marketing 101
I Love Terry Bradshaw's Persona
I love watching Fox Sports on Sunday Morning!
Have you ever watched the football analysis on Fox Sports? They have four football legends give their thoughts and projects throughout the football season. Curt Menefee (Sportscaster), Terry Bradshaw (pro quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers - 14 years), Howie Long (pro defensive end for the Oakland Raiders - 13 years), Michael Strahan (pro defensive end for the NY Giants - 14 years), Jimmy Johnson (Pro football coach for the Dallas Cowboys & the Miami Dolphins - 10 years). There is a lot of male machoism and guys just having the time of their life, telling stories of the real sport that they love. It is camaraderie at it best!
You ask what does Fox Sports have to do with marketing?
Well, I was in to visit my dentist the other day and I picked up the latest issue of the Sporting News. In it there was an article about Jim Kelly telling the story of who his idol was and is to this day (as told by Mat Crossman). He tells as a kid that he admired the Steeler's quarterback for his toughness and arm strength. And when he met him personally he was really impressed with Terry's attitude of "telling it like it is". "He doesn't sugarcoat anything. He says what's on his mind."
There are plenty of people that may disagree with what Terry says in public but he is not afraid of the critics. That is probably why he has been married a couple of times and is often the butt of every joke. But you know that he takes it with great assault.
I like to describe my personality like Terry's jovial persona. He is very laid back, gives these Southern analogies and has lots of people that love him. He is able to laugh at himself and recognize that life is not that serious. I have been found on many occasions to say silly dumb things that usually come out very wrong. But like my father-in-law says, "That is Mike and he would never intentionally say anything to hurt the ones that he loves".
The clients that have been with me the longest know that I will tell them what I actually feel about their marketing questions and I am not there to take advantage of them. I will bend over backwards to show them that I really believe in them and how they can grow their business.
I don't mind having some of the same qualities as Terry Bradshaw. I am memorable, my clients won't forget me. Sometimes I think that my personality is the best part of Inkspot Graphics!
© 2010 Michael Johnson - Inkspot Graphics. All rights reserved.
I would be a great Mystery Shopper for Safeway
I have found myself going to Safeway very rarely in the last year. This last weekend, I had to pick up my daughter's prescription at the last second and ran into my neighborhood Safeway store at 8:30am. "Rats, they don't open up till 9:00am" I will have a cup of coffee at the Starbucks and check out their magazine rack. Nothing really to make my visit a "Wow Experience"!
I am the shopper for our family (coupons in hand) and I was pretty religious about going to the Safeway every week for the last 16 years. About four or five years ago they remodeled the store and it was the start of the demise. Things drastically were moved around and I thought that the whole remodel was a large waste of expense (did they even take the neighborhood into consideration before they made major changes?). They are one of the few stores that use carts that have an electronic braking devise attached to it so that vagrants and locals couldn't remove the carts from the lot. I also noticed that even with everything marked down and use of my Safeway Savings Card still had me walking away with $100-$150 of food a week for three of us. (I have also learned some secrets about how they are going to use all that information that gets racked up on those cards. I will speak more to that in another blog post!)
I thought to myself, "I would be a Great Mystery Shopper"!
Couple of things that I noticed when I was waiting:
1. Frito Lay truck parked in customer parking lot.
2. No remote services for people in the local neighborhood.
3. New manager busy working not even looking up to give the cordial "How's it going & can I help you find anything?"
4. Display stands in front of display stands (in front of the check outs). Why would they do that? It allows for less traffic to freely move in front of the cashiers & covers up the other display stands.
5. People standing in line waiting to use the BlockBuster video rental. Would it help to offer them something to do while they are waiting?
6. Caught the Pharmasist on a bad day. . .
7. Magazines double stacked to fill space.
I have been told that the Rose City store has the largest retail receipts in all Oregon. It seems to me that they are just another big business trying to go through the motions. I am pretty happy at Winco. . .for the cheaper prices of groceries I really don't have any high expectations. I am more than happy to bag my groceries and talk to disgruntled checkers.
Doesn't this sound pathetic? What would you do to make this a more memorable experience?
© 2010 Michael Johnson - Inkspot Graphics. All rights reserved.
Letterpress - Great Self Promotional Piece
I was walking through the lobby of my office building and something caught my eye on the table.
It was a great self promotional piece for a letterpress printing company (in our building), Keeganmeegan & Co. I have always been fascinated by this mechanical form of printing.
I had to go down and introduce myself. I met the two entrepreneurs, Katy Meegan & Keegan Wenkman in their nice new studio. They started in 2007 with their company. Besides letterpress, they design, bookbind and are set up for silkscreening.
The other reason that I was fascinated with their two color, self promotion postcard is that it was printed on chipboard. Besides having just a normal printed marketing piece you should find ways to appeal to your potential client's other senses (taste, smell, touch, sound and sight). This was a very affordable but effective postcard. I love it.
I hope to do my next promotional piece with these two young entreprenuers! Maybe a thank you card, or Christmas card. . .
© 2010 Michael Johnson - Inkspot Graphics. All rights reserved.
