Straight to the Point

Map of All Tornadoes in USA

2013-05-21T15:58:00.000-05:00

My heart goes to the folks in Oklahoma dealing with the devastation there. I grew up in the midwest and was taught, in elementary school, what to do when the tornado alarm sounds. Sad.

I came across this map today and thought I'd share it with you. It comes from iO9.com (a pretty cool site you should read). Using data from the government, they plotted the disftance and strength of every recorded tornado in the USA.

How to Get Smarter- The Buffett Way

2013-05-16T09:15:00.000-05:00

I just read this story last night and thought I would share it. Very good advice from some very successful people.

"The Buffett Formula- How To Get Smarter" - Farnam Street blog

How to get smarter

Read. A lot.

Warren Buffett says, “I just sit in my office and read all day.” What does that mean? He estimates that he spends 80% of his working day reading and thinking.

“You could hardly find a partnership in which two people settle on reading more hours of the day than in ours,” Charlie Munger commented.

When asked how to get smarter, Buffett once held up stacks of paper and said “read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge builds up, like compound interest.”
All of us can build our knowledge but most of us won’t put in the effort.

One person who took Buffett’s advice, Todd Combs, now works for the legendary investor. He took Buffett’s advice seriously and started keeping track of what he read and how many pages he was reading.

The Omaha World-Herald writes:

Eventually finding and reading productive material became second nature, a habit. As he began his investing career, he would read even more, hitting 600, 750, even 1,000 pages a day.
Combs discovered that Buffett’s formula worked, giving him more knowledge that helped him with what became his primary job — seeking the truth about potential investments.

But how you read matters too.

You need to be critical and always thinking. You need to do the mental work required to hold an opinion.

In Working tougher: Why Great Partnerships Succeed Buffett comments to author Michael Eisner:

Look, my job is essentially just corralling more and more and more facts and information, and occasionally seeing whether that leads to some action. And Charlie—his children call him a book with legs.

Monday Morning Reads- Hodgepodge Edition

2013-04-29T09:50:00.000-05:00

Porter five forces analysis -Wikipedia

50 Unfortunate Truths About Investing - Motly Fool

The computing deployment phase- Chris Dixon

This One Chart Shows Why The U.S. Economy Is Finally Recovering...-Henry Blodget, Business Insider

Report: 2013 Temkin Experience Ratings -Customer Experience Matters

Windows 8 — Disappointing Usability for Both Novice and Power Users -Nielsen Norman Group

The New Algorithm of Web Marketing -Tanzina Vega. NY Times

Yang Kyoungjong -Wikipedia: Yang Kyoungjong (c. 1920 – April 7, 1992) was a Korean soldier who fought during World War II in the Imperial Japanese Army, the Soviet Red Army, and later the German Wehrmacht. Yes, you read that right. A fascinating story.

How Big Is A Petabyte, Exabyte, Zettabyte, Or A Yottabyte? -High Scalability

Tuesday Night Reads

2013-04-23T15:55:00.001-05:00

Marketers struggle to measure events' ROI -B2B Magazine

The 6 Keys To Being Awesome At Everything - Business Insider

How IBM's Agencies Are Helping the Software Giant Target CMOs- AdAge

Why is it so hard to make a phone call in emergency situations? -BoingBoing

11 Beautiful Examples of Infographics -Dawgeared

By the way, this resume infographic is wicked cool. You should hire this guy...

Hump Day Reads

2013-03-20T13:53:00.003-05:00

Keeping up with the latest, most valuable thought leadership content on the Internet is always difficult. Luckily, I've curated five articles that I think every marketer needs to read. What do you think?

22 Ways to Create Content and Beat Writer’s Block- Business 2 Community

A Better Way to Measure Your Ad Campaign- Harvard Business Review

The Great Eight: Trillion-Dollar Growth Trends to 2020 - Bain & Company

Content Repurposing Is the New Way of the World - Duck Tape Marketing

Avoid These Three Deadly Sins of Sales Messaging - MarketingProfs

As always, if you like to learn more about Honeycomb, have a chat about your marketing plans for 2013, visit our website, send me an email or just call me at 202-497-8333

Google Reader is Dead

2013-03-14T10:32:00.000-05:00

Google announced the other day that Google Reader is being killed off. I'm not sure if you know of this fine program, but I use it several times a day to review and read many, many RSS feeds and websites. Combined with Flipboard on my iPad, it is one the best ways to consume content, I think.

I have 380 feeds in my Reader, which I have collected over the years. I've been told that all of the other competing services are inferior and that they all basically crashed yesterday due to the crush of Reader users suddenly arriving to sign up.

I would happily pay money for this, until now, free service, but Google thinks that they have to focus scarce resources on other projects, which I understand.

I just seems to me that they could have generated some goodwill by releasing the source code as an open source project and let the users manage it.

Change.org petition to keep Google Reader alive attracts over 47K signatures - Venture Beat

Four alternatives to Google Reader - USA Today

The Fuhrer is not pleased...as you can imagine.

Hump Day Reads

2013-02-27T14:01:00.001-05:00

Wow, what a busy week...here are few items that caught my eye...mostly, marketing and social media stuff, but a few other items to keep the brain fit.

Open Source Entrepreneurship- Steve Blank blog

5 Psychological Triggers to Increase Social Engagement- Social Media Today

Social Media Marketing Can Get Out of Sync with Consumers - eMarketer

Do You Question Social Media Culture? You Should - Nick Kellet

Deflecting the Assault on Social Media - MarketingProfs

10 Lessons From Digital Pioneers on How To Become a Digital Success - MarketingProfs

The Landscape Architect’s Guide to WASHINGTON, D.C. - American Society of Landscape Architects

D.C. Is Weird, in Charts - Washington City Paper

The Insourcing Boom - The Atlantic

Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say - Yahoo News

Content infographic courtesy of Eloqua. Full Size version here: http://blog.eloqua.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/The_Content_Grid_Eloqua_JESS31.jpg

Weekend Reading

2013-02-23T15:09:00.000-05:00

Six articles I'm reading this weekend. Anything catch your eye, that you think I should read? Let me know...

10 Lessons From Digital Pioneers on How To Become a Digital Success

Marketing Resources for Startups – Go from Zero to Traction in 90 days

Recession Forecasting Ensemble (RFE) and market timing

30+ Ideas To Create Great Content For Your Customers

Write E-Mails That People Won't Ignore

How To Improve The ROI Of Your New Product Launch

Oh, and today was the Nationals' first spring training game. Giddyup!

Aligning Sales and Business Goals...Even Possible?

2012-12-19T18:14:00.001-05:00

I've providing b2b marketing services to technology companies since 1999 or so. In that time, I've heard a lot of the same issues pop up at many firms. One of the them is the pain that is generated when a company is making a change in strategy, direction or focus- and the sales team becomes reactionary and resistant.

A common example of this is when a product based company realizes that its products are becoming commodities and attempts to re-position itself as a solutions or services company. This change always seems to cause consternation with the folks who have been happily selling the products. With good reason...lol.

I just read a very good article by Steve Blank, a Silicon Valley luminary about just this issue. It is a very good read, and you should read the whole thing...but here is a snippet...

The Land of the Living Dead

I see this same pattern in early stage startups. Early sales look fine, but often plateau. Engineering comes into a staff meeting with several innovative ideas and the head of sales and/or marketing shoot them down with the cry of “It will kill our current sales.”

The irony is that “killing our current sales” is often what you need to do. Most startups don’t fail outright, they end up in “the land of living dead” where sales are consistently just OK but never breakout into a profitable and scalable company. This is usually due to a failure of the CEO and board in forcing the entire organization to Pivot. The goal of a scalable startup isn’t optimizing the comp plan for the sales team but optimizing the long-term outcome of the company. At times they will conflict. And startup CEO’s need a way to move everyone out of their comfort zone to the bigger prize.

Burn The Boats

In 1519 Hernando Cortes landed in the Yucatan peninsula to conquer the Aztec Empire and bring their treasure back to Spain. His small army arrived in 11 boats. As they landed Cortes solved the problem of getting his team focused on what was ahead of them – he ordered them to burn the boats they came in. Now the only way home was to succeed in their new venture or die. Pivots that involve radical changes to the business model may at times require burning the boats at the shore.

Great Article on GE Insourcing Manufacturing

2012-12-03T14:49:00.000-05:00

I just read a very interesting article in the Atlantic about the trend of bringing factories back to the USA. I have heard folks talk about this before, but this is the first real deep-dive I've seen into the drivers of this.

The Insourcing Boom by Charles Fishman, The Atlantic

Bringing jobs back to Appliance Park solves a problem. It is sparking a wave of fresh innovation in GE’s appliances—every major appliance line has been redesigned or will be in the next two years—and the experience of “big room” redesign, involving a whole team, is itself inspiring further, faster advances.

In fact, insourcing solves a whole bundle of problems—it simplifies transportation; it gives people confidence in the competitive security of their ideas; it lets companies manage costs with real transparency and close to home; it means a company can be as nimble as it wants to be, because the Pacific Ocean isn’t standing in the way of getting the right product to the right customer.

Very interesting...

Happy Thanksgiving! Plus Free Local Event...

2012-11-20T15:22:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

On behalf of everyone here at Honeycomb Consulting, I'd like to wish you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving.

Before you leave for the airport, or finish up your to-do list, add this event to your calendar. The good people at Morgan Franklin have been organizing the Pivotal Play event series for over a year now, and they are always quality events.

EVENT DETAILS
Date: Tuesday, November 27
Time: 4:00pm-7:00pm
Location: USA Today's Gannett Center 7950 Jones Branch Drive McLean, Virginia 22107

PIVOTAL PLAYS HONOREES
London Fletcher, linebacker for Washington's professional football team
Catherine Meloy, President and CEO, Goodwill of Greater Washington
Tom Davidson, Co-Founder and CEO, EverFi

MODERATOR Chick Hernandez, anchor and reporter, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic
Guest emcee - Mike Wise, columnist, Washington Post and radio host for 106.7 The Fan

AGENDA
4:00pm-5:00pm | Registration & Networking
5:00pm–6:00pm | Panel Discussion
6:00pm–7:00pm | Cocktails & Networking

REGISTER HERE

As always, here are a few articles that I recommend that you read (maybe while watching some football Thursday afternoon!).

5 Major Challenges Marketers Face (And How to Solve Them), by Sarah Goliger, HubSpot's Inbound Internet Marketing Blog

Number one? Driving traffic and generating awareness...

Four Reasons It Pays to Have a Company Blog, by Chris Lee, MarketingProfs

Tying Together Your Online and Offline Efforts
Demonstrating Knowledge
Fostering Customer Relationships
Boosting SEO Success

As always, if you like to learn more about Honeycomb, have a chat about your marketing plans for 2013, visit our website, or send me an email ...

Movies Suck...at Making Money

2012-11-16T14:41:00.000-05:00

In case you were wondering why all those ads for video games are all over TV...

From The Daily Beast:

‘Black Ops II’ Smashes Sales Records

Twihards have nothing on these guys. Gamers helped “Call of Duty: Black Ops II” shatter sales records this week, helping the latest installment in the popular franchise move $500 million worth of games in its first day. The previous record? A comparatively paltry $400 million set by 2011’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.” Hype certainly helped the sales numbers—over 16,000 midnight release events took place across the country.

$500 million. In one day.

How much did you sell today?

Puppies and Prosperity

2012-11-15T16:07:00.002-05:00

Not often that you read an article that combines puppies and international economic development. Kudos to one of the Washington Post's bloggers for this one:

"Puppies: The new indicator of prosperity?"

Awesome puppy related chart...

and this one...

The One Article You Have to Read Today

2012-10-23T13:35:00.000-05:00

OK, there may be more than one, but for my money this is it.

Content Plays Critical Role Throughout Tech-Buying Cycle, MarketingProfs

From the article:

When making a major technology or security solution purchase, information technology decision-makers (ITDMs) download an average of nine content assets throughout the buying cycle, according to a report by IDG.
ITDMs rely on various types of content as they advance through the buying cycle:

Early in the purchase process, when determining business need and technical requirements, ITDMs rank content such as feature articles, technology news stories, how-to articles, and whitepapers as most important.

Midway through the process, when ITDMs are evaluating products and selecting vendors, content such as reviews/recommendations and third-party research (e.g., IDC, Gartner) plays a more important role.

In the latter part of the buying cycle, when ITDMs are focusing on getting internal buy-in and final approval, content such as assessment tools (e.g., ROI calculators), product demos, and demo literature becomes more important.

The Death of the PC?

2012-10-17T13:28:00.001-05:00

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting story about the collapse of PC sales. Is this an economic indicator or is it evidence of a shift to tablets and other non-PCs??

Something to ponder...

Government Studies of Government Studies Need Study

2012-09-26T10:16:00.000-05:00

This post is a little off topic. However, the post I just read was too dumbfounding not to share.

From the Environmental Economics blog:

Newmark's Door:

It's difficult to make stuff like this up. (Unless you're Monty Python.)

In 2010, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Pentagon was spending too much on studies, so he commissioned a study of exactly how much. That study was then scrutinized by the Government Accountability Office, which found the study of studies lacking.

Here's the kicker. What does the study of the study of studies conclude? More study is needed. The GAO recommends that the Pentagon "take steps to evaluate DOD's effort to estimate costs."

via www.newmarksdoor.com

Wow. Good thing they have this government bureaucracy thing under control...

iPhone Day Reading List, plus Cool Gif!

2012-09-12T14:10:00.001-05:00

Well, iPhone Day is here, and if you'd really just rather watch the show, here is the link. I can't upgrade mine for another six months, so I don't really care. Really.

In the meantime, a lot of really smart people have been writing some excellent pieces on marketing, content development, economics and business.

Here is what I recommend you read...

46 Federal Technology Experts to Follow on Twitter, by Jimmy Daly, FedTech

Start your federal government marketing strategy off with a good look at the names on this list...

Social Media in the C-Suite, by David Edelman

For all the buzz around social media, one aspect has been largely ignored: the need for top business executives, especially CEOs, to personally get into the social media game. A recent survey by BRANDfog (PDF – 4.2MB) points out that when C-Suite executives become active on social media, it can increase brand trust, loyalty and purchase intent. In fact, 82 percent of survey respondents stated that they were more likely to trust a company whose CEO and leadership team engage on social media. And isn’t trust the most critical component of building relationships with customers?

The Biggest Mistakes Companies Make With Mobile Marketing, And 3 Strategies That Actually Work, by Aaron Shapiro, Fast Company

...the problem most companies are facing in mobile today isn’t simply a lack of appreciation for the realities of demand in the app market. Applications, just like any digital initiative, must be grounded in clear strategies that harmonize specific business needs and user interests, while reflecting a pragmatic view of the marketplace. Most marketers are making the same mistakes in mobile that they’ve made on the web for years--expecting consumers to dedicate time and attention to their brand messaging without providing any valuable service or fulfilling any consumer need. Aside from the potential short-term PR boost and the value of educating employees with limited backgrounds in digital and mobile, building a branded app for the sake of having an app is a waste of time and money for everyone involved.

And what are those strategies that work: Mobile as Marketing, Mobile as Service Enhancement and Mobile as a Business.

The Rules of Social Media, by Fast Company

Fast Company readers submit their own rules of the road...some of these are pretty awesome- "Don't try to be clever, be clever."

Need More Links and Social Shares? Try Making More Enemies, by Sonia Simone, CopyBlogger

Part six in their “Content Connections” series. All good advice...

In Case You Blinked: $23B+ in M&A Deals in Baltimore/Washington Region in Two Months, by CityBizList

In case you thought the economy around here was terrible.

Oh, yeah! and a cool cat gif! Because, why not...

Hey! It's September's Reading List Extravaganza!

2012-09-06T15:49:00.000-05:00

September is off to a roaring start. I hope the rest of the year is like this!

Oh, by the way, scientists have just discovered that the 80% of DNA that they thought did nothing...actually are integral to how cells behave and how diseases progress. Chew on that..

Bits of Mystery DNA, Far From ‘Junk,’ Play Crucial Role, by Gina Kolata, New York Times

Oh and then there is this little piece of awesome...

Phones will get all charged up about new Ultrabook feature, by Eric Mack

Yes, charging your phone without cords is coming, and coming soon.

For now, here are some marketing/business/economics articles to read while your phone is charging.

BII MOBILE INSIGHTS: Multi-Screen Media Consumption Is The New Normal by Heather Leonard, Business Insider

7 Pros and Cons of Content Marketing, by Erin Nelson, Business 2 Community

3 Little-Known Social Media Misconceptions that Can Destroy Your Marketing Strategy, by Brad Smith, Social Media Today

Mobile Entertainment Consumption Soared 82% in One Year, by Samantha Murphy, Mashable

ESPN: Everywhere Sports Profit Network, by Karl Greenfield, BusinessWeek

ESPN’s $5.6 billion deal with Major League Baseball, announced on Aug. 28, is typical of the kinds of multiplatform rights packages the company now seeks to acquire. Not only will ESPN continue to televise regular-season and playoff games through 2021, it also gets radio rights, international rights, unlimited highlights and, most important, the right to stream all that content through its mobile applications.

“Right now,” says Norby Williamson, a vice president for production, “what you can pay for a property is based on what you can bring to a property, how you can surround a property.” ESPN’s continued success is predicated on its being willing to pay more for those properties than anyone else. It comes down to a race between ESPN’s ability to develop and succeed in new platforms—and sell ads and subscriptions against them—and the ever-escalating costs of televising live sports.

GIF Illustrates Massive Growth of Walmart, Mashable
Pretty awesome...

The Lost Bush/Obama Era Gave Us the Gold Commission,by John Tamny, RealClearMarkets

Monetary Angioplasty Required,By Barry Ritholtz, The Big Picture

Reading List for the Dog Days of August- Mark Cuban Edition

2012-08-21T15:36:00.001-05:00

I've just returned from vacation and I'm catching up on some reading. Here are a few articles that have caught my eye...

Which USA do you work in?, by Mark Cuban
Mark says there is are two Americas: one is having the intelligence sucked out it (brick and mortar) and one is is desperate for intelligence (cloud). His advice? Learn to code.

5 Ways To Learn Code From The Comfort Of Your Own Browser, by Klint Finley, TechCrunch
Taking Marc's advice? Start here...

Amazon Web Services
And here...

Freelancer.com
And here...

Henry Rollins’ 3 Rules For Success As An Artist/Entrepreneur by Jason Gots, Big Think Blog
Still a big fan of Henry...I think I first heard a Black Flag song in 1985.

Groupon Visits the Bargain Basement, Marketing Pilgrim
Whoever said that Groupon/Livingsocial, etc were social media companies was seriously smoking something.

10 B2B Companies That Create Exceptional Content, by Meghan Keaney Anderson, Hubspot
Hubspot writes up some great, informational posts on marketing. Truly succeeding by drinking the content marketing kool-aid.

Copyspace
Ever wonder if someone is plagiarizing your website, or someone else's, this is the site for you.

MarketingBuzz: 5 steps for building a content marketing strategy, by Irving Frydman, ChannelBuzz.ca
Nice, quick highlights...

Content Marketing Checklist: 13 Things You Must Do Before You Publish Content, by Heidi Cohen, Business 2 Community
Another good take on how to set up and run a content marketing program.

The Marketer's Simple Guide to Creating Infographics in PowerPoint, by Anum Hussain, Hubspot
Hubspot scores again...and with a handy template.

Reading List- July

2012-07-24T14:56:00.002-05:00

Here are some of the better articles so far in July...

How to Build and Operate a Content Marketing Machine by Toby Murdoch
A really good, easy to understand overview of the all the parts of a content marketing operation.

52 Incredibly Useful Sites: the Full List by Robert Strohmeyer, CIO Magazine

3 Tips to Integrate Social, Email Successfully by Karen J. Bannan, B2B Magazine

1. Publish your email newsletter to social accounts
2. Boost the chance that social and email content will rank high in organic searches
3. Make emails easier to share

The Forest of Rhetoric by Dr. Gideon Burton of Brigham Young University

An Interview with ITIL Girl by the LANDesk Software Blog
A blog post I helped pull together for a client.

What's the Point of Paid Media in Post- Advertising by John Thomas, Post Advertising

10 Things You Should Tweet by Jon Gelberg, Inc.

Read anything interesting lately? Send me the link at jeff@honeycomb-consulting.com

Reading List- June 20

2012-06-20T11:12:00.001-05:00

Here are some of the better articles and posts I've read in the past few days...

What the Rise of Content Marketing Means for Your Business by Chris Horton, Social Media Today

5 Essentials for Marketing In An Upswing (Hopefully) Economy by Terry Welty, DemandGen report

Those five basic premises of essential marketing outlined in my original article not only still apply today, but I believe they are even more important guidelines than ever. For marketing professionals trying to steer their company forward in a hesitant, but upward slanting business climate, there’s no better marketing advice I can give than to stick to the following tried-and-true, “go-back-to-basics” approach:
1. Know your company’s real value
2. Know your customer
3. Keep your salespeople well informed, well educated, and well armed
4. Stay consistently visible
5. Keep it simple

The Marketers Reading List by Jay Ehret, The Marketing Blog (This is a great list- read all of these!)

Seven Mobile Marketing Best-Practices by Igor Faletski, Marketing Profs

1. Simple beats pretty
2. Be brief
3. Mobile is highly local
4. Mobile search is focused and timely
5. Make it easy to share the love
6. Mobile searchers make mistakes
7. Optimize your UX for mobile

Read anything interesting lately? Send me the link at jeff@honeycomb-consulting.com

Reading List - June 7

2012-06-07T16:24:00.000-05:00

Here are the articles and posts I've been reading...quite a hodgepodge. Read anything interesting lately? Send me the link at jeff@honeycomb-consulting.com

B-to-g marketers leverage social media to build relationships with federal employees - Direct Marketing News

The 5 Pillars of Social Media Strategy by Brian Solis, on the Networking Exchange Blog

Top 50 #Mobile Twitter Influencers by Jen Cohen on SAP's mobile blog

The 8 Keys to Successful Branding - Why 'Mad Men' and Whisky Are Not Going To Cut It by Matt Symonds, Forbes

Why the surge in obesity? - Consider the Evidence

Summary- the obesity epidemic started in 1980. The only variable changed around the same time is Calories in the Food Supply. Everything else that can plausibly explain the nation's weight gain- levels of exercise, hours spent TV watching, sedentary jobs, daily commutes in cars- aren't correlated with the change in adult obesity rates around 1980. Basically, everyone in America started eating more, a lot more, around 1980.

St. Bernanke's Fight Against the Deflation Dragon By Lance Roberts of Streettalk Live

Excuse me for geeking out on the economics front for a moment, but this is an excellent article on, what I think is a very much overlooked part of our troubles, the collapse of the velocity of money, which has happened despite the huge increase in the supply of money. Something for all you tea partiers to chew on...

Plus, for all you 99%-ers, check out this chart:

Kind of hard to blame rising inequality on recent events, when this is a trend that started in the late 1970's. Which is also when people started eating too much and getting fat. Coincidence? Correlation?

Why working-class people vote conservative - Jonathan Haidt, The Guardian

And check out the middle finger on the gentleman's book cover. LOL

All Men Can’t Jump - David Stipp, Slate

Quote:

There's no denying it—our kind started substituting brains for brawn long ago, and it shows: We can't begin to compete with animals when it comes to the raw ingredients of athletic prowess. Yet being the absurdly self-enthralled species we are, we crowd into arenas and stadiums to marvel at our pathetic physical abilities as if they were something special. But there is one exception to our general paltriness: We're the right honorable kings and queens of the planet when it comes to long-distance running.

Straight to the Point

Map of All Tornadoes in USA

How to Get Smarter- The Buffett Way

Monday Morning Reads- Hodgepodge Edition

Tuesday Night Reads

Hump Day Reads

Google Reader is Dead

Hump Day Reads

Weekend Reading

Aligning Sales and Business Goals...Even Possible?

Great Article on GE Insourcing Manufacturing

Happy Thanksgiving! Plus Free Local Event...

Movies Suck...at Making Money

Puppies and Prosperity

Top Five Marketing Posts for November

The One Article You Have to Read Today

The Death of the PC?

Top Five Articles to Read in October

Government Studies of Government Studies Need Study

Top 5 Marketing Articles to Read This Week

iPhone Day Reading List, plus Cool Gif!

Hey! It's September's Reading List Extravaganza!

Reading List for the Dog Days of August- Mark Cuban Edition

Reading List- July

Reading List- June 20

Reading List - June 7