Drew McLellan, Author at McLellan Marketing Group

A public service announcement for today

June 20, 2010

I get called many things…but there is no title that I cherish more than Dad. On Father's Day, I wanted to share this public service announcement with all of you out there.

If you had a dad who let you dress him up, who played hoops with you on the driveway or who showed up at your games — be grateful. There are so many kids who never knew what that felt like.

And if you are a dad…soak it up. Soak it up with abandon. I know I do.

Happy Father's Day to all of you sons, daughters and dads!

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Your brand cannot live in the C-Suite

June 16, 2010

Here's the challenge with most brand promises. They only live at the top of the org chart. It usually happens on a corporate retreat. The C-level gang gets together at a lodge or fancy hotel and they talk about vision, mission and maybe even a company pledge or promise. Then, they either lead themselves or hire a consultant to lead them through a 2 hour exercise and from that exercise emerges their new brand.

(cue the trumpets blare)

Now…the front line employees aren't involved or consulted. In fact, they first see the new brand promise as a tagline on the new ad campaign. They don't understand it's not just marketing spin. They don't get that it is a promise that THEY are supposed to keep. Because no one told them.

Let me tell you a story I heard a few years back. A concierge in a luxury hotel with an impressive brand name was working her usual shift. She was accustomed to handling requests and complaints from the most discerning and demanding of guests. But she was surprised when a first-time guest criticized the quality of the hotel’s complimentary combs.

“They’re horrible combs,” he told her. “They’re not like the combs at XYZ hotel. Now they have good combs. They’re heavier and you can't bend them like this," he said as he demonstrated.

The concierge apologized and asked what kind would meet his satisfaction. She promised him a better comb on his next visit. Sure enough, a few weeks later when he checked in, the guest found a selection of high-grade combs in his room. When he checked out, he left a note for the concierge. “Thanks for the combs. Much better. See you in a few weeks.”

The guest became one of the hotel’s most frequent guests. That one interaction, over a complaint most employees would not be aware that they should care about, created a loyal guest who has meant tens of thousands of dollars in annually recurring business.

All for a comb.

You see….that's the problem. While the C-suite can come up with a brand….they're actually not the ones who deliver (or don't) on the promise. Odds are, that hotel guest couldn't tell you the hotel's tagline. But he could sure tell you the comb story. Now that concierge was either just naturally gifted at customer service or she was well trained. She could make the brand come to life because she had been taught what it meant. She had been trained to look for opportunities to make it so much more than a tagline.

Think about how she could have reacted:

She could have shaken her head as soon as the man walked away and declared him a pain in the rear.
She could have given him directions to the nearest drug store so he could buy a better comb.
She could have pacified him and then forgot all about it.
She could have "written it up" in some notebook, assuming someone would (or wouldn't) do something about it.

But she didn't. She recognized an opportunity to create a "story worthy" moment.

So one guy loves the hotel. Does it matter in the grand scheme of things? You bet. The ROI of customer loyalty has been proven again and again. This isn't just touching-feely stuff. This is bottom line results.

It's not enough to say you have a brand. It's not enough to have a good brand. It's whether or not your employees know and live the brand. And that doesn't happen by happy coincidence or luck.

It happens when you involve them from the beginning and it becomes a part of your company's DNA thanks to plenty of reinforcement, training and best of all — the "lore" that grows from customer stories. Whether it's the age old favorites of Nordstroms (who hasn't heard the tire story) or the latest example — Zappos — when you create story worth moments, the brand really comes to life.

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College graduates — stop listening to your parents and professors!

June 14, 2010

At least stop listening to those parents and professors who still believe it's 1980.

As you might imagine…this is the time of year when we get bombarded with resumes, calls and college graduate drop ins — all looking for their first job. I remember how frustrating my search was. Everyone wanted someone with experience…which of course, no one would give me!

I've spoken to several college classes and many a recent grad over the past couple months and I can tell you without a doubt that most of them are going about finding a job all wrong.

And sadly, this is due to the tutelage of their well meaning parents and some out of touch professors.

Entry level jobs are not won with marbled resume paper and cover letters that tell employers how much you like people. And…you should not tell me that you're going to call to schedule an appointment. That's sort of my job. If I want to actually meet you. And seriously — spell check.

I wrote a post outlining what I would do if I were looking for a marketing job today. (click on the link to check it out) Even if you aren't interested in marketing — most of it still applies.

But bottom line — you need to get our attention. And the standard resume/cover letter combo isn't going to cut it. You have to do something to stand out, to be noticed and most important — to be remembered.

The photo above is a little something I got in the mail from job seeker Kurt Henderson. The copy is clever — he acknowledges that time is money and he'd like a little bit of my time. He did several other things right. But…the bottom line, I've had this orange envelope (and the dollar) on my desk for about a month. I need to start talking to some entry level type folks. Guess who is getting my first call?

And in fairness — not everything your parents tell you is out of date. Handwritten thank you notes never go out of style. Neither does doing your homework.

Good luck finding that elusive job. I promise, you'll never work as hard to get one as you will this first time out.

P.S. Check out this free e-book aimed at grads!

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Brands, taglines and how the Pork Producers are killing their golden pig

June 12, 2010

At a recent industry event, the National Pork Producers announced that they would be stepping away from their iconic tagline of almost 25 years…the other white meat.

The association's VP of marketing explained that the tagline wasn't driving sales and that people seem to have forgotten what the tagline means. (I'd be willing to bet that if you did a man on the street poll — no one has forgotten what it means!)

This is actually not new news…despite all the buzz. The Pork Producers began to abandon their tagline in 2007 when they tried the completely forgettable "don't be blah" campaig n in a effort to step away from their own tagline. This was the same year that "the other white meat" was listed as #29 of the 100 most influential taglines since 194

The other white meat is one of the most recognizable taglines in the country. It's recall is the envy of most companies. It has it's own wikipedia page and website for Pete's sake!

Most businesses would kill to have that kind of tagline — the Pork Producers did it all right back in 1987 when they hired Bozell to develop the tagline and then until the last few years — they were absolutely consistent in their use for it.

So why would anyone abandon such an institutional asset? Because they are expecting it to do something it was never designed to do.

Taglines, by themselves, are not designed to drive sales as its primary job. That's what an advertising campaign is supposed to do.

A tagline, or brand promise, as we like to call it at McLellan Marketing Group, creates an emotional reaction or connection between the product and the consumer. It's the one thing that the brand wants to own in the mind of the consumer. In the case of the Pork Producers — that's why "the other white meat" was so brilliant.

As our friends over at Branding Strategy Insider say:

The ideal benefit to claim in a brand promise has the following three qualities: (1) it is extremely important to the target consumer, (2) the brand’s organization is uniquely suited to delivering it and (3) competitors are not addressing it.

So — is "the other white meat" not meeting those criteria anymore? Are people less health conscious about what they eat, red meat etc today? Nope. Is pork uniquely suited to being the other white meat? Yup. And are any other meat competitors trying to own that space? No.

If pork sales are stagnant — it's not the tagline's fault. In the Des Moines Register article, the Pork Producer's representative references the fact that their research shows that people believe pork lacks taste. Sounds like a problem that an advertising campaign, coupled with some education and sampling, could solve. Certainly a "it's tasty" is not a unique brand position.

Bottom line for me — they are fixing something that isn't broke. And in fact, are throwing away a huge organizational asset. And, worst of all — it's not going to solve their sales problem.

Has the “transparency craze” killed marketing?

June 9, 2010

One of my favorite TV commercials right now is for Chef Boyardee Ravioli. The family is sitting around the kitchen island, and the kid is happily eating his ravioli. The dad is reading the can and marveling that the ravioli actually is jam-packed with healthy ingredients.

As he tries to tell his wife this good news, demonstrating their tag line, "Obviously delicious, secretly nutritious" she keeps banging the hanging pots and pans with her wooden spoon, clearly not wanting the child to hear that the ravioli is good for him. (view the spot by clicking here)

The spot cracks me up. I laugh or at least grin every time I see it. And, I now know their tagline. But not once…I swear to you, not once did I actually think that they were a family. I knew they were actors. But the spot still worked.

Remember Madge? She wasn't really a manicurist. How about Mr. Whipple? He didn't really work at a grocery store.

So flash forward to 2010. Best selling author Jennifer Belle launches a new book and she wants to create some buzz. Authors understand that unless they're John Grisham, they need to take responsibility for a lot of their own marketing. And Belle did. She held auditions and hired 40 actresses to situate themselves all over New York City's high traffic areas and "read" her book, laughing hysterically.

This story hit the New York Post and the commenters were, for the most part, aghast and declared with indignation that they'd never buy her book now. Because she was, in essence, faking it.

So I'm curious about your take on this. Isn't much of traditional advertising "faking it" with actors? Do you think we tolerate it because we know it's fake whereas a woman on a subway laughing is in essence tricking us?

Do you think Belle's stunt was brilliant marketing or trickery? Would hearing this story impact your interest in her new book?

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From the mailbag: Non profit boards as the boss

June 7, 2010

As I think you know, one of the perks of my job is that I get to travel the globe, talking with conference/convention audiences about marketing, branding and social media. After a presentation, I take a lot of questions but invariably, I get a few via e-mail when I get home.

So…it occurred to me that since I am going to respond to the e-mail — I might as well share both the question and the answer here as well. Here's one I got this Spring…

Hi Drew-

I attended your session last week at the SMART Conference – one of the best ones I’ve attended in years because it’s had me thinking for days.

The question I wish I’d asked at the time (if I’d thought of it then…) is: most of the folks in the room work for nonprofit organizations and their boards of directors are their bosses. Are there special considerations or questions that should be asked of a board before undertaking social media? I don’t have to get my board’s permission about what I say when the Lions Club invites me to be their noon speaker, but they might feel entirely differently about something I post on the web linking to our website.

Looking forward to your answer!

And my reply:

Thanks for your question. I think it gets to a bigger picture issue, actually. Whether you work for a non profit (and deal with a board) or work for a for profit and deal with the C-suite — like with any marketing — you need a strategically thought through plan. So you wouldn’t or shouldn’t be doing anything via social media that would be a surprise to your board.

I would think your key messages and communications strategy (what to say to whom, etc.) would be the same.

One of my biggest worries when it comes to social media and how organizations use it is that they believe it should be this magical add on that is somehow separated from the rest of their marketing effort. I think it only works long term if it is woven into the rest of your communications plan. It's just another tactic, really.

That’s why I think it needs to be part of a larger communications plan — rather than a stand alone. Once management or a board understands the entire plan (with key messages etc) then they shouldn't care very much about HOW you get the message out. The vehicle becomes almost irrelevant (unless it's off target) and because they have confidence in the overall plan, their concerns about any tactic, including social media, are immediately reduced.

Did I answer your question? If not, let me know and I'll take another swing at it!

Thanks,

Drew

How would you have answered the question?

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Anonymous comments aren’t about the conversation at all

June 3, 2010

We need to take a stand on the idea of anonymous comments. And the stand is — they need to go away.

I think this problem has its roots in the newspaper industry. When they starting creating digital versions — they wanted to take advantage of the interactivity of the web. And in the newspaper industry — it's all about the numbers (subscribers, pass along rate, etc) so it's no surprise that they wanted a huge volume of comments as well.

No doubt, someone told them that people will comment with more frequency if you don't ask for their name or contact information so voila — the anonymous or the "use a nickname, not a real name" comment was born.

Sadly, this has seeped into blogs as well. And as more companies wade into the social media waters — many marketing types, looking to justify the time and efforts spent on the tools — point to the comment count with pride.

But what really are we counting?

I don't care if you're talking about a traditional newspaper's website or a blog — when you allow anonymous commenting, you disrespect the topic, the conversation and the readers.

These are not conversations — they are verbal vomit.

It's perfectly logical that the anonymity invites people to behave in ways they wouldn't if they had to identify themselves. And it swings to both ends of the spectrum. On the one hand — they're vicious in their personal attacks, cruel comments and judgments. On the flip side, they can completely bypass the topic all together in an attempt to get some link love/attention for their product or service.

So what do we do about it? We say no.

We write to our newspapers and ask them to actually be responsible for creating real conversations on their sites. By demanding, just like they do in their traditional letters to the editor section, that commenters be identified (and verified) by name and city.

In terms of social media — if you own a blog, fight back. Here are some of the things I've done to combat the problem:

Have a stated comment policy (see the visual above) that says you will delete anonymous comments
Actually delete them — even if they are relevant (you can e-mail the person and ask them to re-submit, using their name)
Close comments after 30 days (many of the back link seekers go into your archives to tuck key word rich comments where they think you'll ignore them)
Actually respond to the comments — you'll get lots more of them if people think they're not talking into a black hole

Whether it's someone calling themselves "MoonDog127" and ripping into someone based on a story in a digital newspaper or it's "Korean Wedding Dress" leaving 27 random comments on your blog — we need to recognize the conversation deserves better.

What do you think? Is there ever a place for anonymous commenting?

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Dawn walks out their brand talk — thanks to BP Oil Spill

June 1, 2010

I am sure that everyone at Proctor & Gamble (parent company of Dawn liquid soap) wishes that the BP Oil spill never happened. I'm sure they are just as concerned as the rest of us are about the short and long-term implications of this disaster.

However… they were also smart enough to recognize the incredible opportunity it presented to them.

Dawn liquid soap is the only product approved for use with animals who have been oil-soaked. So as people are paying more attention to the entire crisis — Dawn is playing a starring role.

And I'm not just talking about the news media shots of the adorable ducks getting a bath. P&G has really thought about how they can differentiate themselves from the other liquid soaps.

Let's face it — the fact that you can use Dawn to clean off an oil-soaked animal is not going to come in handy for most of us. We're not going to rush out and buy Dawn now that we know. Our pets aren't likely to be dunked in oil. But… we love a hero. And Dawn's stepping up to that role by taking the lead in not only caring for the animals affected by the spill but by becoming a voice of advocacy and information regarding the problem.

So, since we have to buy dish soap anyway…why not buy the hero brand that is stepping up to making a difference?

Let's look at the various ways they're claiming this leadership position.

The TV spot:

The bottles/the donation:

Notice the new bottle design. See the cute (and clean) animals? What you can't really see is the little snip on the top of the label. But on that snip, they tell you how, through the purchase of that bottle of liquid soap, you can donate $1 to save wildlife. To activate your donation, they direct you to www.dawnsaveswildlife.com. (By the way…as of 5/31, they'd raised $413,475 thanks to their consumers — can you say that's a huge boost in soap sales?)

The website:

When you get to the website, they don't just let you donate, they engage you in the crisis. They connect you to photos of animal rescues, encourage you to meet some wildlife champions and visit their Facebook page.

The Facebook page:

Here's where they really set the hook. They use Facebook to tell us stories about the rescue, show us pictures and promote the organizations who are doing the hard and dirty work. They don't hold themselves out as the heroes — they are the support behind the heroes.

In other words — they're writing about what they know we care about, not their soap. They celebrate when the animals are released back into the wild, they teach us how we can protect and save animals in our own neighborhoods and they are the chief cheerleaders for the effort.

Brilliant!

So… why does all of this work and where's the brand lesson for us:

Dawn understood their own product — and saw how they were genuinely different (self awareness)
Dawn was willing to share what they had/knew in a time of crisis (sincere generosity)
Dawn was willing to let the conversation be about more than their soap (be a part of something bigger)
Dawn put resources behind the bigger picture, knowing it was in alignment with their brand (they give, not just take)
Dawn found a way to let us connect (we can donate, we can follow the efforts on Facebook, etc)
Dawn found a way to sustain our interest and their effort — just watch what they do over the next few months, I am guessing!

Bravo P&G. And thanks for helping save the animals!

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Social media GPS — the free e-book

May 25, 2010

Social Media Marketing GPS was written using Twitter as a content platform and distribution channel. Toby Bloomberg conducted 40 Tweet interviews with 40 prominent social media marketers including people from Dell, Comcast, Marketing Profs, BlogHer.

The list of folks that Toby interviewed is varied and impressive. I think you'll find their thoughts illuminating and very human.

12 chapters take you from the importance of social media to ethics to the social enterprise, tactics, sponsored conversations, blogger relations with a few case studies.

The goal was to create a comprehensive body of knowledge that could serve as a roadmap (GPS) for developing a strategic social media plan.

Toby's thoughts were if this could be accomplished in a series of 140 character tweets it might help ease the apprehension for people new to social media, while at the same time, providing a review and offering some interesting ideas for those more experienced.

I think she's proven her point. Go download the book for free…and see for yourself.

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Facebook privacy — how to protect yourself

May 24, 2010

Let's face it — Facebook is becoming a significant element in many business' marketing plans. And with good reason. As the member mark approaches 400 million — it's hard to imagine an audience that does not have a strong presence there.

It's also a potent tool for establishing your personal brand.

But at what cost? Facebook's most recent policy changes have people in a panic. There's more talk about leaving Facebook than I've heard in a long time. Most of that talk is ignorant panic. The truth is…most people don't understand the privacy setting and the risks well enough to know if they should leave or not.

I'm not suggesting that it's not an important issue but I'm guessing most people don't really know how to safeguard against the kinds of exposure we're talking about. People know they share a lot of stuff but they really don't know who is or isn't able to see it.

So let's add this up. Facebook, for most businesses and professionals, is someplace we should be. And, we have no idea if our privacy settings are what we want them to be. So what do we do?

You go to Reclaim Privacy. (reclaimprivacy.org) They've created a browser bookmarklet that will tell you exactly what's going on with your Facebook account AND help you fix it. All for free. (God love the internet!)

You simply drag their link to your browser's bookmark bar and then log into Facebook. Once you're there, just click on the link in your bookmark bar and voila, a window pops up and assessed your privacy settings. Here's what mine looked like:

It not only told me which areas were secure…but as you can see by the red and brown boxes… it told me when I should worry and when I was definitely not secure. But the best part is — with a click on the blue boxes, it fixed (or gave me the chance to fix) the issue.

As with most things — there is a happy medium. Thanks to the free tool from Reclaim Privacy, we can keep using Facebook without worrying about over exposure. Or without having to be Facebook fanatics who know how to modify over 170 settings located in 50 different spots. We just need to click the mouse!

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