of Engaging Media, Inc., a leading marketing consulting and media production firm based in Portland, OR.

As a bonus during our coffee klatch, Ed announced his latest venture – Marketers Alliance – a new online community and resource for business and marketing folks like you and me.

According to Ed, the purpose of the community is to promote collaboration and information sharing among business owners and marketers, particularly in tough economic times. His vision for the community is to create:

“A global network of business and organization owners committed to supporting one another in their success.”

The timing is right for this community, not only because we are in the midst of a uniquely challenging business climate, but also because it fits squarely into that technological and anthropological infrastructure known as the Social Web. I believe the business, marketing and development professionals who quickly grasp the concept of cooperation and collaboration will fare much better than those in competing organizations in the coming year. At a minimum, companies should at least consider engaging in some healthy “coopetition” to survive.

Luckily we have social media tools like Marketers Alliance to empower us to do so. According to the site, Marketers Alliance will help you:

“Keep abreast of hot trends…in marketing, through our “Quick Tip” blog posts and podcasts. Meet peers, share your firsthand success stories – or strategies you’ve discovered from others.”

The Marketers Alliance homepage boldly states: “We promise: • profit-making strategies • lively discussions • links to hundreds of resources • live teleseminars with experts • book reviews and • special events.”

When asked how Marketers Alliance has helped him personally and professionally, Ed replied: “It’s really compelled me to stay on top of the day to day evolution of trends in marketing.  I’m also experimenting with social networking and meeting lots of cool people in the process.” He also said that the feedback about the community has been “excellent” and that “people want more” content, especially related to social media and SEO.

The thing I really like about the community is its inherent strength in offering quality and quantity audio/video content – thanks to the background of Ed Madison – which will help create a more comprehensive and robust Web 2.0 community.

You can listen here to the podcasts, which also include a couple of interviews with yours truly.

If you don’t know about Squidoo, you don’t know what you’re missing. 

What is Squidoo? Another brain child of Seth Godin, Squidoo is a community of single-page websites (each called a “lens”) built with passion and creativity by people like you and me – about the topics of our choice.

Squidoo is like a virtual erector set in that you are supplied all the building parts and limited only by your imagination – except, with Squidoo, anyone in the world can potentially see your creation when it is finished. And also, with Squidoo, your final product is auto-adorned with Internet ads.

Yes, that’s right. Squidoo cleverly combines the compassion of community and the passion of people with the business of advertising.  Upon completion, your lens is auto-populated with relevant Google ads. You can also choose to display items for sale from Amazon, CafePress, etc. And if someone buys an item via your lens, you generate a portion of the proceeds – for yourself, charity or a combination of both.

The best part? Creating a lens is so easy that my mother could do it (actually, to be fair, my mother is pretty tech savvy – but you know what I mean).

I have to admit…after creating my first lens (the operative word being “first”) about identity theft, I am completely hooked by Squidoo’s far-reaching, yet benevolent, tentacles. It’s no wonder – the Squidoo community’s vibrant and sunny disposition makes it difficult not to keep returning. And each visit provides a purely painless and pleasant user experience (how rare is that?!).

Folks, do not delay. Build your lens today. Squidoo is an effervescent experience that Squi-don’t want to miss!

P.S. Don’t forget to stop by my new Squidoo lens: Protecting Your Identity: Start with the Basics. I welcome your feedback and suggestions!