Reading List for This Week

Here a couple of articles I read this morning...and thought you might like them too.


The PRoblem with Startups - The Flack Blog. This is a nice round up of the Mark Cuban - PR industry rumpus. If you didn't know, shy Mark poked a stick at PR people by saying that startups didn't need trained professionals to generate editorial coverage and that all a CEO had to do was send a quick email to the editors of trade magazines to generate any coverage needed. This might work if you are Mark Cuban (and even then.) PR practitioners, obviously, are a little peeved at Mark pooping on their profession and have generated a fair number of blog posts defending the value they bring. All of this ignores the whole decline of trade media and rise of content marketing trend that I've been talking about for years, but there you go.

Richard Clarke on Who Was Behind the Stuxnet Attack - Smithsonian Magazine. Think cyberwarefare is a big problem. You have no idea...

The story Richard Clarke spins has all the suspense of a postmodern geopolitical thriller. The tale involves a ghostly cyberworm created to attack the nuclear centrifuges of a rogue nation—which then escapes from the target country, replicating itself in thousands of computers throughout the world. It may be lurking in yours right now. Harmlessly inactive...or awaiting further orders. 

A great story, right? In fact, the world-changing “weaponized malware” computer worm called Stuxnet is very real. It seems to have been launched in mid-2009, done terrific damage to Iran’s nuclear program in 2010 and then spread to computers all over the world. Stuxnet may have averted a nuclear conflagration by diminishing Israel’s perception of a need for an imminent attack on Iran. And yet it might end up starting one someday soon, if its replications are manipulated maliciously. And at the heart of the story is a mystery: Who made and launched Stuxnet in the first place? 

Richard Clarke tells me he knows the answer.

The Myth of Mobile Content Marketing - Copyblogger. I love Copyblogger. Almost every post I read there has gobs of valuable information and is a pleasure to read. Here is a story on the power of browser based mobile websites and the advantage they have over mobile apps.

The world has changed. We’re carrying powerful computers around in our front pockets. We consume the content on our mobile screens while grabbing a coffee, walking the dog, and waiting in line at the DMV.  

And yet, I started this post with a somewhat bold declaration: There is no such thing as “Mobile Content Marketing”. With the introduction of accessible responsive design, mobile content marketing has become simply … content marketing.  

To be a player — a publisher — in the mobile space, you now need only one website, distributing your content on the open web, and displayed perfectly on the little computers so many of us carry.

Facebook, Richard Clarke, and Kids Today

I'm catching up on a lot of blog posts, videos and news that happened while I was away (see my post on Alaska). I think it is important to take time off once in a while mainly as it gives you a fresh set of eyes on your industry and it trends. Here are a couple of links I'm finding compelling today...

The reviews are coming in for "The Social Network" by Aaron Sorkin about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Sounds like its a good movie and going to be a big hit. Here is a roundup of reviews so far...

Levis is putting its $100 million dollar advertising account up for review. The goal?

According to people familiar with the situation, the review is an effort by the marketer to consolidate the nearly 20 media agencies it works with around the world to one or two agencies.

Is this consolidation a one-off event or evidence of a general trend? My guess is the latter.

In interesting talk by Richard Clark on the keys to cyber security



More M&A transactions that spotlight the importance of marketing dashboards powered by sophisticated analytical engines. "IBM to acquire analytics provider Netezza"

Should alcohol ads be allowed in college newspapers? The kids at UVA and Virginia Tech sure think so. They are suing the State of Virginia in order to overturn a ban...and the Supreme Court is looking at the case. How would you feel if your biggest possible advertiser was prohibited from buying space in your publication? Does Jagermeister really need to advertise in order to convince their best customers to have a shot tonight?

Why would anyone go to a trade show?

Why would anyone go to a trade show? Back in the day, trade show attendance was a must in order to learn industry specific information, connect with prospects, clients and influencers, and raise awareness of your company. In short, all things you can do, for free, over social networks and the Internet.

Yet, even when we've seen an industry roiled by free Internet alternatives (record companies, newspapers, TV networks), there still remains a nub of value in these media. I still listen to music, read news and watch TV shows. I don't, as a matter of course, attend trade shows, unless there is a compelling reason to do so.

During Q1 and Q2, I've decided to attend three shows, mainly because each reaches an audience I'm targeting in my marketing and sales roles- RSA Conference (security), Satellite 2010 (satellite) and FOSE/GOVSEC (government/security). There are plenty of others that gave consideration to (CTIA Wireless, Interop, HIMSS) but, given limited time and money, they didn't make the cut.

What are your plans for trade shows this year? Are you spending more or less time and money on a trade show program? What could trade shows do that would make it worthwhile for you to invest more?

FOSE- Part Deux

Another busy day at the FOSE trade show at the Washington Convention Center. I interviewed several business executives who focus on the government IT market for my Straight to the Point podcast series. I won't spill the beans now as we'll be releasing the video early next week, but here are some key takeaways:

• all three executives are adding headcount and resources to their federal, state and local government sales and marketing teams
• all three agree that the stimulus package will be flowing real dollars into state and local government coffers
• beyond stimulus, all agree that the Obama administration's new priorities will shift new and real resources into cybersecurity, electronic health records, the smart gird and green technology more generally
  
• two execs believe that there will be a pronounced relative shift in funding dollars away from the DOD/Intel world into the federal civilian agencies

Tomorrow is the final day of the show. I'll be working the show floor to meet as many companies as possible as well as heading over to the adjacent GOVSEC show.

Were you at the show? What did you think about it? Did you have any insightful conversations?

The Week Ahead...FOSE/GOVSEC

Well, I've done it...I changed the layout of my blog for the first time in two years. Exciting, huh? I'm now using the TicTac Blue template that Google has so generously provided me for free. For those who haven't been paying attention, I previously used the Minima template, also from Google- although I had customized it to have three columns, something that took me a week, if I remember correctly. Zzzzzzzz.

LOL, setting aside the first paragraph, this is going to be an exciting week! I'm going to be spending a great deal of time at the FOSE/GOVSEC show down at the Washington Convention Center. I'll be meeting with prospects, new and old, catching up with contacts I haven't spoken with in months and conducting some video interviews of senior level marketers who's expertise is how to sell technology and services to the federal, state and local government.

The impact of the new Obama administration is becoming clearer as the months go by.

• An increased emphasis on openness, transparency and communication with citizens is having mixed results.
• The cloud computing trend seems to be on everyone's lips as a solution to the ever present problem of silo smashing and data interoperability, but then the cybersecurity czar, Rod Beckstrom, resigns after a month on the job, because the NSA won't let him manage their data.
• Massive amounts of money are going to be spent on healthcare reform, healthcare IT, green technology and broadband access
• Massive amounts of money are going to be spent on just about everything except the Iraq war and insurance companies.

It certainly will be interesting to see how all this gets paid for: higher taxes (slower growth) or a debased currency (high inflation). Perhaps both. Not to worry- those are problems for another day, right?

I'm looking forward to speaking with the professionals at FOSE who interact with their government customers everyday. Their insight will be enlightening. This is what I want to know:

1. How is this year going to be different than previous years given the effect of economy and the new priorities of new administration?

2. What are government customers telling them about where procurement dollars are flowing? More, less? DOD/intel versus civilian?

3. What are they doing different this year in terms of sales and marketing strategy or tactics? More trade shows? Less? More sales staff? Less? More Lead generation? social media?

Is there anything else you'd like me to ask? Drop me a comment and I'll get the answers you're looking for...

Ah, the Gov't At Work...

Because of my business development activities, I spend a lot of time talking with a variety of innovative cybersecurity companies. Security, whether intrusion detection, identity assurance, testing, spam blocking, thumbsucking prevention, is an incredibly complex problem with many proposed solutions. One aspect with biggest potential for damage is lack of security around critical infrastructure.

Dams, nuclear power plants, Wall Street and government installations are now all connected to the Internet in a way they weren't even a decade ago. The government admits that they haven't done nearly enough to secure these facilities from cyber attack.

The problem? Well, the Internet is a private asset, and idea of the government inserting itself into the management and security of that asset raises everyone's alarms about privacy and the proper role of government. Add to that the Bush administration's wonderful track record explaining themselves, and I think you end up with an all out battle if they should try to do anything.

To paraphrase a former president, "well, here they go again."

From today's Wall Street Journal, Bush Looks to Beef Up Protection Against Cyberattacks:

President Bush has promised a frugal budget proposal next month, but one big-ticket item is stirring controversy: an estimated $6 billion to build a secretive system protecting U.S. communication networks from attacks by terrorists, spies and hackers.

Administration officials and lawmakers say that the prospect of cyberterrorists hacking into a nuclear-power plant or paralyzing Wall Street is becoming possible, and that the U.S. isn't prepared. This is "one area where we have significant work to do," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a recent interview.

The White House's proposal has already dismayed lawmakers concerned about civil-liberties violations. Democratic lawmakers are also frustrated by what they see as the White House's refusal to provide details of the program, and say that could threaten the fate of the initiative.

New Event with the SIIA- Security

As I mentioned a while back, I've partnered with the Software and Information Industry Association (www.siia.net) to develop a series of events that will take a look at the transformational changes occurring right now in three critical areas. Each of these areas are wrestling with dramatic change that is raising technology, regulatory, and cultural issues while generating tremendous business opportunities and creating real value for customers. Each of these events will spotlight panelists with differing perspectives on all of these issues as well as give insight into what the future might look like given today’s trends.

Our next roundtable will shed light on issues and trends in the changing landscape of security. Enterprises are wrestling with a variety of ever growing challenges such as identity management, mobile security, managed security services, and regulations (Sarb-Ox, FISMA, HSPD-12). We'll take a practical look at how these challenges are being addressed by enterprises.

Panelists: Dipto Chakravarty, Vice President of Engineering for Identity and Security Management, Novell (Confirmed)

Lyall Venatta, VP Marketing, Sigaba (Confirmed)

Paul Innella, CEO, Tetrad Digital Integrity (Confirmed)

Moderator: Jeff Majka, Director of Marketing and Business Development, Strategic Communications Group

Date: October 24 2007
Time: 8am to 10am
Location: SIIA DC office, 1090 Vermont Avenue, 6th Floor, Washington DC
Attendees: 30-40 people
Registration Fee: SIIA members $20/non-members $40

Click here to register: http://www.siia.net/events/prereg.asp?eventid=758