VentureBeat

Jeremiah Owyang is a well-known marketing professional, worth following because of his insights into promoting brands on the web.

He’s a younger, smarter version of the omnipresent Robert Scoble, the former top Microsoft blogger. Scoble joined Silicon Valley video creation start-up PodTech last summer, and Owyang followed last fall. It became clear that PodTech was trying to fill its ranks with A-list tech bloggers who had already cultivated their own followings. The company specialized in making marketing videos for large companies, something that came naturally for Scoble and Owyang.

PodTech, despite initial hype, has struggled lately, however.

Owyang left Podtech recently, announcing he’ll be heading to Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research where he’ll continue in his long-time role as combination company spokesperson and analyst.

Owyang has developed a sizable following, blogging daily about best practices for promoting companies and technology in the marketplace — and practicing what he preaches by using Twitter, Facebook and other social web sites to promote his brand.

While Scoble tends to make grand pronouncements that often capture the imaginations of other bloggers, Owyang favors a lower-key, more analytical approach to blogging. He writes in detail, for example, on how marketers can use Twitter to spread their message, or what Walmart needs to do to fix its damaged public image.

Before he came to Podtech, Owyang rose through the ranks at Hitachi Data Systems, going from analyst to top company marketer/blogger.

Below is an audio file with a brief interview with Owyang. Note: I start to ask him about his trip to Hong Kong next week, and his reply gets cut off. He’ll be blogging the trip, as part of his strategy of doing promotional events at each city he visits and learning about the local scene.

(Disclosure: I met Jeremiah for coffee, before doing the audio interview, and he insisted on filming this video.)