Drew McLellan, Author at McLellan Marketing Group

Tell us your new business horror story

March 11, 2007

We all have one. That painful, horrifying moment when you were trying to sound/look your best in front of a potential new client and instead POW! fate smacked you right in the kisser with a faux pas that will haunt you for the rest of your days.

Come on…tell us all about it. It will feel good to get it out.

Me first? Fair enough.

Several years ago, a McLellan Marketing Group colleague and I were in an initial meeting with the CMO of a nursing home system. We’d done some research and one of the facts we’d gleaned about this potential client is that they were known for taking care of the most severely affected Alzheimer’s patients.

What made their work even more remarkable and reassuring to the families of their patients was that they very rarely sedated the residents. They were just that skilled in dealing with the behaviors and health issues of these residents.

So I am trying to demonstrate how smart we are and that we’ve really done our homework. So I say to the CMO (a woman in her 50’s who wasn’t so sure about us already) "one of the things that really impressed us about your facilities is the fact that you don’t sedate your patients."

Unfortunately — that was what I meant to say. But somehow, for some twisted and unknown reason, my mouth decided instead to say…"one of the things that really impressed us about your facilities is the fact that you don’t seduce your patients."

To this day, I have no idea why that came out of my mouth. But to make matters worse, I could not locate the word sedate in my brain. Instead, I stammered and stuttered until finally, what seemed like 20 minutes later, my brain synapes finally fired up, I corrected myself and limped through the rest of the conversation.

Needless to say, we did not get the business. My team, however, got a funny story that they love to pull out at company parties, and other public venues.

Okay, I’ve shown you mine…your turn!

Sampler platter marketing?

March 10, 2007

Last night, I ate at a restaurant called Buddakan. It’s offers modern Asian cuisine and since I was part of a large group (15) they served everything family style. But their version of family style was lots and lots of small sampler sized items. Everyone got to try a little of everything, but no one felt "stuck" eating just one thing.

Which got me thinking. First about my agency brothren and sisters:

How good are we, as agencies, at offering clients that option? Do you offer a "sampler platter" of marketing tactics or must a new client sign on for the whole kit n’ kaboodle? Can a prospect take you on a test drive?

For the non-agency readers:

How about you? Does anyone in your industry offer a bite of this and a bite of that so the customer can determine the best option? If no one is doing it, is it worth trying?

I wonder if this strategy isn’t a reasonable one for a business whose price of entry scares off otherwise viable prospects. What do you think?

Steve Jobs – $400 million smart

March 10, 2007

The front page of US Today’s Money section offers Apple a big pat on the back for their iPhone launch in January.

The article quotes a Harvard Business School professor who says that Apple has generated over $400 million in free publicity and Peter Sealey is later quoted, calling Steve Jobs is the best marketing CEO in the business.

Citing the 80% market share that the iPod enjoys (which now generates 50% of Apple’s revenues) the article goes on to list the high points of what they deem the Apple marketing manual.

Make innovative products
Keep it simple
Create truly memorable ads
Find an enemy
Offer surprises
Put on a show

Just listen to that string of words: Innovative. Simple. Memorable. Hero (my edit). Surprises. Show.

Wow. (Not like a Microsoft wow…a real wow!)

What do you think? Which item on this list do you think most businesses are best at? Worst?

Whip me, beat me, make me write bad checks…

March 9, 2007

…but don’t ignore me.

This is one of the biggest marketing mistakes we make. We ignore our clients. Or at least they think we’re ignoring them. We don’t return e-mails or phone calls promptly. We miss a deadline. We misspell their name. You’re laughing but you know it happens every day. And you know you’ve done it once or twice.

They want to be important to us. Really, if they’re being honest — they want to be our only client.

Your goal — create the illusion that they’re your only client. Or the only one that matters.

Do you think you do that well? What’s your best "make them feel important" technique. (And yes, it has to be genuine, not sleazy sales guy stuff.)

Flickr photo courtesy of aliceswnderland

You meet the nicest people!

March 8, 2007

10+ years ago, when I was a sysop (like a host with some "hall monitoring type" powers) in a CompuServe forum, there was always a discussion about if "on-line friendships" could possibly be as rich and long-lasting as friendships formed off-line.

I’m here to tell you the answer is yes.

So its interesting to me that we can fast forward to today and jump into the same conversation. DA raised the issue after spending the weekend with some old high school chums. Then, Gavin Heaton added his voice to the debate over at Marketing Profs Daily Fix.

Here’s my take. Relationships grow out of shared emotions, experiences and reaching out to one another. All of that is borne from investing time in one another. Listening to each other’s thoughts, responding to them, cheering on the days things go well and sending a supportive cyber hug when one of your favorite bloggers is having a tough time — all of that breeds intimacy. Connection. Caring. I’ve had conversations with bloggers who just welcomed their first baby into the world. I’ve also had conversations with bloggers who are overcoming alcoholism and other personal struggles. You can’t tell me that those connections are any less real because they’re made on-line.

One of the elements of blogging that I think is most significant (which I’ll write about in my 5 reasons why I blog post which is due any day) is the intimacy that can be achieved. I think that the medium is just symantics.

And it starts, just like it does in offline life, with a simple gesture. The other day I got an e-mail from Steve Manousos. We’ve never met. He’s never commented on my blog. A total stranger. Until the e-mail.

I read your blog every now and then, and when I do, I wonder why your photo is so dark. Here, I’ve lightened it up for you.

And with that, he attached a new jpg (see the lighter side of me to your right) What a cool and unexpected thing to do.

So, of course, I wrote him to say thanks and learned that he’s the owner of ImageSnap, an online store where you can personalize everything from basketball hoops to mousepads. I also learned that he used to be on the national desk at the LA Times and founded the company that made Painter, Dabbler and Poser.

Will we be lifelong friends? I don’t know. But the beginning of a connection has been made. And that’s how it starts. But first, I need to get him to read the blog more regularly!

So what’s your take? Are online friendships different? Does it matter if you ever meet in person? Tell me about a friend you’ve made via your online life. Or tell me you disagree.

But tell me something…after all friends don’t ignore each other!

In lead generation – branding matters

March 7, 2007

It’s sort of a duh, isn’t it?

If someone knows who you are, they are more likely to listen and be influenced by you. We covered that in the Don’t talk to strangers post. And yet, there are many out there who will tell you — branding doesn’t matter. Just go out there and sell.

RainToday.com ‘s new research report What’s Working In Lead Generation sides with me on this one. (Or maybe it is the other way around?)

The numbers tell the story. Those companies that have are better known have greater success in chasing new business. As we talked about in the first segment of this series, the research shows that companies are gearing up to be more aggressive out there.

So reality check here. Your competitors are going to be making more noise in the market place. If they are also ahead of you in terms of brand recognition, you’ve got some serious trouble on your hands. What can you do about it?

You can be brave enough to brand. Be willing to be something significant to some, rather than trying to be everything to everyone.
You can teach your employees about your brand.
You can teach your current customers about your brand.
You can introduce your brand to potential customers.

And then you’re ready to learn more from the research document. More insights from the report are on the way….

Note: The full RainToday.com report shares 6 key insights which I’ll be exploring over the next several days with you. In the meantime, if you’d like to download their free 21-page summary, you can grab it here.

Putting lipstick on a pig!

March 6, 2007

I have met the master!

Phil Gerbyshak at Make it Great has created a multi-part interview (part 1, part 2, part 3) with me. He makes me sound pretty darn good! And that’s no small feat.

In his interview he covers branding and a whole host of other marketing and life-related topics! Even if you skip over my interview, Phil’s blog is a guaranteed pick-me-up! Check it out!

Many thanks to Phil for putting my best face forward!

Flickr photo courtesy of thornypup.

Help me give college grads a fighting chance

March 5, 2007

It’s Spring. The birds will soon be chirping, the flowers blooming and the college grads descending like locusts on every marketing agency, marketing department and media outlet. They all want one thing — their first real job.

I remember how scary it was. 20+ years later, I shake my head at the mistakes the grads make while trying to vie for my attention. So I decided we (yes WE) could give them a gift that will put that digital camera to shame. We can help them get that job.

Here’s how you can help:

~ Post your answer to one (or more) of the following in the comments section:

How I landed my first job (war/success story)
What I wish I knew when I was trying to get my first job
My advice for someone trying to break into the marketing/advertising business
Words of wisdom about careers in general

~ Point to this post on your blog and encourage your readers to come over and add their 2 cents so we can gather even more answers and advice.

We’ll gather up all the comments, thoughts and stories and create an e-book for the grads to download and study. Who knows — maybe we’ll get some great employees out of the deal as well!

Come on — someone helped you once upon a time. Time to return the favor.

Play to your strengths

March 5, 2007

I’m not a native Iowan. I’ve been here for about 15 years and its a great place to raise a family, build a business and enjoy a quality of life that is tough to beat.

But as long as I’ve lived here, I’ve noticed that Iowans are constantly apologizing or putting down their own state. They lament that college kids seek the big cities and that there isn’t enough night life for the single set. Both true. And probably not going to change.

For years, Iowa has tried to overcome that perception (again — remember its accurate) with media campaigns and catchy slogans. Surprise — they didn’t work.

Why would you put the spotlight on a weakness and then shout "nuh uh!" and try to disprove it?

That’s why I was thrilled to see Patrick Schaber’s post about Iowa’s newest campaign.

For the first time that I can remember, the state’s push for people to consider bringing their business and/or their family to Iowa is not apologizing — it is celebrating all that makes it such a terrific place to live.

They’re running ads in magazines like Fast Company and built a pretty impressive website.

Also on their site is the creative, like this outdoor board, that they’re running.

The print ad series touts some of the perks of Iowa life and spotlights families who’ve made the move. This PDF ( Download haldeman.pdf ) talks about Iowa being the 8th safest state to live in. Not a bad message these days.

Another ad (–>) talks about Iowa’s reasonable housing costs. What makes this campaign so strong is that Iowa finally stopped trying to put lipstick on a pig. Marketing campaigns that make you something that you’re not but really, really wish you could be, do nothing but muddy the waters.

Congrats Iowa for getting it right!

Read what some of my fellow Iowans say about why Iowa.

Mike Sansone
Todd Mundt
Tom Vander Well
Adam Steen
Andy Brudtkuhl
Cory Garrison

What’s your personal tagline?

March 4, 2007

There’s a lot of talk these days about personal branding. Tony Clark at Success from the Nest asks his readers about their personal tagline.

It’s a great question. My answer? Gratitude. Grace. Give. (check out the comments for some insightful thinking.)

But let’s take a broader look at the question. If you own a business, how does your personal mantra/brand/tagline influence your business and its brand?

If you’re a one (wo)man band, that probably works okay. After all, you are your company. But how do you shift to it being bigger than you? Especially if one day, you aspire to sell your company.

So…what is your personal brand/tagline and how does it impact/influence your business?

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