.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;}
Let’s face it – many elements of business are pretty ordinary. They’re so ordinary, 99 percent of businesses do them the same way.

Think of all the communication elements that you pretty much ignore because they look and behave the same everywhere. Posted hours of operation, fax cover sheets, privacy disclaimers, e-mail signatures. We’re so used to them that, as consumers, we don’t even notice them.

Which makes them invisible.

A smart marketer will use the element of surprise and make the invisible visible. An agency friend of ours in Denver sends out a quarterly newsletter. At the bottom of the newsletter, just like everyone else, the agency has a privacy disclaimer. But it reads something like:

We’ll never sell or give your e-mail address to anyone. Because that wouldn’t be nice.

They turned the invisible visible and gave us a hint of what working with them might be like.

At McLellan Marketing Group (MMG), one of the invisible things we make visible is our titles. Could I be CEO or president? Sure. But “yawn.”

When was the last time someone looked at your business card and made a comment? It happens to all of us at MMG every day. Some of the present and past MMG titles have been:

The Warden (are you going to risk not giving her your time sheets?)

Girl Wonder

Sgt. of Strategy

Brandologist

Chaos Curator

Dr. Designo

Do our titles say much more about the agency, our work style and our attitude than CEO, CFO, art director, etc. would say?

What’s invisible in your world that you could make visible?

Drew McLellan is Top Dog at McLellan Marketing Group and blogs at www.drewsmarketingminute.com. He can be reached at Drew@MclellanMarketing.com. © 2009 Drew McLellan