General economic statistics - how will income and unemployment affect your consumers?

• http://stats.bls.gov - Bureau of Labor Statistics - good for economic data.
• http://www.tcb-indicators.org/ -- economic stats, including consumer confidence and leading indicators - good information for figuring out whether consumers are feeling like spending or feeling like saving

Demographic information - who's living where?

• http://quickfacts.census.gov - a great place to find out demographic statistics for U.S. locations
• http://www.claritas.com - a top geo-demographic website. Check out the "you are where you live" link
• http://www.esribis.com/ -- another good zip-code demographic/psychographic market segmentation tool
• http://www.easidemographics.com/ -- another zip code database w/ stats - while you do have to register to be able to get their data, registration is free

International Marketing - information sources for global strategies.

• http://www.ita.doc.gov/ -- an excellent resource for anyone who's thinking of doing marketing on a global scale
• http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/ -- another outstanding resource for international marketing

General Marketing Publications - information about a variety of marketing issues.

• http://www.knowthis.com -- general marketing articles and other links, including a link to now-defunct marketing websites. A good history lesson of what not to do ;-)
• http://www.entrepreneurmag.com -- more good articles, focusing on start-ups and small businesses
• http://www.retailernews.com -- good articles about all facets of retailing
• http://www.salesandmarketing.com/ -- one of the best magazines for the sales and sales management industry

Advertising -- sources of information about the advertising industry.

• http://www.adcritic.com - gives videos of current ads (even those that have been pulled) - fun site, although it's now subscription-only
• http://www.o-a.com -- good information about online advertising -- although in discussion board format
• http://www.adage.com -- one of the best ad industry resources
• http://www.adweek.com - another reasonably good advertising resource
• http://www.nielsenmedia.com/ -- the go-to place to find out how TV ratings are done

Professional Marketing Organizations:

• http://www.the-dma.org/ (Direct Marketing Association)
• http://www.ama.org/ (American Marketing Association)
• http://www.ism.ws/ (Institute for Supply Management - formerly National Association of Purchasing Managers)