Drew McLellan, Author at McLellan Marketing Group

Ease into the week — Wave your Magic Brand Be Gone wand

November 19, 2006

I don’t know about you but Sunday nights are time for me to catch up. On my reading, on my work, on my relationships — all with an eye on Monday morning and knowing that the 180 mph pace is about to resume.

Sundays also seem to be my day for deep thoughts. I thought it might be fun to ease into the week together with a question that is sort of about branding and marketing but also has a personal element to it as well. A chance to get to know each other AND talk shop. Perfect for a Sunday night.

Once a brand becomes part of the consumers’ consciousness, it’s pretty tough to shake. It’s a lot easier to seed a brand than it is to do a 180 degree adjustment to a brand that is already firmly implanted into people’s mindset. So here’s this week’s question:

If you could wave your "Magic Brand Be Gone" wand and erase a bad brand that you don’t think can be repaired or redirected, whose brand would you erase so they could start all over? Oh…and Paris Hilton is off limits, that’s just too easy!

My answer? Reality TV shows. I will say right up front, I think most of it is dreadful. And deserving of the brand it has earned. But, in the midst of the greed, nastiness and gratuitous everything…I think there are a few shows that spotlight the human spirit, like ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Unfortunately, TV producers believe their own brand and see to try to outdo themselves in making the worst, most exploitive reality TV shows possible.

With my wand, I’d wipe out those pre-conceived ideas and let them try again.

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5 tips and tricks to being a better speaker

November 18, 2006

At the Small Business CEO, Steve Rucinski offers his 3 keys to delivering an effective presentation. I don’t disagree with a single one of them…but I’d like to add my top five, to get us to 8.

They say it is the #1 fear of humans…to speak in front of a crowd. But for us sick fools who enjoy it, here’s how to be even better at your craft.

1. Have 45 minutes of material for each 60 minutes on stage. Always leave a little room for questions, stories that just pop into your head and the unknown.

2. Have at least 30 minutes of "back up material" in case none of the items in #1 occur AND out of nervous energy, you zip through your material.

3. Beware of butt fatigue. Allow your audience a break for every 60 minutes you present. But start on time when you bring them back.

4. Always end on time. Meetings planners will love you. Even if the speaker ahead of you took 30 minutes of your time, know how to condense your presentation on the fly without making the audience feel the difference.

5. Realize that you are on stage long before you hit the stage. Mingle ahead of time, chat up the audience and just get comfortable in the room.

I’m sure between Steve and myself, we’ve just scratched the surface. Feel free to jump in….what’s your favorite speaking trick?

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Creativity Tip: Ask, ask, ask

November 17, 2006

In my day job, I have to be creative on demand. As I am sure you can relate…some days, I don’t feel very creative. I can’t wait until the muses arrive. I need to be innovative, original and engaging. Now.

Yikes.

So I collect creativity triggers. Games I can play, ways to twist the common into something fresh and brainwipes…ways to clear my head of all the expected, to make room for new ways of looking something. If you too need this sort of creativity thumping now and then, I’m going to post some creativity tips every once in awhile.

Here’s one that usually serves me well.

Be like a reporter. Query the situation, problem, product that you’re needing to be creative about. Not a who, what, where, how kind of an interview, but more of an in depth character study. Do it out loud if you have to, but really dig in. Ask probing questions. Assume the persona of your interview subject to "feel" the answers. I know it sounds a little silly but you’ll be amazed at the interesting insights. Give it a spin and let me know how it works for you.

P.S. If you want a big bundle of creativity, check out Roger von Oech‘s books, blog and tools. My favorite is his Creative Whack Pack — a deck of cards with creative thinking strategies and tips. You’ll love his stuff!

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Is that your hand in my pocket?

November 16, 2006

Identifying your pricing strategy is a business element that purists will say is more operations than marketing, but I have to tell you, they are wrong. Pricing is all about marketing. It is about perception. It’s part of the customer experience.

Let me give you a concrete example. But first, a confession.

I am annoyed. I’m actually beyond annoyed. I am ticked. And feeling taken advantage of. If you ever have a client express those feelings about your prices, heed the warning. Bad things happen when you have a customer feeling that way. This is what the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) will tell you is called bad buzz. Watch it in action.

I’ve had a business relationship with an Iowa based bank, Bankers Trust, for several years. For the past few years, I had a letter of credit with them. I paid an annual fee of around $300. I no longer need the letter of credit. The annual renewal is January 1st, so I wanted to cancel it before I incurred the annual fee. I got the cancellation confirmation letter today. With a bill for $115! When I e-mailed them to inquire why I was paying a fee, since I was specifically closing it to avoid the fee – they said:

“To cancel the letter of credit requires action on our part. We charge the final fee of $115.00 to cover the cost of issuing the letter, updating our records, following up on retrieving the original after it matures and the cost of the courier fee. “

I’m stuck. I have no need for the product. There is no “early cancellation penalty” and yet, even though I paid for the privilege of having the letter of credit, now I am paying for the privilege of NOT having it?

Ridiculous. And demonstrating a complete lack of customer awareness. Their pricing strategy is about them, not me. And they have lost a customer over it. Worse for them…they have aggravated a blogger, community volunteer, and business owner who is going to tell this story over and over.

The dumb part of this is that it’s an easy fix. No customer is going to be happy about being double-dipped. So why not build the cancellation fee into the first year’s annual cost of having the letter of credit? Call it initial/closing administrative costs and be done with it.

As with most things, it’s not what you say/do, it’s how you say or do that has impact.

Read more about how pricing = marketing at BizMord Search and Marketing Blog. And weigh in on this: What inadvertent impact might your pricing have on clients?

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Hey Scrooge, is that you?

November 15, 2006

Every year it seems to get earlier and earlier. This year, some of the major marketers launched their holiday campaign before Halloween. They argue that over 40% of us begin our shopping by then, so why shouldn’t they be out there. Maybe they’re right.

Advertising Age (a trade pub for the advertising industry) is doing a survey this week. I thought we’d borrow their question.

Do you think consumers will be resentful of retailers and other marketers that begin Christmas advertising before the end of October or even before Thanksgiving?

Share your thoughts here and also…if you are a marketer, do you market any differently during a holiday season? Are you a President’s Day special kind of business? What do you think of that as an advertising strategy?

(After we vote, I’ll tell you what the Ad Age readers have said.)

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Hey Goliath, I think you’re going down!

November 13, 2006

David and Goliath. A pretty famous tale. Little guy takes on the big guy. Logic tells us the big guy should win. But, instead, he goes down.

It’s hard to imagine a bigger Goliath than Microsoft. They usually win the fight. But this time, I think they’re going to go down.

This week, Microsoft releases Zune, their answer to the iPod. Their beige answer to the iPod. Over at the True Talk Blog, Tom Guarriello great job of comparing the two products.

Here’s the problem. Microsoft’s size begot a dash of arrogance and they made a classic marketing mistake. They forgot to ask the customer. In fact, they forgot all about the customer.

People buy the iPod because its cool. Cool colors. Cool online store. Cool features.

People buy the iPod because its convenient. Convenient to use. Convenient to find accessories. Convenient access to music, movies, TV shows and music videos.

People have invested a significant amount of money in iTunes downloads and iPod accessories. They are not likely to switch. They are likely to add to their iPod collection with either an updated version (so they can move all their files) or more iPod stuff.

Keep in mind the #1 target for mp3 players like Zune and the iPod are the tweens and the teens. They are all about cool and fitting in. That trumps functionality and screen resolution any day. And they are mortified if they appear to be "posers" or people are trying to be cool, but didn’t quite make it. I suspect Zune owners will be viewed as iPod owner wannabes.

The smart strategy for Microsoft would have been to either out cool and out convenience the iPod. But they aren’t doing either. They are counting on the holiday advertising push and the wifi feature (you can share music…but it evaporates after a few plays/days) to topple the iPod.

I don’t think that’s going to happen. Tomorrow, more on why not.

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Who are you calling an SOB?

November 12, 2006

Those of you who know me won’t be all that surprised that I got called an SOB today. But in this case, it was actually a compliment!

Liz Strauss of Successful Blog recognizes a few blogs every week that, in her words…

"They take the conversation to their readers, contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger. I thank every one of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on. Good conversations shared can only improve the blogging community."

I’m honored to be included among Liz’s very esteemed list of bloggers who have something of note to say. Check out this week’s list and Liz’s past honorees in her Hall of Fame links.

Thanks for the nod Liz…I will do my best to live up to your moniker SOB!

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Ease into the week — who creates a lovefest for you?

November 12, 2006

Image via Wikipedia

I don’t know about you but Sunday nights are time for me to catch up. On my reading, on my work, on my relationships — all with an eye on Monday morning and knowing that the 180 mph pace is about to resume.

Sundays also seem to be my day for deep thoughts. I thought it might be fun to ease into the week together with a question that is sort of about branding and marketing but also has a personal element to it as well. A chance to get to know each other AND talk shop. Perfect for a Sunday night.

We’ve all read and heard about experiential marketing. Marketing that goes beyond features and benefits and actually makes the customer a part of the selling/buying experience. Great examples are some of the themed restaurants like Rain Forest Cafe or shopping/road testing a Harley. These businesses have captured a powerful marketing truth. People buy what they love and what they feel a part of. So here’s this week’s question:

What business or retail establishment best envelopes you into the buying experience, creates a lovefest between you and them, and makes you feel like a member of the club? And, of course, how do they do that for you?

My answer? Walt Disney World. (not just any amusement park or theme park — just this one) I step onto the grounds and I change. Physically, emotionally, mentally. I’ll bet if you tested it, my blood pressure would drop 15 points. The smells, the sounds, the visual stimulation — it all connects with me, heart and soul. Its hard to explain and sounds a little nutty I suspect, but its like going home for me. More on this later…

P.S. I plan on doing a 9-day blog series, "What marketing lessons can we learn from Walt Disney" in a few weeks, when my family and I make our annual pilgrimage to the mouse house.

P.S.S. Runners up for me in this question…the Apple Store, Barnes & Noble.

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Fortune 500 Corporate Blog Review Series: Apple

November 11, 2006

Image via CrunchBase

When I read on Easton Ellsworth’s blog about the Fortune 500 Corporate Blog Project, I decided I wanted to participate. The premise is simple…volunteer bloggers choose one or more of the Fortune 500 companies and do a little legwork to see if the company has an official blog. Post it wiki style and voila, together we have created some pretty impressive knowledge.

I chose one of my favorite companies, #159 Apple. (AAPL) I have to admit, I made the assumption that of course they’d have a corporate blog. I mean, come on…it’s Apple.

Typical of Apple, they aren’t doing it like most others. Instead, on their homepage is a link to what they call Hot News with an RSS feed. But the Hot News is a blend of internal news and links to outside sources, like O’Reilly Digital Media and the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

There are no opportunities to comment or trackback. So not exactly a blog, but more than a website.

There are plenty of unofficial blogs focusing on Apple, their products, et al as you might imagine. Technorati lists over 4,300 of them.

If you haven’t grabbed a company to research — grab one soon. I’m off to add my 2 cents to the wiki.

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Listen up! (How all companies should use blogs)

November 11, 2006

Despite a bazillion new blogs being started every day, business blogging still seems to be in its infancy. Many companies are still wondering why they would need a blog. And maybe they don’t. Creating and maintaining a blog is not for everyone or every organization. But that doesn’t mean blogging isn’t an important business tool.

You should use blogs to listen to your customers. You’ll be amazed at what they’re saying. Here are a couple links that say it better than I can. Mike’s post tells you how to do it. Tom’s two-parter will give you a remarkable example of how a company turned a rant into a rave…all by listening to blogs.

Mike Sansone’s How To Listen In post.

Tom Vander Well’s Real Life Example posts. Part one. And…part two.

Read…and learn. And start to listen.

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