INTERVIEW NO. 1 in INTERVIEWS WITH TOP BLOGGERS series.

I’m really pleased to publish Spotlight Ideas’ online interview with Drew McLellan (with brief bio. / details below) of Drew’s Marketing Minute blog.

WHAT INTERVIEW IS ABOUT:

• marketing mix (nature of)
• marketing technologies (most important ones of 2008)
• marketing mistakes (common mistakes people make in marketing)
• favourite entrepeneur (from marketing perspective)
  and more ..

Spotlight Ideas: What does ‘marketing mix’ mean to you?

Drew: I think in today’s world, marketing mix should be about the blend of branding (true branding, not a new logo or tagline), traditional marketing and social media/online marketing.  Those three elements are the legs on the marketing stool of today’s business – whether you are an international entity or a local Ma and Pa store or service provider.

You must have a strong brand – a way to differentiate yourself and give your potential buyers a reason to consider you over your competitors.  This is where being remarkable comes in.  Creating word of mouth/buzz simply because you have figured out how to be worthy of being the subject of someone’s story.

With most of the world still living offline and not being active in social media – you cannot ignore traditional marketing.  You need to know your target audience well enough to know what media has significance in their world.  And then you need to be there consistently with a rock solid, consistent message that you know matters to them.

Social media – blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. is the great equalizer.  It allows everyone to have a voice.   Any business who isn’t experimenting and exploring is missing a huge opportunity.  Sooner or later, everyone will figure it out.  But if they hop on the train right now, they can be an early adopter and get all the benefit/buzz from that.

The blend of the three is strength, consistency, going to garner them the biggest bang for the buck.  Each “leg” of the stool supports and helps the other.

Spotlight Ideas: What have been your three favourite marketing technologies of 2008 so far?

Drew:

1. Blogging.  It simply is the best way to connect with potential customers.  IF it is done right.  You can share your expertise, demonstrate what it would be like to work with you, and create a community that sooner or later, will need/want to buy what you sell.
2. Text messaging.  We’re just beginning to see the power of this technology, in terms of marketing.  When someone gives you permission to nudge them on their most used tool (PDA/phone) you know you’ve got a connection.  As long as you keep adding value, your audience will also let you soft sell.
3. Microblogging (Twitter, Plurk, etc)  Again, I think we are just beginning to see the potential here.  Once we get to the point where private Twitter networks (whether they are provided by Twitter or someone else) where intact teams or customer focus groups out in the wild etc. are using the tool – wow!

Spotlight Ideas: Why blogging at number one?

Drew: because it is the most widely accepted and mainstream of the three.  And right now, it presents the immediate opportunity to connect and create a community.

Spotlight Ideas: Who is your favourite entrepreneur from a marketing / branding perspective? Why?

Drew: Walt Disney.  He understood branding from the heart.  He knew it couldn’t be about him – it had to be about the customer experience.  He understood and preached that branding happens or is destroyed in the minute details, not the big, glaring things.  He was a brilliant storyteller but chose the stories that he told carefully – knowing they had to align with the brand.

And ultimately, I choose him over all the others because he knew a brand was much bigger than one man. He made his brand vision contagious and it lives on and grows long after his own passing.

Spotlight Ideas: What is the most common mistake / mistakes that people make in marketing?

Drew: I believe the most common mistake people make in marketing is that they let it happen by accident. They don’t know/understand their own brand.  They don’t invest the time to discover it.  They don’t spend time making sure their employees get it and understand their responsibility and freedom in delivering it. They don’t create a marketing plan and actually honor it.  And so their marketing – both good and bad, just happens.  And that inconsistency and bad marketing has killed many a business.

Spotlight Ideas: Your favourite TV commercial / viral for 2008?

Drew: There was a public service series on the importance of being a dad. It was very memorable, funny but also drove the point home.

Spotlight Ideas: What do you enjoy most about what you do as a marketer?

Drew: I love it when a client sees the light and begins to realize what smart branding and marketing can do for their business  That absolutely thrills me.

Biography
Drew is ’Top Dog’ at McLellan Marketing Group (Des Moines, Iowa) and co-editor / author of Age of Conversation. For more info. visit Drew’s Linkedin profile.
About Drew’s Marketing Minute.
Drew’s Marketing Minute contains bite-sized nuggets of interesting / useful information about marketing / branding in general in posts such as ‘Is your little wagon stuck’ (getting employees on board the brand); ‘Could you get to Cleveland without a map’  (marketing plan); ‘All I want for Christmas…’ (‘your company’s brand,  what are you all about?  What’s your brand promise?); ‘Are you really listening?’ ‘Don’t talk to Strangers!’ (‘It’s no different in marketing.  Consumers are fed up.  They are tired of being talked to.  They are tired of the unwanted invasion. They want to engage in a conversation.  With someone they trust.  Someone they know’); as well as more lengthy pieces such as a series of posts on Walt Disney (amongst ‘Greatest Hits’ list on left hand-side of blog).
Drew’s Marketing Minute is ranked (as of the published date of this post) no. 52 in AdAge Power150 advertising & Media blog list.

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