Drew McLellan, Author at McLellan Marketing Group

Are you sure you know what you’re communicating?

January 27, 2007

Denver. United Airlines. Snow. Wind. 5 hours of delays.

Finally get loaded on the plane. Just about fall asleep. The flight attendant comes on the PA to tell us that because of all the delays, our pilots are now declared illegal. The flight (it’s now 11:30 pm) is canceled.

Oh yeah — we can’t retrieve our luggage.

Did I mention I have my 13-year old daughter with me? Fun.

We scramble down to the hotel display and start dialing. We’re tired. We’re frustrated. We’re going to miss meetings, school and who knows what else. Oh yeah, and we have no clean clothes.

Cue Norma. She answered the Embassy Suites phone and reassures me, "don’t worry, we’ve got a room and we’ll get you all set up." 20 minutes later, the van shows up. Norma. She had bottles of water for us and an offer to drive through a fast food joint if we’re hungry.

God bless Norma. She dug up toothbrushes, deodorant and practically tucked us in. She turned an incredibly frustrating experience into an actually pleasant one. Simply by caring.

Which is why, at 2 am, I found myself on the Embassy Suites website, trying to figure out how to let the powers that be know what a gem they had in Norma. I found the "recent stay comments" section.

When I clicked on the drop down menu, this is what I saw.

You know what that says loud and clear to me? We expect our employees to trigger complaints. If I worked there, I wouldn’t hold out much hope to hear good things about my performance. I had to scroll down several more options before I could find a complimentary category to attach my comments to.

Yes, I am sure that many more people take the time to complain than they do to compliment. But, what impact would it have if the drop down menu started with all the compliments and I had to scroll through them to get to the complaints?

It’s how we handle the details, the little things, the "that doesn’t really matter" elements that speaks loud and clear to our customers, prospects and employees.

How are you doing on that?

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Clever or cut to the chase? I need your input!

January 26, 2007

This has been rattling around in my brain for quite a bit and I’d like your take on it.

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time — you’re used to my "quirky" post headlines.

Could you be a super hero? (about inspiring your employees to live your brand)

Baby, it’s cold outside (about up-selling by asking good questions)

Shhh, you’re being too quiet! (about inadvertently drawing attention where you do not want your consumers to look)

There are two very distinct camps on the headline issue.

One camp, as illustrated by Mack Collier’s recent post Hey look kids! Free buried treasure! leans towards creative posts piquing the interest of the reader.

The other camp illustrated by Brian Clark aka Copyblogger in posts like 7 Reasons Why List Posts Will Always Work believes that the more straightforward your headline is, the more likely it will get read.

I have to admit, I write my headlines the way I do because I like them better. (Perhaps not the best marketing message, but the truth) I assume my subscribers/readers are pretty clever so I am hoping to tickle their clever bone as well. But does it cost me readers and exposure?

What’s your headline philosophy? Which camp do you fall into? Would you prefer a more cut to the chase Drew or are you getting used to my odd sense of enticement?

Do you think your philosophy applies only to blog posts or is it true for all headlines, regardless of the medium?

flickr photo courtesy of TimmyGUNZ.

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Hey there…it’s a Marketeer!

January 25, 2007

A couple days ago, I unveiled the coveted Marketeer ears and described what it takes to belong to this club.

I’d like to introduce you to the first Marketeer and let her work illustrate the traits that elevate someone to this status.

Here are some of the Marketeers themes and how our first Marketeer, CK, fills the bill.

Fun with Senses. CK asked a smart question “why do you blog” but then took the answers and created a visual that said as much as the words it contained.

Guest Star. Wise enough to understand that the audience is the star, CK talks straight about blog rankings, numbers and what really matters to the audience.

Anything Can Happen. Over at her Marketing Prof’s Daily Fix gig, CK posts about the concepts of beauty, social responsibility, and the frailty of some human truths. Another example of CK’s Anything Can Happen attitude is her creation of the Marketing Profs Book Club. Within days of her announcing the club and its first book, over 500 people had opted in.

Surprise! In a culture that turns celebrities into icons, CK takes a surprising and interesting take.

Talent Round Up. CK is all about celebrating others’ talents and smarts. I got the benefit of her spotlight yesterday but so have many others — she has a whole category on her blog about other bloggers.

Without a doubt…ears on or off – CK is one worthy Marketeer! Hey there, hi there, ho there CK! Why? Because we love you!

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Marketing Lessons from Walt…the PDF

January 24, 2007

It started innocently enough.

We were on vacation at Disney World.

I write a marketing blog.

I am fascinated by Walt Disney’s imagination and genuis.

Add those factors together and voila — blog posts about the marketing wisdom of Walt. It evolved into an 8-part series that was a blast to think about and write.

Then the marketing whirlwind that is CK posted a very kind review of the series and said "Drew, here’s an epiphany if you’ve not yet thought of it: repackage this content into a PDF for your clients and prospects (and we bloggers) and send them a special-delivery holiday package from Mickey!"

She then went on to suggest a slight variation to the infamous ears to better reflect the content.

Who could resist? So slightly after the holidays, here’s the Marketing Lessons from Walt PDF. I hope you will not only enjoy it, but nod your head once or twice and maybe even make an inspired shift in how you’re marketing.

Download marketingwalt.pdf

Update: CK honors her promise and dons a snappy set of ears and pig tails to promote the PDF.

And Gavin Heaton adds his take on opening your ears and really listening at Marketing Profs Daily Fix.

Thanks to you both for using your voice to share the PDF!

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Hey there, hi there, ho there…Marketeers Club!

January 23, 2007

The Mouseketeers reined supreme in the late 50’s as the ambassadors of the Mickey Mouse Club. They sang, they danced and they were the symbols of all that was wholesome and good.

They hosted the Mickey Mouse Club and if you remember, each day had a special theme.

Mondays: Fun with Music
Tuesdays: Guest Star
Wednesdays: Anything Can Happen
Thursdays: Circus
Fridays: Talent Round Up

Well, fast-forward about 50 years (gulp!) and I’d like to introduce you to a new club and its ambassadors – the Marketeers!

Like their predecessors, they gather together to celebrate what they believe in and the tools of their trade. Here are some of the Marketeers themes.

Fun with Senses. These Marketeers understand that to engage their audience their marketing efforts must use words, ideas and visuals to tickle the senses.

Guest Star. Our Marketeers are smart enough to realize that the real guest star in any marketing is the consumer. They deserve the spotlight, the attention and the applause. Rather than hogging the mic, they wisely hand it off to the consumer, so they can share in the conversation.

Anything Can Happen When You Use Your Imagination. You can count on a Marketeer finding an inventive way to think creatively and tap into a human truth or two.

Surprise! Yes, like the circus theme of the original club, this day is all about not communicating in a trite, tired cliché just because its easier, cheaper or the client will buy it.

Talent Round Up. An easy way to spot a Marketeer is that they’ve surrounded themselves with other smart, funny, clever, thought-provoking marketing pros. Better yet — they reach out to help and support one another. A Marketeer understands that the age of cooperation and sharing is a part of the new day.

A tough club to belong to, eh? I agree. But, the benefits are well worth the effort.

So who do we know that’s worthy of being named a Marketeer? Who has earned the right to wear these hallowed ears?

Keep an eye right here for our inaugural honoree!

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:60 ticks marketing tip: How many words?

January 23, 2007

Grab it fast…it’s gone in about a minute. A :60 ticks marketing tip is 150 words or less…so read it in a minute and implement it in the next!

When it comes to writing compelling radio, you need to pace yourself. Too often, copywriters shove about 50% too many words into their scripts. Here’s a good rule of thumb:

60 seconds — 150 word count

30 seconds — 75 word count

15 seconds — 36 word count

That’s it….go put it into action!

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A writer’s tool (instrument, device, etc)

January 21, 2007

Boy, do I love this!

The Visual Thesaurus has added a whole new dimension to the age-old tool. It adds connectivity. When you enter in a word, it displays the word…and shows you how it connects to synonyms. When you click on one of the synonyms, it opens up a whole new "word web" with related words.

This is what I see when I enter the word "count."

This is what happens when I click on the word enumerate, from the count page.

You really have to experience it 3-D to understand how powerful a tool this could be for you.

You can take it for a test drive, but if you fall in love with it like I did, you’ll have to shell out some cash.

You won’t care.

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Numbers, numbers and more numbers

January 20, 2007

One of the threads that I found most interesting over at MarketingProfs book club (stored in the know-how exchange) was when CK (the club’s hostess with the mostest) asked what are the biggest hurdles to getting clients/CMOs/companies to embrace citizen (read social) marketing? We’re mulling over the book Citizen Marketers by Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell. It’s an excellent read, by the way.

Anyway, in the thread, one of the reasons we all point to is that we have not yet found a way to demonstrate how social media spills down to the bottom line. It’s hard to measure and validate, we agreed.

I find that a fascinating juxtaposition to the amazing array of ways we can track, count, quantify, justify, enumerate and calculate how our blog’s doing. And of course, in a post by BizInformer, I just found another.

This site, seomoz.org, allows you to plug in your URL and then gives you a ranking of your visibility on the web. What I think is a little different and cool about it is that it shows you all the elements it used to create your ranking and explains a little about how each work.

So in short, we can measure many things. But we haven’t figured out how to measure what matters. I think the real question is this: maybe we just need to stop trying to measure something that is, by its nature, unmeasurable.

I can’t really measure the value of a client’s faith in me, or a customer who will drive an extra 10 minutes to go to their store of choice, or the power of someone giving a specific book to 50 of their clients with a note that says, "You’ve got to read this. It will change how you think."

But I sure know I want a whole lot of it.

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A marketing tip from my Italian grandma: Count your bay leaves

January 20, 2007

No doubt you look at my last name and say Italian? But rest assured, on my mom’s side I’m your amico! Like all Italians, I had an Italian grandma. And like all Italian grandmas, she had an opinion about everything and wasn’t afraid to share it or the life lessons she had collected along her colorful life.

What she didn’t realize is that she also taught me some great marketing tips that, in her honor, I’d like to share with you.

If you come to my house for dinner, odds are you’re going to get spaghetti. I make the sauce from scratch, just like my grandma taught me to. Now when I use the word recipe, that’s not quite accurate. We do a lot of “a pinch of that” and “season to taste” sorts of measuring.

Except for the bay leaves. My grandma always used to say, “count your bay leaves.” Why? Well, for spaghetti sauce to be incredible, it must slow cook on the stove for at least 24 hours, if not longer. But when you finally take it off the stove and are going to freeze a bunch (because you always cook enough to make at least 6 dinners) you need to very carefully retrieve ALL the bay leaves. Otherwise, when you finally eat the sauce, there’s a very bitter taste to it. In making our sauce, you need to know what details matter enough to measure.

Marketing is like that too. It’s an imprecise science at best. We do a lot of seasoning for taste. We know what all the main ingredients need to be, but the measurements are usually not exacting. Much of it is gut instinct, experience, taking a taste and adjusting accordingly.

But, we can get so paralyzed by measuring and counting and analyzing that we lose track of our purpose. We measure just to measure. Because it feels safe. We know we can count. Bigger numbers mean better results, right? Not always. It depends on what matters. It depends on why we’re doing it in the first place.

So straight from my Italian grandma — figure out what has the potential to make your sauce bitter if you don’t keep track. Count your bay leaves. But don’t sweat the rest.

Here’s the entire Marketing Tips from My Italian Grandma series, for your enjoyment:

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Could you be a super hero?

January 17, 2007

We’ve talked quite a bit about branding and the importance of your employees intellectually and emotionally understanding and embracing your organization’s brand.

Part of your brand is without a doubt, how you expect your employees to make decisions, treat clients and conduct themselves with each other. It helps define how you hire, promote, reward and even fire those employees who do or do not live up to that expectation.

We’ve all seen the employee manual version…"We hold these values to be of the highest esteem — integrity, loyalty and a great work ethic."

Blech.

Nothing wrong with the sentiments, but the presentation makes it feel like it could apply to any company. So how do you make it meaningful, tangible and not sound like HR jargon?

Well, at McLellan Marketing Group part of our brand is that we work hard to be our client’s heroes. To that end, we have created the MMG Hero. ( Download MMGhero.pdf )

He is our very tangible way of setting the bar internally. We use it to hold each other accountable, to high five each other for really being a hero and to brainwash the new employees, so they clearly understand the standard we’ve set in the marketplace.

Maybe being a super hero doesn’t fit your brand. But the idea of personalizing your expectations sure should. Maybe it’s a country song. Or an epic poem. Or a letter from a customer who sums up their experience. How could you create a memorable, meaningful way to set the bar for your team?

If you don’t think you are quite up to MMG Hero status but would like to see what kind of super hero you might be, take this quiz.

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