Stories on the tech industry, content marketing and online sales enablement
The biggest story coming out of the RSA show this week has been the public embarrassment suffered by the security firm HBGary Federal. If current reporting is accurate, it’s a sobering story of online dangers and unprofessional behavior on the part of the company. The hacker group Anonymous penetrated the computers of HBGary Federal on […]
One of the best things about my job is I get to work with some really smart clients. Working closely with them, I’m constantly challenged (in the best sense of the word) to deliver value in my engagements. Recently I was talking to a client I’ve known for years. Since we know each other well, […]
Last week I found a blog post that combined two themes near and dear to my heart. It poked fun at “thought leaders” with no thoughts and did so in a very creative and humorous way, using a text to video service called xtranormal. Some clients think I’m trying to be humorous when I say […]
Back in August, I published a post highlighting what I felt was inaccurate technology reporting relating to my client Neustar. In that case at least I got a reply from the publication, albeit a very disappointing one. It happened again last week, and I didn’t even get a response from the reporter. Context – on […]
Demand Media’s successful IPO last week has certainly spurred a lot of media coverage around “content farms.” This Sunday the Washington Post had two separate stories in the Business section, one by Michael Rosenwald and the other by Rob Pegararo. Everyone is always looking for a shortcut, and in this case the victim is the […]
I consult on communication issues for Neustar, an Internet infrastructure company. Neustar works behind the scenes to ensure the smooth operation of many critical systems like DNS, the .us and .biz domain extensions, local number portability and digital rights management. One of the cool things about working for them is the chance to attend the […]
Recently I caught up with my old friend Stephanie. Too much time had gone by, and we shared belated New Year wishes. What made the conversation even more enjoyable was how psyched she was at her new job. Her passion has always been change management, and she practiced it first at Accenture and then at […]
Last week one of my clients decided to follow Guy Kawasaki’s Twitter feed. Kawasaki is a former Apple Fellow and current venture capitalist and technology rock star, with over 300,000 Twitter followers. However, my client almost immediately unsubscribed, because he got a flood of commercial messages that didn’t sound like they were from Guy: @MarkPilip […]
Happy 2011 everyone! Hope all had a nice holiday break. The folks at WordPress have been busy — see below for a nicely done “good job in 2010” email I received Sunday. (The image they chose below is the ABS unit in my 2001 BMW 530 – my biggest DIY money saver to date.) I […]
I have so much to be thankful for this year, including items in the three categories of this blog. So on Christmas Eve, here are some Work, Wine and Wheels highlights from 2010. In the work realm, 2010 was a great year. A lot of what Strategic Communications Group accomplishes for clients doesn’t become public […]
With every new day the WikiLeaks saga seems to reveal another story line. As the expression goes, “you can’t make this stuff up.” In the process, it’s highlighting rapidly changing — and often unstable — elements in Internet-based communication. First let’s take the emerging model of cyber attacks. People no longer just get angry at […]
My latest interview is with Beth Hardy Okun, a PR professional located in Atlanta, Georgia. Beth and I met via a PR discussion group in LinkedIn, where she was discussing the PRSA Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) program she had just completed. Beth and I discuss the value of the APR certification, agency work vs. […]