Drew McLellan, Author at McLellan Marketing Group

The training wheels of business blogging

December 20, 2010

We’ve just started working with a client who launched his own blog about 6 months ago. We’ve re-designed his website (with the blog on the home page) and are just about to go live.

As one of the last things on the To Do list, I was taking his old blog posts from his original effort and moving them to the new site.

God love him….but yikes! As I was preparing a document for him on business blogging basics, it occurred to me I should share it here too.

These are by no means all inclusive, but they are the cornerstones that we preach at MMG. (with a nod to Mike Sansone, who taught me all of them when I started blogging back in the stone age!)

Short and Sweet: A blog post should hover around the 300 word mark. Yes, you can occasionally go much longer or shorter, but in general, people have the tolerance for a good 3 minute read. Which means you must stick to…

One and only one message: Lots of reasons for this but if you’re going to stick to the word count and put some meat on the bone, you can only dig into one topic. So stay focused. And, it makes the post easier to read and remember. It also helps you to…

Write often: Our client was posting about once a month. At that rate, you might as well not bother. Business blogs are chock full of perks (SEO, define your expertise, attract new customers, etc) but only if you write on a regular basis. 3-4 per week is really what you should shoot for, if you want to build a legitimate blog. Now if you want actual readers…

Go out and find your readers: This is not a “build it and they will come” sort of deal. You have to be willing to step away from your own blog and go talk to the readers you want. Where are they? Odds are — at other people’s blogs. Go comment, share, and get elbow deep into conversations on blogs that parallel yours in terms of topic. If you’re smart or interesting there, they’ll come visit your blog as well. Another way to draw attention…

Link out: When you’re writing about a specific topic or person — link out to them. Especially bloggers who track their links like bloodhounds. You should try to include at least one link out in every post. Not sure where to find relevant writing? Use a free tool like Zemanta to help.

Of course, there’s much more, but these are the training wheels of blogging! From your experience either as a blogger or reader — what would you add?

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Marketing tip #8: Marketing is asymmetrical

December 16, 2010

Maybe it's the time of year and the fact that we're having a beautiful evening snowfall, but as i watched it snow, I got thinking about the uniqueness of snowflakes. They say there are no two the same because they're all asymmetrical in their own way.

And yet, when we draw them or use them for decorations — we can't help but draw them incorrectly, fixing the asymmetry and making them "perfect."

In our pursuit of perfection, we actually take something unique and make it common and ordinary.

And yet — what do we want from companies who market to us? Do we want fake perfection or do we want to see them for who they really are, warts and all? Personally, I want those rough edges. They're reassuring.

Mette Mitchell wrote about a fascinating trend called Wabi-sabi (from the Japanese aesthetics concept) that is the celebration of things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete.

Check out her post (by clicking on the link) and see how Wabi-sabi is impacting packaging, retail spaces and brands.

This isn't a trend about sloppiness or not caring enough to clean up imperfections. It's actually about being brave enough to be a little lopsided.

Because lopsided is real, one of a kind, honest and puts a consumer at ease.

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Pantone announces the 2011 color of the year

December 14, 2010

This is the sort of job I wonder about sometimes. How does one become the person who selects the color of the year? Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute® must know — as her organization has declared Honeysuckle the 2011 color of the year.

Here's what Pantone had to say about the selection:

A Color for All Seasons. Courageous. Confident. Vital.

A brave new color, for a brave new world.

Let the bold spirit of Honeysuckle infuse you, lift you and carry you through the year. It’s a color for every day – with nothing “everyday” about it. While the 2010 color of the year, PANTONE 15-5519 Turquoise, served as an escape for many, Honeysuckle emboldens us to face everyday troubles with verve and vigor.

A dynamic reddish pink, Honeysuckle is encouraging and uplifting. It elevates our psyche beyond escape, instilling the confidence, courage and spirit to meet the exhaustive challenges that have become part of everyday life.

“In times of stress, we need something to lift our spirits. Honeysuckle is a captivating, stimulating color that gets the adrenaline going – perfect to ward off the blues,” explains Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. “Honeysuckle derives its positive qualities from a powerful bond to its mother color red, the most physical, viscerally alive hue in the spectrum.”Eiseman continues, “The intensity of this festive reddish pink allures and engages. In fact, this color, not the sweet fragrance of the flower blossoms for which it was named, is what attracts hummingbirds to nectar. Honeysuckle may also bring a wave of nostalgia for its associated delicious scent reminiscent of the carefree days of spring and summer.”

Honeysuckle is guaranteed to produce a healthy glow when worn by both men and women. It’s a striking, eye-catching hue that works well for day and night in women’s apparel, accessories and cosmetics, and in men’s ties, shirts and sportswear.

Add a lively flair to interior spaces with Honeysuckle patterned pillows, bedspreads, small appliances and tabletop accessories.

Looking for an inexpensive way to perk up your home? Paint a wall in Honeysuckle for a dynamic burst of energy in the family room, kitchen or hallway.

Hmm. Apparently I am more of a 2010 kind of guy. I'll go with the turquoise, thank you. Pretty sure you will not see any honeysuckle shirts hanging in my closet. But…and here's the actual marketing point: it doesn't matter if I don't like it.

All too often, marketers allow their personal opinions color (pun intended) how they create marketing tools for clients. All of us need to be very wary of allowing these sorts of decisions to be subjective. There should be a reason why you choose a particular font, color, headline or visual.

And the reason should not be "because I like it."

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Marketing tip #38: Beware of unintended consequences

December 13, 2010

As business owners, we often make decisions that at first blush serve the business well. But, as things roll out, there are consequences that we didn't anticipate and don't want.

The airlines are living this out as we speak. A while ago, to boost themselves out of the red, most major airlines instituted bag fees. A passenger must now pay an additional $25-$35 per checked piece of luggage.

I'm sure that when the airline executives came up with this plan — they were elated. I can envision the equation on a big white board somewhere. X million bags times $25 = a TON of money.

But what they didn't think through was the consumer's reaction. At the same time they were trying to boost their bottom line, so were traveling families and business people. So rather than pay the $25 fee, people simply ignored the carry on bag size regulations and more and more people bypassed the checked luggage option.

The baggage fee has generated income ($2.2 billion for the industry combined in 2009) but it has also created these headaches:

Longer lines in security as people take more through the check point (and have no idea how to manage it all)
A jam up in plane boarding (everyone wants to get on early in hopes of snagging some overhead bin space)
Adding significant staff time in gate checking many, many more bags
Disgruntled customers who are now being forced to gate check bags with computers and other valuables that they thought they could carry on
More broken overhead bins due to people shoving bags that are too large into them
Delayed flights because people board with bags that won't fit — and have to swim upstream to the front of the plane to do a late gate check
Increased dissatisfaction ratings from frustrated fliers

Maybe the money is worth it… but imagine the brand position some airline could take by renouncing fees and putting some of the convenience and comfort back into flying.

Bigger picture for us — we need to think past the first blush advantages. Ask yourself these questions before you make a major shift in how you do business:

How might our customers act differently, based on this change? What are the consequences to those shifts?
How might this change the way we are perceived by our customers? By our employees?
What hidden costs come along with this decision?

What do you think — if they would be candid, would airline executives tell you that baggage fees are worth the extra hassle, staffing, and customer dissatisfaction?

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Yes Virginia, you can advertise everywhere!

December 10, 2010

Saw this on a recent layover at O'Hare airpot in Chicago. They were on the escalator handrails going up/down into the tunnel that connects the B and C concourse.

(Yes, I risked my life by not holding onto the handrails to take these pictures for you!)

In many ways — pretty smart placement on Hampton Inn's part. Talking to travelers in a very unexpected place and way.

What do you think?

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Content Rules (and boy does it!)

December 7, 2010

You will need to be a content creator and curator…or else you won't survive some of the new shifts in how people gather information, make buy decisions and build brand loyalty.

We can't rely on others (mass media, press releases, other "official" sources) or hype to tell our story anymore. It's our responsibility to tell our own stories and create content that helps people find us, understand us, and ultimately buy us.

This isn't a new topic for this blog — and if you're a regular reader, you know how vital I believe this is to marketing success today and down the road.

It's also the main thrust of the new book Content Rules by Ann Handley (Chief Content Officer for MarketingProfs), and C.C. Chapman (founder of DigitalDads). (click on title to buy the book from Amazon*)

I can hear you now…do we really need another "content is king" book? Probably not. This may not be the first book written on the topic, but it is definitely one of the best I have read. It's fun to read, insightful and most important in my opinion — Ann and C.C. give you the tools to take action.

They set the stage by demonstrating why content matters and then quickly move into the how's. A wide range of case studies, examples and stealable ideas will get your mind racing and the dog-eared pages multiplying.

I love the straightforward approach, the humor and the humanity of this book. With chapter titles like Share or Solve; Don't Shill and If Webinars Are Awesome Marketing Tools, Why Do Most of Them Suck — you know you're going to learn a thing or two without having to dig through a lot of pretentious language or fluff.

The book itself is a living example of how potent content can be, when written for the reader, with their best interest at heart. And that of course, is the kernel of truth that is the heart of content marketing.

B-to-B your playground? Have no fear — they take special care of you in this book with a chapter devoted just to you and plenty of B-to-B examples and case studies.

Seriously — you need to read and learn from this book. Like now!

Looking for the link to buy it? Here you go…click here.*

*Yup, it's an affiliate link.

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Marketing tip #93 When you should zip…zag

December 6, 2010

We are creatures of habit. Even as marketing professionals who are supposed to be creative, innovative and "out of the box" thinkers. There are some SOP (standard operating procedures) that are tied to most aspects of marketing.

You'll recognize some of these… (By the way…not saying I agree with these)

B to B advertisers should choose talk radio over top 40 stations
Non profits should sent out an appeal letter between Thanksgiving and December 5th
You have to drive traffic back to your own website
You should focus on the value proposition in your marketing

But, we're not the only ones who know these golden oldies. Our audiences do to. And so do our competitors. Which often makes it a snore.

Sometimes if you can find the courage (and sell it internally) — taking a different direction and zagging when you should zig gives your effort a freshness and element of surprise that can be very influential and action inspiring.

Take this video by American Express. They're trying to get consumers to join their cause marketing effort called Take Part. The campaign is encouraging people to donate their time and/or dollars to charities. They can also vote to decide which charities win financial support from Amex.

Now…conventional wisdom would be to do a campaign that touched the hearts of the audience. Inspire them to action. Nothing wrong with that approach but a bit expected. Which is why I love what they did instead. Take a look. (email subscribers, click here to view the video)

By using a very trendy celebrity who plays a character we really don't want to be anything like (but find funny), AMEX was able to make their point in a very fresh way. It's the polar opposite of the PSA featuring the Indian who is so dismayed by litter than he sheds a tear (from the 70s).

We expect the tear. We don't expect Sue.

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2011 Trends (4 of 4)

December 5, 2010

Okay, we are rounding the bend on our look at trendwatching.com's top 11 consumer trends for 2011. If you missed the first three installments, just click on these links: Part one, part two and of course, part three.

9.Planned Spontaneity: With lifestyles having become fragmented, with dense urban environments offering consumers any number of instantly available options, and with cell /smartphones having created a generation who have little experience of making (or sticking to) rigid plans, 2011 will see what trendwatching.com calls full-on “planned spontaneity.”

Brands can expect to see consumers in 2011 rushing to sign up to services (the planned part) that allow for endless and almost effortless mass mingling with friends, family, colleagues or strangers (the spontaneity part). A developing segment of this trend is consumers signing up for mobile services that passively and constantly broadcast their location.

Question re: trend #9: We've seen the breadcrumbs of this trend with all of the geo-locating services out there like Foursquare and Gowalla. I think you can also point to TweetUps and other "let's just hang" but planned events. Even the Laid Back Networking Event that McLellan Marketing Group hosts every quarter.

Could you create this sort of planned spontaneity that would attract potential customers? Or perhaps an exclusive gathering for your clients? Then, once you have them together — could you give the event some sort of twist that would make it feel spontaneous and a little crazy. (makes me think of a flashmob kind of energy.)

10.Eco-Superior: When it comes to ‘green consumption’, brands should expect a rise in “eco-superior” products; products that are not only eco-friendly, but superior to polluting incumbents in every possible way. Trendwatching.com says brands should think of a combination of eco-friendly yet superior functionality, superior design, and/or superior savings.

Question re: trend #10: This feels like old news to me. We've been talking green for the last several years. So my question is this — how do you make this tired old trend feel new to your customers and prospects? When you combine the "old news" aspect of this trend with the economic pinch that many people and companies are experiencing — I think you have to make this about the pocketbook. So how do you do that?

11:Owner-less: Fractional ownership and lifestyle leasing business models have re-emerged, with services such as car-sharing and public bike programs enjoying success around the globe. For many consumers, access is better than ownership.

Question re: trend #11: This demands a completely new way of thinking about sales. Especially if you are a big ticket purchase — how could you group potential buyers who are reluctant to pull the trigger on the entire amount? Could you lease, rent or somehow break up your offering?

Okay…those are the 11 trends that trendswatching.com says we should be prepping for. How are you going to take this information and capitalize on it in 2011?

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2011 trends (post 3 of 4)

December 4, 2010

For the last couple days, we've been working our way through Trendwatching.com's top 11 consumer trends for 2011. (Read parts 1 and 2)

We're exploring them in small sets so we can dig in a little deeper. Today, we'll look at trends 7 & 8 (bet you can guess what's coming tomorrow!)

7.‘Twin-sumers’ and ‘Social-lites:’ Both of these types of online consumers identified by trendwatching.com are critical to spreading positive word-of-mouth recommendations.

Twin-sumers are consumers with similar consumer patterns, likes and dislikes, and who are hence valuable sources for recommendations on what to buy and experience, while social-lites are consumers who consistently broadcast information to a wide range of associates online.

Question re: trend #7: This trend is acknowledging the rising importance of what is now being called P2P (person to person) marketing. It's a fancy way of saying word of mouth. But as consumers grow both more frugal and more skeptical — finding influencers like the Twin-sumers and Social-lites will become even more vital to our marketing efforts.

Of course…social media is the amplifier in the equation. One co-worker telling another co-worker about a new restaurant and the terrible service they got has now become a Facebook update, with 500+ friends seeing the same story.

So the question of course is this — who among your current customers who have broad circles of friends/social media contacts? What would get them to talk about your offerings? It's certainly not going to happen if you simply meet their expectations. What could you do, say, offer, ask, share that would be remarkable enough to tell others?

8.Emerging Generosity: This trend is about brands and wealthy individuals from emerging markets (especially China) who will increasingly be expected to give, donate, care and sympathize, as opposed to just sell and take.

It’s a profound cultural change and a consumer demand that their counterparts in mature markets have had a few years to getting used to.

Question re: trend #8: This trend ties to their first trend — the random acts of kindness. But now the generosity isn't aimed at your consumers, it's offered to the world. Or at least your part of the world.

Now, this isn't just closing your eyes and choosing a charity to support. This is all about understanding your brand the way Avon and Dove do. Or how Dawn recognized it had a natural tie to the oil spill and the animals harmed by the oil.

This is really a three-fold question. First — what cause is the perfect fit for your brand? Second — how can you engage your employees and customers in the cause? And third — how do you tell the world about your efforts without bragging or coming off like you're patting yourself on the back?

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2011 trends (part 2 of 4)

December 3, 2010

Yesterday I introduced you to Trendwatching.com's top 11 consumer trends for 2011.

We're exploring them in small sets so we can dig in a little deeper. You can check out the first three trends (click on the link) or just jump into the discussion on trends 4, 5 and 6.

4. Made for China/Emerging Economies: In 2011, expect an increasing number of ‘Western’ brands to launch new products or even new brands dedicated to consumers in emerging markets.

Growth in consumer spending in emerging markets far outpaces consumer spending in developed markets, and Western brands are favored more than local brands in emerging markets. Western brands including Levi-Strauss, Apple and BMW have already capitalized on this trend.

Question re: trend #4: For many of us, we aren't global in our reach and we're not going to be in 2011. So how does this trend affect our organizations?

What's actually most interesting about this trend is that these emerging market consumers love when American products are customizes for them. (levi's with a slimmer fit, etc.) They have a strong need for recognition and being catered to. Now that's a trend all of us can sink our teeth into.

How can you allow your consumers to customize or tailor your offerings? Can you build in tiers or options? Can you communicate more completely why you designed some aspect of your product/service (we know you like to listen to our podcasts while you work out so we've custom recorded 20, 30 and 45 minute versions, so you can choose the podcast that fits your workout timetable, etc.) showing that you built it with them in mind?

5.Online Status Symbols: In 2011, trendwatching.com recommends that brands supply customers with any kind of symbol, virtual or ‘real world,’ that helps them display to peers their online contributions, interestingness, creations or popularity.

This includes personalized social networking memorabilia as well as location-based games and contests which award virtual or real-world prizes.

Question re: trend #5: This really ties into my spin on #4. We like to be accomplished and we like to be able to show off our accomplishments. Whether they are Gowalla passport stamps, being a Foursquare mayor or having our answer be voted the best of the bunch on LinkedIn — we want a way to show off. But we don't want to look like we're showing off. There's the thin line.

How could you help your clients "keep score" or "earn rankings?" Is there a way to give them a sense of social eliteness?

6.’Wellthy:’ Growing numbers of consumers will expect health products and services in 2011 to prevent misery if not improve their quality of life, rather than merely treating illnesses and ailments. Products such as mobile health monitoring devices, as well as online health apps and health-dedicated social networks, will serve the multichannel wellness needs of consumers.

Question re: trend #6: There are all kinds of wellness — physical, mental, spiritual, intellectual etc. Can you tap into this trend by relieving suffering in any of the wellness categories and improving your client's quality of life?

This works very well in the B to B category as well. There are many pains you can remove from someone with a painstaking boss, or an ROI driven CFO.

By the way, I am not suggesting you get pun crazy with the wellness trend. I think you speak in your client's language about what is causing them pain and how you can relieve it. This isn't about being cute, it's about being incredibly relevant.

So what do you think? Any of these trends triggering some marketing ideas for 2011?

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