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Apparently the presidential candidates missed the memo

January 4, 2008

The Iowa caucus of 2008 is history. We all know who is viable, which messages resonated and which candidates need to re-tool.

But here’s what I know. Not one of the candidates got the memo.

What? You haven’t seen it either? Hmm. Maybe it got bogged down with all the holiday cards and political post cards. Okay…let me share it again.

TO: Presidential Candidates of 2008

FROM: The American people

SUBJ: How we’d like to hear your message

DATE: From now on

Thanks for caring about our votes. Really.

We appreciate that you want to share your ideas and vision for a different and better America. But things have changed since the last election and we thought it was only fair to clue you in on how we’d like you to conduct your campaign. Here are some key truths we’d like you to know.

We don’t want to be hunted down like rabid dogs: The good old days of you being everywhere we look are over. We want to decide when to listen. Where to listen. And who to listen to. Stop sending your volunteers to knock on our doors. Stop invading our homes with your stupid recorded messages. Don’t force us to hide from you.

Frequency is one thing. Overkill is another: We all know the marketing maxim — tell them and then tell them again. But know when enough is enough. We don’t need a new postcard every day. We don’t need to see the same commercial so often that we can recite it with you. Show some fiscal responsibility and stop wasting your supporters’ money.

We do care about your plans. But you can’t explain them in :30 TV spots: TV spots are a great medium for generating an emotional response. But we don’t want to just like you. You’re not selling beer. You are selling our future and our kids’ future. We want to know what you’re going to do. Tell us in detail. Give us facts. Not spun facts — real facts. Be relevant or go home.

And you can’t use weasel words either: As soon as we hear the standard political rhetoric, we start calling bull%$#*. You see, we’ve been advertising consumers for too long. We know all the tricks and we’ve stopped believing them. A long time ago. Talk straight.

Sometimes we don’t need you to talk at all: Give us places (websites, blogs, etc) where we can explore for ourselves. Put real content there — not campaign highlights. No fluff. Just honest details about what you have done and what you want to accomplish.

A monologue is no longer acceptable: We are tired of being talked to. We want to talk back. We actually want to initiate some conversations. No matter who wins this election — you’ll be just fine. But for many families and businesses — this is a make it or break it election. We want to participate and we do not want to be ignored until you decide to talk at us again.

Leave the other guys alone: You really should have gotten this one by now. When you take a swing at an opponent, it makes you look scared and desperate. Or like a bully. either way — not so good for you. If you don’t have anything important to say about yourself – then you probably need to just go home.

Be a good guest: There are two kinds of guests. Those you’re sad to see leave and those you can’t wait to wave goodbye to. How did you leave your Iowa campaign headquarters today? How will you leave the meeting halls in New Hampshire. What would happen if you sent your volunteers to do some good once a week or month. Read to some kids. Feed the homeless. Visit the elderly. Not because there are cameras running but because you want to set a good example.

Just try to be a real human being: We are really looking for a candidate we can trust to speak for us. We want to like you. More important, we want to believe in you. Stop thinking of every appearance as a "show" and every human being as a vote. Tune out your advisors, stop worrying about the perfect sound bite, don’t give us the thumbs up and goofy smile. Just be real.

That’s it. Easy stuff. We’d really appreciate it if you’d give these ideas a spin. Thanks for listening. We really hope you’ll try it again soon.

P.S. The same rules apply to your business and mine. How many of these old school marketing sins are you guilty of?

Does nasty sell?

January 2, 2008

A couple notes before I climb onto my soapbox.

This is not a political blog nor really is this a political post. I promise.
I am not endorsing any of the candidates…they’re just my putty to mold into the point I’m trying to make.
Stay with me through the political example to find the marketing truth.

A few weeks ago, I had some of the hottest tickets in town. The Des Moines Register holds two final debates right before making their endorsement and because of the venue and security — it’s invite only for a 150 or so people. I missed the Republican debate because of a client commitment but was able to attend (and take my daughter) to the Democratic debate.

In the 90 minutes of usual rhetoric and weasel-wording that we’ve forced the politicians to use so we won’t crucify them later, there were two moments of sincerity. The first one got huge play on national media.

I guarantee that you saw it. It was Obama taking a little dig at Hillary about how she’s going to end up advising him. It added nothing of substance to the debate but it was probably the most played segment of the entire 90 minutes.

On the flip side, this second snippet created hardly a ripple. Very few viewings on YouTube and I never saw it on any national or even local coverage. And yet, it spoke to the character of the candidates in a very profound way.

The question was directed at Joe Biden and suggested he might be a racist. What you can’t see on the video is while Biden is responding, all of his opponents are nodding in support of what he’s saying. At the end, Obama speaks out to defend Biden and ALL the candidates applaud him (Biden).

That should have been big news. But it wasn’t.

So what does this have to do with marketing? Only everything.

One of the truths about marketing is that you have to work twice as hard to earn someone’s delight to the point that they’ll talk about it. Give them shoddy service or mess up an order and BAM! they’re telling everyone they know. But do it well — nothing.

You know what the big complaint was about these debates? They were boring. No fireworks. The media wanted blood and when they didn’t really get any — they settled for Obama’s one-liner.

I didn’t read one commentary that said how nice it was that there weren’t fireworks. Or how the candidates actually said nice things about each other.

You simply can not go out there and be good. It will be the death of your business. It seems as though our world can’t get enough of conflict (check out reality TV) or competition. But we’ve been so spoiled and catered to as businesses scramble to win our money — that the bar is not at good. It’s at remarkable. It’s at "I can’t believe it." It’s at "I would have never guessed you could…"

That is what we’re up against. We have to shout so loudly against the nasty, biting wind that we can be heard.

What do you have in your marketing plan for ’08 that is so remarkable that it will win the attention of your most cynical customers or prospects? My guess is that you’ve got nothing. Most businesses don’t go this deep. So I am challenging you…how are you going to be different? What stories will people tell about your business in ’08?

2008 wish?

December 31, 2007

First and foremost — Happy New Year! I hope this next year is filled with all that you wish for and a few surprises along the way.

Here’s my question for you. If you could wish (and grant that wish) for one thing…for one person (not a worldwide wish like world peace) this year…what would you wish, who would it be for and why would you wish it so?

Image courtesy of: www.new-year.in

What did 2007 stand for?

December 26, 2007

Greg Verdino summed up his take on 2007 in a great post earlier this month. You’ll want to go check it out to get the nuances of his thoughts, but in a very abbreviated form — he said the top 7 trends that defined 2007 were:

Merger Mania: Seems like everyone is buying someone…

Presence and Accounted for: Every day there’s a new beta for a social network being launched and everyone’s rushing to give each and every one a try.

Facebook Frenzy: About a bazillion people there. Nuff said.

The Mobile Year that Wasn’t: Everyone predicted this was going to be the year that mobile marketing was going to take off. Oops, not so much.

The Birth of Virtual Natives: Second Life to Webkinz. If you aren’t a member of one now…you will be.

Writers Wronged: What impact will the writer’s strike have on online content, videos etc.

And then Greg left #7 blank — asking readers to share what they thought was the 7th significant trend of the year.

So, here’s my take. A year ago, Time Magazine named YOU (meaning us) the person of the year….heralding the power and influence of social media.

It had to be the most talked about news item on blogs (other than the iPhone release) in ’07. And you can’t blame us. It’s tough being one of the first few million to do something, trying to break through. A little recognition is nice.

But…I think trend #7 is that the celebration was pretty premature. I believe that we’re still very much social media pioneers, a few million of us or not. And we are standing at the base of a very steep mountain. The climb is not going to be easy or short.

Step away from people who blog, read blogs, the media, marketing and advertising folks…and you will find a vast majority of human beings who are completely unaware of what social media means. If you said Second Life to them, they’d think you meant Saturday Night Live or you want to talk about your religious beliefs. They might have heard the word blog but it has no relevance to them. They don’t understand that social media has power — let alone how to harness it. Bottom line — we’re not on their radar screen yet.

As Gavin is famous for saying — you know something is mainstream when your grandma gets it. Well, grandma doesn’t get it yet.

I don’t take this as bad news, by the way. We’re riding the first wave of social media. It’s not mainstream yet but it will be. And we get to cut the path.

I believe trend #7 is/was that the euphoric fog lifted and most of us now recognize that while the journey is going to be a long one — the ride is going to be a blast!

How about you — what do you think the 7th trend that defined ’07 was?

New Year’s image courtesy of www.New-Year.in

Are you an elf or a scrooge?

December 6, 2007

No, I’m not really polling you about your pre-holiday state of mind. (I won’t ask if you don’t!)

But this holiday season, you can fashion yourself as an elf, scrooge or even a chipmunk! Viral marketing campaigns that allow people to add their own voice or picture and share them with their friends is all the rage.

Check out these interactive campaigns.

Feeling the season? Turn yourself (or a friend) into an elf. (check out this crazy elf!)

Feeling a little bah humbug about the holidays? Turn yourself into scrooge.

Remember sucking helium from a balloon? Turn your voice into a chipmunk’s.

Love football this time of year? How about doing your own victory dance?

So here’s the real question. These campaigns drive a lot of traffic to your website. They’re sticky, funny and very viral. Are they about branding? Does it make you want to buy stuff at OfficeMax or drink CokeZero? Or see the new movie?

Do you think certain products, services or companies can benefit more from this sort of campaign?

Hillary Clinton called me!

December 4, 2007

Yes….me. She wanted to tell me her stand on the issues. And I know you’ll be stunned to hear this, but Hillary isn’t the only one calling.

I’ve heard from Mitt, Mike, Obama, Rudy, Bill, John, Chris and all the rest.

Impressed? Don’t be.

They don’t want to talk to me, they want to talk at me. Welcome to living in Iowa during a caucus year. Spending is at an all time high (over $15 million to date and on the rise) and one of the more popular tactics apparently is the personal phone call.

Well, not exactly personal. In fact, downright impersonal. I pick up the phone. I say hello. I wait. I say hello again. Finally, a recorded message from a candidate begins.

I hang up.

Come on, people. You say you are smart enough to run the country but you really think the recorded phone call method favored by cable TV companies and other automated sales forces is an effective marketing tool?

I know it’s cheap at first blush. Pennies per Iowan versus the big bucks of TV, radio and print. But it’s annoying and costing you votes. Not so cheap, perhaps.

Robo calls, as they’re known in the biz, are the second most popular tactic for politicians. Nearly 2/3 of all registered voters in the U.S. received at least one call in the past year. The only thing that tops it is direct mail.

The calling is such an aggravating tactic that 9 states (including Iowa) are considering legislation to ban these robo calls.

The marketing lesson here — be smarter than a politician. If your marketing tactic is so irritating that people are proposing a law to stop you from doing it — best look for a new tactic.

I’m sure Hillary is going to call again. Anything you want me to tell her?

P.S…and apparently this brilliant marketing tactic isn’t just being used by American politicians!

Keep your eyes right here!

November 30, 2007

According to Evan Carmichael, we should be watched! Okay, he didn't mean it that way!

Drew's Marketing Minute was named one of the Top 50 Marketing Blogs to Watch for 2008!

My thanks to all of you for making this an environment ripe for vibrant conversations. It makes it so much easier to create content, knowing that your thoughts, questions and explorations make each and every post better.

I also want to thanks Evan for creating the list. For those of you not familiar with the site,
EvanCarmichael.com is an amazing resource for small business motivation and strategies. With over 240,000 monthly visitors, 1,600 contributing authors, and 35,000 pages of content, there's something there for everyone.

Marketers are wishy washy on social media

November 19, 2007

According to a recent Coremetrics survey, titled "Face of the New Marketer" 78% of marketers indicate that social media initiatives give them a leg-up over the competition.

The survey found that in the last 12 months:

31% of respondents have started a blog
25% of respondents have put in place an RSS feed

So far, so good — right? Well, here's the rub. They talk a good game, but they're not really putting their money where their mouth is. Just 7.7 percent of their total online marketing spend was allocated to it compared to 33 percent to online advertising and 28 percent on online promotion design and implementation.

In a completely separate study conducted by Gunderson Partners, they found that 45% of companies surveyed have allocated 10% or less of their budget to new media. The report goes on to say "Of the hurdles mentioned, nearly 40% cited insufficient knowledge [lack of metrics] and 33% stated not having enough time to evaluate [metrics]."

So what do you think? Are we just on the bleeding edge? Is it a matter of time? Or is there a flaw in the medium?

How confident are you in the value you deliver?

November 14, 2007

I've mused aloud on this before. It's an intriguing concept to me.

Letting our customers set the prices.

Mack Collier from Viral Garden reported on a band (Radiohead) that allowed fans to download their CD and determine what they were willing to pay for it. Interestingly, not only did their traffic have a huge spike, but they sold more of their boxed sets (at full price) than the downloads at any price.

The Springwise newsletter also reported on this trend by pointing to several restaurants like Melbourne's Lentil As Anything which also lets customers pay what they can afford or what they think the meal was worth.

Here in the states, we could visit the One World Café in Salt Lake City or the SAME Café (So All Might Eat) in Denver. An interesting note about these two restaurants. They've added some cause marketing to the mix, stating that the reason they're doing this is so they can feed those in need as well.

Hmm.

Does this idea only work with products that have a relatively flat price point? We all know CDs (or downloads of CDs) range from $10 – 20, usually. And dinner for 2 at an average casual restaurant is going to be somewhere around $25-40.

Does this concept hold as well for service-based businesses? Do I really have any concept of what it takes for an attorney to review a contract or for an ad agency to create a brochure? Would I have any idea what to pay an architect for drawing some blueprints of a new house?

What do you think? Would this work in your industry? Without a doubt, it is risky in any arena but it sure has a lot of buzzability around it.

Pricing strategy says quite a bit about your brand. What would this say?

Anyone willing to try it and be our case study?

Are we becoming a world of snackers?

October 29, 2007

I’ve long said we’ve become a USA Today world. Bite-sized chunks of information, a pretty chart and we’re good.

I recently wrote about the power of downsizing how much information you try to cram into any marketing tactic. We’ve also talked about how being long-winded can hurt your effectiveness. And the value of offering bite-sized test drives to our prospects.

So, I was excited when Connie Reece tagged me on a meme that was started by Jeremiah Owyang. He asks the question — do you respect media snackers and if so, how?

So I’ll play along. Here’s where I think I am holding my own:

I write posts like the ones listed above, trying to not only walk the talk, but teach it.
I keep my blog posts short. (for the most part)
I write a weekly marketing column that tops off at 300 words.
I use solo visuals to help tell the story.
I use Twitter and other micromedia.

Here’s where I need to get even better:

Adding more categories so topic-specific readers can find content easier.
Introducing my readers to more resources for just in time searching.
Continuing to hone my messages down to their essence.

So, as the game is played…I tag David Armano, Chris Wilson, Tim Siedell, Gavin Heaton, Mark Goren and Doug Meacham.

Even if you weren’t tagged, feel free to jump in and play along. How are you modifying your communications to accommodate media snackers?

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