The Wax Blog

These days, the only job that seems to keep me interested is the one that combines quite a bit of disparate activity. In PR, we are part counselor, salesperson, troubleshooter, secretary, creative, mediator…you name it and we do it. As a kid I wasn’t much different. I had two main career aspirations – surgeon and go-go dancer.  In some ways, dissection and dancing go hand in hand in the public relations business –  so maybe I’m not that far off from my childhood dreams.

When I was 4, remember it was the sixties and go-go dancing was all the rage. I had the COOLEST pair of patent leather go-go boots, and the shimmeriest shiniest mini- skirt you’ve ever seen. Me and my friend Sheri would practice go-go dancing on the stone wall between our houses for hours. This is not unlike the activity involved with a pitch. Dress it up, make it snazzy, tap dance your way onto the phone with an editor and then hit ‘em with your jazz hands. (Everyone, do your jazz hands now. You know you want to.) That’s the outward appearance of PR to most people. We’re glad handers, salespeople, we add the “ta da” to the “to do”.

But in reality, there’s quite a bit more surgery involved than people are aware of. (more…)

Like a lot of little girls, I was absolutely horse crazy starting at about the age of 6. I took horseback riding lessons, I loved burying my face in the nape of their neck and I even didn’t mind mucking out the stalls.  My father was a doctor and so we had some means -  I begged him for a horse. He promised me when I turned 16, he would buy me a horse. That’s the danger of a promise. People might remember that you made it. (more…)

Legacy seems to be a very popular name for marketing firms, or so I found out when I googled “marketing legacy” to try to get ideas for this blog post. Lyric Marketing’s blog tells me in order to leave a good legacy I have to be authentic, provide valuable content, show my personality..I’m sure all these things are true but they really don’t help me understand what that legacy thing actually is.

The legal guys say it’s a gift of personal property. The dictionary guys say it’s anything handed down from the past. Christians seem to write a lot about leaving a good legacy for their children. Environmentalists talk about leaving a legacy that includes a healthier planet. eHow even has an article about leaving a good legacy through your writing.

I once wrote about how marketing karma could help or hinder your business. I think I’m going to have to solve this “legacy” question by giving you a list of questions to ask yourself about your product or service. (And to be fair, I’ve answered them as well) (more…)

I like this definition of love : a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection. This week’s #letsblogoff got me to thinking about how companies and brands would operate if their primary mission was for their customers to fall in love with them. Don’t laugh – it’s totally possible. For example, I’m in love with Calvin Klein. I’ve worn that label for years and I’ve never, ever been let down by a weird size or awkward cut. And it’s not just a “woman” thing. My beloved loves his Ford truck. It’s his third I believe (in 25 years no less). And maybe the biggest example of all is Apple – people love their Macs.

So how does a brand get people to fall in love with them? Initially, it’s  not in what they tell us, it’s what they DO and what they ARE. Then they tell us those love stories through marketing (or it just happens via word of mouth) and they get even more love-struck customers. Here are some more examples…would love to hear yours!

• Tom’s Shoes is a great brand that’s become lovable in a very short period of time. If you’re not familiar with Tom’s, they make these simple canvas slip-on shoes. Every time you buy a pair of Tom’s, they give a kid in a poor country a pair of free shoes.  This is an example of falling in love with a company because of what they DO, not because of a great product. Their marketing is full of the good deeds this company does.
• People love their iPads because of image. They’re small, sexy and cute (plus you can buy all kinds of cute outfits for it.) The iPad does a lot of things we never knew we needed (and probably still don’t) but who cares? This product is like the adorable Italian boy that scoops us up on a Vespa tour of Florence. We’re absolutely swept away.
• We do not love Kraft Macaroni and Cheese because it tastes so great (same goes for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches) we love Kraft Mac and Cheese because of the memories it evokes. Most of our moms made this for us as kids. We love our mac and cheese because it takes us back to a time when life was fun and so much simpler. And Kraft loves to tell us about it!
• How about a brand that sells absolutely nothing original – and yet we adore them. That’s Zappos, a company that redefined customer service online. Sure, they sell the same shoes you can get anywhere else. But what other company tells you that you’re such a great customer, they’re over nighting your new shoes for free. We fell in love with their employees, didn’t we? And they used those love stories to make us love them even more.

Love is the one ingredient that marketers forget about all the time. What would the world be like if companies like Comcast decided they were going to find a way to make their customers fall in love with them? How do you make YOUR clients fall in love with you for the long haul? It’s a question worth finding the answer to!

In marketing, there are holidays we come to dread.  Mother’s Day is a nightmare that starts in December if not before. We throw on our Christmas hats in July to get into the mood for pitching holiday stories to the longer lead publications. Labor Day is always a blur of trying to figure out the ‘back to school’ angle for the products and services we’re working on at the time.  For retail clients, it’s a matter of figuring out the promotion or sale idea to tie into the holiday. For consumer-based products and services, we have to determine a hook to interest the media.
As someone so wrapped up in the commercial side of holidays, Thanksgiving represents a day that can truly be celebrated for what it is. For many reasons, Thanksgiving gets missed by the marketers. The biggest shopping day of the year, Black Friday, comes right after Thanksgiving. Grocery stores always do an incredible business before Thanksgiving..they offer the same specials typically each year. Although Walmart and Sears have decided to stay open on Thanksgiving this year, most stores remain closed. The Super Bowl of retail, Christmas, is a much bigger target and one we spend months going after.

For all those reasons, Thanksgiving is the one holiday for me, as a marketer, that has no pressure associated with it. No clients struggling to make their numbers with a great holiday promotion. No radio schedules that might go awry. And so for me, Thanksgiving is a day where I can truly focus on the meaning of the holiday – giving thanks for every blessing.

And in case you’re wondering after all this whining – yes, I include my clients as part of those blessings.

Today’s #letsblogoff has inspired me to blog twice today but don’t worry, it won’t become a habit.  Be sure to check out the LetsBlogOff page for a complete list of participants or scroll down to the bottom of this post.

Most people find me to be a rather optimistic person- after all  when you’ve got the intensity of  a 100% Celtic, double Scorpio redhead,  you need all the daisies and sunshine you can get. Years ago somebody told me to stop “shoulding” all over myself. So I decided to try to take the word “should” out of my vocabulary altogether. What a difference that makes in attitude – and after all, outlook is really just the way one perceives what’s happening. (more…)