Last Friday a flaming headless horseman galloped across Chicago’s building facades between the Loop and Wrigleyville.
Who rousted him just in time for Halloween? Meijer, a 180-store big box retailer in the Midwest.
The store gave people a chance to win $1,000 if they texted the company directly when they saw the apparition.
Fliers were distributed to get people looking for the horseman and whenever the van projecting the Horseman stopped or idled in traffic, the horse would rear its hind legs and flash the message: text Meijer for a grand.
Not only did the company receive hundreds of text messages, but they also got TV, radio and print media coverage. Declaring it a success, the street team plans to repeat the work this Friday (October 24th) in Cincinnati.
I get a lot of PR pitches, will you review my book requests and can you tell people about our conference sort of e-mails.
I appreciate getting them because it helps me make this blog useful to you, the readers. But, what I appreciate even more is when the person doing the pitch actually makes an effort to personalize the interaction which is in direct opposite to what happens most of the time – I get a generic e-mail (no doubt sent out to 100 of my closest blogging friends) and just filling in my name at the top.
This is NOT a post about how to pitch a blogger. I think it’s about PR and building relationships, as opposed to the mass production mentality of just doing a mass mailing and wondering why no one picked up the story.
I’d like to tell you a little about two pitches that stood out and the results of those pitches.
John Rosen, author of Stopwatch Marketing
A few months before John’s book was released, he started reading and commenting here at the Marketing Minute. He also engaged me in a genuine e-mail conversation about the work we both do, his familiarity with Des Moines and eventually his book.
By the time he asked me to review the book – we knew each other. So when I got his book – I read it right away (my review here) and shared it with my readers within the week. (Keep in mind, I get 2-5 books a week and am always struggling to keep up. Normally, he’d have had to wait a month or so.)
Then, John really proved that he was a savvy marketer. He didn’t need me anymore (in terms of his new book) but he continued to invest in the relationship. We e-mail, comment on each other’s blogs and stay in touch to this day. When we were looking for giveaways for Blogger’s Social – John was willing to donate copies of his book. Having your book in the hands of 100+ smart and vocal marketers is a wise strategy.
John understands the power of relationships and investing your efforts before you ask for the favor. Smart.
Bob Bloom, author of The Inside Advantage: The strategy that unlocks the hidden growth in your business
Bob Bloom is the former U.S. CEO of advertising mega-giant Publicis Worldwide. Suffice it to say, I had heard of Bob’s work. Pretty sure he had not heard of mine. I received a pitch to review his book and it came from Bob’s publicist. As you might expect, the publicist followed none of John Rosen’s techniques, so the book got tossed into the pile and I reviewed it about 2 months after receiving it. (My review here)
I thought it was an excellent and insightful book and said so. Bob is not just a marketing guy, he gets business. A valuable and rare combination, in my eyes.
Fast forward about a month after I posted the review. My desk phone rings and I pick it up. Who is on the line – but Bob Bloom. He called so that we could get to know each other a little bit and to thank me for the review. We ended up talking for about 15-20 minutes and much like my contact with John Rosen – it was genuine. We talked about clients and he told me about his new effort – working one on one with business owners.
Bob went out of his way to listen, comment thoughtfully and I completely forgot what a big deal he was…which just goes to prove what a big deal he truly is.
Two different approaches but some common threads:
There’s no substitute for you.
There’s no substitute for human interaction.
There’s no substitute for being genuine.
There’s no substitute for making the effort to connect and start a relationship.
As we continue to slog through the economic downturn – these truths don’t cost much but can yield long-term gains. How can you bring these truths to life in your dealings with customers, prospects and the media?
I understand the lure of just hunkering down and waiting out the economic lull. And I know you’re probably tired of hearing this….but if you are smart — this is a huge opportunity for you to capture market share and solidify your position in the marketplace.
Please do not sit this one out. And I’m not even going to tell you not to cut prices or cut your budget, because we’ve beat that horse to death!
Review your brand values with each and every employee
Refresh your website to put your brand promise front and center
Ask your employees for ideas on how to bring your brand to life. Pay $50 for every idea used. Make that very public knowledge.
Love on your current customers: They’re the most likely to buy again and they are also most likely the audience you’ve ignored. Now is the time to appreciate them, remind them why they trusted you in the first place and over service them.
Tactics:
Do a customer only mailing, spotlighting some of your best offerings at their best prices
Hold a customer appreciation party and say "thank you" repeatedly
Offer a pre-payment discount (you get cash up front and their commitment to follow through)
Give it away: Demonstrate to the world that you believe in abundance by giving away some of your product or services to a worthy non-profit. But don’t do a drive by. Partner with them for the long haul and work your PR magic.
Tactics:
Give your employees a voice in which charity you partner with
Be smart – choose a charity that has an influential board of directors and make a point of being at those meetings to share your expertise
Trade your products or services for an event sponsorship so you get publicity for your efforts
Listen, respond, repeat: Now is not the time to be ignoring the marketplace. You need to be listening to your customers, your competitor’s customers and anyone else who is out there talking about your industry.
Tactics:
Do a customer survey (while you are at it, do a past customer survey)
Jump into conversations about your industry and offer value
Use content marketing: You’re good at what you do. You want your prospects and customers to be successful. Why not position yourself as the expert by sharing your expertise?
Tactics:
Create an e-newsletter (don’t start it if you aren’t going to consistently create/deliver it)
Build a robust How To series for your website
Launch a business blog (again…don’t start it if you aren’t serious about keeping at it)
What do you think? Most of these tactics will not cost you an arm or even a leg. And I’ll let you in on a little secret — they’re pretty effective, even when we’re not facing snug times.
What can you add to the list? What’s working for you that you can share with the rest of us?
Okay….so what do you think of this spot? Effective? Memorable? Buzz worthy?
Would it make you order the pasta?
If Dominos hired you to critique this spot, what would you say — pro and con? It’s always risky to create a "character" that might be more memorable than your product. Sometimes it works — like Wendy’s "where’s the beef?" spot from 1984. But sometimes, it bombs like the sock puppet from (can you fill in the blank before you watch the spot?) _______.
I know, as an agency owner, writer, speaker and active community volunteer (not to mention dad et al) there are some days when I literally run from meeting to meeting, trying to squeeze in phone calls in between meetings. And then I wonder…when will I get all the work done that these meetings generated? Those are frustrating days. But, to be fair, I do it to myself.
Sometimes I have to give myself a reprieve. So I cone myself.
Coning is something we invented at McLellan Marketing Group because all of us need some "quiet time" now and then. Every employee at MMG has a traffic cone in their office. When that cone is placed in their doorway, it means, "unless the building is on fire, do not disturb me."
I coned myself for about 90 minutes yesterday. The week had been frantic and I was riding very close to several deadlines. I got more done in those 90 minutes than I had all week. And best of all….I felt great. I felt calm, I felt successful. I felt like I was back in control. Here are some of my secrets to successful coning.
Have a commonly understood signal (like the cone) that everyone in your office will honor.
Set the example by NEVER interrupting a coned person.
Turn your cell phone, regular phone et al ringers off.
Do not check e-mail, blog feeds or any other distraction during your coned time.
Do not do it for more than 90 minutes (its very frustrating to be on the other side of the cone and need to talk to someone who’s been coned for 3 hours.)
Make it a habit. Do it at least 3 times a week. Even for 30 minutes a time
Of course, it does not have to be a cone. Get creative. As you can see, I have added a skull to my own cone…just to reinforce the gravity of circumstance that one would experience if they broke the code of the cone.
It’s hard to keep those marketing juices flowing if you are feeling bogged down. Find a way to get yourself some quiet time. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you get re-fueled.
(And yes, I have a carpet with a little road on it for match box cars in my office. Another post for another time!)
How do you carve time out for yourself? How do you get thinking time, writing time?
The internet is a wonderful thing. It allows anyone with a connection to create a virtual storefront. It brings parity to the marketplace. The little guys can compete with the big guys. Excellent.
But what if the little guy (or the big guy for that matter) doesn’t have a clue?
The reality is that the internet has lowered the barriers for entry for just about every service business out there. But it also means that just because it looks like a business, doesn’t mean it’s so.
I think the old adage…the cobbler’s children have no shoes is a really dangerous excuse in today’s marketplace. And it’s a buyer beware world for all of us.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to hire a financial planner who lives paycheck to paycheck. I don’t want to hire a marketing firm who hasn’t created buzz for their own agency. I don’t want to hire a personal trainer who is 40 pounds overweight and I don’t want to hire a business blog coach who has 137 subscribers to their own blog.
In today’s age of "insta-pop up" businesses where the assumption is if you have a website or blog, you must be legit — we have to be even more discerning than ever before.
If they have not done it for themselves, why in the world would you think they can do it for you?
Last week, I wrote about not letting your competitors’ actions lure you off your path. (There were some really smart comments, so check them out.)
And then, lo and behold…an excellent example for us to discuss appeared. Everyone is familiar with the brilliant Apple campaign Mac versus PC. Just in case you’re not…here’s an example.
And now, Microsoft has come out with a TV spot that answers the Apple campaign. (Sorry for the quality, it’s the best I could find.)
Good idea or bad? Do they sound defensive? Look reactive? Do they do a good job of making their point? Do they change your perceptions? Would this influence your buying decision?
Banks failing, gas prices rising, and the credit crunch pinching — no wonder business people are nervous. These are scary times.
But they don’t have to be disastrous times. We’ve weathered recessions (even though we are apparently not in one) before and we will weather this one too.
There’s been some very smart writing on the topic, from a marketing perspective and I wanted to point you to a couple excellent posts.
Hang in there…this is the time to invest in the relationships you have with current customers, stay visible in the marketplace (especially if your competitors are cutting back), build and protect your brand and overall, think long-term in your strategies.
The businesses that keep focused and recognizes that this a just a bump in the road (albeit a good sized bump) will be in stride to really take off once we’re on better ground.
Better times are around the corner, we just need to keep keeping on to get there.
I get it. It’s sexy and new. Social media/digital marketing is to 2008 what banner ads were to the 90s. (Remember how they were going to change the world and everyone was going to make a killing?)
At MMG, we’ve done many a digital campaign for our clients. And the results exceeded everyone’s expectations. So I’m not suggesting that there’s anything wrong with digital marketing or using social media as a marketing tool. We know, from doing it, that it’s very effective.
But just like in the good old days of advertising, when everyone talked media mix, we need to remember….you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket. Yesterday’s media mix might have been radio and print. Today’s media mix needs to be a blend of traditional and digital marketing efforts.
You will almost always get better results when you have a hearty mix of the two.
Jason Baer, of Convince and Convert, wrote a smart post on this topic, with a couple mini case studies to prove his point.
Bottom line — it’s not an either or choice. It’s now a "what’s the best of both?" choice. So, as you think about your next campaign and begin to formulate your media plan, remember – add plenty of ingredients and blend well.
If you’re buying media for clients or your own business — how has your media buying changed and how do you perceive the need (or lack thereof) for a media mix?
Have you ever had the experience of driving along, paying attention to something off in the horizon and next thing you know, you’ve driven to that spot? And it wasn’t where you meant to go?
it’s a dangerous and all too common problem. Much like my driving example — letting your competition lure you from doing what you need to do can cost you some serious time, money and other resources.
You don’t want to get caught up in the "me too" game of following your competition’s lead. Come on over and jump into the discussion.
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Fliers were distributed to get people looking for the horseman and whenever the van projecting the Horseman stopped or idled in traffic, the horse would rear its hind legs and flash the message: text Meijer for a grand. ![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=38bc4b44-1a74-4bd9-a633-a26adf327cbf)
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