Category Archives: Unconventional Marketing

Hollerin’

Posted on by
4

Overlooked Marketing Edge

Here are a few tidbits from my presentation yesterday. I spent most of my blog time (and more) preparing to speak at Entrepreneur’s Day, so this might be my only post this week.

The Marketing Proverb

The Well

If this is a marketing proverb, what is the moral?

holler1.jpg

or, some ad agencies prefer to

Send in the Clowns

…simply entertain.

Do you ask this question?

How did you hear about us?

TV

Radio

Newspaper

Direct Mail

Billboard

Other

Hey car dealers… want to see some results?

TV Doesn't Influence Car Purchases

Cars

When you see 71% of car purchasing decisions are influenced by word of mouth…

Tiger

You’re right, but you can…

Steak

Tipping Point

How do you influence word of mouth?

Trendsetter

I’m not talking fashion trendsetters (unless you’re an apparel company). If you’re a technology company, these are the geeks. They’re the raving fans of your industry.
Baton

Do you make it easy for people to hand off your message to others?  More on this here.
Bad Baton

The coupon above might get one person to show up, but it doesn’t encourage them to hand off the baton.

A Better Baton: Drink Coupon

This coupon creates social currency. “You’ll like me more because I got us all free drinks.”

Create Community

Online (blogs/message boards) or offline (customer advisory boards/customer events).

Keep Your WordGodin on Keeping Your WordTypes of WOMBooks on WOM

So, maybe we add two lines to our marketing proverb:

Well 2

And the moral of our NEW proverb is…

Holler 2

In Sheep’s Clothing

Posted on by
2

We’re on the lookout for wolves.

You know… back-stabbers, saboteurs, spies and just plain evil-doers.

We suspect they’re among us. The wolf in sheep’s clothing.

But there’s something much more dangerous in our midst, also masquerading as sheep.

This “silent killer” of companies is much harder to find than the wolf. He wears the disguise well, even fooling himself. Her mission is so well embedded, if she doesn’t kill the company she most surely kills herself – her future.

This assassin might be you.

It is not the wolf you should fear, instead you should be looking for the PEOPLE in sheep’s clothing.

These are the people who are sheepwalking (thanks Seth) – mindlessly staying in line and feeling as though they’re “doing their job.” This is the cashier at Walgreen’s telling me I can’t purchase a giftcard with my credit card, but not knowing why. Worse yet, it’s the manager telling me the same thing – “It’s just our policy. That’s what they [corporate] told me.”

It’s the pilot not fighting orders to keep passengers on the tarmac. Even after he realizes he is close to having a mutiny of passengers on his hands. He knows they’re much less likely to fly his airline next time, but he’s just “doing his job.”

What a far cry from Southwest’s interpretation of the golden rule:

Treat others the way you want to be treated

Answer every letter
Call back
Bend the rules
Do the right thing
Find ways to say yes
Treat with respect

This is an excerpt from a wonderful luncheon presentation I recently attended. Kris Holt and Scott Moore of Southwest Airlines came and spoke to our marketing association in Tulsa, OK.

Look at that list again.

Bend the rules? Find ways to say “Yes”?

Are you doing that?

Better yet, are you building a culture that encourages it?

Stop pulling the wool over your employees’ eyes. Stop pulling it over your own.

Neck-Worthy Ideas

Posted on by
Reply

In this land of opportunity, how do you decide which ideas are the best to pursue?  Most good ideas require hard work and/or significant money in order to execute with excellence.  This means someone has to stick their neck out (that’s you or me).

When your neck is on the line, risk assessment becomes a lot fuzzier.  Our judgment is clouded by fear and doubt.   A great idea suddenly becomes a huge risk.  Do you dare to bare your neck?

Seth has a great comparison list illustrating two concepts of hard work.  The last one is the kicker.

Having a great idea       |        Sticking your neck out

I pride myself in having great ideas.  But looking back, I’ve rarely stuck my neck out.  Too many fuzzy decisions.

What about you?  Are your ideas neck-worthy or are your decisions fuzzy?

P.S. Thanks for sticking your neck out Seth, and encouraging the rest of us to do the same.

The Old Old is the New New

Posted on by
2

I’ve grown quite fond of my old-style hats. I have a fedora and a willis hat. When I wear theses hats I get comments from people (and sometimes stares). Yet, these were the hats everyone used to wear. Now, it seems like a very new thing to do.

Of course trends come and go and come back again. That’s nothing new. But it has made me think about how some of the recent trends in marketing are not new, but old. When business became modern, the old way became passé. In our postmodern world, old has become new:

Old Old is the New new

*see Brand Autopsy’s High-Tech vs. High-Touch post

**see Seth Godin

Making Your Own Measuring Stick

Posted on by
3

Earlier this week I mentioned this was possibly Seth’s most important post.

Why do I say that?  Because as a society, we allow others to define success.  So we end up striving hard and sacrificing much in order to acheive someone else’s definition of success.  Living for too little a goal.

My take on life is we each have our own measuring stick. This is true of businesses as well.  If you’re adopting your definition of success from another person or adopting your company’s from the competition… you’ll probably fail even if you “succeed.”

This week, I heard the story of a man in our church.  I’ve known him for a while.  I have always been amazed by his involvement in leading others in the church and being involved in their lives.  He seems very successful in many ways, including busienss.  What I discovered this week was he capped his lifestyle early.  He owns his own business and now only works 20 hours a week.  The rest of his time is spent on his family and in ministry.

He has a different definition of success than many businessmen.

What’s the measuring stick you back your heels up to?  Tiptoeing and stretching in order to feel tall?  Have you ever wondered if being tall equals success?