Drew McLellan, Author at McLellan Marketing Group

Go brush your teeth!

December 31, 2006

I have a daughter. She’s 13. From the time she was a toddler as bedtime approached, I have said "go upstairs and get ready for bed. Please wash and brush." Every time. I still do.

You’d think after a year or even two, I would not have to add the washing and brushing details. But I do. Why? Because I want her to do them. So I repeat myself. Because it matters.

Wondering why I am telling you this? We’ve been having a great discussion in the comments section of my recent post Is your little red wagon stuck? and I want to expand on it a bit. But here’s the set up.

If you are smart enough to make a brand promise that matters to your clients — your employees will either keep or break that promise.
The success rate of their keeping the promise is directly proportional to if they know, get, believe and own the promise.
The success rate of that is up to you.

So why does this so rarely happen? Lots of reasons. But a huge one is because companies think talking to their employees about their marketing and branding is optional. Or reserved for an annual rah rah speech. Wrong.

"Go upstairs and get ready for bed. Please wash and brush."

You may be intimately familiar with your brand promise because you created it. Or write from it. Or it is your inspiration for getting up and going to work every day. But that does not mean every employee has that same experience. We have to make it part of our daily conversation.

"Go upstairs and get ready for bed. Please wash and brush."

For most employees, keeping their company’s promise is pretty low on the list. Because no one has demonstrated to them why it matters. It’s not that they don’t care. They just don’t get it yet. You haven’t talked to them about it enough. Every day you talk to them about being on time. Or filling out the form correctly so they get paid. But you don’t talk about the customer. Or the promise.

"Go upstairs and get ready for bed. Please wash and brush."

Just because you know (if you do) how vital this is for your organization, don’t assume that they do. Even if you’ve told them. Once. Or twice. I can see you waving your hands at me. "We get it, Drew. We get it. So when have we done it enough? When do we stop talking about it with them?"

Simple. When it isn’t important any more.

"Go upstairs and get ready for bed. Please wash and brush."

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A blogging friend in need

December 30, 2006

CK told the story far better than I could…but Servant of Chaos’s Gavin Heaton’s family has experienced a crisis this holiday season and we’re linking arms to send prayers, support and if you care to, a financial boost for what will no doubt be a long and expensive recovery.

Go. Read. Care enough to send a kind thought. At the very least.

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A picture is worth…

December 30, 2006

…a whole lot of z-listers!

Sandy Renshaw from Purple Wren has created a collage to shout about the Mack Collier’s z-listers in a whole new way.

Kudos for Sandy for not only paying the meme forward but doing it in her own style! Not to mention the incredible amount of work it must have taken.

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Give Walt a marketing tip

December 29, 2006

Picture this.

You have saved for a couple years. You have disappointed family by saying you’re traveling over the holidays. You have revved the kids up to a frenzied pitch of excitement because they are going to meet Mickey Mouse.

This is going to be the Christmas to remember for all times. This is "Parent Hall of Fame" Christmas. Disney World.

You get everyone to Florida. You get everyone on the monorail. You walk up to the Magic Kingdom’s entrance gates, tickets in hand and the kids are so excited you think they might actually go into some sort of shock. Then, you hear the cast member say "I’m so sorry, but we’re closed due to over crowding."

It happened Wednesday and yesterday to thousands of people. And not just the Magic Kingdom but two of the other three parks as well (MGM Studios and Animal Kingdom) From Disney’s perspective, there are codes and rules they have to comply with. But, from a customer service point of view, it can’t get too much worse.

Most of the people outside your gate live a plane ride away, have sacrificed plenty to get there and may never be able to get back.

If you were the head of Disney’s guest relations — what would you do to mitigate this disaster?

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Is that your ego shouting in the background?

December 29, 2006

Boy will this one get you every time.

It’s not about you. And it never was. When marketers let their egos drive decisions, craft reactions or trigger responses — it has never been fruitful. But today, it’s worse than that. It’s fatal.

Popular is very different from valuable. We need to shift marketing from being a popularity contest to being one of providing genuine value.

It’s a noisy world out there. The consumers are grabbing at the reins. Your competitors are multiplying and geography is no longer a safety net for you. Dog eat dog. Right?

Sure. If it’s a win or lose. And it’s about you. So you’d better win. Hear that? It’s your ego shouting in the background.

But what if it was about sharing? About creating intimacy with someone before you tried to pry some money out of their pocket? What if it was actually thinking about your product or service from the customer’s point of view? Not giving it lip service — but really listening. Learning. Adapting.

We’ve all heard the phrase "the small is the new big." I’d like to modify that to "the valuable is the new popular."

It probably always was. But now the consumers’ voices are louder than ours, so we actually have to listen.

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Is your little red wagon stuck?

December 27, 2006

Your organization is like a little red wagon. You ask all your employees to give 110% to help you propel the wagon forward.

But you have not made your company’s brand (not logo or tagline…but point of difference and the promise behind that difference) something that every employee knows, breathes, believes and lives.

But, they are good people and want to give you that 110%. So each of them attaches their rope (talents and skills) to the wagon. Where THEY think it should be. Guess what?

Bob thinks it should be "give the customer whatever they ask for. Even if it’s wrong because you don’t tell the customer they’re wrong."
But Betty knows it’s "squeeze costs of goods, even if that means slow shipping" because price is king at your company.
Now John is convinced that it’s the people that make your company special, so he’s going to put his 110% of tugging behind better benefit packages so your retention rises.

See the problem? They are all pulling with all their might. But they are not pulling in the same direction. So your wagon goes nowhere. Your people get frustrated. You get frustrated.

All because you either don’t know what your brand really is or, you know but haven’t made sharing it with your employees a priority.

How long are you going to leave it stuck?

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Are you making this marketing mistake?

December 26, 2006

Do you suffer from the "everyone thinks about my stuff as much as I do" mistake? Lots of marketers do. We think that just because we know all about our product or service offerings — that everyone else does too.

Let me shatter that illusion for you. But gently of course.

No one cares as much about your work, your company, your product etc. as you do. And they never will. This includes:

Your employees
Your current clients
Your prospects
The media

Why? Because they are being bombarded with over 3,000 marketing messages a day. We all suffer from serious information overload. You’re lucky to have their attention for a nanosecond.

How do you fight against that sobering fact? We’re going to explore that over the next few days. But it starts with recognizing that having their attention is a luxury, not your privilege. And that you have to put up quite a fight to get and keep their attention.

So lesson #1 is respect your audience’s reality. Understand where they stand and where they’re trying to go. Which often times has little to do with you. But that can change…I promise. But only when what matters to them also matters to you. It is never the other way around. Never.

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Thanks Santa Seth!

December 24, 2006

There’s been a list that’s been flying through the blogosphere for the past week or better. I posted the story of the list’s origin and added to the flurry. It’s been building up steam since then with more good blogs getting the attention they deserve. So many voices, so many new ideas and perspectives.

Then, on Saturday, Seth Godin added his voice to the mix, but as always with Seth — with a twist. He not only posted the list, he created a plexo on Squidoo. (who says bloggers aren’t creating a whole new language?)

Bottom line, you can cast a vote for marketing blogs you enjoy. Another way of voices being heard. If you’re getting some insight and ideas from the Marketing Minute, I’d very much appreciate your vote.

Here’s all you have to do:

Go to Squidoo.
If you have an account, click here, log in and vote (see #5). If you don’t, sign up for one. (free, easy and no spam promised)
Up in the upper right corner, you’ll see "find a lens on"…enter z list in the box
In the search results, you will see The Z List by Seth Godin. Click on it.
Scroll down the list and find Drew McLellan: The Marketing Minute (or other blogs you love)
Click on the up arrow (it will turn green) and then refresh (right next to the vote count)
Watch your e-mail to confirm your squidoo account and you’re all done!

Thanks to Seth for turning up the volume on these great blogs and thanks to all of you who will take the time to go vote!

This whole "experiment" reminds all of us that blogging is a great equalizer. It allows voices of all pitches and tones to be discovered, listened to and learned from. Is your voice in the mix?

Update:

Not cool. About 24 hours after Seth tries to do a nice thing — people are doing a not so cool thing. Someone(s) gone through the squidoo list and "downgraded" a bunch of the blogs so that lots of people are in negative numbers.

You know…call me naive and idealistic — but come on. If you like someone’s blog, vote them up. If you’re not crazy about it — just leave them be. All of a sudden Mack’s fears are coming true — now it looks more like a popularity contest rather than giving some good blogs their due.

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What do you suppose is up with this?

December 24, 2006

Image via CrunchBase

Amazon is trying something new.

What do you suppose they gain by creating this new interface?
Is it something you’ll use?
How would you determine the credibility of the answers you got?
How would you reassure someone of the credibility of the answers you offered?

Hmm.

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What does your shopping style say…

December 23, 2006

…about your marketing style?

Maybe nothing. But a post by Valeria Maltoni over at Conversation Agent got me thinking. Valeria’s point is that too many people buy gifts based on what they like, not the recipient.

I think most people market that way as well. They don’t carefully consider what matters to the recipient. They just talk about the stuff that matters to them. Bottom line — they talk about themselves.

That’s like me buying my daughter a men’s sweater, because the color will go great with my eyes! Why would that excite her on Christmas morning? It wouldn’t.

But, if I am genuinely curious about her, if I get to know her likes and dislikes, if I engage her in conversation and ask her opinions — then I can get her a gift that’s right for her.

Back to marketing. Same rules apply. When we actually care enough to know them, we can talk to them about what matters. To them. To their lives.

That’s respectful marketing. That’s effective marketing. That’s the kind of marketing that too few do.

Do you? (Wow…just like Dr. Seuss but without the great illustrations!)

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