All’s fair in love and entrepreneurship. Marketing wisdom and observations from the world of outsourced marketing communications.

Not far from my house, there is a McDonald’s I sometimes frequent to indulge in one of my favorite “cheat meals.” It’s a “cheat meal,” because my personal trainer and my girlfriend only allow me to have such calorie-busters once a week to round out a more “veggie-oriented” meal plan that would make a cardiologist proud.

My preferred item on the brightly colored numerical list of choices is the #1 meal. For those not as susceptible to the lure of the billowy grill-infused-smoke that re-wires everything in my brain telling me to eat a turkey sandwich instead of the two all-beef-patties I really want – that’s a Big Mac with fries and a tall Coke. It’s predictably tasty, and for me, at least, always rewarding.

Yet despite the predictable and ordinary nature of my trip to the Golden Arches, a visit to a McDonald’s in Chicago is never. . .really. . .typical. In fact, it’s often like stepping into another country altogether, or several at the same time to be precise. The reason for this of course, is that Chicago is by nature a massive mix of folks from all around the globe, and my local McDonald’s is at times the perfect microcosm of this fine city.

There is the group of elderly Greek gentleman who occupy the four booths along the wall from morning till lunchtime, kibitzing with their long-time mates about a variety of topics du jour in their native language; the Polish couple with stroller in-tow; the teenagers off on lunch break from school and the staff comprised mostly of Latinos asking me for my order in English, but quickly shifting back to their own familiar tongue once I’m off to my own booth. It’s really a beautiful thing to see.

So all this diversity in what some might consider this most “American” of American restaurants got me thinking a bit. Here I am in the “heartland” of America, still “fly-over” country for a lot of folks on the east and west coasts, and I’m the lone American in Ray Crock’s paradise. How is that? I don’t see commercials for McDonald’s in Greek. . .or in Polish for that matter. Certainly in some areas of the country, and on some stations here in Chicago, there is Spanish language messaging streaming through homes. . .but regardless, I don’t think commercials and advertising are even close to the reason why people go to McDonald’s. It’s not what brought me there. (I was transfixed by the smell. Yeah, right.) How about the 15+ Greek gentlemen there every morning? And the couples, and teenagers and everyone else spread across every imaginable demographic? Why are they there? They’re certainly not all watching the same TV shows and frequenting the same websites. . .so what is it?

Well, in my experience, one of the major keys to crossing the boundaries of language, culture and ambivalence toward marketing, is the infusion of heart into a product or service. Now, feel free to dismiss this as “willy-nilly” marketing junk if you’d like, but if you sit back and really think about why it is you buy different things, choose a particular service, or frequent an establishment, I’d be willing to bet money that a large part of the reason you settle on your choices is because of how these brands, services and places make you feel.

When a company or individual puts their heart and passion into a product, it’s often difficult to contain the enthusiasm that accompanies the pitch. Even a product that just sits on a shelf can be imbued with a certain level of passion. Think about auto parts, for example. Not the most glamorous of products, right? But if you’re an auto mechanic, no doubt you’ll know who makes the best parts and why, and the packaging and branding that goes along with creating that feeling is all part of constructing the emotion the consumer “buys” in the end.

A brand is merely an extension of the people who think it, make it and sell it. And each time we interact with people associated with that brand, we walk away with a feeling of how it has impacted us. Were they nice to us? Did they treat us with respect? Did they treat the product with respect? With regard to the latter, let’s take a look at McDonald’s, for example.

When I worked there many moons ago, we had a policy that after a specific period of time, fries that were not sold were to be tossed because they no longer met the standards set forth by the company with regard to taste and appeal. I imagine the same is true today. You see, people who come to McDonald’s expect their fries to taste a certain way. . .to have a certain. . .crunch if you will. Mess with that, and you mess with the consumer’s attachment to the product. They end up feeling differently about it. Just ask someone at McDonald’s what it was like tinkering with the oil they use to fry up those babies, or execs at Coke what it was like after introducing New Coke to a puzzled audience of Coca-Cola addicts. Yikes. There is indeed real emotion tied up with any brand.

So what do we do to make sure we’re shepherding the desired emotional outcome among our intended audience? In my book, it looks like this: Hire the best people you can. Pay them well. Require that they contribute to the success of the brand – and reward them when they do. Invest in R&D. “Hang” with your customers, vendors, suppliers. . .find out what makes them tick. If you follow these simple guidelines, you’ll know exactly what it is your audience wants – and you’ll be able to deliver it every time. Ignore this simple premise, and you’ll find yourself delivering cold, wimpy fries instead. Serve too many, and people will stop coming back for seconds. Be passionate, it works!

When I was a kid, my mother always made it a point to remind me to say ‘please’ when asking a favor of someone, and to offer thanks when the favor was granted. Sometimes I will happen past a young parent telling their child the same thing; eager to instill a bit of politeness in their children despite their misfortune to grow up in an ever-grumpier world. And yet despite the barrage of messages from our parents, we have seemingly, en-masse, forgotten three of the most useful words in the English language.

To be sure, I am not a psychologist, anthropologist, morphologist, or any other sort of “-ist”, so frankly, I haven’t the foggiest idea as to why people don’t use these words as much as they should, but I do find it puzzling. What’s more interesting, though is that it seems we have forgotten to write them as well! It’s uncanny! It’s diabolical! It’s, well. . .it’s, just plain silly.

Writing a thank you note, is perhaps the easiest thing you can do to double your sales, double your profits, and double your referrals. It is consistently more effective than having the perfect product, the perfect sales pitch, or the perfect brand. To understand the power of a five minute hand-written note, just think back to when you were younger and your parents stuck that over-sized pen in your reluctant hand and put you to the task of thanking your Grandparents for the money they gave you for your birthday. Do you remember how pleased they were to receive your note? Well, magnify that by a thousand for someone who doesn’t already love you and you’ll understand the significance a thank you note carries. Letter writing, if it is not dead already, certainly has the bell attached to its foot and six feet of dirt on top. Let’s bring it back to life.

My background in sales has afforded me the opportunity to write many thank you notes, and I admit, I’ve become quite obsessive about it over the years. As such, I’ve worked out a bit of a system that has allowed me to stay on top of my thank you writing needs, so if you follow the very simple steps below you too can become a thank you letter writing King or Queen! And please keep in mind that this system is really for the every-day stuff. . .for more eventful occasions, you’ll need to throw your heart into it. After all, that’s really what it’s all about, right?

Here you go. The easiest way to get in the thank you note habit in 10 simple steps.

1. Buy a box of 100 thank you cards and a roll of 100 stamps.
2. Create a list of the 10 most frequent occasions for which you need to write thank you notes in your life.
3. Using your computer, write a thank you message for each of the occasions you listed above.
4. Write a sincere note, but keep it fairly generic because we’re going to need to use it again and again.
5. Save it on your computer so you don’t have to think up a message each time you run into Aunt Betty.
6. Now, this is the hard part! In groups of ten, take your thank you notes and hand-write the messages on them now. Don’t wait till you need them, just do it now and leave off only the person’s name. Be sure to use the same pen, because otherwise the ink will look to different when you send them off, and that’s well, ugly, and a dead give-away that you wrote them ahead of time.
7. Put your return address on each of the 100 envelopes you have and stamp each one as well.
8. Once you’ve written all your letters, put them away someplace safe and organized so you can access them later.
9. Create a habit! Use a page from your planner to note down people you need to write thank you letters to, and the occasion for which they deserve one.
10. At least once a week refer to your planner, pull out a pre-written, pre-stamped card, plop a name on there and stick it in the mail. Your clients, colleagues, family and friends will love you for it and you’ll never miss a thank you note opportunity again!

Cheers,
Doc Kane, Roscommon
Chicago, July 2006

Doc Kane is the president of Roscommon, a Chicago-based marketing communications firm that helps clients outsource their writing needs. Essentially, if it’s got words, Roscommon can help.   His firm has the privilege of writing for some of the world’s most recognizable brands, including Abbott Labs and Aon Corporation, as well as a good number of small businesses and experts making a lot of noise in their own backyards.  Doc has also been heavily involved in Internet marketing since 1994, and continues to help small businesses market themselves online via web content and SEO.  You can visit Roscommon online at: www.roscommon.com