Drew McLellan, Author at McLellan Marketing Group

Your visuals need your attention!

March 8, 2017

No matter what kind of marketing we’re producing, it seems like we give most of our time and attention to the words. We agonize over the messaging and each and every syllable. And rightly so – they’re all very important. But for some reason, we don’t give our visuals anywhere near as much attention. That’s a huge mistake and it’s keeping your marketing from being as effective as possible.

Remember, we are visual creatures. Sixty-five percent of human beings are visual learners and even if we’re not wired that way, all of us process images 60,000 times faster than we can process auditory or written messages.

Ninety percent of what is communicated to our brain is visual. And much of the information is visually communicated in ways we aren’t even aware of at the time. We take in so much more than we realize and much of it is emotionally based. We react both intellectually and emotionally to everything we see.

Why does all of this matter? Emotions are at the core of every buying decision and long before the cash register rings – emotions allow us to form the know • like • trust chain that leads to that first purchase.

When we talk about marketing visuals, the possibilities are vast. I want you to think about everything from:

The simple aspects of your visuals like the size and shape of your marketing materials: Think about how much more we notice a square brochure versus the traditional tri-fold that fits into a #10 envelope. We’re drawn to die cuts, round business cards and websites that leverage shapes to get our attention.

Color selection: Too many companies disrespect their own color palette because someone in the marketing department is bored. Beyond protecting your brand visually by not messing with your corporate colors, remember that color is a great way to show emphasis, guide someone through a marketing piece or create eye rests on digital pieces.

Illustration versus photographs: Is what you’re trying to communicate a concrete thing or is it conceptual? What kind of a mood are you creating? Which option would be more surprising and arresting? A visual isn’t just a placeholder. It needs to add to the understanding of your message or it’s a waste of space. If you feel like your visual is trite – it is.

Stock photography versus shooting your own: This is a tough one for people because of the perceived cost variance. But don’t dismiss shooting original photography. The ability to control the mood, feature real locations, people and situations and the authenticity can be worth the expense. One budget helping option is to shoot your most vital visuals and augment them with well-chosen stock.

What kind of chart/graph would best communicate your information: When you are trying to communicate a complicated concept, charts and graphs can often be helpful. Sadly, most people cram so much into each visual that they render them useless. With charts and graphs, remember that less is more. Be mindful of the relationship between each fact you’re including. That should suggest the type of chart or graph that would best illustrate the connection.

If you’re creating an infographic, what is the storyline? Infographics are the hot “new” visual tool but most companies miss the mark. An infographic should do more than spew out stats or data. The real power of an infographic is that it can actually tell a story. Identify the arc of your story and let the visuals and facts move the viewer through the arc.

Your visuals should not be an afterthought. In fact, they often communicate on more levels than the words you so carefully craft. Give your visuals the time and respect they deserve and your marketing will be the better for it.

How’s your marketing game plan going?

March 1, 2017

I know everyone is anxious for spring to arrive but you have to admit, March got here in a hurry. You’re almost 25% of the way through the year. How are you doing on meeting your goals? If you aren’t hitting all your key metrics, maybe your marketing game plan is a little off.

Rather than wait until late in the year to do a course correction, let’s do it now so you still have most of the year to make up any lost ground. Let’s look at some of the common mistakes that get made.

Depth not breadth: While I applaud people for being ambitious, the truth is, most marketing plans are unrealistic. Even if you had nothing else to do all day, you’d never be able to execute everything you have in your plan.

That doesn’t serve you well. What usually happens is that a company kicks off the year with all of these big and bold marketing initiatives. But because you have so many plates spinning, you can’t possibly attend to all of them. Which means none of them get enough time and attention. As plates crash to the ground, you abandon many of the tactics in the plan and really have no idea which ones could have gained traction. Or you’re very hit or miss on your execution, which sends the wrong message to your audience.

Here’s my suggestion. Do about a third of what you thought could be accomplished. But, do that one-third better than you could have imagined. Great marketing is about leaving a lasting impression. It’s tough to do that with mediocre messaging or execution.

Deadlines are not optional: When you cut out two-thirds of your tactics, you absolutely can and need to deliver on the one-third. That’s not just about quality. As mundane as it sounds – deadlines matter. When you tell someone you’re going to send out a monthly e-newsletter and it goes out 7 times a year — that sends a message. When you offer quarterly webinars but cancel them because you under promoted them and didn’t attract enough bodies –- that sends a message.

After you trim back your marketing plan to a manageable level, you must commit to the timeline. This is particularly challenging if you wear other hats in the business. It’s easy to run from customer fire to customer fire. I hate to tell you, but the only time your own marketing is on fire is when the ship is about to sink. Don’t wait for that to happen. Your customers make their needs a priority for you. You have to do the same for your own marketing. If you do not carve out and protect the time, it just won’t get done.

Talk less, listen more: The marketing monologue is dead. There are so many ways for your consumers to talk to you, about you and around you – you’ve got to make listening a priority.

Do it formally by launching customer surveys, creating a client review board, or ask your best clients to test new products for you as part of an insider’s club. Do it informally by chatting with them at trade shows about how they’ve adapted your products, hang out with them on Facebook or in forums where they gather to talk about their work challenges.

Your best customers have plenty to say. Your least satisfied customers have plenty to say. The ones in the middle don’t care enough but if you show them that you care, they just might.

I know you’re probably tired of hearing me say this but marketing is simple, which is why it’s so difficult. We can’t help ourselves. We complicate it and muck it up. If you’ve gotten off track, now is the perfect time to do a course correction.

Help – my digital display ads aren’t working

February 22, 2017

I recently got an email from a reader who was struggling with their digital display ads. They were underperforming and the business owner was considering pulling the ads.

Here’s what I said back to her.

Thanks for your email and the stats on your digital ads. You’re right, based on industry standards, your click-through rate of less than .1% is not within the gold standard of an effective campaign.

Before I dig into some of the reasons why your ads may be underperforming, remember that click-through is just one metric used to measure the effectiveness of a digital ad campaign.

With any rich media that includes brand creative, engagement rates are just one aspect of the ad’s success or failure. Many companies view their digital display ads as being a tool to drive brand awareness as well as a direct response vehicle. Unfortunately, it’s tough to measure that sort of uptick in brand awareness, which is why most people default to their click-through rates.

You also need to recognize that there are lots of ways a person can find your business without clicking on your display ad at that given moment. Think about your own behavior. I’m sure there was a time you saw a banner ad that caught your interest but instead of clicking on the ad, you did a search for the company or product in your favorite search engine, or just typed the company’s URL directly into your web browser. The ad you saw made an impression on you and got you to take an action. You might have seen that ad on the same day but probably not. When it was convenient for you or your need escalated and you were ready to buy, you found the company and became a customer.

The importance of seeing your ads becomes even greater when we start talking about retargeting. If someone has already been to your site and then they start seeing your ads, the likelihood of them returning to your site is greatly increased.

But I do want to address your question. Assuming the main reason you’re running digital display ads is to trigger an immediate action, here are some reasons why your campaign is underperforming.

Bad creative: Regardless of the medium, creative matters. If your ads are not visually arresting, if your message is not attention grabbing or if your visuals are boring – you’ve got trouble.

Too many words: Many people cram too much into a digital ad. You need to think of it like an outdoor board. Depending on the size — seven to ten words at the most is a good rule of thumb.

Wrong websites/audience: It’s easy to place digital ads. It’s not always easy to place them in the right spots. If you can afford it – let a professional help you.

Bad offer: Keep in mind, your ad needs to offer the viewer something so compelling that I am going to stop whatever I am on the web/mobile to do and click. So it can’t be subtle, boring or unimpressive. You are trying to literally stop me in my tracks and get me to change direction. That takes oomph.

No call to action: Give me a reason to click. Offer me a free ebook, free trial, 20% off or something. If your ad doesn’t tell me what my reward is for clicking on it, odds are I’m not going to unless I was already actively looking for whatever you sell.

Digital display ads are often a very cost effective tool in your marketing arsenal. But like most tactics – there are some best practices you need to follow if you want to enjoy a healthy ROI on your investment.

Remove the barriers

February 15, 2017

I recently spent some time at Walt Disney World and observed how brilliantly they remove barriers for their guests.

There’s a free Disney shuttle from the Orlando airport to any Disney hotel and back to the airport at the end of your trip. Once you’re on property, there are free shuttles to all the theme parks and other attractions (like their water parks, putt-putt golf area, Disney Springs – their dining and entertainment district, etc.) If you don’t feel like taking a shuttle, you have other options like monorails and boats that can get you around as well.

That free transportation probably saves the average family a couple hundred dollars in rental car fees for the average 4-5 day visit. In fact, most Disney hotel guests don’t bother with a car at all.

Given that Disney wants to fill those hotel rooms and keep their guests on property for as much of the vacation as possible – they just removed some significant barriers to make that happen.

You don’t need to know your way around. Just get on the right bus. It’s efficient and free. Now, if you want to visit Universal Studios or Sea World – you have to rent a car or take a cab. Most families, given the sheer volume of things you can do on Disney property, will just opt to stay put. More money in the Disney pocket.

But the transportation system is peanuts compared to their new magic bands. They are a master class in removing barriers. That wristband is your room key, your ability to charge food, merchandise, tickets, etc. and gives you the ability to skip the lines on popular rides. They have a corresponding website and app so you can customize your vacation months in advance or on the fly as you walk through one of their theme parks.

I was just there for a week and never had to pull out my wallet. Every member of your party has their own band and, if you want, their own charging privileges. Imagine the increase in food, beverage and merchandise spending since they implemented this program.

But don’t think barrier removal is just for the big boys. Every one of us has the same opportunity to identify what slows down or gets in the way of a potential buyer during their customer journey and blast it out of the way.

Here are some of the areas many businesses could make smoother/easier:

Contract/Project sign-offs: Are you still sending your clients paper contracts to review and sign? Then what? They either need to fax them back (assuming they still have a physical location and a fax machine) or they have to scan them so they can digitally get them back to you. Why not use one of the many e-signature services available today? With a few clicks, the authorization is signed and work can begin.

Access to you: People hate voice mail and with good reason. Why not forward your work number to your cell or better yet – get a number that intuitively knows which phone to ring, no matter where you are. At the very least, in your voice mail message — give them another way to reach you (email, mobile number) if it’s urgent.

Anticipate their concerns: The bigger your price tag, the more concerns your prospects are going to have. Answer their questions and worries before they ask. Create a FAQ section on your website. Include a PDF of it with your proposal. Go out of your way to answer all of their worries before they even express them.

Spend some time identifying the biggest barriers in your business and put together a plan to reduce or eliminate them all together. That could lead to an impressive 2017!

The question behind the question

February 8, 2017

If you were ever to become an employee at Walt Disney World, you’d go through a class called Traditions. You’d learn all about the vision and legacy of Walt Disney and all the ins and outs of working at your one specific location. If you were slated to work at the Magic Kingdom, one of the things you’d learn is that the most common question asked is “what time is the 3 o’clock parade?”

The trainers use this absurd question to teach their new cast members (what Disney calls employees) a very important lesson that is just as critical in marketing as it is in theme park management.

The lesson is this: look for the question behind the question. When people express a concern or raise a question, there’s often something underneath that initial inquiry. But to figure out what’s really at the core – you have to understand your audience and their heart a little.

The people that ask, “what time is the 3 o’clock parade?” have waited on a curb for one to two hours for the upcoming parade. They’ve probably saved for more than three years to afford the trip to Disney in the first place and they probably will not be back for a few years at least. Which means that they are very invested in this vacation and one of the highlights of their day is supposed to be the big parade. Their kids are (by mid afternoon) tired and a little whiney so this parade had better be awesome. What this harried Mom or Dad is actually asking is “what time does the 3 o’clock parade pass by this exact spot and are we in a good viewing location?”

If the cast member didn’t understand the stakes for the average Disney guest – they might offer a snide reply or give the guest a look that says… “Duh.” Hardly a stellar customer service moment. But imagine how a guest feels after asking that question and having a cast member say, “the parade is kicking off in Frontierland, so it should be here by about 3:20. And you’ve got a great spot for not only seeing the parade but interacting with some of the characters.”

That’s real communication. That’s anticipating what your customer really needs. And that’s the kind of customer care and understanding that earns repeat business. So how do you apply this idea of understanding the question behind the question to your organization?

Dissect your FAQs: Make a list of the questions your staff gets asked most often. And be sure not to exclude anyone – your accounting department, your shipping crew, and the people who handle returns. Ask anyone and everyone to help you put together a master list.

Bring together a diverse team from your organization and really look at what’s underneath those questions. Force yourselves to go beyond the expected assumptions. Ask “what if” questions to explore new possibilities.

Look for patterns: Patterns suggest that there’s a common thread or behavior worth investigating. Don’t dismiss them, especially if it’s around a product/service that isn’t selling as well as you expected. Odds are, there’s something underneath the lack of sales beyond what you’re assuming. Every objection hides an insight underneath.

Test your theories: We know assuming is dangerous so be sure to test your new insights. Whether you use customer surveys, access a client advisory board or do some A/B testing with ad messages – make sure you get validation. Once you do, you can start folding the new insights into your marketing messages and materials.

Everyone wants to do business with a company that truly gets them. Understand what they’re really asking so you can demonstrate that you’re the right choice.

Music to my ears

February 1, 2017

As I was listening to one of my favorite playlists today, I was struck by how emotional music can be. A certain melody or specific song has an amazing ability to trigger our emotions in an instant. Ask any runner and they’ll tell you that one of the ways they set the tone for their run is by pre-programming the music they’ll listen to when they run. Many writers swear by the same technique and have spent hours putting together just the right mix of songs to inspire their work.

You’ve probably noticed how music impacts your reaction to TV commercials, videos, and podcasts. In the short run – it sets the tone and tempo for the piece and gets your emotions fired up. But in the long run – just the first notes of a familiar jingle can have you repeating the company’s tagline or theme song lyrics. And that connection lasts for decades.

If I could magically make this article play the first few bars of “I’d like to teach the world to sing” many of you over the age of 40 would be subconsciously reaching for a can of Coke before you could remember why. That campaign ran in 1971 and we still have that trigger embedded in our memory decades later. That’s powerful.

Music is a connector. It connects us to memories, people, and stories. Marketing is about making a connection with your audience.

You don’t have to be producing a multi-million dollar TV spot, video or audio show to leverage music’s impact. There are plenty of ways for marketers of all sizes and shapes to work music into their marketing plan.

Sponsorship: According to Billboard, live concert attendance is up over 20% and there are no signs it’s slowing down. What? You don’t have the budget to sponsor Madonna’s new tour? No worries – look no further than your own local music scene. Most communities are producing some incredible local vocalists and bands that are performing on a regular basis.

Odds are these musicians haven’t had a lot of experience in being sponsored so you may have to carve out a deal from scratch. But just like the nationally known artists – each of these local talents has a following. Find the singer or group that has attracted the audience that matters to your business and see if you can strike up a deal.

Customize your music: If you’re creating a jingle or want to have a consistent piece of music associated with your company – don’t buy something off the shelf. Have a piece of music composed that you can own and use for years to come. And remember – sometimes the words are what makes a jingle stink. Instrumental music can be even more potent if it’s well written. Again – there are plenty of local composers who have both the talent and equipment to help you bring the musical spirit of your organization to life.

Set the mood with music: Whether you have a retail store or you deal with your customers over the phone – you have the opportunity to establish the tone of your interactions with music.

Here’s the key to this strategy that is often missed. If you are not the same age/demographic as your target audience, remember – it’s not about what you like, it’s what they like. Have you ever walked into the store Hot Topic at the mall? You immediately know (if you’re over 20) that you are not their target audience. Use your musical selections to create a welcome mat for your right fit customers.

Whether you’re putting together testimonial videos, a radio series or creating a live event – don’t forget to think long and hard about music and how you can elevate your results with it.

Will it work?

January 25, 2017

I was sitting with the leadership team of a new client during an onboarding meeting and we’d gotten to the “do you have any questions for me” stage of the meeting. One of the senior people looked at me and said, “Yeah, I have a question. Will it work?”

I’m a big fan of being straightforward, so I appreciated the opportunity to be equally frank with him. I said, “Well, that all depends on you and the rest of the team. I know our part of the equation will work.”

Marketing, no matter the product or service, is about connecting with the right audience in a way that they find interesting/helpful so that when they’re ready to buy what you sell – you’re in the consideration set.

Within that reality are several places that things can go awry and when something does get off track, the marketing results suffer or over time, the marketing might not work at all.

What are the must do elements to making your marketing work? Here’s what I shared with my new client that day to answer his question, “Will it work?”.

We have to be consistent: Marketing is like investing in the stock market. You never know exactly when the market is going to go up or down, so the wisest investment strategy is to invest consistently so you can be in a position to take advantage when it goes up. The same is true with marketing. You never know when a prospect might be ready to turn into a customer. So you have to be consistently in front of them with messages that are attention worthy so that when they are ready, you are top of mind.

Where companies mess this up: You start something but don’t really commit to it. The monthly newsletter goes out four times a year. The blog gets updated once in awhile. Your best customer calling program gets derailed every time you get busy.

We have to narrow our focus: The worst marketing is aimed at everyone. When you try to be relevant to everyone, you can’t help but be very general and broad. It turns out, that’s not particularly helpful or interesting to anyone. The best marketing is when you can get incredibly specific and most people are completely uninterested but the ones who are interested – are very, very interested.

Where companies mess this up: This is a tough one for organizations to wrap their head around. Every dollar is not a good dollar to chase. Knowing who your sweet spot customers are and only communicating to them requires incredible discipline and bravery.

We have to be customer-centric: If your marketing is all about you, you’ve lost the battle before you’ve even started.

Where companies mess this up: You blather on about you. You talk more than you listen. You push for the sale too soon rather understanding there are many tiny next steps that need to come before the ask.

We have to make the marketing to sales connection: The only way to be confident that your marketing is worth the investment is to track prospects through the sales funnel and identify what got them there in the first place.

Where companies mess this up: Most companies either can’t or don’t put the mechanics in place to accurately track and measure conversions.

It seems so simple and yet very few do it really well because it’s actually a very delicate dance and it’s so easy to get out of step.

Will it work? It will if you: Know your audience and what they care about. Earn their trust by helping not selling and be absolutely consistent in your delivery. Track their progress through your sales funnel so you can quantify your results.

That’s it. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?

Do you rush things?

January 18, 2017

There’s a ride at Walt Disney World called Rock n’ Roller Coaster. At the very beginning of the ride, the car you ride in goes from a dead stop to over 60 mph in less than three seconds. What a rush! While that’s enough to get anyone’s heart racing, the folks at Disney don’t leave anything to chance. The riders’ hearts are racing long before they hear the sound effect of tires screeching or the car starts moving.

Disney is a master at the art of building anticipation. You load into the car and they bring you right to the brink of the ride’s start. The music starts to get louder and louder. The signage is warning you to keep your head firmly against the headrest. Right about the time you begin to wonder what’s taking so long, the neon sign above you and the speakers in your headrest start the countdown. The car starts to vibrate as the engines rev and then, with a loud screech of the tires, you are accelerating to 60 mph and an upside down loop as the ride begins.

My point is – they could have just loaded their guests in the car and after a second or two started the ride. The roller coaster would still be pretty thrilling but it wouldn’t be the same experience.

Whether you’re a roller coaster junkie or you’re scared senseless and peer pressure got you on the ride – the build up is incredibly effective. By the time the ride begins, you’re about to crawl out of your skin you’re so ready to just get started.

It’s not just that ride either. Disney uses this technique over and over to create an increased hunger for their rides, movies, and special events. They use it because it works. It creates demand. It’s increases perceived value. And ultimately, it increases sales.

I think we can all learn a little from Disney’s example. Many businesses rush to the sale and in that effort; spook their potential buyer because they’re either not interested or just not ready to buy.

But make someone wait or tell them you have a limited number of whatever they want – and suddenly they’re the ones asking for the sale. So how can we slow down to help the sales heat up?

Create some buzz: One of the best ways to build anticipation is to get other people to start talking about you. A concerted PR effort is a great way to get some media coverage or viral attention. When you can trigger positive word of mouth, you can count on increased interest.

Give your best prospects a sneak peek: Everyone likes to feel like an insider that has access or information that everyone else doesn’t have. Creating an opportunity for a select few to do a test drive but not have full access to the offer will generate anticipation for the actual release. Apple employs this technique better than just about anyone.

Don’t blurt out everything all at once: This is a mistake most marketers make. They’re in such a rush to pack every possible bit of information into every communication that they not only kill any possibility of anticipation but they also bury the audience with too much too soon.

Keep it a secret: The world loves a good mystery. One great way to create a mystique around your product/service is to tease the market and hold some information back. The more mysterious you are, the hungrier they’ll be to know.

At the end of the day, you don’t sell anything until someone wants it. Companies like Disney and Apple are great examples of how well using anticipation to stimulate that want is a great marketing technique that drives sales. It might be worth a try!

Shhh, we’re secret shopping

January 11, 2017

If there’s one marketing tactic that we execute for clients that always yields incredible results, it’s when we secret shop their operation. Without exception, a secret shopping program will:

Provide insights that surprise you (good and bad)
Spotlight specific areas where your training and communication have failed and you/your employees are hurting your brand
Uncover sales opportunities that you are letting slip through your fingers
Identify employees who are brand ambassadors and those who are actually doing damage to your reputation

We secret shop some of our clients every year and even though we’ve done it before – each time produces new insights and results. We always modify some aspects of their customer interaction, marketing, and employee training based on the results of the effort.

Many times we not only secret shop our own clients but we include their competitors as well. This produces an incredible wealth of new knowledge – from vulnerabilities to what they’re saying about their competition (you!) to prospects. Depending on the study – sometimes we don’t tell our operatives who the client is but at the end of the process, we ask them who they would hire/buy from. That’s always an eye opener!

If you’re a B2B leader/owner and are about to dismiss this as a retail marketing tactic – think again. We’ve done it for plenty of B2B clients with the exact same results. No matter what you sell – you interact with people to market and sell your offerings. We’ve done secret shopping on the web, over the phone, via email and in person (usually a blend of more than one throughout the sales cycle) and the learning is huge, no matter what you sell.

Like all marketing – doing it and doing it well are two different things. There are some elements of a secret shopping program that you’ll want to pay special attention to if you want reliable results.

This is not a DIY project: There are some marketing elements that you and your team are perfectly equipped to do on your own. This is not one of them. You need to bring in experienced outsiders who understand your industry but more important – understand how to effectively secret shop and report back the results.

You want to choose a firm who has professionals that are experienced in handling the entire secret shopping experience from initial contact to the final report. They need to be privy to your key messages, brand and sales process or they won’t be able to help you identify how to improve.

Create a safe environment: Secret shoppers often have to share less than ideal results with their clients. If you don’t make it perfectly clear that you’re ready to hear whatever they discover – it may make it difficult for them to be as candid as you need them to be. Prepare yourself – no matter how good you and your employees are – you’re not going to get a perfect grade. There’s always room for improvement.

Consistency is key: For the results to be meaningful, the experience needs to be consistent – all the shoppers need to look for the same things, ask the same sorts of questions, and grade the experience based on the same criteria. This allows you to know that the reported results aren’t an anomaly and should be reacted to – good or bad.

Next steps: The most important part of the secret shopping experience is that the company you hire can help you identify next steps to correct the issues and accentuate the positives. This will probably include employee training, some tweaks to your sales process and it may even include some changes to your product/service itself.

If you want to start your year off with a serious boost – consider a secret shopping program.

Feminism as a Marketing Trend

January 4, 2017

This time of year is ripe for trend reports and because it’s important to our work with clients, I’ve been digging through many of them to identify recurring themes. There’s one theme that has really caught my eye and seems to be something that should be on every businessperson’s radar screen. I believe we’re at the beginning of a groundswell (perhaps because of the recent election) that is going to only get louder and more powerful. The trend I’m referring to, believe it or not, is feminism.

I imagine you just glanced at the paper to see if you’d suddenly been transformed back to 1840. Perhaps I should call this a re-trend but that doesn’t negate its importance. In the 1840s it was about the right to vote and in the 1960s it was largely about the right to have more options professionally because at that time only 38% of American women worked outside the home and they had very limited choices in terms of careers.

But today’s feminism seems to have a very different slant. First, it’s global, rather than just US based. Second, it appears to be much broader in scope and influence. There’s not as much focus on one specific problem but instead, it’s about the whole of a person and the core concept of equality. Third, women and men are not combatants in this go around. In fact, men are increasingly being invited to the party, as true members of the cause. Emma Watson’s speech at the U.N. (Google it and watch it – she’s brilliant) put the international spotlight on the solidarity movement for gender equality. It’s worth noting that the program Watson introduced in 2015, HeForShe, is being sponsored by JP Morgan Chase.

The fight feels less antagonistic and more about the simple logic that equality makes sense and seems reasonable to expect in this day and age. Obviously, I’m simplifying the issues greatly and I know that women across the globe still face some horrific situations, but overall, the spirit of the fight feels more collaborative and open to all supporters.

Whether you are aligned with this new edition of feminism or not, it’s quickly weaving itself into our world in some interesting ways that as marketers, we need to watch.

Empowerment: I think empowerment is a word that is overused and probably often misused. But in this case, it’s about celebrating and selling the idea that women can do and be anything they choose. Toy manufacturers like GoldieBox are championing girl engineers and coders with their STEM-based toys and movies like Disney’s Frozen celebrate women helping each other, rather than being rescued by a prince. Both examples were out of the box megahits – meaning that their themes resonated with consumers in a significant way.

Gender neutral: We’re moving into an era where we consciously stop defining something as being made for a boy or a girl. President Obama created quite a discussion in December 2014 when he went out of his way to put toys that would have traditionally been earmarked for boys into the girls’ toy pile during a Toys for Tots appearance. Clothing manufacturers, especially those aiming at young adult consumers, have been purposefully developing clothing styles without defining who should or should not wear them.

Why should this be on your radar screen? I believe every marketer should be checking their own gender bias as they roll out new marketing initiatives. Our audiences, both men and women, will have far less tolerance for stereotypes that minimize either gender. Not only that, but I suspect consumers will reward those companies who go out of their way to recognize and celebrate equality in all it’s shapes and forms to a growing degree.

Marketer beware – the landscape is changing and you don’t want to be out of touch.

« Previous 1 … 28 29 30 31 32 … 180 Next »