Marketing Archives - Page 67 of 67 - McLellan Marketing Group

Get the referrals that are best for you!

September 30, 2006

John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing had an interesting post about referrals and being wiser about who you ask to be a referral source. He makes a very valid point — some clients are better referrals than others. I could not agree more.

But I think it goes beyond that. Before you can know which clients are best suited to help you grow your business, you’d better know what you are best suited to deliver. As we’ve talked about before, branding is for the bold. When you have the courage to define your organization’s brand, by default you are also saying that you’re not going to try to be everything to everyone. Branding is about narrowing your focus and your reach. You will not cast your net as wide. But you will drill down a lot deeper.

So let’s say that you are a healthcare copywriter who’s passion is for making complicated medical information accessible to the lay person. Your best referral sources are going to be clients that have hired you to do that sort of work. Sure, you’ve taken generalist copywriting jobs. And those clients probably love you too. If they happen to refer you — great. But concentrate your energy in terms of actively soliciting referrals within your area of expertise. Honor your brand. Actively grow your business within your brand. Drill deeper. And ask your best clients to help!

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Don’t let your technology embarrass you!

September 26, 2006

As a blogger on TypePad, I access my account by going to their home page and entering my userID and password. Simple and efficient. The TypePad home page is clean and well organized. It has plenty of links and concise bits of information. All what you would expect from people who use technology to make a living.

Here’s the odd thing. Every time I go to their home page, the exact same quote appears. Now, wouldn’t you think someone as sophisticated as the TypePad folks would use the power of their own technology and have quotes rotate? If that was the case, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed.

Although it isn’t really fair, we consumers tend to notice things that seem deficient or out of place. Don’t let your use of technology suggest that perhaps you haven’t thought it through, or even worse yet, don’t quite have a handle on it.

What does your technology say about you?

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Put me in coach, I’m ready to play!

September 24, 2006

Even if you don’t like baseball (which, btw is sick and wrong) you have to like the song Centerfield by John Fogerty. Great melody and a great message.

The song is about passion for the game and a hunger to play it. That’s sort of how I’ve been feeling about blogging of late.

Once my blog coach, Mike Sansone, turned me onto the power of blogging, I’ve been hooked.

Mike’s an amazing combination of coach, cheerleader, and play coordinator. He’s helped me with the technology, the culture and the nuts and bolts of blogging. The generosity of his spirit is only eclipsed by his vast knowledge on the subject. That’s what makes a player or a coach great. Anyone can understand the rules of the game or even the mechanics of it. But, when something ignites your passion and you can’t wait to step up to the plate again — that’s what makes a champion. And in the world of blogging, Mike is just that — a champion.

So, if in the infancy of my blog I am doing anything right — clearly it is a credit to Mike. I am pretty darn sure that any of the mistakes I have or will make along the way are all mine!

Thanks coach for helping me get into the game!

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Beware of the duh factor

September 2, 2006

I recently saw an ad with the tagline "the difference is our people!" It doesn’t matter what business it was for because many businesses claim this as their unique point of difference. No offense to all of the businesses that think this is what makes them stand out from their competition — but duh. Everyone claims that they have great peopler, ergo great customer service. And the truth is…most of them do. To break through the marketingplace, we need to be about more than good customer service.

Why? Don’t people want good service. Sure. But they also expect it. It’s a duh. A given. If you don’t provide good customer service, you’re not going to keep their business. Don’t you think most businesses are hustling to serve their customer? That’s not a brand — it is a cost of doing business. An expectation.

Another popular duh is competency. Companies will tout their expertise as though their competitors are completely incompetent. The reality is that’s just not true. To create marketing materials or ads that claim "we’re good at what we do" is a waste of resources. Again, your consumer assumes you’re qualified to do your job. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be even under consideration. Skill-level or competency is a show me message, not a tell me. It’s a little like honesty. If someone has to keep telling you that they’re honest, pretty soon you wonder why they are making such a big deal about it.

So why do companies rely on "duh" level taglines or promises? Because it’s easy. It doesn’t require digging deeper to find out what really does set them apart from their competition. Double-check yourself. Are you taking the easy way out and making a duh promise?

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Welcome!

September 1, 2006

Welcome to the blog of Drew McLellan, author of 99.3 Random Acts of Marketing and owner of McLellan Marketing Group, where strategy and passion collide!

My goals for this blog are simple — to have a dialogue. To share my thoughts and expertise. And to learn from yours. I’m open to using this forum to answer questions, to explore possibilities or just to rant a little!

I hope you’ll come back often. Invite your friends. Make a few new ones here.

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