Growing & Learning

Hey there, hi there, ho there…Marketeers Club!

January 23, 2007

The Mouseketeers reined supreme in the late 50’s as the ambassadors of the Mickey Mouse Club.  They sang, they danced and they were the symbols of all that was wholesome and good.

They hosted the Mickey Mouse Club and if you remember, each day had a special theme.

Mondays:  Fun with Music
Tuesdays: Guest Star
Wednesdays: Anything Can Happen
Thursdays:  Circus
Fridays:  Talent Round Up

Well, fast-forward about 50 years (gulp!) and I’d like to introduce you to a new club and its ambassadors – the Marketeers!

Like their predecessors, they gather together to celebrate what they believe in and the tools of their trade.  Here are some of the Marketeers themes.

Fun with Senses.  These Marketeers understand that to engage their audience their marketing efforts must use words, ideas and visuals to tickle the senses.

Guest Star.  Our Marketeers are smart enough to realize that the real guest star in any marketing is the consumer.  They deserve the spotlight, the attention and the applause.   Rather than hogging the mic, they wisely hand it off to the consumer, so they can share in the conversation.

Anything Can Happen When You Use Your Imagination. You can count on a Marketeer finding an inventive way to think creatively and tap into a human truth or two. 

Surprise!  Yes, like the circus theme of the original club, this day is all about not communicating in a trite, tired cliché just because its easier, cheaper or the client will buy it.

Talent Round Up.  An easy way to spot a Marketeer is that they’ve surrounded themselves with other smart, funny, clever, thought-provoking marketing pros.  Better yet — they reach out to help and support one another.  A Marketeer understands that the age of cooperation and sharing is a part of the new day.

A tough club to belong to, eh?  I agree.   But, the benefits are well worth the effort.

So who do we know that’s worthy of being named a Marketeer?  Who has earned the right to wear these hallowed ears?

Keep an eye right here for our inaugural honoree!

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A marketing tip from my Italian grandma: Count your bay leaves

January 20, 2007

No doubt you look at my last name and say Italian?  But rest assured, on my mom’s side I’m your amico!  Like all Italians, I had an Italian grandma.  And like all Italian grandmas, she had an opinion about everything and wasn’t afraid to share it or the life lessons she had collected along her colorful life. 

What she didn’t realize is that she also taught me some great marketing tips that, in her honor, I’d like to share with you.   

If you come to my house for dinner, odds are you’re going to get spaghetti.  I make the sauce from scratch, just like my grandma taught me to.  Now when I use the word recipe, that’s not quite accurate.  We do a lot of “a pinch of that” and “season to taste” sorts of measuring.

Except for the bay leaves.  My grandma always used to say, “count your bay leaves.”  Why?  Well, for spaghetti sauce to be incredible, it must slow cook on the stove for at least 24 hours, if not longer.  But when you finally take it off the stove and are going to freeze a bunch (because you always cook enough to make at least 6 dinners) you need to very carefully retrieve ALL the bay leaves.  Otherwise, when you finally eat the sauce, there’s a very bitter taste to it.  In making our sauce, you need to know what details matter enough to measure.

Marketing is like that too.  It’s an imprecise science at best.  We do a lot of seasoning for taste.  We know what all the main ingredients need to be, but the measurements are usually not exacting.  Much of it is gut instinct, experience, taking a taste and adjusting accordingly.

But, we can get so paralyzed by measuring and counting and analyzing that we lose track of our purpose.  We measure just to measure.  Because it feels safe.  We know we can count.  Bigger numbers mean better results, right?  Not always.  It depends on what matters.  It depends on why we’re doing it in the first place.

So straight from my Italian grandma — figure out what has the potential to make your sauce bitter if you don’t keep track.  Count your bay leaves.  But don’t sweat the rest.

Here’s the entire Marketing Tips from My Italian Grandma series, for your enjoyment:

• Count your bay leaves
• Be who you are
• Speak in your native tongue
• Treat them like family
• Sampling starts something contagious
• Give back

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Good Reads

January 16, 2007

I’m not sure how you can even stay current, let alone try to stay ahead of the curve, if you’re not doing a fair amount of reading.  Whether it’s books, blog posts or a great website packed with ideas — I think we all need to keep feeding our brains.

Here’s a couple thought provoking reads that are easily accessible.

Carolyn Manning is hosting another Carnival over at Thoughts & Philosophies.  Lots of good reads but the one I found most thought-provoking was The Science of Success from Craig Harper.

Over at Marketing Profs, Mack Collier has posted an excellent article called Ten Steps to Creating a Brand Ambassador.  You need to be a premium member…but honestly, you need to be one of those anyway. 

I’ve been a member for a long time and always thought it was a bargain.  The content is top  notch year round and now they are doing weekly case studies that are packed with ideas, insights and tough lessons.  Now, an uber bargain.

Go grab yourself some brain food!  The lollipop is optional but highly recommended.

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Come out from your hiding place

January 14, 2007

I’ve read that for every person who comments on a blog there are  100+ who are reading in silence.  Which is allowed. No one says you have to chime in.

But we’d sure like it if you would.  As I said to Phil Gerbyshak on the phone yesterday — every conversation is more fun if someone is actually talking back.

Phil was telling me that it’s National Delurking Week.  It’s the blogosphere’s way of inviting (yes, inviting) you to dip your toe in the water by posting a quick hi or giving me an idea you’d like us to explore here.

But, if you want to keep hiding — that’s cool too.  I hope you won’t mind that I’m going to keep seeking by posting interesting ideas, challenging commentary and trying to entice you out.

Flickr photo courtesy of Cashaww

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Brand yourself with a ringtone!

January 5, 2007

How a person brands themselves changes over time.  Clothing labels, playing certain positions on sports teams,  and Girl Scout badges evolve to the type of car you drive, your personalized plates and today in our all-tech world — cell phone ringtones.

Remember when you thought having personalized ringtones were a crazy fad the kids were into?  Now, it’s absolutely mainstream.  So here’s my question.

If you could only use one song for your universal ringtone (so everyone in your world and your general vicinity) would hear it and associate it with you — what song would you choose?  Let me give you a running start.

My fellow Iowa blogger Doug Mitchell mentioned PhoneZoo at breakfast this morning. 

Look at some of the ringtones you can have sent to your phone for free.

Are you an intense guy who’s life is sort of 24/7?  How about the theme song to "24" or Mission Impossible?

Are you whimsical and short?  How about the Oompa Loompa song from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?

I know…feeling silly and colorful?  Why not sound like Fred Flintstone or Peanut Butter Jelly Time from The Family Guy?

Go ahead….brand yourself with a song!

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5 Things meme makes AdAge

January 3, 2007

The blog meme "five things you didn’t know about me" has been circling the blogosphere for several weeks.  I got tagged and ponied my five answers and as the game suggests, tagged a few other folks.

Well, our little game has made the big time.  AdAge’s Digital Media Morph has referred to the game as"bringing a human side to online chatter."  You can check out the story here or  Download adage.pdf .

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Blogtipping — January ’07

January 1, 2007

I am joining with my fellow bloggers in celebrating some new blogs that I discovered this past month.  As is the blogtipping tradition, (created by Easton Ellsworth) I’ll offer a few reasons why I like the blog and one suggestion for improvement.

Guerrilla Consulting is Mike McLaughlin’s smart commentary of the sometimes scary waters of consulting.

Things I love:

• Posts are to the point.  All the words matter.

• You cite many different experts.  Lots of great perspectives.

• You link out to some excellent articles and resources.

Suggestion: 

• More, more, more.

Awash in Disney is John Frost’s view out his front window (6 miles from Walt Disney World)

Things I love:

• The randomness of the posts. Some Disney, some Florida and some life in general.

• Great conversational style.

• Love the Disney reverence. I’d be game to live on Disney property too!

Suggestion:

• Graphics to illustrate your point would be a good addition to a good blog.

Pig Wisdom is Jack Hayhow’s look at leadership.

Things I love:

• Content that will have you nodding.

• Great book references. Lots of new suggestions for the reading list.

• There’s lots of meat in every post.

Suggestion:

• Tell us more about the training you create.

There you have it discerning readers…until next month’s blogtipping adventure!

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Are you making this marketing mistake?

December 26, 2006

Do you suffer from the "everyone thinks about my stuff as much as I do" mistake?  Lots of marketers do.  We think that just because we know all about our product or service offerings — that everyone else does too.

Let me shatter that illusion for you.  But gently of course.

No one cares as much about your work, your company, your product etc. as you do.  And they never will.  This includes:

• Your employees
• Your current clients
• Your prospects
• The media

Why?  Because they are being bombarded with over 3,000 marketing messages a day.  We all suffer from serious information overload.  You’re lucky to have their attention for a nanosecond. 

How do you fight against that sobering fact?  We’re going to explore that over the next few days.  But it starts with recognizing that having their attention is a luxury, not your privilege.  And that you have to put up quite a fight to get and keep their attention.

So lesson #1 is respect your audience’s reality.  Understand where they stand and where they’re trying to go.  Which often times has little to do with you.  But that can change…I promise.  But only when what matters to them also matters to you.  It is never the other way around.  Never.

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Thanks Santa Seth!

December 24, 2006

There’s been a list that’s been flying through the blogosphere for the past week or better.  I posted the story of the list’s origin and added to the flurry.  It’s been building up steam since then with more good blogs getting the attention they deserve.  So many voices, so many new ideas and perspectives.

Then, on Saturday, Seth Godin added his voice to the mix, but as always with Seth — with a twist.  He not only posted the list, he created a plexo on Squidoo.  (who says bloggers aren’t creating a whole new language?)

Bottom  line, you can cast a vote for marketing blogs you enjoy.  Another way of voices being heard. If you’re getting some insight and ideas from the Marketing Minute, I’d very much appreciate your vote.

Here’s all you have to do:

1. Go to Squidoo.
2. If you have an account, click here, log in and vote (see #5).  If you don’t, sign up for one.  (free, easy and no spam promised)
3. Up in the upper right corner, you’ll see "find a lens on"…enter z list in the box
4. In the search results, you will see The Z List by Seth Godin.  Click on it.
5. Scroll down the list and find Drew McLellan: The Marketing Minute (or other blogs you love)
6. Click on the up arrow (it will turn green) and then refresh (right next to the vote count)
7. Watch your e-mail to confirm your squidoo account and you’re all done!

Thanks to Seth for turning up the volume on these great blogs and thanks to all of you who will take the time to go vote! 

This whole "experiment" reminds all of us that blogging is a great equalizer.  It allows voices of all pitches and tones to be discovered, listened to and learned from.   Is your voice in the mix?

Update:

Not cool.  About 24 hours after Seth tries to do a nice thing — people are doing a not so cool thing.  Someone(s) gone through the squidoo list and "downgraded" a bunch of the blogs so that lots of people are in negative numbers.

You know…call me naive and idealistic — but come on.  If you like someone’s blog, vote them up.  If you’re not crazy about it — just leave them be.  All of a sudden Mack’s fears are coming true — now it looks more like a popularity contest rather than giving some good blogs their due.

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What do you suppose is up with this?

December 24, 2006

Image via CrunchBase

Amazon is trying something new. 

• What do you suppose they gain by creating this new interface? 
• Is it something you’ll use? 
• How would you determine the credibility of the answers you got?
• How would you reassure someone of the credibility of the answers you offered?

Hmm.

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