Drew McLellan, Author at McLellan Marketing Group

In the pink or just ick?

March 23, 2007

Every time I walk by these at Target, I sort of shake my head. Do women really buy pink tools? Are they insulting? Empowering?

I understand the power of marketing directly to women. But I also understand that the danger is crafting women-centric marketing messages is that the kiss of death is to talk down to the audience. (In fairness…pretty much the kiss of death no matter who you are talking to.)

But don’t these tools somehow suggest she’s not quite up to the man’s set? (or is that my own biased filter talking?)

If you sold hand tools and your target audience was women — how would you sell them?

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A bit of Walt Disney’s business philosophy

March 22, 2007

When asked his feelings about being bottom-line driven, Walt Disney replied: "If we take care of our guests and our cast members, the rest takes care of itself."

What do you think? Too simplistic? Right on the money? Have a different take?

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Want to author a business book?

March 22, 2007

Knowledge@Wharton is announcing a novel initiative in book publishing.

The project, tentatively called We Are Smarter Than Me is an experiment to see whether a large community of business people can jointly author a book of the same name. Pearson will publish the book later this year.

The book focuses on ways in which companies are learning to leverage social networks and the power of communities to improve their performance by allowing customers or others to take over functions typically performed by experts.

Every contributor will be credited as an author, and will help direct royalties to charity. While several readers have already signed on, they’re looking for more participants.

I’m going to jump on board — how about you?

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How do you fuel anticipation?

March 21, 2007

Anticipation. (For the 30+ crowd, you should be singing by now.)

What a powerful and often over-looked marketing tool. How could it enhance our customer’s experience? Think about these buying situations:

A couple books a cruise 9 months in advance.
A client gets fired up during the discovery process but must now wait 3-6 weeks for a logo design.
A bike enthusiast puts in his order for the new Harley which will be off the line in 15 months.

Let’s face it, we want them to be counting the days. To be watching the clock. To be talking about the pending delivery to their peers and colleagues. We want them to be hungry for the pay off, right?

Here’s my question to you — how do you keep a client’s enthusiasm bubbling while you are back at the shop, toiling away? This is a question we still wrestle with at MMG. We’re not as good at this as I’d like us to be.

Looking for a great example of someone who does do it well? It won’t shock you to discover that Disney is always working on improving in this arena. Most people book their Disney vacation at least 6+ months in advance. They have an extensive Vacation Planning Kit, which includes a DVD that I guarantee you gets watched many times before the actual journey begins. By adults and kids alike. But they decided that wasn’t enough anticipation buzz.

So, they’ve just launched their new Customized Maps which allow you to create your family’s personal journey through each of the theme parks. After you’ve spent time deciding which attractions, shows and restaurants you want to visit — they will send you 5 full color 14" x 20" maps that are made to your specifications.

Wow.

Add up the time spent choosing the locations, marking each map and then the time studying the maps once they arrive. That’s building anticipation!

Fair enough, we’re not Disney. But it is a very potent reminder that even though we have a client’s money — we still need to search for ways to keep them at the edge of their seat.

How do you keep your clients psyched up while they wait?

Flickr photo courtesy of Mike ~heart~ Tiffy.

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Are we playing the wrong role in our stories?

March 20, 2007

Think back to the days when you played pretend. Given a choice between safety pinning the towel around your neck or being the damsel/dane in distress about to be rescued, who did you pick?

I don’t know about you, but I was all about being the "Toweled Crusader!" (I never wore the rubber gloves, I must admit!) It was much cooler being the smart, strong, resourceful one. Wasn’t it?

It still is today.

I’ve talked a lot (and will keep doing so) about the power of storytelling. One of the ways that many of us tell our stories is through case studies and testimonials. Most often, because we want to demonstrate our capabilities, we assume the leading role. Client X was struggling with Y, but we swooped in with Insight Z and their sales tripled.

Sound familiar? Basic story construction, right? We have a hero, a problem/villain, a victim and a glorious solution.

Uh oh. If we’re the hero, guess who we’re casting in the role of victim? Yup. Our client.

Remember that the goal of the case study or testimonial is to get prospects to identify with the clients in the story. "Wow, if they can solve that problem, they can probably tackle mine too," is what we want them to think.

While the prospect might identify with the challenge and be heartened by the solution, do they really want to see themselves in the victim role?

If we gave them the same choice we had as kids, would they opt for hero or victim?

What if we twisted our tale in those case studies or testimonials, so that our clients were the heroes? We shift to being the glorious solution. (Not a bad role to play) But we give the credit, spotlight and heroine’s role to the client. They are smart enough to see the problem and devise a solution. And, in the end, everyone lives happily ever after.

Perhaps it’s time to re-write the stories.

* This post was inspired by a chapter in Harry Beckwith’s You, Inc. I am telling you — you’ve got to read it!

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Learn about one of the most powerful marketing tactics known to man!

March 20, 2007

When was the last time you sat down and wrote a thank you note? To a customer? An employee? A vendor? (Thank you note…in the mail. The old-fashioned kind.)

It’s time to get to it. You will be stunned at the impact.

Gratitude is one the most powerful marketing tactics known to man. You get more business when you demonstrate that you have the grace to appreciate what you’ve been given.

Now you know the secret. Use it wisely!

P.S. I will never hire someone who doesn’t take the time and have the manners to send me a thank you note after the interview. If they don’t send one when they’re trying to get a job, they’ll never send one to a client.

Flickr photo courtesy of pinkbelt.

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Does Twitter have to be useful?

March 19, 2007

Maybe I’m missing the point.

You cannot throw a cat without hitting a blog talking about Twitter. Everyone seems to have pretty strong opinions about it. It seems to be a love or hate thing.

A couple Twitter bits of love:

Kevin Lim’s Theory is the Reason goes into incredible depth on its who’s using it, why they’re using it and how to use it better.

Tara Hunt of Horse•Pig•Cow exalts Twitter for helping her keep grips on her thoughts, activities and friends.

A bit of Twitter disdain:

Kathy Sierra’s Creating Passion Users suggests that Twitter is further strain on our already stretched attention spans and ability to focus.

Darren Barefoot at DarrenBarefoot.com takes a shot or two at Twitter and then does a very funny look at what Shakespeare’s Twitter entries might look like.

And now…love or hate, people are working hard at justifying Twitter’s existence by morphing it into a business tool. Mike Sansone has an interesting idea over at Converstations about how to use Twitter for finite teams.

Even Technorati’s Buzz TV is getting into the conversation.

Here’s my question. Why?

Are we at a point where we can’t just enjoy it as both a distraction and a diversion? That it’s a link to our friends and colleagues and sometimes they say something interesting and sometimes not? It’s fun. Sometimes its serious and sometimes it silly. In the week that I’ve been using it, my friends have made me laugh out loud and stop and think.

I’m not so sure it needs to be anything more. At least not for me.

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What should guide your company?

March 19, 2007

In his book A New Brand World: Eight principles for brand leadership in the twenty-first century, Scott Bedbury (former Starbuck’s marketing head and Nike advertising director) says:

“I can think of no better organizing principle for a company than the brand itself.”

What do you think — true or untrue?

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Your comments, your brand?

March 19, 2007

We have many opportunities to extend our brand’s reach every day. Most of them are tiny little details that seem insiginficant. But they’re not.

Dawud Miracle raised this issue in a recent post where he suggests that people should be mindful of how they sign off on their blog comments. He makes a very strong argument for always using the same signature to build awareness and increase your "findability." He tells the story of how his frequent commenting on blogs has encouraged other people to look him up and in doing so, discover his blog.

Let’s go a little further. How a person comments — do they ask questions, do they tell stories, do they play devil’s advocate? Do they add to the post by sharing or illuminating? Answer those questions and you have a snapshot of a person’s brand. This, by the way, holds true on or off line. How you engage says a lot about you.

Want to watch a Master (or in this case, Mistress) in action? Start watching for Valeria Maltoni’s comments throughout the blogosphere. C heck out her comment on David Armano’s recent post. She’s amazing. Smart, engaging, collaborative — her brand is all over her comments.

We all have the same opportunity — how are you doing on maximizing yours?

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You need to read You, Inc!

March 18, 2007

Harry Beckwith gets it. Marketing. Branding. Communications. Relationships. Not only does he get it — he helps his readers get it.

Short, concise 1-4 page chapters. Each one punctuated with a summary lesson/thought. Compelling stories. And not just marketing lessons. Plenty of people lessons too.

Harry’s most recent book, You, Inc.: The Art of Selling Yourself was just released. It’s as good as the rest (see links at the bottom of the post.) of his offerings but a little different. The earlier books took a more global, company-wide perspective. This book shrinks the focus down to the reader.

If you want to:

Communicate more clearly
Sell more — for the right reasons
Advance your professional stature and value
Improve your presentations skills and results
Find more satisfaction from your work life

then you need to read this book.

Beckwith is a master storyteller who never leaves the reader hanging. Together with his wife Christine (a much celebrated pro in her own right) he outlines very simple truths that can have a significant impact on your life. Professional or otherwise.

I’ve read some great business books already in ’07. This one tops the list.

Harry’s other books:

No business library should be without the complete set.

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