Why has online marketing worked for some companies and not for others? And for the companies that are failing, do they simply have no clue how to reach consumers and are just wasting their budgets?

You're right on the money — the failures are usually clueless with budgets.

Online marketing is exactly like any other type of marketing — it's built around the same triggers. When online marketing fails, it's because the company or agency didn't understand the basics. When it works, they "get it."

Creativity is the single best tool anyone can have in marketing, and the same holds true for the online world. Marketing success by no means goes to those with the biggest budgets. You show me a major company that can be successful with a huge budget, and I'll show you how a small group with little or no budget can also be successful.

Remember the movie "The Blair Witch Project"? With around a $50,000 investment, the film's creators had an exponentially higher return on their money than George Lucas did with the multimillion-dollar "Star Wars" prequel. Why? Creativity, period