January 21, 2018

Drew McLellan

Episode 2: All Things Marketing with Drew McLellan

Drew McLellan has worked in advertising for 30+ years and started his own agency, McLellan Marketing Group in 1995 after a five-year stint at one of the world’s largest agencies, Young & Rubicam.  

He is considered a national marketing expert. He launched MMG’s blog in 2006 and it has been on the AdAge Top 150 from the list’s inception in 2008. His first book, 99.3 Random Acts of Marketing, was published in 2003 and Drew and Australian marketer Gavin Heaton created the Age of Conversation series of crowdsourced books in 2007. To date, the AOC series has raised over $50,000 for charity.

Drew’s writing has appeared in Forbes, The Washington Post, Entrepreneur Magazine, New York Times, CNN, BusinessWeek, and many others. The Wall Street Journal calls him “one of 10 bloggers every entrepreneur should read.”

His favorite topics include all things marketing and entrepreneurial, being a dad and how the Los Angeles Dodgers keep breaking his heart.

“When you know who your audience is, you can narrow the conversation so you only talk about what truly matters to them. That captures and keeps their attention.” - Drew McLellan

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Why having a clear picture of who you are as a business is the best tool when it comes to marketing
  • How to figure out who your “sweet spot clients” are
  • How walking away from business can be the best thing you can do for your business
  • Why the channel you should be paying the most attention to is your own website
  • Why your website needs to be mobile ready
  • How do you show you’re serious as a professional
  • Should you be blogging
  • How many clients do you really need
  • In order to buy, your clients have to know, like and trust you
  • Why ratings and reviews are so important
  • How to come up with blog content consistently
  • How to “slice and dice” your social content

The Golden Nuggets:

When it comes to marketing, casting too wide of a net simply means you are going to catch a lot of prospects or customers that you really do not want. – @DrewMcLellan Share on X When we start our business, we believe that any dollar is a good dollar. But you quickly learn that earning some dollars actually costs you a great deal more. – @DrewMcLellan Share on X Everyone wants to know what the hot new channel is but that’s not where we should focus. We need to pay attention to where our audience is already hanging out and be there. – @DrewMcLellan Share on X My marketing advice for 2018? Do fewer things but do them more often and better. Three marketing tactics delivered with consistency and excellence beats 10 tactics any day. – @DrewMcLellan Share on X If you only have time to pay attention to one aspect of your marketing, it should be your own website. That’s the workhorse for any business. – @DrewMcLellan Share on X Marketing is not a quick fix, so if anyone promises you instant results -- they're lying. – @DrewMcLellan Share on X We think of marketing as constant seed planting. You just keep scattering them about because you don’t know which ones will take root. When we talk to clients, we tell them that they’re the Johnny Appleseed of their business. – @DrewMcLellan Share on X Remember that to buy something, people have to know, like and trust you. They have to know who we are; they have to like us; and they have to trust us whether they’re buying a tube of toothpaste or a car. – @DrewMcLellan Share on X For me, blogging is never about selling. I just ask myself what are our clients worried about and how can I relieve that worry? – @DrewMcLellan Share on X Marketing is permission based today, which means that we must know who we serve and go out of our way to be helpful in that service. You’ll always come out ahead if you take that route. – @DrewMcLellan Share on X When it comes to social, don’t try to be a mile wide and an inch deep. Far better to only be a couple inches wide but a mile deep so you can create relationships. – @DrewMcLellan Share on X

Ways to connect with Drew McLellan:

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