Drew McLellan, Author at McLellan Marketing Group

Did their wires connect or get tangled?

July 3, 2009

The Economist magazine just launched a new campaign in the UK.

Through research, they determined that because of the rise in the number of people going on to university, there are now over 3 million people in the UK whose interest in world affairs, travel, news and politics suggests an unconscious affinity with what The Economist reports on every week. The Economist describes these people as the “intellectually curious.”

So their new "Red Wires" campaign uses the image of a wire-jumper walking through a city on a series of red wires and the tagline “Let your mind wander” as a metaphor for the inherent pleasure in connecting different ideas, and how this is reflected in the wide-range news and analysis available in a copy of The Economist.

Watch the video below (e-mail subscribers click here) and then tell me….do you think they successfully delivered their message or did they get their wires crossed?

The ad began showing in movie theatres on July 1 and will also be used on broadcast TV.

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Fear Factor

July 1, 2009

Want to know what sabotages most marketing efforts? It’s not the competition, the small budget or too much work, so you can’t be proactive. So what is?

Fear.

There is a sweeping attitude (although many who have it won’t even see that they’ve been infected.) that it’s better to be safe, bland and expected when marketing. Many marketing execs and even some agencies are just not willing to stick their proverbial neck out and risk being bold or different.

What is there to be afraid of? You might get noticed? You might inspire reaction from your consumers? You might get someone’s attention?

You don’t have to do it the way you’ve always done it or how your industry does it. I’m not advocating being wild just for the sake of it. Do it in your voice. Have a good strategy. Just deliver the message in a way that is a surprise.

Take a look at your recent marketing efforts. Are they staid? Expected? Would you notice them if you were the audience? Do you make a bold statement? A startling promise? Do you say something that you haven’t seen someone else say this month?

If not, the fear bug might have bitten you. Want the antidote?

Resolve to stick your toe in the waters of bold. Come on in, the water’s fine! You’ll love being heard for a change.

Next post we’ll talk about Fear’s partner in crime – comfort.

Stock photograph courtesy of www.shutterstock.com.

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Protect your privacy on Facebook -10 privacy settings you should consider

June 28, 2009

Image via CrunchBase

As Facebook and other social networking sites continue to grow by leaps and bounds… many privacy issues are also cropping up. Most of us end up blending our personal and professional lives on Facebook and sometimes that can get a bit uncomfortable.

We've talked about the issue of whether or not you get to have a private life anymore, if you're active in social networking. But, there are some things you can do to protect your own privacy and also, the privacy of the people you are linked to/friended.

This has been a growing concern of mine, so those of you who are my Facebook friends (link to the right if you are not) might notice a few changes in my own settings after researching and writing this post.

Ten Privacy Setting You Should Consider:

Use your friends lists — everyone doesn't have to see everything.

Remove yourself from the Facebook Search results — if you only want to be found by people you reach out to — this is an easy fix for eliminating most of the unwanted friend invites.

Remove yourself from the Google search — Facebook listing seem to grab great Google juice. So if you want to be found, leave it be. But if you'd prefer more privacy, you can remove yourself from the listings.

The dreaded photo/video tag — this one has cost people jobs, relationships and their own dignity. With a simple change in privacy settings, you can make it so that no one (or just those you choose — think friend lists) can see those tell all photos and videos.

Not everyone needs to see every picture — this holds true of your photo albums as well. You can set privacy settings for each one separately.

Prevent "stories" from showing up on your friends news feed — is there anything more awkward than when your friend goes from in a relationship to it's complicated or single? Avoid that embarrassment with a few simple settings.

Keep your application updates from being published — do you really want people to know you're looking for a tommy gun in Mafia Wars or that you've wasted yet another hour hitting a new high on Bejeweled?

Make you contact information private — for some people, their cell phone number is public information. But for others who might have arms lengths relationships at best with many of their Facebook friends…a bit less shared would be good.

Censor your friends…keep their thoughts off your wall! — I think this is one of the most critical on the list. You can control who sees your wall and who can write on your wall. Do you really need your frat buddies sharing stories with your boss? I'm guessing not.

Keep your friends private — this isn't just about your privacy, it's about your friends' privacy as well. Remember, anyone who is a friend of yours can pop onto your friends list and cherry pick them for whatever reason they'd want.

The beauty of most of these privacy moves is that no one will ever know you've even implemented them. But you will…because you'll feel a whole lot safer and less exposed.

I found an excellent post on the topic over at www.allfacebook.com that covers all ten of these suggestions in great depth — including showing you how to alter your settings.

Check it out and protect yourself a little.

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This is a brilliant idea

June 27, 2009

You know those cheesy air fresheners that people hang off their rear view mirror in the shape of a pine tree or a piece of fruit?

Why not let people personalize them with family photos like they do with credit cards? Maybe someone like Snapfish could work on this idea a bit?

Who wouldn't be happier with a picture of the grandbaby dangling from the mirror and smelling piney fresh?

That's it. Just that random idea. If you make a million, you owe me a cup of coffee or something.

I feel a little like Bill Blazejowski from the movie Night Shift. "This is Bill. Idea to eliminate garbage: edible paper. You see, you eat it, it's gone. Eat it, it's out of there!"

(If you haven't see it…rent it. Hysterical.)

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Social media isn’t all that (is that how the kids say it?)

June 26, 2009

I've often said social media isn't for everyone. Not every company should have a blog. No one on Twitter really cares what you had for dinner (unless you ate chocolate grasshoppers) and you don't have to possess a single friend on Facebook.

Social media is a collection of great tools that hopefully bring out the best in us as people and companies. It gives us the ability to connect, collaborate and create communities.

But that doesn't mean it's all that. (pretty sure that's the hip phrase these days!)

Eric Karjaluoto from smashLAB wrote a very smart post about how you can get the most out of social media, even if you don't want to want to be a social media expert.

It's well worth the read and maybe even print it off, so that on those days when you worried that you might not be Linked to enough Facebook Tweeters who blog…you can re-read it.

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Keep topping it off

June 24, 2009

I drink a lot of water. This can be directly linked to 30+ kidney stones. The more water, the fewer stones.

I like water cold. Really cold. I'm talking seriously ice cold water, please. When I am at home, I almost always have a huge insulated glass nearby, filled to the brim with ice water. Because I prefer the water to be frigid cold, I don't let the level in the glass get too low before I re-fill it.

(I can hear you…what in the heck does this have to do with marketing?? Stay with me….)

I've discovered if I keep topping off the glass, the water I am adding gets colder faster (or the flip side, does not warm up the water already in the glass.) I am sure this ties to some scientific theorem that I should know…but I am just telling you from experience that this is true.

If I get really engrossed in something and absently drink the water until there's almost nothing but ice left in the glass….it takes a long time for the newly added water to reach the optimum temperature.

To recap….topping off means the water is always very cold (consistent temperature) as opposed to if I have to re-fill almost the whole glass, it takes a long time to get the water cold (inconsistent temperature).

And the marketing point is…..(shame on you if you jumped right down here!)

The same is true of our marketing efforts. Some organizations go hot and cold on their marketing. They're aggressive or at least active one month or one quarter and then are dormant. Or other companies market like crazy when sales are down and when they get busy, marketing falls off the radar.

Or maybe you're particular version is that you only deliver the first half of the one/two punch. You drop the direct mail piece but you never follow up with the phone call.

Regardless of how or why — the inconsistency of your marketing hurts you. It turns a warm prospect into a cold one, by the time you get back around to marketing again.

You would be far better off to sustain a defined level of marketing (remember the drip method, as opposed to the downpour technique) and then just "top off" your efforts with some add-ons, be it seasonal or situational.

When you are consistently present and either creating or participating in dialogue — the "water level" of your prospect's awareness and interest in you stays consistent, so you can build on it over time.

How are you keeping your marketing consistent and then just topping it off? Or if you're not…why not?

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Is your team in synch?

June 22, 2009

I promise, this is the last blog post squeezed out of the recent DC trip. I can't help it…it was a fruitful couple of days.

I'm in O'Hare, waiting to board the flight to DC. It's about 5 minutes before boarding and the first officer (or co-captain — whichever is correct) came up from the jetway. He spoke to the gate agent and she handed him the mic.

Speaking very clearly and with great enthusiasm, he introduced himself, told us who our Captain was going to be and that they were all very excited about welcoming us on board flight XYZ. It was their pleasure to get us safely and comfortably to DC.

With that, he handed the mic back and headed down the jetway. He was genuine, having fun and everyone seemed to perk up a bit at his welcome.

I was impressed.

When we boarded the plane, the flight attendants didn't just keep repeating the same old "welcome on board" to each passenger. They went out of their way to have mini conversations or compliment someone's jewelry or crack a joke. I was one of the first on board, so I sat and watched them connect with just about every person who stepped on board.

Again, I was impressed.

When we were about 30 minutes from touching down in DC, the flight attendant came by and handed me a business card. (As she did with all the others) I looked…and it was the Captain's business card. He had hand-written me a note that said "Thank you for flying on United! How can we earn more of your business?" On the flip side of his card were his direct dial office phone number and his e-mail address. Holy cow!

Again, I was impressed.

Any one of these gestures would have caught my attention. And each one, independent of the others, would have made me feel valued as a customer and reinforced my loyalty to United. But look at the incredible impact this Captain and his entire crew had on the passengers of that flight by having the entire team focus on a single goal.

I can't imagine a single passenger got off that flight without feeling like the crew truly appreciated their business and was happy to have them on board.

In an age where the airlines are all fighting to survive, I would want to have Captain John McFadden and his crew flying for me! Wouldn't you?

How could your team be like Capt McFadden's? What would it take for you to get them all focused on the same goal and working in concert like they did?

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Happy Father’s Day

June 21, 2009

To all of you dads out there…especially those of you who share with me the joy of having a daughter…I just want to wish you a very happy Father's Day.

Many things matter to me. But absolutely nothing matters more than being a good dad. It is without a doubt the most incredible and important thing I have ever been called to do.

If you're lucky enough to have an amazing child like I do — tell them. Smother them in your love, praise and pride. And, if you're lucky enough to have a fantastic dad like I do — tell him too.

Don't miss the chance.

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The Zen of Social Media

June 20, 2009

Shama Hyder loves to talk marketing, social media and connecting to your customers. So I wasn't at all surprised to see that she'd written a no nonsense, hands on, practical e-book called The Zen of Social Media.

It covers a wide array of social media topics, including:

Where social media marketing fits in the bigger scheme of things
How to use Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for online marketing, in an ethical manner
How to drive traffic to your sites
How to generate qualified leads
How to find and create strategic joint venture (JV) relationships using social media
How to build credibility and establish expertise
How to build your e-zine/newsletter list
How to get speaking engagements
How to make your website or blog the HUB of your online marketing efforts
How to measure your social media marketing efforts
How to build your own community of fans
How to leverage your past success to get future clients
What you must have before you start social media marketing
The #1 reason people fail at social media marketing… and how to avoid that mistake

It's a good read. Shama adds lots of her personality and personal experiences into the book as well, so it feels like you're learning from an old friend. You can buy it here and in an instant, it will be in your in-box.

Even if you don't see yourself executing all of the above..it's an excellent primer so that you'll be in the know. And who doesn't want that?

What's even better….and I know you are wondering how that could be possible…but again, no surprise if you know her, Shama is offering a FREE copy to any and all non-profits. So all of you non-profits out there…e-mail Shama at info[at]ClicktoClient.com and request your free copy today.

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They were so close!

June 19, 2009

I believe that most businesses have absolutely no desire to be ordinary. They want to be…and probably many believe that they are….extraordinary.

And for many of them….they are so close. But somewhere along the line, they missed it. Maybe by just a sliver. One question unasked. One pillow unplumped.

Let me give you a few examples that I've stumbled on over the past couple weeks.

As I mentioned earlier, I had a quick in/out trip to DC a few weeks ago. So I called the vet to make boarding reservations for Maggie, the mostly lab.

The tech who answered the phone asked all the usual questions.

Did I want her to have a bath (Good god, yes!)
Did I want her to have a fecal check (Sounds ugly, but what the heck. This is how a dog owner exacts revenge for the chewed shoe.)
Did I want her to have the luxury boarding package (For $2 more, she gets extra walks, extra treats, extra love….why not?)

I hung up, feeling good about the care she was going to get.

So when I got to the vet's office with Maggie, guess what. A different tech asked me all the same questions.

Now, I am not feeling so good. They missed their extraordinary moment. Imagine if I'd walked in and she'd said…"great, Maggie is all set for the luxury package and a bath. And don't worry, we'll have the fecal check results for you when you pick her up."

What would it have taken? A sticky note on her chart? A new process/procedure that makes sure that information gets passed along? The tech taking 3 seconds to check the file when we first walked in?

It wouldn't have cost them a dime. And it's probably not a big enough deal to ever cost them a customer. But it does cost them having to settle for being ordinary.

Let me give you another example.

I almost always fly United. For lots of reasons but one of the biggies for me is that they have Red Carpet Clubs at most of the airports where I have layovers. (And O'Hare has 3 or 4) I can go into a Red Carpet Club, grab a drink and a desk…and get lots of work done. I hop on their free wi-fi, snack on their complimentary fruit and I am a happy camper for a couple hours.

Overall, Red Carpet Clubs get s big thumbs up from me. Except for their desk chairs.

Picture this. In most of the clubs, they have rows of desks, two by two. So if you are sitting at a desk, you have your back to someone else's back…as they are also sitting at a desk. The desks are usually fixed so there's no moving them around.

The chairs are very nice and very comfortable. But…they do not (with the arm rests) fit under the desks. So if you want to get up, you almost always have to ask the other person to also get up, because your chairs bang into each other. They missed their extraordinary moment. All it would have taken was someone to either measure the desks or test drive the chairs.

It wouldn't have cost them a dime. And it's probably not a big enough deal to ever cost them a customer. But it does cost them having to settle for being ordinary.

Here's my question to you. What is happening or not happening at your place of business that isn't costing or making you a dime and probably won't ever cost you a customer….but it is making you ordinary?

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