Thursday, December 31, 2015

Monday, December 21, 2015

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!

Just a few working days before the end of the year and we are in the midst of another busy holiday season.

We wish everyone safe travels and best wishes.

Need a break from the holiday bustle, grab a coffee and and read these five marketing articles:
  1. Magic Quadrant for CRM Lead Management, Gartner
  2. Conversion Optimization: An Enormous List of Psychological Tactics, Nick Kolenda
  3. Report: More than half of emails are opened on mobile, Fierce CMO
  4. The 30 Best Lead Generation Tips, Tricks and Ideas Hubspot
  5. LinkedIn Publshing Platoform: The Keys To Success, OK Dork

Monday, November 02, 2015

Do You Know the Number One Objection in Your Sales Funnel?

What's the one objection that's preventing your leads from turning into clients?

No idea? Then you should probably read this article:

The Number One Objection In The Sales Funnel, Tomasz Tunguz

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Technology-enabled Blitzscaling

I came across a series of notes taken by Chris McCann on Medium about a class at Stanford he is taking called Technology-enabled Blitzscaling, by Reid Hoffman, John Lilly, Chris Yeh, and Allen Blue.

This is literally a masters class in technology company marketing and operations.

I highly recommend everyone read every class in the whole course.

 Here is a video of the class.

 

Wednesday, October 07, 2015

How Much of Your Audience is Fake?

How Much of Your Audience is Fake? from Bloomberg Business is a mandatory read for anyone involved in digital marketing and advertising. When the uncomfortable questions start being asked from your clients or managers, you need to know the answers.

Tuesday, September 01, 2015

How to Turn Bloggers (and Other Influencers) Into Your Brand Champions

Very good overview on how to solicit bloggers and other influencers to be brand supporters. Read the whole article here. How to Turn Bloggers (and Other Influencers) Into Your Brand Champions

Quote:
Influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways to drive sales and grow your brand online. That's because people tend to trust bloggers they follow more than they trust you or your marketing. So, bloggers and other influencers can have a huge impact on your potential customers. 
However, getting bloggers to become your brand champions takes much more than a casual email: You need to take a structured approach to building a long-term relationship. The following nine steps should have you well on your way.

Friday, August 28, 2015

Sign Up for Straight to the Point

Just sent out Honeycomb's latest monthly newsletter- Straight to the Point. I've been sending this email out once a month for 4+ years and I get a lot of positive feedback.

See below for a list of the articles I mention.

Not a subscriber? Sign up here.
  1. The Ultimate Database of Growth Hacking Tools, (I'm not sure if this is the "Ulitmate" list, but it's pretty comprehensive)
  2. 13 SaaS Marketing Pros Reveal Their Lead Generation Strategies, New Breed
  3. How to Turn Bloggers (and Other Influencers) Into Your Brand Champions, MarketingProfs
  4. 16 Startup Metrics, Jeff Jordan, et al
  5. 5 Startup Landing Page Teardowns, 500 Startups

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Thursday, August 06, 2015

The Ultimate Database of Growth Hacking Tools

I just found out about this website. It's like a Product Hunt for marketing tools. The Ultimate Database of Growth Hacking Tools,

(I'm not sure if this is the "Ulitmate" list, but it's pretty comprehensive)

Also, check out Product Hunt.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Summer Reading: 9 brilliant business books you can read in an afternoon

I'm always looking for business, economics and marketing reading ideas. The Business Insider just had a post with some good ideas.

Read the whole thing here: 9 brilliant business books you can read in an afternoon

Or just download them from Kindle...

1.'Who Moved My Cheese?' by Spencer Johnson
2. 'As a Man Thinketh' by James Allen
3.'How to Lie with Statistics' by Darrell Huff
4. 'The Greatest Salesman in the World' by Og Mandino
5. 'The One Minute Manager' by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
6. 'The Investment Answer' by Daniel C. Goldie and Gordon S. Murray
7. 'The Richest Man in Babylon' by George S. Clason
8. 'Marketing: A Love Story' by Bernadette Jiwa
9. 'Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals' by Thomas Corley

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

VentureBeat Report on Email Marketing Providers

This is an interesting report on the confusing world of marketing email providers.

VentureBeat sizes up email marketing providers

Quote:


Small- and mid-sized companies now can afford many of the bells and whistles that have driven enterprise-level email marketing programs, according to researchers at VentureBeat. The trick now is to find the platform that is the right fit. 
"The rich features of typical enterprise solutions are moving downstream and becoming more available for marketers at much lower price points, depending how big your customer list is," Jon Cifuentes, a research analyst at VentureBeat, told FierceCMO. "There's a lot of confusion in the market here in general." 
VentureBeat released a guide this week to help purchasers of email marketing technology navigate the changing marketplace. The report profiles providers such as Adestra, Constant Contact, Hubspot and Mailjet, who reported concentrations of B2B clients. 
That's a good place for B2B software buyers to start, Cifuentes said. But VentureBeat researchers found that only half of the more than 1,000 marketers who participated in their online survey indicated that the features of their chosen software met their objectives. 
"In general, there's extreme feature parity in a set of tools that, at their core, are used to send many of the hundreds of emails the average consumer or business user receives a day," researchers wrote. "Vendors check the box on one feature after another, but organizations who are buying these tools tend to be left underwhelmed in new and key areas like mobile device accessibility, analytics and segmentation." 
Buyer analysis, much like email marketing strategy, has become complex. An estimated $3 billion in investor funding moved into the industry in 2014 alone, according to the report, making it "near impossible to keep up" with change.

Companies that are integrating email marketing systems and tagging on additional services where needed—without losing a grasp on the data from these services—are moving in the right direction, according to the report.

For B2B marketing technology buyers, this is the trend, Cifuentes said. "B2B is moving more towards the all-in-one, full-featured marketing automation suites to power their email for the marketing use cases better suited for B2B, like lead nurturing. An individual line of business in an enterprise will then tack on MailChimp to do their newsletters."

Email Marketing Providers
Email Marketing Providers


Thursday, March 19, 2015

March Marketing Madness

March Marketing Madness!

Got your brackets filled out?

Should be an entertaining month of basketball with upsets, Cinderellas and, maybe, Kentucky going undefeated.

Honeycomb client Ostrato just put out a fun video to celebrate the NCAA Tournament. Click the image to watch...

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Digital Marketing Trends to Watch Out for in 2015

Another good read about the trends affecting marketers this year... Digital Marketing Trends to Watch Out for in 2015, Clickz

Matt Weiss, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Havas Worldwide  
If I have to suggest what digital marketers should focus on in 2015, I'd say one word: "ideas." First- and third-party data, personalization, omni-channel, multi-channel, collaboration, platform infrastructure, dark digital, connectivity, mobile, and on and on. 
The list of buzzwords and subject matter will no doubt relate to the rapid adoption of mobile and how we connect with consumers in an age of personalization. But I'd like to point to something entirely different, something that may or may not make headlines that are buzzworthy. One word: Ideas. Regardless of the who, what, why, or how of marketing, there will always be "ideas." Powerful. Motivating. Insightful. Brilliant. Expansive. 
Without a platform-level idea to drive unification across marketing activity, marketers are left with tactics, tricks, and one-offs. For me, 2015 will be the year of the idea-powering activity across paid, owned and earned channels. "Ideas" will motivate consumers to action and create a competitive durable advantage for those marketers who understand what lies at the center of a buzzword-driven marketplace.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

21 Digital Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2015

Wow. Pretty much a who's who of marketing luminaries share their outlook on 2015...from Top Rank Blog, 21 Digital Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2015.

Just one-

Tim Washer @timwasher – Senior Marketing Manager, Social Media, Cisco Systems
As brands strive to create authentic connections online, especially with Millennials, more will understand that a clever laugh or the vulnerability of silliness is the most efficient path to earning trust and loyalty. Mark 2015 as the year of humor in digital marketing.



Monday, January 19, 2015

Seven B-to-B Marketing Trends That Will Shape 2015

I read an interesting prediction article in AdAge, Seven B-to-B Marketing Trends That Will Shape 2015

Data and automated messaging are hot topics, but b-to-b marketers say their marketing must get more personal in 2015. "We need b-to-b to be more human," said Andy Goldberg, global creative director at GE.
The seven trends.


  1. Great storytelling
  2. Less Data, more emotions
  3. Shareable content
  4. Holistic user experiences
  5. Consumerization
  6. Reprioritizing marketing
  7. Connecting technologies