marketing


Since I’ve started writing this blog I’ve tried to really take in what’s going on around me—looking for topics to write about—observing things. And because my background is in marketing, I tend to look at various signs and billboards. Recently I’ve seen a few signs and ads that have made me giggle a bit. Here are a few. I know some are hard to see—I guess I’ll have to actually stop the car instead of doing the drive-by photography.

 I love this McDonald’s billboard ad. Clean, easy to read, and funny.

 McDonald's billboard ad

This church in Dagsboro, DE had the following message on their marquee. It says, “Guess who is coming back.”

church sign 2

For anyone who may not know, the message above is referring to the second coming of Christ. The second coming will mark the end of the world as we know it and will start a new beginning. At first there will be devastation but then literally—heaven on earth.  So I thought it was funny that just a bit further up the road was a sign for Coffin St.

Then there was this restaurant. It’s sign out front says, “Come on in and EAT. We can seat 144 people, 16 at a time.” I love it—witty and good marketing.

 eat diner seating

I’ve mentioned Bridgeville, DE in a previous post but wanted to save the message on the fire house marquee for this post. The sign changes each trip but on this one it said, “It’s not hard to meet expenses, they’re everywhere.”

 Bridgeville Fire Comp.

And finally there is a hilarious sign outside the Baptist church in old town Alexandria, VA. This is the same church that rings its afternoon church bells to songs like Kum Ba Yah.

 church baptized

Listen to the song and see even more “sign, sign everywhere a sign.”

There are certain things at which I excel. Meeting deadlines, being organized, and sending cards are just a few. And there are things at which I stink. I like to think of the stinky ones as things I just haven’t practiced enough yet. Mostly because they are boring and I don’t like them. (The truth is the reason I probably don’t like them is because I stink at them.) It’s a vicious cycle really. One of those things that I dislike doing is maintenance. Calling repair people, fixing things, etc. So imagine how happy I’ve been the last couple of weeks fixing up my beach house so we can rent it out to pay the bills. (Oh and the nasty letter I got from my VA HOA saying I need to repair my steps.) Oh joy, oh joy, oh joy.

Today I had a fan-dang-tastic conversation with a woman from the company that is providing our house with wireless Internet access. Not only had we already been through the exercise of setting up the account a week ago but English was not her native tongue. That didn’t bother me so much. Some people get pretty upset asking customer service reps to repeat themselves every other sentence, but that was the least of my annoyance with this call. I won’t go into details—let’s just say that some things never change.

Customer service should be King, but alas it’s not. What do you do when you are treated poorly by a company? With the possible exception of the post office—that evil government organization that doesn’t seem to have to answer to anyone for some reason—we could make a conscience effort to take our business elsewhere. Laziness sometimes intervenes in those plans but I can be stubborn, so all you companies out there who are getting my business—take note! Not that it would matter. They would probably just get a bail-out package and take a vacation to the Caribbean. In any case, wish me luck—I’ve got to order and install a dishwasher tomorrow. (The one that was supposed to be here a week ago.)

I know this is supposed to be a fun blog, so I apologize for the rant. There is one more thing I need some help clarifying though. Why is it that when I order McNuggets at McDonalds they always give me four, six, or ten orders of those $1 boxes? When I ask for six McNuggets, I don’t mean six orders of the four McNugget packages. I honestly don’t get why it’s so hard to understand that.

Now it’s your turn. What’s your favorite customer service story?

 funny-pictures-cat-ignores-your-phone-call

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I had lunch this week with some pretty fun people I used to work with. In fact, this whole week has been great for getting out of the house and seeing friends. And getting out of the house has allowed me to observe more things—which is what this blog is supposed to be about.

So other than noticing that a whole lot of my neighbors are home during the day, I’ve noticed that one of the main topics of conversation everywhere seems to be about cutting costs.  On that note, let’s talk about a word we all love so much—FREE. In the old days people thought they liked free stuff. In the old days free stuff was really crap. It meant not valuable. (Because here in American we rate the value of things by how much they cost.)

It’s a new day folks. Free takes on a new meaning. It’s a necessity. And after ringing the office budget so much that even the Splenda gets cut, it’s time to realize how much fun free can be. It’s also good business. Using social media—the free networking sites—for marketing has become a hot new trend. (But that’s part of my professional expertise and you’re going to have to pay me to learn my secrets.) 

The truth is, there can be value in free. And as cliché as it is, we know deep down that the best things in life are free. Here’s a list—some very important and some just for fun.

  • Love.
  • Salvation.
  • Laughter. (Always share a good joke with your friends.)
  • A walk in the park.
  • For DC metro residents and visitors, the National Mall and the Smithsonian museums. (Hey, there’s a new Ben Stiller museum movie coming out that looks funny. But that costs money, sorry.)
  • Today a laptop. Tomorrow—not sure. Visit the free deal of the day to find out.
  • Air.
  • Network TV.
  • Swimming in the ocean and playing in the sand.
  • Great books in the library.
  • Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Word press.

 What do you like to do that’s free?

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