Branding Archives - Page 30 of 42 - McLellan Marketing Group

Marketing Tips from a Marketing Agency: Be a drip

April 25, 2007

It would only stands to reason that a marketing & branding agency would be pretty good at branding and marketing itself.

So I thought it might be fun to explore some branding & marketing concepts using our own agency, McLellan Marketing Group, as the guinea pig.

Be A Drip

The natural urge it seems is to deluge our potential consumers with information. How often have you seen one of these:

A brochure with no white space and so much copy that your eyes blur
A company who explodes onto the marketplace and you see them everywhere – TV, radio, print for about 2 months…and then you never hear of them again
An e-mail campaign that floods your in box with multiple messages in a short period of time
A 12-page newsletter (white space or no)
A corporate website’s homepage that is packed with copy, starbursts and news items galore

Some marketers are compelled to shove as much information at their consumers as possible. Perhaps it’s a concern that they’ll only get one shot at them. Or the misconception that if they don’t explain every nuance of their product/service, the audience won’t get it.

I think in most cases, it’s a mix of insecurity and not really understanding the audience. It’s as though they’re saying "I’m not confident in knowing what my audience needs/wants to know and I don’t trust my own instincts…so I am going to throw everything but the kitchen sink at them."

Bad marketing strategy.

Here’s the analogy we use to help clients understand this concept. When there’s a hard, driving rain, the ground can only absorb so much of it before the water just runs off. Consumers are the same way. They can only absorb so much information before our well-crafted words just run off, falling on deaf ears.

But a gentle all-day rain has a different result. Because of its slow and steady pace, the ground can easily, over time, absorb all the water that comes.

We need to be a drip, not a downpour when it comes to our marketing efforts. Want an example?

Since 1999 at MMG we’ve been producing a weekly marketing e-newsletter called (wait for it…) the Marketing Minute. Never more than 300 words and a few links. Drip, drip.

Every week. We’ve never let anything keep us from getting it out. Not kidney stones, internet connection problems, or client deadlines. Drip, drip.

People have said we should charge for it or discourage people forwarding it along. Never going to happen. Drip, drip.

We’ve had some readers for over 8 years. We get new additions every week. Drip, drip.

We’ve gotten RFPs and business from subscribers 2, 3 and 4 years after they started reading it. They hadn’t needed us or been in a position to hire us until then. Drip, drip.

How can you be a drip when it comes to marketing your company?

What’s next? Pink planes?

April 17, 2007

As you may have read in this weekend’s US Today, American Airlines has launched a gender-specific are of its website, aimed at women.

Here’s what they say on the home page of this female-focused site. " Welcome to American Airlines AA.com/women – the airline industry’s first web page dedicated to women who travel. This web page is about you – our valued customer. We’ve listened to women and recognized the need to provide additional information tailored to your business and pleasure travel needs and lifestyle. We also invite you to share insights, travel tips and stories by submitting them to wehearyou@aa.com."

I don’t get it. Of the 18 hot links on the home page, only 2 of them seem women-specific. One is girlfriend getaways and the other is the safety tab. Couldn’t both of those have existed on the core page?

I guess this remind me of my pink tools post. I am let wondering why and as a man, wondering if women aren’t insulted by being segregated out when really travel is a humbling equalizer for all of us.

What do you think? Good idea or bad? If you were in charge of this web presence — how would you actually make it valuable to women?

A branding lesson from Jackie Robinson

April 15, 2007

I went to a AAA baseball game today and was reminded how inspirational the game can be. Today was Jackie Robinson Day. They showed a brief video that celebrated what he was all about. I will admit, I got a bit choked up.

60 years ago, Jackie Robinson did what no black man had ever done. He put on a major league baseball uniform and played along side white players.

And the part that people seem to forget is that Jackie’s breaking the color barrier was just the beginning of his struggles. Even after joining the team, he had to stay in different hotels, endure death threats, and dodge players who slid so they could drive their spikes into his shins and pitchers who hurled fastballs directly at his head.

His own teammates (not all of them) got up a petition to keep him off the team.

But he believed in what he was doing and so he persevered. One of my favorite Jackie Robinson quotes is "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."

Jackie Robinson’s life had a purpose. Something he believed in strongly enough that he was willing to suffer the consequences.

I’m not beginning to suggest that any company’s brand is going to equal the courage of someone like Jackie Robinson. That would be insulting to what Robinson endured.

But…your brand should stand for something. Something you are willing to fight for. Something you are willing to walk away from business for. Something that matters enough to draw a line in the sand and say "no more."

If your brand doesn’t inspire that kind of passion in you or your employees, how will it ever touch your consumers?

Could you create a “being space?”

April 11, 2007

A being space.

One of my favorite stores is Barnes & Noble. Yes, they have lots of books, music and movies. But what I love most about it is that it feels like I’ve been invited to hang out. Big comfortable chairs. Coffee and snacks. Did I mention the big comfortable chairs?

Well it turns out, I love Barnes & Noble because they’ve created a "Being Space."

Sociologist Ray Oldenburg first conceived of the "Being Space" in his 1990 book The Great Good Place and described it as a a place where people hang out — take it easy and "commune with friends, neighbors, and whoever else shows up." A place where you can enjoy a cup of coffee with friends, people watch, read a book or play a computer game.

Think about it. Starbucks. The Apple Store. The Laundromat where you can watch a movie while you wash. It seems like the retailers have caught on.

But what about the service industry?

Imagine this…what if clients or business friends & vendors were invited to stop by the MMG office. We happen to be right downtown. Maybe they’re in between meetings or just need a place to catch their breath.

They can grab a cup of coffee, hop on our wireless high speed internet (or use the computer in our open work station), make some phone calls or grab a book off our bookshelf.

Do you think they’d take us up on our offer? Does it say something about our brand that we’ve created a space where they could? Would it alter or intensify their opinion of us and what working with us might be like?

How about you — could you create a being space?

Do you have a brand inferiority complex?

April 10, 2007

Weasel words. At McLellan Marketing Group, we use that term for the buzz words that people use when they don’t know what to say. It’s almost like a magician’s slight of hand. If I use these words, you won’t recognize that I’m not really saying anything.

Yesterday, I held up a mission statement that sounds like thousands of mission statements on corporate walls across the business world. Word like "market leader" and "exemplary service" are pretty but meaningless.

David Reich adds food for thought in his post Ban the E-Word. David points to the overuse of the word engagement and how it used to be a word that had meaning. But now its been tossed on the pile with empowerment, paradigm and innovation.

Contrast those weasel words with this simple but meaning packed sentence. It comes from the values statement of one of our clients (they wrote these themselves, so we’re not patting ourselves on the back.)

"Fun provides energy for success." I not only understood every word…but it gives me a sense of who they are. And what they’d be like to work with.

I think people use weasel words because they are at a loss. They feel like they need to fill space or deflect our attention. Or that somehow we won’t think they’re legit if they talk like regular people. They’re afraid they won’t measure up. They won’t be good enough.

They have a brand inferiority complex.

Mark True brings this point home in his elegant post Is Your Brand Sincere. Mark talks about how a sincere brand is not a perfect brand. And in fact, sincerity begs us to show the cracks along with the beauty.

Are you confident enough in your brand to let us see the cracks?

Does your company’s mission statement sound like this?

April 9, 2007

"We are the market leader, earning our clients’ loyalty by providing exemplary service and value.

We value honesty, innovation and our employees most of all."

If so….shame on you.

Flickr photo courtesy of slight clutter.

Is branding only an external activity?

April 1, 2007

The answer is no.

In fact…as a business owner or leader, you should be branding your organization to your employees every day. There is no audience more important to your brand’s success.

But all too often, its internal communication budgets that get cut. Or leadership consistently says one thing and then does another — losing credibility and trust.

If you want to learn how to lead an employee-centric company, you only need to go to one blog to learn the ropes. Anna Farmery of The Engaging Brand focuses on how to inspire your employees to help you deliver the brand promise to your clients. Her posts on leadership, retaining employees and her podcast series are packed with gems you can put to immediate use.

Last week, I had the incredible good fortune to speak to Anna on the phone. We talked about how the relationship between the employer and the employee is experiencing a power shift, just like the one we’re seeing between customers and companies. We also talked about recruiting, generational differences and a whole lot more.

Anna captured our conversation and I’m very proud to be the voice of Show #73 of the Engaging Brand podcast series — Secrets of a Great Employer.

Go over and take a listen. And while you are there — bask in the smarts of Anna Farmery.

But what if the blogger is lying?

March 29, 2007

One of the ways that citizen marketers are really making themselves known is by sharing their consumer trials and triumphs with their blog readers.

We experience, through them, how the company does or doesn’t respond. We cheer on the wronged. We boo the corporate villains…or herald them if they’re listening and respond to fix the problem.

Here are some of the recent ones I know. And because I know these people…I know the stories they tell are true.

Kohl’s
Best Buy (this story has a happy ending!)
Papa Johns
Overstock.com (another happy ending!)

But I don’t know this blogger. And I have no idea if her story is true. But dang, it’s compelling.

Etta’s mom tells the heart-tugging story of how her daughter Etta was invited to an American Girl store (by a friend) so they could get their dolls’ hair styled. Etta brought a doll from Target and when it was her turn in line, was told by the stylist that her doll "wasn’t real" and she wouldn’t do her hair. To make Etta’s experience even worse, some of the moms in line mocked her for bringing a non-AG doll to the store.

As I write this, there are 394 comments to her post. Most of the commenters were brought to tears (you have to read the post…it really is incredibly well-written and heart breaking.) Many of them were vowing to stop shopping there and several say that they’ve called the store and demanded action.

One commenter even posted a response she got to an e-mail she sent to AG corporate. Google "American girl" Etta and you will be amazed at the number of articles, posts etc. that 12 days after the original post, are now telling the story.

Here’s my question. What if she made up the story? I am not suggesting for one minute that she did. But, I am asking "what if?"

In 12 days. Less than 1,200 words. What damage has been done?

How can/will AG recover? For how long will they be called on to respond and apologize? Will they have to train their staff on how to handle it when a customer brings it up?

We are behind the driver’s wheel of a very powerful medium. Not everyone is going to be ethical. Not everyone is going to care about anyone but themselves. Not everyone will be transparent about their motives.

How will we know?

Thanks to Brett Trout for sharing this story with me, thinking it would appeal to my fascination with branding. As you can see, it did much more than that.

Try this experiment on your employees

March 29, 2007

No lab coat required.

If you asked your peers/employees to tell you in a sentence what your company’s compelling reason for being was – what would they say?

If you are like most companies, they would burst out laughing.

And then odds are, every one of them would give you a different answer.

How can we expect our employees to deliver consistent quality and service/products that are aligned with the company’s core mission if they don’t know (and really know) not only WHAT it is, but WHAT it means, WHY it matters and HOW you make it real?

This isn’t just a marketing slogan of the month or rattling off a buzz word or two – this is taking the time to define the heart and soul of why you are in business – from your consumer’s point of view.

Try it. Come back and tell us about the experiment.

Turn things upside down: How to get your customers to talk about you

March 28, 2007

Want your customers to create some buzz for you? Turn something upside down.

We find comfort in conformity. The "it always happens this way" comfort. Which is exactly why we can’t stop ourselves from talking when someone flips things on us.

Phil Romano, the founder of Romano Concepts and Eatzi’s Market & Bakery, understood this. His place was always packed on Mondays and Tuesdays, which is normally a dead night for restaurants.

How’d he do it?

On a randomly chosen Monday or Tuesday, 200+ customers received a letter instead of a bill. The letter stated that because the restaurant’s mission was to make people feel like guests – it didn’t seem right to charge them for their food. Once a month, unannounced, this happened.

He comped meals one night a month, but he had a full house eight nights a month when all the other restaurants in town were empty. And, he got all of that word of mouth advertising for free!

What could you turn upside down?

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