[Hammock’s Current Idea Email was released yesterday.
Subscribe now to receive your own issue, once every two weeks.]
the hammock idea email brings smart marketing ideas to your inbox

75ca573ac8753bc295ac5dd6_620x258

Idea: The Most Powerful Word in Marketing

Several hundred readers have subscribed since we sent the first Idea Email during the week of Thanksgiving last year. As the following has been one of the most shared emails we’ve sent, and because we can’t say it enough, we’ve decided to make it an annual tradition.


[Hammock’s Current Idea Email was released yesterday.
Subscribe now to receive your own issue, once every two weeks.]
the hammock idea email brings smart marketing ideas to your inbox

c196e3387881ee43db16d5b5_620x137

Idea: Design First for the Smallest Screen

Ask a professional photographer to recommend the best camera, and the answer will be something like, “the one you have with you when a great photograph suddenly appears.” The photographer has all sorts of cameras and equipment back at the studio, but they’re useless when a timeless moment occurs elsewhere.

Honoring Veterans, 2013
Posted in About Hammock, by Rex Hammock
November 11, 2013

At_the_Nashville_Veterans_Day_Parade-2

While attending the Nashville Veterans Day parade this morning, Hammock editor Bill Hudgins captured in this photo the essence of so much that is great about those who serve, and have served, in our nation’s military.

Also, on this Veterans Day, take a look at our five SmallBusiness.com posts related to the event.

We are honored to work with clients like the Marine Corps League and the Daughters of the American Revolution who have made it a central mission to honor our nation’s armed forces, both veterans and those on active duty.

Q4_2013Source-Cover-FinalPopulation health was foremost on our minds as we prepared the Q4 issue of The Source, the magazine we help HealthTrust publish for healthcare supply chain professionals. Healthcare systems and physicians groups are developing new programs aimed at population health management, a systematic approach to addressing the preventive, high-risk and chronic care needs of patients, with a goal of minimizing costly interventions like emergency room visits, hospitalizations and readmissions. We interview Dr. David Nash, of the Jefferson School of Population Health in Philadelphia, on this healthcare paradigm shift. As the founding dean of the first designated school of population health in the country, Nash is considered one of the leading experts in the field.

MarCom-logo

Though we’re not going to dress up in fancy ballgowns or tuxes with Stetsons and hand-tooled boots like the folks at the CMA awards this week here in Nashville, we at Hammock are celebrating with our clients over a clutch of MarCom awards for the work we are honored to collaborate with our clients in creating.

The MarCom Awards is an international creative competition for anyone involved in the concept, writing and design of print, visual, audio and web materials and programs. The program is administered by AMCP, the Association of Marketing & Communication Professionals. There were about 6,000 entries this year from individuals to media conglomerates and Fortune 50 companies.

Here’s what was in the envelopes:

ND13_Cvr

American Spirit* visited the American Village, a history and civics education center in Montevallo, Ala., for our November/December 2013 cover story profiling historical interpreters. (This editor grew up less than a mile away from the American Village, and it’s her family’s favorite spot for Fourth of July fireworks and other patriotic events.) The American Village re-enactors and others spotlighted in our story exhibit an extraordinary commitment to historical detail. That commitment to authenticity is best expressed by this quote from Patricia Bridgman, who plays Abigail Adams at Adams National Historical Park in Quincy, Mass., and at the Abigail Adams birthplace in Weymouth, Mass.

“I sweep my bangs up into a pompadour, eschew makeup, lace myself into stays, don a bum roll [a support, such as a hoop or pillow, worn under a skirt], petticoats and gown, along with silk stockings and reproduction shoes, and I’m ready to go,” Ms. Bridgman says. “The one question all re-enactors get is, ‘Aren’t you hot in that?’ The 21st-century answer is, ‘Damn straight,’ but Abigail says, ‘I am well accustomed to it, madam.’”

MCL_1113_cvr1 Every U.S. Marine has three birthdays—their first, the day they earned the Eagle, Globe and Anchor, and the birthday of their beloved Corps on 10 November. And the November/December 2013 issue of Semper Fi, the Magazine of the Marine Corps League, sends a birthday greeting to all Devil Dogs, with this cover photo of Lance Corporal Chesty XIV, the USMC’s official mascot.

The issue also contains birthday greetings from General James F. Amos, the 35th Commandant of the Marine Corps.

Marines have always had a reputation of traveling fast and light, and in the 21st century, the Corps is working hard to reduce its needs for energy, water and resupply. In “Power Play,” contributor Otto Kreisher looks at ways Marines are increasingly using solar energy and local resources to remain in the field longer without resupply. It’s a life-saving as well as environmental concern, since supply lines can be cut, and lives are at risk convoying necessities like fuel and water to forward deployed Marines.


[Hammock’s Current Idea Email was released yesterday.
Subscribe now to receive your own issue, once every two weeks.]
the hammock idea email brings smart marketing ideas to your inbox

Idea: The Secret to a Successful Sales Presentation is Staring You in the Face

a5cb09d3b251037ad32af27e_630x302

Why do bad presentations happen to good companies?

Here’s a familiar scene: A sales professional from your company gets the chance to make a presentation to a group of potential customers. He carefully prepares a PowerPoint presentation that includes a bullet point for each of the ways your company is special and all the features and specifications your product includes. The presentation begins. With each new slide, the potential customers read the bullet points much faster than the speaker is reading them aloud, immediately throwing presenter and viewer out of sync. Afterward, the speaker hands out copies of the PowerPoint slide deck so the audience can recall important ideas later. But those bullets are shorthand prompts, not detailed notes, so the presentation ultimately makes little sense to anyone when they pull it out to view another day.