Screen_Shot_2014-06-12_at_11.56.43_AMHubSpot's audience may remember David Meerman Scott's work on our own 2012 keynote stage, as well as his numerous best-selling books, media interviews and worldwide speaking engagements. Most recently, David published Marketing the Moon, a sumptuously illustrated telling of the role marketing played in getting us to the moon. One of HubSpot's Marketing Fellows, David returns this year to share his New Rules of Sales and Service with INBOUND 2014 attendees.

David gave us some great, in-depth answers to our usual questions. Read on for a sense of how this massively productive speaker and author makes the wheels turn in his world.

What is your #1 source for staying on top of your world?

I browse Google News several times a day. The key here is browse. I turn off all the personalization because I want serendipity. I want to know what I don’t know yet. It is important for me to understand big picture, global news so I can be on top of the latest trends.

I use good ol' TweetDeck at my desk. While mobile? When I am on planes (which is a lot), I do my long-form reading on my Kindle. I always have a few dozen books loaded up and ready to read from a variety of genres. Depending on my mood, I might dip into history, current events, a rock star biography, something about the Apollo lunar program, or a novel. 

When and what do you read online?

I dip into the Twitter stream a few times a day to see if anything catches my eye, following links to articles on sites famous or not. If I like something, I retweet to give a hat tip to the person who pointed me to it.

A typical day in my life for discovering and consuming information:

When I am at home, which is about half the time, I wake up between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m., visit my coffee maker that is set to brew at 2:45, and then check Google News, TweetDeck, Facebook, LinkedIn, and a few forums and blogs. I’ll wade into email for between 30 and 60 minutes.

I eat a quick first breakfast and then I exercise for a minimum of an hour followed by a shower and my second breakfast. I’m usually in the little office I maintain in the Boston suburbs between 7:00 and 8:00.

My day usually includes media interviews, writing, conference calls, and the whole time I multi-task by dipping into feeds and news.

I do everything early – lunch at 11:00, home at 5:00, bed between 8:00 and 9:00.

When I am on the road to deliver one of the 40 or so talks I do each year, I try to keep a similar schedule, but it is much more difficult.

What is your favorite place on the web?

Wherever I am at that moment. 

Which people or feeds or blogs do you follow?

Who is someone undiscovered that we should be reading?

As my business is global, I enjoy following people who live outside the USA such as @remcojanssen (Netherlands), @larrywaight (Belize), @jimboot and @TrevorYoung (Australia).

What is your biggest pet peeve about content? 

People and organizations that see content as a check box, not taking its creation seriously, are missing out on the most important marketing and sales tool in history.

What is the most memorable piece of content of all time?

On October 23, 2008, then-candidate @BarackObama told his followers his choice of running mate first, before the campaign told mainstream media.  That was huge for me because at that moment, I saw a future of real-time content being more important than traditional media outlets. 

How would you rank your favorite social apps?

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If content types were stocks, which ones would you buy, which would you sell, and which would you hold?

BUY: infographics, slide decks, blog posts & videos 

HOLD: podcasts and books 

SELL: newsletters, ebooks/white papers

Don't miss David Meerman Scott, Martha Stewart, Simon Sinek and a whole roster of incredible speakers coming to Boston September 15-18 for INBOUND 2014. Tickets (regularly $1499) are just $799 through May 31.

INBOUND 2014: Register Today and Save $700!

Originally published Jun 13, 2014 8:30:00 AM, updated January 18 2023