20+ years ago, he created a fantastic creativity tool called A Creative Whack Pack.  It's an illustrated deck of 64 creative thinking strategies that will whack you out of habitual thought patterns and enable you to look at your life and actions in a fresh way.

It's an awesome way to think different, to see something fresh and to get yourself unstuck.

Well, it's 2009 and so of course Roger has created an iPhone/iTouch app for thiscreativity powerhouse.  And...he's given me 5 promo codes, so you can download it for free!

Here's how you can win.  Leave a comment below and tell us one way you get your creative juices flowing.

I'll do the drawing on Friday Saturday morning so get those comments coming!

Also, check out what David Armano had to say about the app here and here.

Check out these jazzed up bar codes. (click on the images to see a full-size image in a pop up window)

 

Lest you think this is a new idea, apparently Rick Tharp was doing it (see his version) way back in 1986. 

(Hat tips to Beverly Koehn and Beth Wampler for sharing this Fast Company article on the bar code designs)

So I did a series of posts on logo design and offered one organization a chance to win a free logo....as long as the entire process could unfold here on the blog, so we could all learn from it.

The series looked like this:.

• We talked about 5 tips for designing a new logo
• Announced the contest and gave the rules
• Shared a creative brief, with questions you should ask yourself before you start a new logo process
• Colfax Main Street responded to the creative brief...and we shared their answers
• First round of logos presented

That last post was where things spiraled out of control.  The city of Colfax (and most of my commenting readers) weren't crazy about any of the logos.  So I sent all the critiques back to the logo company and then heard nothing.  I've attempted to e-mail my contact there for several months -- but nothing.

But I promised the city of Colfax a new logo and dang it, they're going to get one!

This is where you come in.  My company, MMG could do it.  We design logos for clients all the time.  But instead, we decided it would be more fun and more of a learning experience, to open it up.  So here are the "rules" as it were:

~ We're putting up a $250 VISA gift card for the winning designer. 

~ Download a PPT of photos from the town by clicking here

~ Read Colfax's reaction to the Logo Inn logos by clicking here

~ Submit your new logos (jpg format please) in BLACK AND WHITE ONLY to me (drew@mclellanmarketing.com) by Friday, December 4th

~  We will publish all the choices here (with a link to the designer's website/blog)

~ Colfax chooses a winner and you get a gift card before the holidays!

What do you say?  You ready to show the world your work and help out a great Iowa town?

But don't take my word for it.  Listen to what the Midwest Book Review (one of the most respected reviewers out there) had to say:

"Examples, recommendations of common tools to organize one’s thoughts, and a sprinkling of solid business advice fill out this superb, easy-to-use guidebook recommended for business writers of all skill and experience levels."

If you buy the book by end of the day on Saturday the 14th, you'll only pay $10.37 AND you will get a bunch of bonus gifts.  (click here to read about the special promotion and buy your copy!)

But wait....I have five copies to give away.  I will draw for the winners Friday morning, so you'll still have plenty of time to buy a copy if you're not a winner.

To be eligible for the drawing, just leave a comment on this post!

Go forth and write well!

Update:  The five winners are:  Copywriting Maven, Director Tom, Larson Bennett, Kathleen the savvy VA and Erica! 

When I asked how they would normally promote it, they said...we'd make up a flier with all the information and attach it to an e-mail.  We'd send it out to everyone.  We might send it out a couple times or ask their supervisors to also send it out.

There's nothing wrong with what they're doing.  But, there's not enough right. You've got to toss a lot of messages and media into the blender and mix it all up -- to try to reach everyone.

Remember, your audience needs to hear your message 8-13 times before they notice that you're talking to them!

Here are some other ideas we came up with as we brainstormed:

Tease them:  Don't give them ALL the information at once.  Give them the bare bones (date, time, place etc.) but keep some of the details for the next communication.

Catch it on camera: Run around the office with a flip camera and record some people who know about the event.  Ask them why they're excited or looking forward to it.  Post it on YouTube, your corporate intranet or someplace else that employees will go see it.

Drip marketing:  Remember....you want your marketing to be a drip, not a downpour.  So why get 6-8 little tidbits of the content (think if it like a snack...which is how we like to consume information) and rather than send out one huge e-mail....once a week, send a tip tied to the content of the training.

Let them eavesdrop:  Using BlogTalk Radio or Skype + Audio Hijack, whip up a quick 5-minute podcast with the presenter.  Let the potential audience hear the presenter's enthusiasm and energy around the topic.

Make it personal:  Draft a quick 15-30 second script and ask every supervisor to personalize it and then leave a voice mail for their direct reports....inviting them to the event.

What have we done?  We've hit them with the written word, teased them with tasty snacks of content, let their peers and supervisor weigh in, used multi-media, and made it personal.

All for the cost of....$0.  (Audio Hijack is $32 if you opt for that solution).

How could you use this recipe for things you need to communicate internally?

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com

Imagine if every time you answered the phone, shot off an e-mail or met with a client, you were filled with that attitude.   How might that change the dynamics of your relationship?  How would a bit of reverence change your company's culture?

I've said it before....if you can't genuinely love your clients, you should fire them.  They deserve better.

And sometimes it feels as though we've known each other forever.  That's certainly true for me of Gavin Heaton, CK, Lori Magno, Luc Debaisieux and many others. 

But there's this agency guy named Jay Heyman who lives in New York City -- and he and I connect in a whole different way.  For some odd reason, we end up writing posts on the same subject or about the same subject on a regular basis!

Which of course means that I think he's brilliant! 

Anyway...the guy who lives inside my brain wrote a book called All You Need is a Good Idea (same name as his blog)  Well, now he has written a bonus chapter which he would like the readers of his blog to have for FREE. 

It's nine pages of rapid fire ideas...no theory or set up.  Just straight marketing talk.  You can download it here.

Graphic courtesy of Shutterstock.com

None the less, here's what I've been reading these past few weeks and my take on each.

Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz (buy it here)

If you think you've already read this book -- you haven't.  Andy did a revised version in early 2009 and added lots of new case studies, worksheets and even some new chapters.  So don't be fooled.

With all the case studies and worksheets -- if you read this book and don't walk away with a huge list of action items...shame on you.  This book is built to be more of a workbook than a text book.

It's light on theory, heavy on real life examples and ideas you can implement quickly.

Bottom line:  Very practical examples.  Lots of idea generators.  It's not rocket science...and yet most people stink at it.  Read the book so you don't stink too.

The Three Laws of Performance by Steve Zaffron & Dave Logan (buy it here)

The premise of the book is that there are three laws that will always affect performance…just like the law of gravity will always have an effect on if you're heading up or down!

The three laws are:

• How people perform correlates to how situations occur to them
• How a situation occurs arises in languages
• Future based language transforms how situations occur to people

Bottom line:  Superb case studies and learning.  You can't skim this one...it's a bite and chew thoroughly type read.

War in the Boardroom by Al & Laura Ries (buy it here)

Al & Laura Ries are fixtures in the marketing book genre.  Their newest book, War in the Boardroom is going to keep them on top of the heap.

This book looks at why left-brain management and right-brained marketing don't see eye to eye and what to do about it.  As the book jacket says...management deals in reality, while marketing deals in perception.  And so the battle begins.

Packed with dozens of lively, real-world examples clearly demonstrating the difference between management and marketing -- and where both groups have taken their brands for better or worse. And you'll want to read their predictions about some of today's marquee brands such as Google and Amazon.

Bottom line:  You'll love the examples, stories and tone of this book.  I have to believe you will see both sides of the argument a little differently after reading the Ries' latest hit.

I'm with you.  I get the time crunch thing.  I'm caught between that same rock and hard place.  But...I have figured out some ways to create time/time savers when it comes to social media.  So, I thought I would share what works for me, with the hopes that you can steal some of these ideas/tools.

I'm not saying these are the only tools out there...but these are my time savers.

One of the elements of Twitter that I think most people under-use is the ability to evesdrop on people as they talk about topics that matter to you.  To help me stay in touch, I've created some saved searches in Twitter's web interface.

I just check each of the searches once every few days...and I'm always current.  

When most people first dig into Twitter, they think of it as a very public social media tool.  While I enjoy the public banter and resource sharing, for me....about 50% of my Twitter conversations are private or to a small group of people. I can use the regular DM feature on Twitter for one-to-one conversations. 

But, when I want to send those DMs to a group of people, I use Group Tweet to set up private groups.

I can post updates to everyone in the group using direct messages. When the group account receives a direct message from me, GroupTweet converts it into a tweet that all followers can see.

Because I usually want to keep those updates private so that only my group members can see them, I just created a special group account on Twitter, protected it, and use that one.

I actively manage and use two Twitter accounts.  My personal account (@drewmclellan) and our agency's account (@mclellanmarket).  And between those two accounts, I typically get 25-50 new followers each day. 

I simply do not have the time, every day, to check out each follower and decide if I want to follow them back or not.  And my philosophy on following is -- unless they're a spammer or are really foul mouthed or only tweet in Finnish, if they follow me -- I'm going to follow them back. 

So I use SocialToo.com.  I have it set to automatically follow everyone who follows me.  Then, about once a week (typically on Sunday afternoons) I click on the following link (right under my Twitter name) and can very quickly scan the people who have been added that week.  I just unfollow the spammers, foreign speakers or those who tweet in a language I cannot read...and voila, my following list is updated.  It never takes me more than 15 minutes.

I also love SocialToo's survey tool.  I can create a poll...and SocialToo allows me to tweet it out and then tabulates the results.  Which of course, I can tweet back out.

HootSuite is the key to my Twitter life.  It allows me on one screen to see:

• My Twitter Stream (what everyone I follow is saying)
• Tweets that are talking to or about me (@drewmclellan)
• Direct messages to me
• Results of searches I have set up
• My most recent tweets
• Track the stats on my tweets (how many clicks, etc.)
• Any tweets I have pending

 
What?  What do you mean, pending tweets?  I tend to be a night owl.  Many times, I find something I want to share on Twitter around 1 am.  None of my core followers are online at 1 am.  But, if I wait until morning, I will either forget or not have enough time to tweet it.  So I use HootSuite to set up a scheduled tweet for the next morning (or whenever I want it to go out).

See the box at the top of the screen shot?  That's where in HootSuite, I type my tweets.  I can either just click submit and it tweets immediately, or I can click on the send it later link and choose the date and time I'd like it to be tweeted.  As you can see, it will also auto-shrink URLs for me.

Because I don't just use Twitter for my jollies, but it's both a business tool and I need to understand it so we can advise clients properly -- I want to keep an eye on my activity and monitor how I am balancing my tweets etc.

Twitterfriends allows me to see some very useful stats like how often am I being re-tweeted and or how many replies I am sending daily.  

I can also compare my Twitter stats like stickiness (mine is 17% and Problogger's is 25%, for example) to other Tweeters.  There are also some maps that show relevance, link usage and some other nice tools.

I know this was a very long post for me.  I'm hoping it has been so helpful that you didn't notice or didn't mind.  Stay tuned...I'm working on another couple of these making time posts.

Well this year, they've upped the ante.  They've created a 3D experience where you can "put on a mask" and record a Halloween greeting.  Basically, it's a digital hologram called augmented reality.  (Kevin Dugan explains it better than I can.)

Using this technology and your webcam, you can record a :30 video message wearing one of the masks and altering your voice to match the mask.  Then, you can e-mail it to someone, or share it on Twitter or Facebook.

Come on...you know you want to try it.  Go give it a spin here.

But...this isn't just for fun.  Much like Office Max's Elf Yourself success (read about their PR results here and here) this is ultimately about selling product.  PR is dandy, but are we moving product?  

Yes, it will.  But it doesn't happen overnight.  Office Max and Meijer need to wrap their arms around the idea that this is a long term strategy.  (And I suspect they both have)  This is not a "put out a 20% off coupon and watch them flock in" sort of an effort.  This is brand building.  This is buzz building.  This is about creating connections.

And when someone feels an affinity or connection to your business, eventually they'll come back and buy.  I've said it before but...marketing is not a sprint, it's a marathon.  And both Office Max and Meijer are proving they're in it for the long haul.