Drew McLellan, Author at McLellan Marketing Group

The best Superbowl commercial of 2010

January 31, 2010

Remember when the Superbowl was about the game? Now it's the halftime show wardrobe malfunctions and of course, the commercials.

Here's one of my favorites from last year, to get you in the mood! (e-mail subscribers, click here to view)

Want to get a jump on Sunday's new spots? Don't want to have to wade through 60 minutes of football just to see what Budweiser, GoDaddy and Doritos have in store for us?

Head over to MSNBC's site where they are hosting an Ad Showdown. You can watch each and every spot and then in a nod to the NCAA tourney brackets, you can vote for which spots top the others until you crown a winner.

Update: One of my colleagues at Flynn-Wright let me know that Harvest Research Center has teamed up with CBS affiliates in Iowa to provide the annual “Big Game Survey” which determines which Super Bowl ads are the best and, of course, which are the worst.

If anyone is up for winning one of five $100 Visa cards, then click on this link and sign up to receive a survey at halftime on Sunday and then again at the end of the game.

More

Extinction is right around the corner…

January 27, 2010

For getting lost, desktop computers and glaciers. At least according to The Future Trends book called Future Files by Richard Watson. (buy it by clicking here)

As part of the promotion of the book, the author released the chart below. It's an extinction timeline…predicting that newspaper delivery will be gone by 2012 and FM radio by 2027.

I promise you…you'll find this fascinating and its content will be your conversation starter for at least a week.

If you're having trouble reading the timeline, you can click on the chart to open a full-sized pop up window or download a full-sized PDF by clicking here.

After you've had a chance to really look it over…come back and let's talk about how this changes your view of what your business needs to be focusing on.

More

Relentless follow through

January 26, 2010

One of the biggest relationship killers is silence.

Do you know that most businesses lose the opportunity to get a new client simply because they don't respond to an inquiry? That's right…return a phone call, answer an e-mail and voila — you get a client. The percentage of businesses that fail to respond to a new business inquiry is staggering.

If you have a problem that the client is counting on you to solve…regular phone calls to provide updates will help you keep a client. Even if the solution is a sticky one.

The final deliverable of a big project is finally in your client's hands. Do you check in to make sure they're delighted?

When was the last time you just jotted a note or picked up the phone to say "thank you" for your business and your trust?

Chasing a perfect prospect who just isn't ready to buy? How long do you keep reaching out before you give up and just assume they're not worth the effort?

I can hear you now…I'm just so busy…I mean to call. I'm just not good at following up. Some people are just naturally better at that.

Horse Pucky. (I told you I was working on ramping up my vocabulary!)

Relentless follow through happens when it is planned. When it's part of your sales cycle. That's the head part of the equation. But it also has to be part of your culture. That's the heart part. It's about caring enough.

After all — we know that most buying decisions (and client retention decisions) come down to that. Caring. A buyer (and your current customers) really wants to look you in the eye and ask — do you care enough?

That's the differentiator. And that's what relentless follow through demonstrates.

Do you have a call to make?

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com

More

Facebook and an e-newsletter….in a nutshell!

January 20, 2010

Do you have a Facebook fan page? Do you wish you could create an e-newsletter that allowed your fans to get your pages content — but in a way that they could control how often they heard from you?

NutshellMail has just launched an easy way for any Facebook page administrator to create an automated email newsletter campaign. The NutshellMail application adds an “Email Newsletter” tab to your page, enabling your fans to opt-in to receive emails that highlight recent and featured content from your page on a schedule of their choosing (as seldom as once a week or as often as every hour).

NutshellMail makes creating and maintaining an email newsletter easy. Once set up, there is nothing for you to do; NutshellMail simply collects recent activity from your page, organizes it into an easy-to-read email and delivers it to each subscriber per their own delivery preferences. The application also encourages more comments and sharing of feeds from your page by giving subscribers the ability to comment, like, share or post comments back to your page directly through email.

You can add this feature to your Facebook page here: http://nutshellmail.com/facebook/pages

According to Mark Schmulen, CEO of NutshellMail, “More and more organizations are using Facebook pages as a primary channel to reach out to their fans and many are posting content, news and offers that cannot be found on their own websites. We want to make it easy for their fans to keep track of this great content.”

NutshellMail also offers an easy way for users to monitor the latest activity from their Facebook pages that haven’t installed the NutshellMail app. Users just sign up for NutshellMail’s core service, which sends a consolidated email digest of activity from pages. The service also allows users to set up their digest to include all Facebook activity and disable the one-off email alerts that Facebook currently sends.

Not using Facebook — but have created a Ning network? NutshellMail has also released a similar application for Ning, enabling any public Ning network to create an email newsletter campaign for their site: http://nutshellmail.com/ning/

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com

More

Social media = letting others in

January 18, 2010

Over the past few months, I have been delivering quite a few presentations on social media to groups (conferences, conventions etc.) of business leaders.

One aspect of embarking into the waters of social media that seems to give most of them some sort of tick is the idea that you have to relinquish some control.

You can't take advantage of the connectivity, reach and viral nature of he beast without also being willing to connect, reach many people and let others share. It's like wanting to enjoy the sensation of flying over the water in a boat at high speed but without the engine noise. It' the "other people" part of social media that provides its power.

Here's what I think of as social media's price of admission:

You have to be willing to spotlight and amplify other people's voices:

Many business owners seem to want to mute their employees and customers. That doesn't work in social media. Not only do you need to "let them" talk but you need to invite it. You have to allow comments. You are the topic of conversation somewhere. This is just about allowing it to happen (and encouraging it) in your digital home.

You have to be willing to be imperfect:

You need to be willing to be imperfect (like Dominos). You need to be transparent and that takes some courage. But let's be honest here. Everyone already knows you're not perfect. And…will actually respect and love you all the more for just admitting it. It's not how or whether you screw up. It's what you do next that matters.

You have to be willing to let others change your direction:

Viral means letting go. It means tossing an idea or program out into the social media space and inviting other people to pick up the ball and run with it. Sometimes, they go where you think they'll go…and sometimes they'll surprise you.

I'm pretty sure the FourSquare folks (a location based social network) hadn't anticipated that Marcus Brown would create the International Day of the Toilet — and encourage his worldwide network of friends to all create "water closet" venues on Foursquare. The interesting thing is — will FourSquare shudder at the news or help promote the idea?

There are plenty of other things you need to do to create a successful social media presence. But…if you can't swallow these three, don't even get started. Social media is nothing if it's not about inviting other people into the party.

Which of these three is toughest for you?

More

My language is just grating!

January 15, 2010

I've noticed something that's been quite prevalent in my writing of late. The word "great." Apparently I think just about everything is great.

Lazy is what that's all about.

Lazy writing is boring writing. It's not juicy. My words aren't caressing a darn thing. Lazy is not memorable, quotable or even mildly noteworthy. No matter what the subject — word choice matters.

So….

First, I apologize that I've been serving up lazy word choices. You deserve better.

Second, 2010 is going to be the year of juicy language. Now I am not going over the deep end. Every sentence is not going to be jam packed with gooey adjectives just because I know how to mine a thesaurus. But, I am going to be much more attentive to making conscious word choices.

And third…on the hunch that your writing might have a dash of lazy in it as well, here's a writing exercise for all of us. Come on…it's time to do a bit of stretching.

Flip through a magazine and find a photo that catches your eye. Once you've selected your photo, simply look at it and do the following three exercises.

The warm up: List 25 adjectives that describe the photo. Don't censor or judge. The obvious ones will pour out first but notice how you have to push to get to 25. Is the 24th one better than the 2nd one?

The workout: Create a business analogy from the photo. What might it say about anything from your industry to leadership to social media? The point is to see beyond the obvious and see a hidden meaning inside the image you selected.

The cool down: What is the perfect word that captures either the meaning or the mood of the photo. A single word. No cheating.

Whether you are a copywriter day in and day out, a business owner who crafts an occasional flier or an exec who writes 10 e-mails and memos a day…your audience deserves your best words. Get out there and and be great! (Just kidding….)

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com

More

Marketing Minute gets some ink!

January 9, 2010

It's always very gratifying when this blog gets an "atta boy" for the content and the conversation.

Many thanks to all of you who contribute to the lively discussion down in the comments section.

The accolades are as much yours as they are mine!

The Top 50 Entrepreneur Marketing Blogs to Watch in 2010!

The Top 150 Social Media Marketing Influencers

Daily Reviewer's top 100 Content Marketing blogs

Junta42 — top 42 content marketing blogs

Photo Courtesy of Shutterstock.com

More

Is it in your kiss?

January 8, 2010

Remember the song that Cher sang in 1990 called the Shoop Shoop song? (here's a link to a YouTube video that I can't embed…by the way, check out her boots!) The song asks the age old question — how you can tell if he loves you so.

According to the lyrics, it's not in his eyes, his charms or even his warm embrace — it's in his kiss.

In other words… there comes a point in time when you just can't fake it. Apparently in romance, it's in the kiss.

But in business and marketing, it's when things get screwed up.

It's easy to fake customer love when everything is going well. The money is flowing, the product is selling and love abounds. But, when your back is against the wall — your brand's true colors show. You just can't help it.

It's like Martin Luther King said (and I am sure he was referencing marketing/branding):

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience,
but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

As we launch the new year, I think every business leader should ask these questions:

When things go wrong….

What do my actions teach my employees?
What do my actions say (loud and clear) to our customers?
What do our policies reinforce in our clients?

Because let's face it…our own actions, how our employees act (after all, they are mimicking us) and our policies are a direct result of our choices. Conscious or not.

If you don't like the answers to any of the above, the time to correct that is right now. Before something goes wrong.

More

I need you to ask me a question or two

January 5, 2010

I really want to know what you want to know.

In other words, I need your help.

I'd like to know what sort of marketing topics and questions you want to see tackled on this blog. What marketing questions do you have burning in your belly?

So I have created a very simple and very quick survey that I would like you to answer. It won't take you more than 3 minutes, tops. I promise.

The big query is this: If we were hanging out, grabbing some coffee or lunch and you could ask me any two marketing questions you wanted — what would you ask?

I'm going to use your questions here on the blog and in a special little project that I promise to share with anyone who participates.

Will you give me 3 minutes and 2 questions? if so…the survey can be accessed by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com

More

Could you become a category of one?

January 3, 2010

As many of you know, there are two books I wish I had written. Steve Farber's Radical Leap and Joe Calloway's Becoming a Category of One.

Joe's book originally came out in 2003 and when I read it…I was astonished at how brilliantly he laid out the rationale for branding. So when he put out a 2nd edition in 2009 I knew it was going to be worth the re-read. I was right. I highly recommend this book. (You can buy it by clicking here)

Recently, I had a chance to chat with Joe via e-mail and ask him a few questions about the new edition. Here's what he had to say:

What prompted the update — what of significance has changed that would require you to add to the already excellent book?

It's amazing how quickly information can become outdated. Just look at the classic by Jim Collins "Good To Great." One of the "great" companies in that book – Circuit City – went from good to broke! They're out of business.

In my book, I had referenced examples like a very successful internet campaign by BMW that, a few years later, probably no one would remember, so I took that example out. A lot of the updating was of that nature – taking out dated material and replacing it with fresh examples.

When the book originally came our, Zappos.com didn't even exist. Now they're a prime example of a Category of One company.

I also added two totally new chapters. "Tiebreakers" is an entire chapter devoted to ways great companies differentiate themselves from their competitors. "The Future Category of One" is a great new chapter that's made up of what twelve thought leaders in business think it will take to be a Category of One company in the future.

How do you think social media impacts how a company can/should become a category of one? What’s your favorite example of a company harnessing social media for this purpose?

I think that the business world is still figuring out how to harness social media. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds. To this point I think that some of the most effective social media marketing is being done by companies who have customer comment sites that let customers say what they think – uncensored and unfiltered.

To create a truly honest customer feedback site builds tremendous credibility in this marketplace. Lego is a pioneer in letting customers actually have a huge say in new products, etc. through their web site. That's not social media, per se, but it's using the idea of free communication to build customer interest and loyalty.

A micro version of tremendously successful use of social media is the mobile restaurant in Los Angeles (their names escapes me) that serves Mexican-Korean food (that's not a typo) from a truck that moves around LA. They put out their next location via social media, i.e. Twitter, and people show up in droves. Here's an important lesson, though – you have to have a great product or service to start with. All the brilliant social media marketing in the world won't make up for a second rate product.

In your opinion, why don’t more companies truly brand themselves/become a category of one?

Well, to brand yourself as a Category of One company, you have to be able to deliver on that promise. Most companies will say they're "better" than the competition – but they can't prove it. It's just lip service.

To me, the ultimate Category of One company is probably Apple. They not only invent new products – they invent new categories of products. Their Apple Stores have created a whole new way of doing business in retail.

The key question is this – what are you willing and/or able to do that your competition is not willing and/or able to do? Until you can answer that – you're no Category of One.

Most of your examples are retail in nature. How do your ideas apply to the B to B sector?

The reason I use so many retail examples is that everybody is a retail customer. Everyone can relate to retail because they experience it. What's interesting is that the exact same principles apply to B2B.

The top factors in B2B buying decisions are "be easy to do business with" "understand our needs" and "be trustworthy." NO different than retail. No matter what business you're in, if you can fulfill those three customer expectations better than your competitor – you win.

Finally — if a company leader reads your book and knows they need to do some work to become a category of one company — what advice would you give them, in terms of actually getting it done?

Don't make it complicated – it's not. Take action. Assign responsibility, accountability, put a deadline on making it happen then GO. The problem isn't not knowing what to do. Everyone knows what to do. The problem is in not DOING what we know will work. Of course there's more involved, primarily having to do with building a culture and a mindset of excellence. That takes time. But there's magic in taking action. Stop thinking about it and do it.

Oh. And feel free to bring me in to help!!

Drew's Note: The FCC would like you to know that I received Joe's new edition as a free review copy and that if you click on the links to Amazon, I'll make a few pennies as an affiliate.

More