Marketing Archives - Page 45 of 67 - McLellan Marketing Group

When’s the best time to chase new business?

August 23, 2007

2007 has been a good year for many businesses. Studies are showing consumer optimism and spending are up. B-to-B reports are saying that businesses are also spending with renewed confidence.

You may be one of the lucky companies that's feeling pretty good about the work you have piling up. Customers are aplenty and the register is ringing. In fact, you are probably so busy you just don't have time to think about marketing. You'll get back to it when things slow down. Right?

Wrong. Really wrong.

The time to aggressively market is now. Why? Somehow we forget that client acquisition is hardly an instantaneous event. If we wait until we have extra time or really need the cash flow – we're in trouble.

The best time to reach out to potential new customers? It needs to be a constant part of your day. Every day. The challenge is to automate your efforts so that no matter how busy you are, it does not stutter or stop. So how do you go about making marketing part of your routine?

Identify at least one marketing tool that you can commit to for the rest of the year. It might be a monthly sales postcard to dormant customers, hosting a 4th quarter seminar aimed at your target audience, or a push in your print ad schedule.

Next, do something that locks you in. Print the postcards. Schedule the seminar and publicize the date. Sign a contract for the print ads. Do something that commits you. No matter how busy you are.

Is it enough? For most businesses, no. But it's a good start.

Create a stack of impressions

August 20, 2007

Who gets tired of your marketing messages first?

You do.

Long before your target audience has completely absorbed your key messages, you are so sick of them you just have to freshen them up. Right?

Don't.

Your target needs to hear the same message 8-13 times before it even registers with them.

How high do you let messages stack up before you get distracted/bored and change things up?

How close were you to the magic 8-13 times and maybe your first sale when you changed gears? When in doubt….leave it alone.

Be sure your marketing tactic fits the challenge

August 14, 2007

We all know that the airlines are in big trouble.

Back in '03, on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being very dire, aviation industry expert Darryl Jenkins ranked the health of the US airline industry about a 10-12.

And it hasn't gotten any better.

Picture the scene of what has surely happened:

The execs at United have gathered all their marketing folks and their agencies into a big room and said "come up with something to make people want to fly United. And once they do, let's be sure that they feel special."

All those brilliant minds whirling and working. The smoke practically billows from their ears. Then, suddenly someone gives a shout. They share their brainchild and like a heavenly choir, everyone in the room sings its praises.

And so, the red carpet is born. (This one was the carpet in LA that we were not invited to walk upon! And doesn't it look like they are proud of their own program? Nice, clean carpet eh?)

Yes…that's right. Now on every United flight, there are two walkways to the jetway. Divided by cloth retractabelts, there is the walkway for those not smart enough to always choose United or who are infrequent fliers. Then, just off to the side, is the holy grail. The red carpet. If you are flying first or business class you can stride onto the plane after first crossing over the United Red Carpet. (cue the crowd's ohhs and ahhs here)

Come on. A red carpet? (Which really, as Greg Verdino points out, is a door mat.) That is the best you can come up with?

You cannot put a bandaid on a broken leg. United's red carpet is a surface solution for a very deep problem. If all of their flights were not oversold, or they hadn't cut their schedules to bare bones or you didn't have to pack in your own pretzels, then sure…try the red carpet.

Think about your air travel experiences. Would walking on a red carpet make you feel valued? Or as Greg asks, would it just make you feel silly? The majority of United's passengers don't fly business or first class. So how do you suppose being reminded that they're the peasants who haven't earned the right to parade on the red carpet feel?

Where else have you seen companies put a bandaid on a broken limb?

Is your brand acid-test proof?

Tell me again that branding doesn’t matter

August 12, 2007

For those of you still on the fence about the power of branding, check out the results of the study just released by Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. The full study will be released in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

The study finds that kids aged 3 to 5, when presented with identical foods — one in a McDonald's wrapper and the other without — overwhelmingly rated the branded one as tasting better.

Hmm. And if branding affects consumers that dramatically by the age of 3, how do you suppose it works after another 20-30 years of conditioning?

Still wondering about the value of investing in and building a consistent brand?

Related posts:

A must read book on branding

In lead generation, branding matters

This is your brain. This is your brain on brands.

Nothing smarter than women who write!

August 12, 2007

The W list. The new Z list.

Myself, I'd have called it the S list. S for smart, sexy and more than a dash of sass.

Women who blog. Every one of them well worth the read.

A few I didn't see on the list (I'm guessing there are multiple versions bouncing around so they may be on *the* list.) But either way, they are must reads for me:

Engaging Brand Anna Farmery
Every Dot Connects Connie Reece
Marketing Idea Blog Janet Green

And the W list as I found it…

45 Things Anita Bruzzese
A Girl Must Shop Megan Garnhum
advergirl Leigh Householder
Back in Skinny Jeans Stephanie Quilao
Biz Growth News Krishna De
BlogWrite for CEOs Debbie Weil
Brand Sizzle Anne Simons
Branding & Marketing Chris Brown
Brazen Careerist Penelope Trunk
Cheap Thrills Ryan Barrett
CK’s Blog CK (Christina Kerley)
Communication Overtones Kami Huyse
Conscious Business by Anne Libby
Conversation Agent Valeria Maltoni
Corporate PR Elizabeth Albrycht
Customers Rock! Becky Carroll
Deborah Schultz by Deborah Schultz
Diva Marketing Blog Toby Bloomberg
Dooce Heather Armstrong
Email Marketing Best Practices Tamara Gielen
Escape from Cubicle Nation Pamela Slim
eSoup Sharon Sarmiento
Flooring The Consumer CB Whittemore
Forrester’s Marketing Blog Shar, Charlene, Chloe, Christine Elana, Laura and Lisa
Get Fresh Minds Katie Konrath
Get Shouty Katie Chatfield
Giant Jeans Parlour Anjali
Hey Marci Marci Alboher
Inspired Business Growth Wendy Piersall
J.T. O’Donnell Career Insights J.T. O’Donnell
Kinetic Ideas Wendy Maynard
Learned on Women Andrea Learned
Little Red Suit Tiffany Monhollon
Liz Strauss at Successful Blog Liz Strauss
Lorelle on WordPress Lorelle VanFossen
Manage to Change Ann Michael
Management Craft Lisa Haneberg
Marketing Roadmaps Susan Getgood
Moda di Magno Lori Magno
Modite Rebecca Thorman
Narrative Assets Karen Hegman
Presto Vivace Blog Alice Marshall
Productivity Goal Carolyn Manning
Spare Change Nedra Kline Weinreich
Tech Kitten Trisha Miller
That’s What She Said by Julie Elgar
The Blog Angel aka Claire Raikes
The Brand Dame Lyn Chamberlin
The Copywriting Maven Roberta Rosenberg
The Engaging Brand Anna Farmery
The Origin of Brands Laura Ries
The Podcast Sisters Krishna De, Anna Farmery & Heather Gorringe
Water Cooler Wisdom Alexandra Levit
Wealth Strategy Secrets Money Gym author & Founder Nicola Cairncross
What’s Next Blog B L Ochman
Wiggly Wigglers by Podcast Sister Heather Gorringe
Ypulse Anastasia Goodstein

Marketing Truth: People love themselves most of all

August 11, 2007

Here's the marketing truth. People love themselves. And in the end, trite as it has become "what's in it for me" is a very accurate reflection of the consumer's mind set.

Mike Sigers over at Simplenomics wrote about a fascinating study. One of the findings he sited was:

A study of college-aged women included this test: The women were given a pen and paper and asked to write anything they wanted.

460 of the 500 wrote their own name.

Wow.

And yet, time after time, marketers trip over themselves on this truth. Their efforts are almost insulting in an attempt to manipulate this attitude without actually understanding it at all.

Spike Jones writes at Brains on Fire about an Oakley campaign where the sun glasses manufacturer sent a 22-page booklet about their glasses and then asked the recipients to share the names of their friends who would also get the 22-page sales piece. The reward? An Oakley decal of course. Woo hoo.

What the Oakley example shows us is that marketers pretend to be thinking about the customer but they're really just looking in the mirror and hoping to see the customer's reflection in the background.

Not going to work, my friends. We're going to actually have to look away from the mirror.

Give a little

Newsletter No No's

Listen up (why your customers’ native tongue matters)

August 10, 2007

Have you ever been out in a public place, maybe enjoying coffee with a friend when all of a sudden, your ears perk up? You hear a familiar voice and you can't help but listen for it? Or you hear a phrase or word that trips off your own tongue on a regular basis?

It's human nature to be drawn to voices that feel familiar. Steve Lovelace from Build a Better Box has a great post about a study from the National Academy of Sciences about how infants respond to people speaking in different languages. The study suggests that even as young as five months, the infants recognize the tones and patterns of their native language and respond accordingly.

Customers are really just big babies. No, I don't mean fussy. I mean, just like the 5 month olds, they respond to their native tongue. But all too often — we don't write that way.

Look through your own communications pieces and see if you can spot one or more of the following:

Sales speak: "You can drive it home today!" Okay, yours probably aren't that blatant. But if it sounds like a slick salesman, it isn't going to fly.

Insider jargon: Do your materials look like an eye chart with all their acronyms? Are you sure your audience uses those same shortcuts?

Vague buzzwords: You know the words I'm talking about. Empower. Paradigm. Value add. It's not that those concepts are bad or irrelevant to your customers. But the words are so over-used that we assign very little meaning to them any more. Don't talk in generalities — be concrete.

Listen to your customers for awhile. Then, read your materials out loud. If they don't sound like your customers talk — re-write them. It really is that simple. Be sure you're speaking in their native tongue.

Barry Bonds: Villain or Victim?

August 8, 2007

First some salient facts.

I have been a Dodgers fan since I was a kid. I bleed Dodger blue.
I have a real reverence for the game of baseball.
I believe that Barry Bonds used/uses steroids.
I'm disappointed that he's tainting the game.
I'd never been to Dodgers Stadium before.

So last Thursday night was a big deal for me. My first Dodgers home game. Accidentally, it was a big deal for baseball too. Barry Bonds going for the home run that would tie Hank Aaron's record. The game was sold out.

Before the game, I was adamant. My biggest hope was that Bonds did not hit his home run during MY Dodgers game. I didn't want it to taint the experience.

We had amazing seats. One row off the field, half-way between left field and third base. You couldn't ask for better. It started the top of the 1st inning. When Bonds came up to bat — the crowd booed and hissed. Not very sportsmanlike, but I understood their sentiment.

Bottom of the first, Bonds trots out to left field and the taunting got even worse. It was relentless and stupid. And with every inning (and no doubt, with every beer) it got louder and more obnoxious. Every time he made a catch, they screamed. When he waited for the batter to swing, they jeered. When he warmed up, they chanted obscenities.

And a very strange thing happened. I started to feel sorry for Barry Bonds. Did he bring it on himself? Yes. Do I think he cheated? Yes. Did I wish he wasn't breaking the record? Yes.

But, did he deserve to be screamed at while he tried to do his job? No. Did he deserve the racial slurs? No. Were the guys shouting at him insulting the game too? Yes.

There's an important lesson in this for all of us. It's easy to portray the competition as the villain. But that's a very fine line to walk. Comparisons are fine. But taking a shot that really hits below the belt can quickly transform your competition from villain to victim. Which turns you from hero to bully. Bashing the competition is never going to serve you, long-term.

All of a sudden you can shift the balance and once you don the black hat, it's pretty tough to take it off.

A side note: Barry Bonds broke the record tonight. While I have more empathy for the situation he behaved himself into, I can't say I cheered as he waved to the crowd. But I didn't boo either.

Have a hero’s heart — don’t overthink, just act

August 5, 2007

Cam Beck (ChaosScenario) has a very thoughtful post about the tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis and the heroism that emerged. For him, it served as a reminder that as marketers, we sometimes go for the cheap pay off, rather than honoring the best of what humans can be.

In my comment, I made this observation. I think in moments of crisis (Mpls, 9-11, house fires) human beings don't think– they just react. And they react from a place very deep inside of them. Their true self. Their heart of hearts. And that's how ordinary people suddenly become heroes. Because they don't have time to talk themselves out of doing what is right and good.

I'm not just waxing poetic here. I think there is a rock solid marketing message in there. You know when companies mess up? When they over-think a decision. When they override their own instincts. When they suddenly worry if they're going to get into trouble. Let me give you an example.

We recently won a new client who told me an all too familiar story. They had a problem arise in their place of business and got some bad press coverage from it. Their first instinct was to have the CEO serve as the spokesperson and deal with the issue frankly and openly.

But, then they thought about it. And got some very bad advice from a PR professional who said the CEO should not be in any way tainted by being associated with this bad event.

What a crock. If they had trusted their gut and done what they knew was authentic to them — the storm would have passed quickly and been seen for what it was.

But instead, they over-thought the decision and made a complete mess of it. Because they ignored what their heart was telling them.

If you and your employees truly understand your organization's soul — you know what to do. In every situation. Stay true to that and be your company's hero. Don't think it to death. Don't wait for it to be perfect. Just listen to the company's heart and act.

The envelope please…

August 2, 2007

Believe it or not…there are books written about the variety of envelopes. And they have huge glossaries of envelope terms. As I flipped through them, I realized that some were new to me, so I thought you might like to bone up on your envelope knowledge.

B.R.E. (I started with an easy one): Business Reply Envelope. This usually has a first class permit, indicia and return address pre-printed on envelope.

Flush cut: to cut flush means to cut the top flap off the envelope.

Point: A unit of thickness equal to 1/1000 of an inch.

Blank: Paper stock that is die cut into appropriate envelope shape. When folded and glued, it becomes an envelope.

McIntyre Corners: Predominantly found in booklet style envelopes. Notches are made at the top of the two side seam shoulders to facilitate automatic insertion.

Thumb cut: A notched opening to allow easy access to contents.

Think about it….if you are sending a direct mail piece…why not improve the odds of your piece getting opened by doing something interesting with the envelope?

What have you done with the packaging of a direct mail piece to get your audience's attention?

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