Passion Archives - Page 17 of 25 - McLellan Marketing Group

How would you tip the scales?

March 24, 2007

It’s the biggest sales job we have to do — sell ourselves.

We’re:

One of two agencies up for an account
One of two finalists for a job we really want
One of two small businesses pitching for a big new client

You know that the decision makers are in the final phases of weighing their options. Might be a few days, might be a week, might even be a month.

How do you stay top of mind? How do you let them know you really want the job/account? How do you demonstrate you’re the right choice? How do you balance the scales between looking too eager versus nonchalant? Or do you do nothing and just let your interview/proposal speak for itself?

How do you make sure that you stand out from the crowd?

Flickr photo courtesy of buggs.

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Is your brand acid-test proof?

March 18, 2007

I love (and try to live by) the famous quote "character is what we do when no one is watching."

I believe branding follows the same path. For decades, we (marketers) have been trying to craft and control all of our marketing messages. Now, don’t get me wrong. Consistency is critical to marketing success. That’s us standing tall and saying "here’s our story and our promise."

We need to know and believe in that story. We need our employees to know and believe in the story. But that’s only half the equation.

What happens when "no one is watching" is the other half. It’s the grace under pressure. It’s the acid test of your brand.

It’s the instinctual response to any situation. Especially sticky ones.

How does your organization respond when a reporter shows up asking invasive questions
What do you do when the homeless man takes up residence in your lobby
A competitor leaks a story that implies you are unethical
Misuse of your product results in a man’s death
You discover that something you own holds the key to another company’s success…or failure
What do you say when a former employee solicits a current customer
How does your employee manage an angry customer who is making a scene?
What’s the next step when you accidentally get copied on an e-mail from an employee lambasting you

This is where the "our brand is our logo and our tagline" philosophy falls flat. That version of branding is skin deep. And skin deep will not hold together when there is no brainstorming time or strategy bullet point in the marketing plan.

Is your brand deep enough? Would you survive the acid test? Would you and all your peers react in the same way to the situations above? Or do you only have a skin-deep brand?

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What’s memorable about you? (part two)

March 16, 2007

A few days ago, I asked:

If you had a client/customer who took their business to a competitor for a year or two and then decided to come back…how would they complete this sentence…

"Do you guys still….."

What do you do for/with your clients that is so memorable that even 2 years later, they’d hope it was still part of your company’s culture?

I know the kinds of things that went through your brain — we deliver on time, on budget. We partner with our clients. We are accessible. Etc. etc. etc.

And you’d think that those are the things that matter. After all, they’re the big things.

But they are also the expected things. Our clients have every right to expect that we’ll deliver a quality product on budget and on time.

What they don’t expect but grow to to love are the little extras. Those gestures that say "we’re glad you’re with us. Something special happens here."

At McLellan Marketing Group, that extra something comes in the shape (and flavor) of M&M cookies. Warm from the oven. Every meeting at our place. Every time. To add a little branding lesson into the treat, we only use M&Ms that match the colors in our logo.

The scenario I painted above happened to us recently. A client left and then decided to come back. As we set up our first re-meeting at the MMG headquarters — the client asked, "Do you still bake the cookies?"

She was pretty happy when I said yes.

CK talks about how the little things make a big difference. Check it out!

And — find a way to be memorable.

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A shirt only a mother could love!

March 14, 2007

Do you think anyone has actually bought one of these? (Shhh, I am getting my mom one for Mother’s Day!)

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It isn’t easy being green

March 14, 2007

Does your company turn your competitors green with envy? If not — why not?

And what are you going to do about it? How could you become more enviable?

flickr photo courtesy of hey joe…

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What’s memorable about you? (part one)

March 12, 2007

If you had a client/customer who took their business to a competitor for a year or two and then decided to come back…how would they complete this sentence…

"Do you guys still….."

What do you do for/with your clients that is so memorable that even 2 years later, they’d hope it was still part of your company’s culture?

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All about Apple

March 11, 2007

It occurred to me today how often I have written about Apple. Now granted — I love the Mac. I wouldn’t use a PC if you gave me one for free. But I’m not letting my brand bias my blog. (Try saying that 5 times fast!)

One of the truths about elite brands is that they create buzz. Look at how many opportunities for buzz Apple created that I grabbed onto:

Steve Jobs — $400 million smart (the free publicity gained by the iPhone announcement)

Hey raving fans, STOP promoting my product! (Apple lawyers trip over themselves, letting semantics get in the way of promoting the iPod)

Fortune 500 Corporate blog review series: Apple (A study of corporate blogs and Apple’s place in that mix)

Want to create an Apple-sized buzz? (Inc. com’s study of how Apple creates buzz)

Should I launch this product? (My thoughts on the iPhone launch)

Hey Goliath, I think you’re going down! (the Zune versus iPod discussion)

That’s a post about Apple at least once a month! How many companies do you know that can/do create that sort of positive buzz?

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Steve Jobs – $400 million smart

March 10, 2007

The front page of US Today’s Money section offers Apple a big pat on the back for their iPhone launch in January.

The article quotes a Harvard Business School professor who says that Apple has generated over $400 million in free publicity and Peter Sealey is later quoted, calling Steve Jobs is the best marketing CEO in the business.

Citing the 80% market share that the iPod enjoys (which now generates 50% of Apple’s revenues) the article goes on to list the high points of what they deem the Apple marketing manual.

Make innovative products
Keep it simple
Create truly memorable ads
Find an enemy
Offer surprises
Put on a show

Just listen to that string of words: Innovative. Simple. Memorable. Hero (my edit). Surprises. Show.

Wow. (Not like a Microsoft wow…a real wow!)

What do you think? Which item on this list do you think most businesses are best at? Worst?

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In lead generation – branding matters

March 7, 2007

It’s sort of a duh, isn’t it?

If someone knows who you are, they are more likely to listen and be influenced by you. We covered that in the Don’t talk to strangers post. And yet, there are many out there who will tell you — branding doesn’t matter. Just go out there and sell.

RainToday.com ‘s new research report What’s Working In Lead Generation sides with me on this one. (Or maybe it is the other way around?)

The numbers tell the story. Those companies that have are better known have greater success in chasing new business. As we talked about in the first segment of this series, the research shows that companies are gearing up to be more aggressive out there.

So reality check here. Your competitors are going to be making more noise in the market place. If they are also ahead of you in terms of brand recognition, you’ve got some serious trouble on your hands. What can you do about it?

You can be brave enough to brand. Be willing to be something significant to some, rather than trying to be everything to everyone.
You can teach your employees about your brand.
You can teach your current customers about your brand.
You can introduce your brand to potential customers.

And then you’re ready to learn more from the research document. More insights from the report are on the way….

Note: The full RainToday.com report shares 6 key insights which I’ll be exploring over the next several days with you. In the meantime, if you’d like to download their free 21-page summary, you can grab it here.

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Help me give college grads a fighting chance

March 5, 2007

It’s Spring. The birds will soon be chirping, the flowers blooming and the college grads descending like locusts on every marketing agency, marketing department and media outlet. They all want one thing — their first real job.

I remember how scary it was. 20+ years later, I shake my head at the mistakes the grads make while trying to vie for my attention. So I decided we (yes WE) could give them a gift that will put that digital camera to shame. We can help them get that job.

Here’s how you can help:

~ Post your answer to one (or more) of the following in the comments section:

How I landed my first job (war/success story)
What I wish I knew when I was trying to get my first job
My advice for someone trying to break into the marketing/advertising business
Words of wisdom about careers in general

~ Point to this post on your blog and encourage your readers to come over and add their 2 cents so we can gather even more answers and advice.

We’ll gather up all the comments, thoughts and stories and create an e-book for the grads to download and study. Who knows — maybe we’ll get some great employees out of the deal as well!

Come on — someone helped you once upon a time. Time to return the favor.

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