Drew McLellan, Author at McLellan Marketing Group

The Age of Conversation 3 cover

March 21, 2010

Gavin and I are feeling like proud parents about now….exhausted, a bit worn thin but very, very excited. We shipped the final, edited manuscript for Age of Conversation 3: It's Time to Get Busy off to the publishers (more details soon!) this week and we're almost home.

We wanted to share the cover design with everyone. Many, many thanks to Chris Wilson (Fresh Peel blog), who got this done right in the midst of his move and transition to his new job with Fleishman-Hillard in Dallas.

He picked up some of the earlier cover design elements (done by David Armano) and added some of his own twists as well.

Chris has always been an incredible supporter of the Age of Conversation series. He even launched the first Amazon bum rush for Age 1 — and he wasn't even an author of the first book. That's all about class and community.

Fortunately, Chris' thinking is well represented in 2 and 3…and now, so are his design skills.

Again — many thanks to Chris.

Want more Age of Conversation scoop? Watch for the official author list later today as well!

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What’s your March Madness?

March 20, 2010

For two weeks every year, people ask questions like:

Where is Gonzaga? (Spokane, WA)
Do you think that Ben Jacobson is getting a ton of job offers? (Yes)
Can you believe all the double digit ranks still in? (Broke the record)

Most of the people asking those questions could care less about college basketball. Throughout the regular season, it's safe to say they've never watched a game.

But March Madness comes along and everyone is filling out their brackets (even if it's with complete wild a** guesses), joining pools and talking college basketball!

The NCAA has taken their product — college basketball and for those two weeks, transformed it into something so spectacular and special that even their non-customers become rabid fans. Even if it's just for the tournament.

What aspect of your business could you "march mad" up? What could you do that would be so engaging and so big (probably so big you could only afford to do it once a year for a limited time) that it would draw in your non-customers?

What annual moment in time could you own?

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Trends shaping 2010: Dang it, we’re getting old!

March 15, 2010

Back in December, I wrote about some of the trends that would be influencing all of our businesses in 2010. I thought it might be helpful to look at some of these trends a bit more closely.

Let's dig into the trend that we've actually been anticipating for the past several years. After all, we've known that the baby boomers are such a huge group — there's no way their crossing into the 65+ category wouldn't throw our society a curve.Look at these facts:

By 2020, people over 65 worldwide will outnumber children under the age of 5 for the first time.
By 2020, 22% of western civilization will be 65+.
The ratio of workers to retirees will continue to fall. Today it’s 3:1. By 2030, it will be just over 2:1.

So what does that mean for all of us?

Shifting away from our youth focus :

For so long, mass marketing has been all about the young. As this trend takes hold, marketers are going to shift their attention to those boomers. Remember, this group of seniors is tech savvy, active and has quite a bit of disposable income. Even products that are typically designed for the youth market will be aimed at seniors, like motorbikes and technology.

Simplified, smarter products :

We've already seen companies like Jitterbug simplifying technology for a senior's physical limitations and that's just the beginning. Now, there's going to be a huge new market for smarter products that accommodate senior's needs.

For example, there are canes and walkers being created with GPS technology built right in. Wonder what will be next?

Subtle safety products:

This era of seniors isn't ready to slow down or think of themselves as elderly. Most of them are still quite active and aren't going to see themselves as someone who needs to be taken care of. But let's face it, as we get older — we need a little assistance.

Ford and other car manufacturers are working on technology that can detect if the driver is getting drowsy (a major cause of car accidents with seniors behind the wheel). As soon as the car senses the driver is not alert, it automatically lowers the temperature in the vehicle to wake up the driver.

Here's another one — Thermador is developing a stove top that automatically shuts off as soon as the pot is lifted off the burner.

New problems/opportunities brought on by the volume:

In the good old days, when someone got a little older, their family rallied around and took care of them. But with families scattered across the land and with fewer offspring per family — many boomers are going to be on their own.

3 of the 10 industries with the fastest employment growth are tied to this trend.

Home healthcare
Elderly and disabled services
Community care facilities

There are also all kinds of senior concierge companies cropping up. They'll do everything from take someone to the doctor and take notes, to putting up your Christmas decorations or running errands.

How can you take advantage of this?

That's the real question. As with all trends the question is not whether or not they're true but what we're going to do when they come to pass. How can your business capitalize on what's coming? How can you be come indispensable to this huge market?

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Father knows best by Clickfuel’s Denise Cautela

March 12, 2010

Drew's Note: As I try to do on many a Friday, I'm pleased to bring you a guest post. Meet a thought leader who shares her insights every day. So without further ado…Denise Cautela.

Again, enjoy!

Father Knows Best: Online Marketing Best Practices from a Small Business Owner

An entrepreneur, my father owned and managed two local retail chains in the 1980s and 1990s. I grew up in the family business and credit my father with teaching me important customer service, business ethic and product quality values that extend into my current role helping companies manage their online marketing programs.

Even then, my father’s business practices were considered “old school.” He demanded we count change back directly to customers instead of relying on the cash register; he would not close the store until the very last customer was ready to leave (even if it was well past closing time); and he insisted that we manually count inventory monthly because computers were not foolproof and the numbers in the dot matrix printed reports could be wrong.

While these business practices may seem a little “dated,” the underlying philosophy was an important life lesson and provided the foundation for my own best practices for online marketing today:

Be loyal to your customers and they will be loyal to you

My father always made a point of building a strong connection with the local customer base. In today’s market, we have a variety of inexpensive and easy-to-use Web 2.0 tools at our fingertips to spark and maintain a dialogue—and strengthen bonds with customers. Tap Social media vehicles like Facebook Fan Pages to build connections and stay ahead of new trends by listening to what your customers have to say and what they want.
Be honest on your website, landing pages and email campaigns. Clearly explain your business, what you offer and the value your product or service provides customers. Same goes for information you provide for any blogs or RSS feeds. Full transparency and honesty builds a level of trust with existing and prospective customers that can result in up sell opportunities and referrals, and of course, keep your customers coming back.

Make it easy for your customers to find you

Smart Pay-per-Click (PPC) campaigns put your product or service directly in front of those looking for you. It is the most direct, cost effective way to advertise on the Internet today.
List your business in as many online directories as possible. These directories are like signs pointing to your website in front of people driving by.
Search engine optimization (SEO) done right can indirectly pull people into your website and help improve where your business appears on search engine result pages.

You have one chance to make a good first impression

Each one of my Dad’s stores had a distinct look and feel, and products strategically placed for easy access. How your website or landing page look, and the ease of use/navigation is critical. You may only have one chance to make that good first impression—make sure it counts.

Denise Cautela, VP of Marketing at ClickFuel, has nearly 15 years of experience in a wide range of strategic marketing and communication roles. A multiple award winning marketer, Denise is responsible for building out the ClickFuel brand, generating new business and strategically supporting the channel and direct sales efforts. Before joining ClickFuel, Denise was with Monster Worldwide for more than five years in a variety of leadership roles, most recently Sr. Director of Marketing, Emerging Markets.

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Are you hitting all the stepping stones?

March 10, 2010

I don't know who started the concept, but many authors attempt to sell their books by giving away their books. Charles Sheehan Miles did it. Wicked author Gregory Maguire did it. Cory Doctorow did it.

And of course, Seth Godin did it. (Click on their names to find out how you can get your copy!)

Crazy? I don't know. But smashLAB's Eric Karjaluoto is giving it a shot.

His new book, Speak Human, can be bought on Amazon for about $20 or you can download it for free (a chapter at a time) by visiting this site.

So how does giving it away encourage purchase? I don't think it's necessarily about getting someone to download the free one and then turn around (out of guilt or adoration) and buy the same book. It's more about:

Creating a fan base
Getting your ideas out to a wider audience
Creating buzz (through posts like this)
Encouraging word of mouth (free readers read it, love it, talk about it)
Securing clients, speaking gigs, etc.

The truth is, most business book authors aren't going to get rich off book sales. But they can get rich off of the consulting and speaking opportunities that their ideas/books can create for them.

The path to riches (a relative term) for most authors is not a linear one. You have to do many different things that are like stepping stones in a pond. You know where you want to go, but you have to hop from step to step to get there.

That's not just true for authors. I'm guessing it is true for your business as well. Are you sure you're hitting every stepping stone?

Maybe you can see where you want to go but can't figure out how to get there…do you need to add a few more stepping stones and just worry about the next step? Sometimes that's more effective than focusing on the vast chasm between where you are today and where you want to be.

Have you purposefully built your stepping stone path? Eric Karjaluoto seems to have his in place.

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Do you inspire customer service tales?

March 9, 2010

Everyone loves to tell a good story. Stories teach, they inspire laughter and the bring about change. As consumers, we love to tell stories about the people we buy from — good, bad or ugly.

If I stopped 10 of your clients/customers today and asked them to tell me a story about your company's customer service — what story would they tell?

Would it be as compelling as this story about Frank? (E-mail and RSS feed subscribers, click here to watch the video)

If after watching the video, you had to honestly answer no — ask yourself this: What could I do on a consistent basis that would get my customers to the point where they couldn't stop themselves from telling the story?

A big thanks to Laynie Kelly for telling me about this video!

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Social Media Cheat Sheet

March 5, 2010

As I speak to conference audiences across the country about social media, one of the questions I always get asked is… how do I know which social media sites to use?

Of course… there is no single, magic or easy answer to that question. It all depends on your goals, your overall marketing strategy, your resources and your industry. It's not a cookie cutter sort of thing.

However…there's nothing wrong with a little cheat sheet to help you determine which sites are best for:

Customer communication
Brand exposure
Driving traffic to your site
SEO

Which is why the cheat sheet created by CMO.com is so handy. It ranks the most popular/used social media sites (from the biggies like Facebook and Digg to the less talked about Reddit and del.icio.us) as good, okay or bad for the four goals above.

You can download a much bigger, easier to read PDF version of it by clicking here.

Hat tip to my buddy Gavin Heaton, who wrote about this a couple weeks ago.

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Are you keeping an eye on your bucket?

March 2, 2010

No….not that bucket!

Many of us are burning the candle at both ends and in the middle. Our companies have been “right-sized” which is a nice way of saying — same amount of work, fewer people to do it.

We’re trying to keep up on the trends and changes in our industry, use social media to create a personal brand (and grow our companies) and stay connected to our customers.

Then, there’s that little thing called new business. We’re all trying to hold and grow our market share, our market presence and build the brand.

Oh right…don’t forget about the charity boards, volunteering at our kid’s school and just managing our personal lives.

And we’re on call 24/7. Our devices makes sure of that.

Whew! No wonder we feel like we’re running on empty much of the time.

So here’s my question for you. How do you re-fill your bucket? How do you make sure you have enough in the tank to keep going? How do you stay physically, mentally and emotionally replenished?

Here are some of the things that work for me, but I’m looking forward to hearing your tips and tricks.

I serve others: Part of the reason I volunteer my time and share my talents is because it fills me up to know that I am using my gifts the way I believe God wants me to — in service of others. I only volunteer and sit on boards for organizations that I genuinely believe in — and care deeply about. That way, I can take immense pride in the work they ultimately do and my small role in it.

I have professional support squads: I learned a long time ago that I needed to bond and hang with other business owners who understood my worries, pains and joys. Through the years, I have either created or joined a small handful of groups that serve as my sounding board, my safe place to vent and my think tank.

But…perhaps most of all — they are some of my biggest cheerleaders. They believe in me and my abilities and when I am feeling like I can’t quite cross the finish line — their encouragement helps me push through.

I’m a dad: First and foremost — at the core of my being, I am my daughter’s dad. Having declared her as my absolute priority helps me find balance and give me permission to never miss a play, or pick her up after school and hang with her rather than schedule yet one more meeting that day.

I travel: My job affords me the opportunity to get on a plane and go somewhere at least once a month. I know for some people, traveling is a huge hassle but I like it. I’m rarely gone for more than 3 days — but in those few days, I am gloriously alone. It is more than a rare treat. It is absolutely replenishing.

I create an oasis where I can: I know I’m not going to get big blocks of “me” time. I’m not going to sit and watch an entire baseball game without multi-tasking or just do nothing for a couple hours. My life isn’t structured that way.

So I take little mini-breaks where I can get them. Music is healing for me, so I will often turn off my phone’s ringer, really crank up my car stereo and just let the music fill me. I’ll take the dog for a walk just to breathe in the fresh air and get some think time in. Or I’ll watch some ridiculous show on VH1 to laugh with my daughter.

It’s hardly perfect. And it’s probably not enough. But those are some of the ways I stay sane and re-fuel myself so I can keep at it. How about you — how do you make sure that your bucket is full?

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How to create an iPhone or Droid app for your business

February 28, 2010

Last week I announced that the Drew McLellan iPhone and Droid apps were available. I also promised that I’d walk you through the process I went through to create the apps.

To give you the kind of detail I want to share, this is going to end up being a few blog posts, rather than one novella of a post! Today, let’s focus on who I was going to partner with to get the app done.

Exploring the options

Once I decided that I had better jump on the mobile bandwagon, I sought out Mike Sansone — who many of you may know, was my blog coach when I got started and is still my Go-To guy when I need to learn something new in the space.

I asked Mike to take me on a tour of the potential vendors and help me gauge the pros and cons of each. (A side note… there are many brilliant app designers out there but I knew I didn’t need or want something that custom. So I wanted an off the shelf solution that I could customize a bit to make it my own.)

Mike showed me the following sites:

iSites (http://isites.us): This is a new player to the space.

Pros:

Price was right… One time $25 fee if they got to choose the ads that appeared in your app’s footer banner (all family friendly) or $99 a year if you selected the ads you’d allow.
They’d do all the work of submission to Apple etc.
Also would build a Droid version
Allowed the app user to share your content via Facebook & Twitter
With the $99 version, you could monetize your app if you wanted

Cons:

You had to have ads on your footer banner
They are new in the space…not a lot of feedback (good or bad) about them yet
No push (send messages to app subscribers) yet

Mother Apps (http://www.motherapp.com/)

Pros:

Clearly vetted — Guy Kawasaki and Chris Brogan among others use them
Free if you allow ads (which you can share in the revenue), $99 a year for the no ad version
They’d do all the work of submission to Apple etc.
fast — you could have your app in the Apple Store within 7-10 days of submission

Cons:

Not a lot of customizing can be done — pretty much your blog feed, your Twitter feed and one other option (most use YouTube it seems)
No push (send messages to app subscribers) yet
No Droid or Blackberry versions yet (but their site says they are coming soon)

AppMakr (http://www.appmakr.com/)

Pros:

Lots of big names are using them (Inc., Seth Godin, AllTop)
Very fast turnaround (Could be available in a day or two)
$200 one time fee
They’d do all the work of submission to Apple etc.
Phone tech support available ($120/hour)
Can customize the app’s tabs

Cons:

No push (send messages to app subscribers)
No Droid or Blackberry versions yet

Mobile Roadie (http://www.mobileroadie.com/)

Pros:

Vetted and used by people like Dan Pink and Ashton Kutcher
Incredibly easy interface and content management tool
Publishes with built in multi-language support
Has push capabilities
Already building Droid apps too
They do all the work of submission to Apple, Droid, etc.
Lots of viral features — users can share your content via Facebook, Twitter, e-mail
No ads

Cons:

Most expensive of the bunch — $500 set up fee ($200 more if you want push)
$29/month fee

I’m sure there are other vendors out there — these are just the ones we looked at. As I learned more about what was available, I was also able to sort out my own priorities. Here’s how they shook out:

Ease of use — I wanted a content management system that I could handle on my own
I wanted to be able to share more than just my blog feed and tweets
I didn’t want to be limited to iPhone users so I wanted to publish for other platforms like the Droid
I wanted the push functionality
I wanted to be able to customize the navigation (both labels and order)
I wanted users to be able to share (Facebook, Twitter etc.) my content from the app
I wanted to be able to link to my books (with easy access to buy)

In the end, despite the higher cost — I decided on Mobile Roadie. They offered more customization and the ability for me to really include a wider variety of content in my app. But it was their content management system that really won me over.

In another post this week, I’ll give you a tour of just how easy it was for me to add content and create the look/feel of my app.

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How social media has changed my world

February 27, 2010

When I get into a conversation about social media — one of the questions people ask is "how do you find the time?" The truth is…I can't afford not to find the time. It's simply a part of my life/routine now.

Why? Because like the other things that are a part of my life — it matters.

It adds value.

Deborah Chaddock Brown recently wrote a post about the 7 things she loves about social media. She then asked a few of us to do the same.

(By the way…I'm pretty sure you could make the exact same 7 statements. If you couldn't — I challenge you to figure out how to change that ASAP.)

Thanks to social media, I'm smarter: Never before have I had more information at my fingertips. And when I have a question or want more — I just comment and voila, I get more.

Thanks to social media, I'm better connected: Social media removes artificial barriers. Bloggers, Tweeters, authors, experts — all willing to pick up their phone, answer an e-mail or fire back a text. Incredible.

Thanks to social media, I'm more informed: Different from smart — this is about immediacy. Remember when we had to wait for the evening news? That seems so archaic now.

Thanks to social media, I'm speaking across the country: Sure, I was doing this before social media…but now it's much easier. Conferences and event organizers find me rather than me having to market myself to them. I'm not longer a stranger — I'm Drew from the Marketing Minute blog.

Thanks to social media, I'm an author/editor of 3 additional books: Age of Conversation I, II and soon to be released III. If I had not met my friend (and co-editor) Gavin Heaton from Australia — it would have never happened. Not to mention meeting the 200+ authors from all three editions.

Thanks to social media,I'm more accessible: I love that people reach out to me on Facebook, LinkedIn, via e-mail and sometimes — just pick up the phone. There's probably not a city in the world where I couldn't travel and find a reader, collaborator and SM friend to grab a drink or get help if I needed it.

Thanks to social media, I've met all of you: I can't imagine not knowing you. Or not seeing you at a conference and getting a huge hug. Or getting a direct tweet with a question or atta boy now and then.

Social media has not only changed my world… it has rocked my world!

Thanks for being part of the ride!

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