Tuesday, December 18, 2018

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 read these five marketing articles:
  1. Your 2019 Content Strategy: 5 Trends You Can’t Ignore, Convince and Convert
  2. 101 Lead Magnet Ideas to Skyrocket Your Email List, Entice
  3. 100 Case Study Interview Questions, HubSpot
  4. HubSpot Wants to Stoke Innovation With $30M Corporate Venture Fund, Xconomy
  5. The Surprising Power of The Long Game, Farnham Street

Thursday, October 25, 2018

Fall Marketing Stories. Product Launches and New Clients.

Fall in DC is my favorite time of year.

Football.

Lower humidity. Normal, comfortable temperatures.

Product launches and new clients.

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” — Albert Camus

All good things.

As per usual, take a quick break from your busy fall schedule and check out these articles:
  1. Why big companies squander brilliant ideas, Tim Hartford
  2. The Long Goodbye (To Facebook), Om Malik
  3. Pivot to traditional: Direct-to-consumer brands sour on Facebook ads, DigiDay
  4. LinkedIn Lead Generation: Definitive Guide (Updated 2018), Angelo Sorbello
  5. Sunk Cost Sinks Ships, Medium
If you need help reaching your sales and marketing goals, email me and we'll schedule a free consultation.

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Worldly Marketing Wisdom- What is the One Key to Marketing Success?

So why am I sending you this newsletter? 

My goal every day is to try and live up to the advice of Warren Buffet's business partner. 

“Go to bed smarter than when you woke up.”
— Charlie Munger

I try to read as much as I can. About marketing. Sales. Design. Startups. Software. Business. Economics. Personal improvement. 

Some of the things I read are crap and not worth sharing. Some, however are pretty good.

With that in mind, take a quick break and check out these articles:

What caught my eye in the past month?
  1. Tesla, software and disruption, Benedict Evans
  2. How the Blog Broke the Web, Amy Hoy
  3. Building a Storybrand: The 7 Prospect Desires Your Business Depends On, MarTech
  4. 50 Split Testing Ideas (You Can Run Today!), Neil Patel
  5. The Websites Of 35 Unicorn Startups Before They Became Billion-Dollar Companies, CB Insights
If your marketing plan isn't functioning as well as you'd like, email me and we'll schedule a free consultation.

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Marketing Links for August

This post will be short, as I'm sure most of you want skip over this part and click on links to five awesome marketing articles. 

What caught my eye in the past month?
  1. 100+ Blog Post Title Templates That Grab Attention, TwelveSkip
  2. How Long Should Your SaaS Software Trial Period Be?, Tomasz Tunguz
  3. The Hyperfragmentation of Retail and Why the Biggest Winners are Digital Ad Platforms, not Microbrands, Namrata Patel
  4. 15 Mind-Blowing Stats About GDPR, CMO.com
  5. Ultimate Cognitive Bias Survival Guide, Geek Wrapped
If your marketing plan isn't functioning as well as you'd like, email me and we'll schedule a free consultation.

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

World Cup Fever?

The World Cup is the most watched sporting event in the world. 

3.2 billion people (almost half of the world’s population) tuned in to watch four years ago in 2014.

The semi-finals are this Tuesday and Wednesday, so I'm sure that some of you will be sneaking out to watch or keeping track of the games on your phones or computers.
If your marketing plan isn't functioning as well as you'd like, email me and we'll schedule a quick call for a free consultation.




Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Almost Summer. Working on your tan? Then read these relaxing marketing articles and learn something new.

I'm not sure if June qualifies as summer or not. Some people classify summer as July and August, but that seems a little short.

However you think about it, June is definitely the month to be outside as much as possible enjoying the sunshine and warm weather.

Are you on the beach working on your tan? Then read this month's relaxing must-read marketing articles:

If you have a few marketing priorities that aren't getting enough attention, message me and we'll schedule a free consultation.

Thursday, May 31, 2018

#TBT: British Telecom Social Media Case Study

I've started to do some "Throw Back Thursday" (#TBT) type updates of old posts. This is a fun concept from Instagram and Facebook, and I thought I'd try it here.

This is one of my first case study blog posts back in 2010 while I was working with Strategic Communications Group. We did some of the first social media based campaigns and wanted to evangelize the concept with other technology and telecom companies.

____________________________________________

One of our goals as an agency in 2009 was to build up some compelling case studies on social media that we could share with our clients and our prospects. We’ve used social media to engage, educate, and entertain key audiences, and generate measurable results for a variety of customers. A few seemed to stand out as particularly good examples of how social media can be used to support a variety of business applications like lead generation, sales cycle support, customer service, employee morale, influencer/media relations, etc.

Almost two years ago, we started developing a pilot social media program for BT Americas. Working with their creative, innovative marketing team, we've executed a measurable, successful, strategically aligned campaign that's been recognized internally as an example of social media marketing excellence.

What do you think? I'd love hear your thoughts- leave a comment if you have a moment...

Situation
In the United States, British Telecom (BT) sells connectivity to Global 2000 companies. Connectivity is a commodity that prospects typically think about only when they need more—for example, when expanding facilities, whether domestically or in another country.

Goal
BT wanted to boost top-of-mind awareness, so when potential customers need to add telecom capacity, they consider BT. If not exclusively, then at least in addition to giant firms like AT&T and Verizon—which have far more advertising dollars to spend.

Solution
BT has a strong commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Knowing that virtually all of BT’s prospects have CSR programs, Strategic created a CSR blog where BT’s thought leaders can interact with like-minded people in other firms, including top-tier prospects. Through targeted social media interaction with key customers and prospects, building deeper relationships with customers like PepsiCo and Wal-Mart becomes a bit easier.

Results
CSR Perspective serves as a bridge, allowing BT’s field marketing force to stay in front of key prospects with shared values. A typical scenario: BT’s CSR executive reaches out through social media channels to counterparts at prospect’s organization and arranges a sales meeting with a prospect’s CSR exec and CFO. Thanks to relationships like these, when prospects need connectivity, BT is on the short list.

Friday, May 18, 2018

#TBT: Government Marketing in an Age of Social Media

I've started to do some "Throw Back Thursday" (#TBT) type updates of old posts. This is a fun concept from Instagram and Facebook, and I thought I'd try it here.

This is one of my first blog posts back in 2007. Pretty terrible, no headline, etc.

Clearly, the impact of social media has changed from those early days.

...I recently moderated a panel discussion at a AMA-DC event in downtown DC entitled "Government Marketing in an Age of Social Media". The panelists (Jay McCargo, Toni Lee Rudnicki and Mark Root) were in general agreement that there has been minimal impact of "social media" among government marketers. However, all three agreed that web 2.0 marketing techniques will become more acceptable in time among the government contracting community.

This article in GCN backs this theory up: Web 2.0: Second verse, different than the first

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Spring has Sprung...Finally.

After the winter we have had, I'm heading outside to rebuild my Vitamin D stores.In the meantime, here are this month's five must-read marketing articles:
If you have a few marketing priorities that aren't getting enough attention, email me and we'll schedule a quick call to review Honeycomb's capabilities.



Thursday, April 19, 2018

Must-Read Marketing Articles for Your Spring Time Pleasure

April Showers Mean More Must-Read Marketing Articles!Spring seems to have finally arrived.

Regular baseball games are being played and the NBA playoffs have started.

Am I going to pass along some great articles about how to make your marketing better, faster and more measurable?

You bet I am.

Take a few seconds and check out these excellent readings:

If you have a few marketing priorities that aren't getting enough attention, email me and we'll schedule a quick call to review Honeycomb's capabilities.

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

March Marketing Madness 2018

Got your brackets filled out?

Should be an entertaining month of basketball with upsets, Cinderellas and, maybe, Virginia not winning it all.

A few years ago, Honeycomb client Ostrato asked us to create a fun video to celebrate the NCAA Tournament.

Click the image to watch...



After that video production, we helped Ostrato execute a "startup pivot" and rebranded the company as ParkMyCloud, which has been super successful, leading to high numbers of new clients and a new round of funding.

While you are watching your favorite teams and updating your brackets, take a few seconds and check out these articles:
  1. Unilever CMO Keith Weed: Three things all marketers can do to eliminate ad fraud, Marketing Week
  2. 7 Mistakes You’ll Make in Marketing Performance, MarTech
  3. Five Big Business Trends to Watch in 2018, Fortune
  4. Google Tag Manager Checklist – 68 Ways To Prepare A Website, Reddit Marketing
  5. Startups are cheaper to build, but more expensive to grow – here’s why, Andrew Chen
If you have a few marketing priorities that aren't getting enough attention, email me and we'll schedule a quick call to review Honeycomb's capabilities.