Memorial Day - take a moment and thank a veteran.

For the past two years Memorial Day has taken on a new meaning for me. My dad was a veteran of the Korean War and my step-dad was one of the heroes who breached Omaha Beach on D-Day. And although I have always held veterans in high regard, the importance of Memorial Day never really hit home. These were events in the past - before I was born - photos from history books or old albums.

Last year my son was still in Afghanistan serving in the Army when Memorial Day rolled around. He is part of the Illinois Army National Guard and they were deployed near Jalalabad for a year. Last year I understood what sacrificing for your country really meant. Last year, it was personal.

I remember driving through town on Memorial Day and seeing families picnicking, shopping, playing and just treating it like another day - an extra Saturday. They treated it just as I had every year.

Until...

...until my son watched four comrades die when an IED exploded under their vehicle. He called me the next day and poured his heart out. One of the young men had been his friend since kindergarten. He told me that he carried this soldier's body bag to the plane, because it was the last act of service he could do for his friend.

...until my son called me the day after Mother's Day to apologize for not being able to call the before, but there was another death in their unit and they killed the phone lines until the family could be notified.

...until every time the phones were down, I waited with dread for a military issued vehicle to pull up in my driveway and knock on my door.

...until I met the brave young wives with toddlers in their arms and a baby on the way who bid their husbands good-bye for at least a year and maybe forever.

...until I tearfully and gratefully greeted my son again a few months later and saw that his time over there will be etched on his soul forever.

This year on Memorial Day, stop and thank a soldier. This year, call your relatives who have served and let them know that you are grateful for their sacrifice. This year, drop to your knees and give thanks to God for those who are willing to fight for you and then pray for their safety and pray for their families. This year - remember.

Perspective...

Perspective is very important when you are marketing your products or your services. Can you view things from your customer's point of view. I consulted for a Fortune 50 company that was developing a new product. The product was state-of-the-art, it would save time and money and the engineers who had put it together were brilliant. But, it wasn't selling. So, I met with the team and asked them about the people who would buy this product. They knew exactly who they would be selling to. Then I asked them about that person's greatest need. We realized that they never met the real needs of their client base with the marketing of this product. Once we were able to look from the clients' eyes - the product was successful.

I think personal perspective is even more important. In today's market we often are overwhelmed with concern about the future. We sometimes let those worries cloud our own perspective of what's really important.

My daughter sent me this blog that I would like to share with you - there's a video link that's an overview and then a blog. Take a few minutes looking at these today. I think they will change your perspective on the blessings you have in your life and what is really important.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHDvxPjsm8E&feature=player_embedded

http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/

What - are you nuts?

I have a client who is a funeral director. (Yes, they need to market too! :) ) When I started working with him, he was spending LOTS of money on pre-packaged advertising vehicles - like print and television ads. The ads were well done - but they didn't represent him and in his community, his potential clients wanted to know and trust their funeral director.
I suggested that we drop the boxed ad campaign and turn to something more personal - like a "Chicken Soup for the Soul" type of column on death and dying.
The column was immediately successful because people wanted to know more about funerals and about grief - but it's a hard subject to broach in most situations. The column expanded to include stories about some of the people in the community - the dedication of the "church ladies" who always made the funeral lunches, the wisdom of the clergy and the burdens that are carried by the widows and widowers who sit alone mourning once the last cassorole pan has been returned and their friends and family have gone back to their lives. The columns were filled with humor, tenderness and honesty - at every visitation or service, at least one person would come up to him and comment on his column.
Then, about eighteen months ago, something magical happened. A little squirrel adopted their funeral home. The funeral director bought nuts, corn, feeders and a squirrel house for his new fuzzy friend and he started to write about"Buddy," the squirrel. He wrote about being completed enamoured with this new friend. He wrote about Buddy's antics and the ever increasing family of squirrels that now resided at the funeral home. People in the community responded like never before - he found that guests at visitiations would show other guests where Buddy's feeder was located. People would drop by the funeral home with gifts for Buddy. Buddy even began his own Facebook page. Everywhere in this small community, people would stop him and ask about Buddy.
This funeral director has ended up with a number of new clients directly because of Buddy and many more because of his columns. He is amazed that merely writing a column would create the change in his business that he has seen. But the explanation is simple - people got to know him and trust him, and when you are in a service business that is as personal as the death of a loved one, those are the two greatest commodities you can offer to your clients.

How do you get people interested in your product? How do you create excitement about a something that has been around for ages? How do you differentiate yourself from your competitor?

That's what marketing is all about. It's taking your product and putting a new "spin" on it. Either creating or highlighted how your product is different than all the rest.

My favorite example of the week comes to us from St. Charles, Illinois and was brought to my attention when I was reading my June issue of WIRED magazine.

Everybody does fitness programs, right? From Jane Fonda back in 1982 to workouts today that are specifically for things like cardio or strength training or flexibility or whatever you want.

How can you ever compete or generate interest in another workout program?

Enter ZombieFit - yes, you read correctly. ZombieFit is an exercise course that trains you to survive a rampage of the undead.

This is from their website:

"What if you woke up tomorrow to find your city overridden with zombies, would you survive?

This may seem childish, but by preparing for the impossible, you'll be ready for the improbable.

The keys to surviving Z-day are simple: Be able to lift and throw heavy things, run fast and for long distances, and be able to navigate obstacles and urban environments in an efficient manner. By following the ZombieFit WODs (workout of the day) and practicing parkour, you will achieve increased fitness through the performance of functional movements at high intensity and find within yourself the internal discipline and mental fortitude necessary to become a traceur."

These folks didn't just come up with a interesting name - they have created an entire package - website, blog, twitter - for their fitness regime. Brilliant!!! Congrats ZombieFit!!!

For those interested in more information - check out the rest of their site- http://zombiefit.org/

I recently had a conversation with a young man who is a new business owner. I'm the president of the Freeport Downtown Development Foundation this year, but I was also wearing my marketing consultant hat when I met with him. (Like I ever take that hat off!)

We talked about the importance of having a vital downtown and I thanked him for investing in the downtown with his business.

Then I told him that prior to our meeting, I had been casually asking people about his business. I gave him the feedback I'd received - both positive and negative - and have to give him credit because he really was thoughtful about all of the feedback. But, he made one comment that stuck with me about some of the negative feedback.

"Well, people have to give me a chance. I've only been in business for a couple of months."

The problem with that statement is that you only get one chance to make a first impression. If people don't have a good experience with your company or, even worse, they have a bad experience - they will not only not come back, they will tell their friends about their experience. Unless you do something fairly unusual in your marketing - like Domino Pizza's new advertising campaign, "We've changed our crust, sauce and cheese and hopefully your mind" - you don't often get a second chance.

So - put your best foot forward, shine up your shoes and be sure that when you meet your customers - especially for the first time - you always are on your A-Game. And if you make a mistake (not if, when, because we all make mistakes) be sure to correct it as soon as possible and apologize to your customer. They will reward you for your honest attempts to make things right.

How do you treat your employees?

I once had the opportunity to work with Joe Ritchie, the owner of Chicago Research and Trading - he was a brilliant man. He wasn't just brilliant because of the incredible mathematical formulas he created for forecasting option trends - he was brilliant in the way he treated his employees.

He had two basic philosophies:

One - treat your employee like a craftsman. He would go on to explain that if you hired someone to build you a cabinet and you allowed that person to make the decisions and create their vision, you would end up with a piece of art. But, if you stood over that person correcting and directing everything they did - the cabinet would never "belong" to the creator and would end up being just a collection of pieces of wood.
Two - employ "Message to Garcia" people. During the Spanish-American War there was an important message that needed to be taken to General Garcia (IIRC) - a soldier was dispatched. They didn't know where Garcia was or how this soldier was going to be able to reach him - they just gave him his assignment and asked him to do it. The soldier didn't stand around asking for advice, demanding to know from his superiors what his next steps should be, or needing a detailed plan in order to start. He just hopped on his horse and went forward to accomplish his mission. Of course, in order to have "Message To Garcia" employees, there has to be a relationship of trust between the employee and the employer. And the understanding that risk is okay - because even though you sometimes make mistakes and have to retrace your route - usually the greatest risk reaps the greatest rewards.

So, who do you allow your employees to be?

It's Wednesday, it's 77 degrees outside, the sun is shining and the birds are singing. It is just about a perfect day. I really want to blog about something significant today - but I think I have spring fever. :) Perhaps that is the significant message for the day - don't forget to smell the roses. Don't forget to look up. Don't forget that this world isn't all about marketing, accounts payable, accounts receivables and inventory - those are just stepping stones to what we really want - a better life, more time with our families and a legacy. I saw a commercial yesterday that won at the Cannes Film Festival - grab a tissue, watch the commercial and then make sure you take a walk outside today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbodlwzVLbE&feature=related