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Inspiration to Get You ‘Big Kev’ excited about marketing

Kylie Fennell 1 comment
When it comes to marketing inspiration and excitement – you can’t go past Big Kev – RIP big fella. Image source: photobucket.com

I’m on holidays next week. Just for one week. I’m not doing anything special but heck I’m looking forward to it.

It’s been a busy few months with the launch of my online marketing course and some exciting times with my clients.

The thing about holidays though is that you madly try to get as much work done as you can before you go on leave, so you can have a holiday. By the time you get to your holiday you’re stuffed!

Well that’s where I’m at. I have hit holiday preparation fatigue and need to write a blog post.

So here is a collection of inspirational marketing quotes to keep us ALL inspired. Enjoy!

1. “The objective of all advertising is to buy new customers at a profit. Learn what your customers cost and what they buy…spend all of your ammunition where it counts.” Claude Hopkins-Scientific Advertising (1923)

2. “In marketing I’ve seen only one strategy that can’t miss – and that is to market to your best customers first, your best prospects second and the rest of the world last.” John Romero

3. “Good marketers see consumers as complete human beings with all the dimensions real people have.” Jonah Sachs

4. “Our jobs as marketers are to understand how the customer wants to buy and help them do so.”  Bryan Eisenberg

5. “Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication” Leonardo Da Vinci

6. “’Build it, and they will come’ only works in the movies. Social Media is a ‘build it, nurture it, engage them and they may come and stay’.” Seth Godin

7. “A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is — it is what consumers tell each other it is.” Scott Cook

8. “As you’ve noticed, people don’t want to be sold. What people do want is news and information about the things they care about.” Larry Weber

9. “Marketing is telling the world you’re a rock star. Content marketing is showing the world you are one.” Robert Rose

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY

10.  “Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department.” David Packard

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Why I’m Still in Mourning for Deadwood

Kylie Fennell

I am still in mourning. One of my favourite TV series, Justified, finished a little while ago after six seasons.

In Justified, Timothy Olyphant portrays Raylan Givens, a tough US Marshal enforcing his own brand of justice in his hometown of Harlan, Kentucky.

Raylan Givens is something of a 19th-century–style, Old West lawman living in modern times, whose unconventional enforcement of justice makes him a target of criminals, and a problem child to his US Marshals Service superiors.

The good guys are great, and the bad guys are awesome!

From Boyd Crowder, a master criminal and silver tongued devil in a tight-fitting suit, to Dickie Bennett and his hill-billy marijuana growing family and the mishap-prone Dewey Crowe, it is truly entertaining.

Like any good things though they must come to an end, which led me to search for another show to fill the empty space in my heart.

The most obvious next step was to revisit Deadwood, which also featured Timothy Olyphant, but only ran for three seasons (2004-2006). It may be 10 years old, but this series hasn’t lost any of its shine for me.

The TV Series was based on and inspired in parts by actual facts and real people from Deadwood, South Dakota circa 1877. The series featured larger-than-life characters like “Wild Bill” Hickok, “Calamity Jane” Cannary, the Earp brothers, and Al Swearengen.

I loved it mainly for the show’s unusual dialogue.

The show creators injected Shakespearean language into the American Wild West and peppered it with what’s been described as nothing short of “the most delightfully vulgar language you’ll ever hear on a TV show”.

Unfortunately Deadwood met a premature end (like many of the Deadwood inhabitants) for the same reason it’s fans loved it – the language. The venn diagram above explains more.

So yes I mourn the ending of Justified and Deadwood, but while there is Timothy Olyphant and show creators such as those that brought us these series, there is still some hope of bringing the Wild West, amazing characters and dialogue with a difference, back to life.

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Forget Disneyland…I’m going to the library

Kylie Fennell
The Trinity College Library in Ireland (pictured above) is considered the world’s most beautiful.

Disneyland might be the happiest place on Earth – which I tend to think it is (major fan here) – but the most magical place for me must be the library.

I remember clearly being taken to the local library as a child and being mesmerised by the endless shelves, with every single book cover beckoning me and promising new adventures.
I would agonise over my choices and wondered just how many I could take home and get through before my next visit.
The fact that these precious little items were for me to take home and have all to myself, albeit just for a few weeks, was pure magic.
When I was about 11-years-old, I took it upon myself to catalogue every book in our house (there were quite a few books) and log them in a custom-made database that I wrote myself with DOS commands and coding (major nerd alert).
I then issued library cards to my brothers and cousins and forced them to borrow books each week – of course fining them for any late returns.
Okay more than nerdy – a little obsessive – but I couldn’t help it. I loved libraries.
In high school I’d find any excuse to go to the library and run my fingers along the shelves, and I took unfathomable pleasure in mastering the Dewey Decimal system – the old school kind of drawers with little cards in it – not a computer in sight.
As an adult, I don’t get to the library nearly as much as I’d like to, but if I really need to get some work done without the distractions of home, I know my local library is the perfect sanctuary.
While many of my friends and colleagues have moved over to Kindles or Ibooks, I have still resisted on the most part. I buy Ibooks mainly for informational or educational purposes, but if there’s a book I really want to fall in love with, it has to be hard copy. One that I can admire as it sits proudly on my shelf and reminds me how much I enjoyed the adventure of reading it.
For this reason, I hope there will always be a place for the libraries and hard copy books of my childhood.
My dream one day is to have a house big enough that allows for a double story library, with one of those fancy ladders on a runner. So yes nerdy, obsessive, old fashioned – I don’t care because it’s all magical to me.
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Farewell to my first love

Kylie Fennell

A few weeks ago my heart was broken. Not just mine, but countless women around the world, particularly of my vintage, were devastated to learn that Canadian actor Jonathan Crombie had died.

News like this is tragic enough, especially when you consider Crombie was only 48, but what makes the news so significant is that he was my, and many other’s, first love.

For me Crombie was synonymous with one of the much loved characters he played – Gilbert Blythe in the Anne of Green Gables movies of the 80s.

I can’t remember whether I read the books first or saw the movies first, but I was addicted to both as a child and teenager.

Anne of Green Gables was written in 1908 and has stood the test of time. Full of life lessons, everyday adventure, romance, drama and heartbreak, it recounts the adventures of Anne Shirley, an 11-year-old orphan girl.

Anne is mistakenly sent to Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, a middle-aged brother and sister who had intended to adopt a boy to help them on their farm in Prince Edward Island. The novel recounts how Anne makes her way with the Cuthberts, in school, and within the town, and the sequels follow her life thereafter.

Anne was intelligent, misunderstood, plucky, fiery, awkward looking, talkative and precocious at times but above all she was imaginative, loyal and passionate. I would have been the same age as Anne when I first read the book and it was as if I had found my own ‘kindred spirit’ in those pages.

To this day I’m obsessed with the idea of “radiantly lovely” cherry trees in full bloom and on my travels I’m always on the lookout for avenues of overhanging apple trees reminiscent of Anne’s “White Way of Delight”.

Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea are one of the few books I have read over and over again. So much so that the 1925 edition I read from as a child is too fragile, from overuse, for the pages to be turned.

Anne is an unmatched literary heroine but she represents only half the appeal of the books.

It’s Gilbert Blythe who really captured our hearts. Gilbert is a handsome classmate who tried to get Anne’s attention on her first day at school by pulling her hair and calling her “Carrots” (unaware of her sensitivity about her red hair). Anne reacted by refusing to have anything to do with him for the next few years. Although Gilbert repeatedly apologised, Anne rebuffed him for years.

However, Gilbert never abandoned his quest for her friendship (and eventually, love). Anne had unknowingly forgiven him when he had saved her from drowning, but had only just let her pride down when he gave up his job as teacher at the Avonlea school for her, to enable her to live at Green Gables with Marilla.

Selfless, smart, handsome, persistent and confident, Gilbert in many ways outshines the likes of Mr Darcy – and that’s saying something.

When Anne refuses his proposal, he replies: “Your friendship can’t satisfy me, Anne. I want your love”.

Gilbert Blythe you were and always will be my first love and thank you Jonathan Crombie for doing justice to L.M. Montgomery’s character.

We could all learn a little from Gilbert – pursue your dreams, persist and never settle for anything less than true love and a life of adventure. Farewell and thank you and here’s my final nod to Crombie’s Gilbert.

Anne Shirley: “I’ve made up my mind to go to my grave unwept, unhonoured and unsung.” 
Gilbert Blythe: “But not unpublished.” Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story (film)

Let’s get medieval again

Kylie Fennell

It’s coming up to that time of year again in South East Queensland.

Time to go medieval!

If you’re a fan of Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings or any other medieval fantasy you need to make your way to the Abbey Medieval Festival.

This year the Medieval Banquets will be held on 27 June and 4 July with Tournament Days on 11 and 12 July.

The event is hosted in Caboolture, an urban centre on the outskirts of Brisbane, or the Sunshine Coast (depending on where you come from).

The festival goes over a couple of weekends and features everything from jousting, banqueting, and fencing to medieval music, food and dancing.

I can tell you from experience that the Abbey Festival is a delight for the general medieval enthusiast, as well as the hardcore re-enactors who live on-site in tents: dressing, eating and sleeping as if they were in medieval times.

Think Game of Thrones inspired merchandise, delicious mulled wine, archery, jousts and delicious food.

What’s exciting about this year’s line up with the series of suggested itineraries for kids.

The Festival organisers have put together itineraries for: 


They suggest grabbing a spot at the Castle Arena for the Grande Parade, where you will be introduced to each historical reenactment group as they do a tour of the arena in all their splendour.
Then you should plan your day around the Jousts which are held at 10:30am 12:00pm, 1:45pm and 3:15pm. Tickets can be pre-purchased online or bought on the day, but get them early as the jousts are very popular! 

Combat displays are on all day from 11am at The Common (on the way to the Friar’s Folly and Joust Titleyard), with Medieval Life and Dance displays at the Village Green (next to the Stag Inn and markets place).

For the more academic among you, visit the University Pavilion to learn about such things as the making of chain maille, Medieval Surgery and Medicine and Soaps, Scents and Smells in 12th Century England. 

You can find the University Pavilion on the Western side of the field by the High Middle Ages encampments.

There will be Stained Glass Tours throughout the day on Saturday and in the afternoon on Sunday, with lute recitals in the morning at the Abbey Museum. They are free to all visitors of the festival and are held at the Abbey Church, a couple of minutes walk from the main site.

All you need to do now is dust off your suits of armour and count down the days until you can go medieval!

Creating As Your Purpose

Kylie Fennell
It’s taken nearly 40 years but I’ve finally figured out what I am. 
 
When I say ‘what’ I mean how to define what I do and love. I’m a Creator.
Everything I have done and got so much joy of during my life is about creating. 

Creating words, content, stories, strategies, food, businesses, ideas, events, dinner parties…it’s everything I enjoy and I’m good at. Suddenly my crazy looking life where I jump from creating one thing to the next and back again all in within 5 minutes, makes so much sense to me.
 
Sure it’s another label like being a mum or a business woman or a marketer or even a writer but Creator means so much more to me, especially after reading Seth Godin’s book ‘What to do When it’s Your Turn (and It’s Always Your turn)’.
 
I talked about Seth’s book recently in my business blog and how it inspired me to think of my marketing as creating but to the point here it speaks to my writing.
 
Seth is a marketing genius and inspirational author known for his incredibly popular blog and books such as Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable.
 
In What to do When it’s Your Turn he focuses on the concept of creating new and inspiring ideas. That creators are left with no choice but to put themselves out there in a big way. They need to embrace the fear and exhilaration that success but also possible failure can bring.
 
Creators are driven by the need to create and are utterly miserable when they don’t get to do it.
 
The most pertinent advice he gives is that you may put your blood, sweat and tears into your creation and when you’re finally ready to introduce it to the world you have almost a sense of entitlement that it must be your turn, that your hard work must be rewarded. That you’re owed something. 
 
In fact it’s entirely the opposite. The world owes us Creators nothing.  Forgiving our audience for not feeling grateful and that they owe us gives us the freedom to create for the sake of creating – for us we know no other truth.
 
We owe it to the world to put our creations out there. We’re the Creators and we owe it to the Analysts, the Fixers, the Nurturers, the Thinkers and everyone else, to create for them. It’s our job. It’s who we are. It’s our entire being. 
 
Brutal advice from Seth and scary for a writer who is still slaving away on her first novels, but I can’t help but feel he’s right.
As he says, it is always our turn to put our creations out there. To have bad ideas. To let them marinate to become good ideas. He says that ultimately the person who fails the most will win because the person who gave up at the first hurdle can never win.
The sobering truth is that there are no guarantees but while you’re still creating you are still in the game and you have to be in it to win it.
Care enough to fail. Accept that this might or might not work. And get on with it and create!And thank you Seth for sharing the ugly and beautiful truth of creating.

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I like to read, I do, I do…what about you?

Kylie Fennell

“The more that you read, the more things you will know.  The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Dr. Seuss

If you have read my last couple of blogs you would know that my son started school this year and has started his reading journey.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re reading a catalogue, a newspaper or a first reader,  he takes the greatest pleasure in spotting the words he is starting to learn.

“Mummy, there’s a ‘the’, there’s ‘and’, it’s ‘look’.”

Reading is a lifelong adventure and I’m enjoying revisiting the magical journey from the very beginning.

My son’s teacher said that we needed to move onto rhyming, so my next challenge was to find books that featured rhyme words.

It was a simple choice. We happen to have a very healthy collection of Dr. Seuss – we started with Cat in a Hat of course.

Dr. Seuss is the perfect starting ground for any young reader. I read a great CNN article about how Dr. Seuss is the ultimate model for innovation.

He authored more than 40 books but he is celebrated more for creating a fun and creative way of learning how to read but he also delivered important life lessons. “Green Eggs and Ham” uses just 50 words and delivers the message that just don’t know for sure about something until you actually try it.

“‘The Sneetches’ touches on discrimination. ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas!’ is a reminder for many about the true meaning of the holiday; and ‘Oh, The Places You’ll Go!’ teaches us that life is a balancing act so be prepared for the tough parts and appreciate and take advantage of the great parts.”

I particularly enjoy ‘The Lorax’, which teaches us the importance of caring for our environment.

Dr. Seuss was ahead of his time but more than 60 years after first publishing Cat in Hat his work is still highly entertaining and relevant.

This blogpost from teacher Christa Brown explains why children should be exposed to Dr. Seuss Books.

Her top reasons include the importance of rhythm, counting and alphabet skills. She also explains the importance of rhyme.

“Reading a text with rhyme builds a foundation for reading success.  There is evidence that children who recognise rhymes, also recognise the spelling sequence of word families such as ‘at’.  When this happens children can quickly read words of the same word family. Children become familiar with the rhymes and can recite them. Dr. Seuss books are some of the best early readers, the help form a foundation of confidence in reading.”

The moral lessons are also an incredible bonus, providing new insights and important life concepts for young minds.

And finally the illustrations and silliness make the stories so much FUN, and that’s exactly what reading should be.

Dr. Seuss is perfect for children but also big kids and readers of all ages.

If I could write half as good as Dr. Seuss, I would be a happy girl, because I like to read and I like to write, I do, I do…what about you?

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Wait for it….

Kylie Fennell
Some days I am just soooooo darn tired from writing stuff for other people (by other people I mean clients who I absolutely adore of course) that I just don’t have the energy to write for myself. 
That day was today. 
It’s a real Catch 22 situation that I need to earn money to afford the time to write for myself, but the best way for me to earn money is to write for other people and then I’m too tired to write for myself…ahhh the trials and tribulations.
Fortunately though I came across this little gem of a picture, which I understand has been doing the internet rounds for quite a while, and I felt pretty energised all of a sudden. 
Unfortunately not energised enough to write a proper blog post this week. 
So this week please settle for this awesome image. I promise I will make it up to you next time.
In the meantime you can get some inspiration of your own from pictures just like this at the super cool image site Twisted Sifter. 
TGIF x

Forget black cats – avoid people who owe you lots of money on Friday the 13th

Kylie Fennell
So today is supposed to be unlucky.
If you’re the superstitious type you’re probably avoiding black cats and making sure you don’t walk under ladders. Why though is this day considered unlucky at all?
There is one popular theory (some say modern urban legend) that claims the origins of Friday the 13th comes from the Knights Templar.  And like any good story, it includes themes of betrayal, revenge, greed, injustice and secret treasures.
The original Knights Templar were a Christian military order existing from the 12th to 14th centuries and mainly associated with fighting during the Crusades.
They fought alongside the likes of King Richard I, or Richard the Lionheart, and were an elite fighting force. The Knights were highly trained, well-equipped and highly motivated. As part of their religious order they were forbidden from retreating in battle, unless outnumbered three to one, and even then only by order.
For two hundred years the Knights Templar were the most dominant force in Christendom.
The Templars were institutionally wealthy, paid no taxes, and had a large standing army, which by papal decree could move freely through all European borders.
They were a fixture of everyday life. They were significant landholders, employers and the head of an international banking system that allowed nobles to deposit funds and valuables for safekeeping.
However after their defeat at the Siege of Acre and the loss of the Holy Land, the Knights Templar’s influence began to wane and enemies began to appear.
King Philip IV of France had borrowed enormous sums of money from the Knights to finance a war with England, a war he later lost.
King Philip saw an opportunity to reduce the Knights’ power and avoid repaying his financial debts.
On Friday, 13 October 1307, King Philip ordered the simultaneous arrest of scores of Templars and the seizing of all of their property.
The Templars were charged with heresy, worshiping false idols and other crimes against the church. Many of them were tortured until they ‘confessed’ to their crimes.
Despite the dubious nature of the confessions and a questionable trial, the Knights were burned at the stake, leading to other arrests across Europe.
In 1312, and under pressure from King Philip, Pope Clement V issued an edict officially dissolving the Order.
Some stories claim that a group of Templars had managed to evade King Philip and escape with vast stores of treasure and holy relics.
Theories popularised in modern culture also claimed the Knights were keepers and defenders of the Holy Grail – we’ve all seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade haven’t we?


Even if Friday the 13th didn’t originate from the Knights Templar, and religious views and plausibility aside, as a fan of historical fiction I think it makes a pretty good yarn.

So have a happy and safe Friday the 13thand avoid any Kings that owe you large sums of money.

I don’t like fantasy – really?!

Kylie Fennell
Whenever someone asks me what kind of ‘stuff’ I write, I usually hesitate for a moment before fessing up that they’re fantasy novels.
It seems that in my circle of friends and acquaintances that fantasy isn’t a preferred genre.
Most people are polite enough to nod and smile. Others are upfront enough to state bluntly: “I don’t like fantasy”.
I’m not sure why fantasy gets such a mixed reaction, especially when you consider that the same people who say they don’t like fantasy, will happily sit down to watch Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, True Blood or Game of Thrones.
I wonder if the reason people say they don’t like fantasy is because they think it’s outlandish or unrealistic.
I have to admit even I’m guilty of judging a book, not by its cover, but by its genre.
Over the last few years I have had several friends (at different times) implore me to read the Cross Stitch series by Diana Gabaldon.
Knowing I liked historical fiction as well as fantasy they were convinced I would love the story of a 20th century nurse who time travels to 18th century Scotland and finds adventure and romance with a dashing highlander.
Featuring elements of historical fiction, romance, adventure, science fiction and fantasy, it seemed a no-brainer, but I couldn’t accept that time travel was a good fit with historical fiction.
To my detriment I never sought out the book, until it was brought to life as a TV series under the ‘Outlander’ name.
I was hooked by the first episode and went straight to the shops to buy the book, and guess what…I loved it.
Yes, it’s a little outlandish and unrealistic…which is exactly why I love it.
People like me love fantasy for the same reason others hate it. It’s about escapism, adventure, possibility, magic, what ifs, why nots and it’s just a lot of fun.
I put to most avid readers out there that they actually don’t mind fantasy as much as they think they do.
For anyone of my vintage, a favourite childhood book may have been Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree series, about a magical tree, magical lands and magical creatures. You can’t tell me that’s not fantasy.
 
What about traditional fairytales where geese lay golden eggs and beanstalks reach the heavens.
Now if you want to split hairs, fantasy is an enormous genre and I’m not a devoted follower of all of its variants. If I had to pinpoint my favourite sub-genre and the style I prefer to write, it’s heroic fantasy.
According to Wikipedia, “heroic fantasy often chronicles the tales of heroes in imaginary lands. Frequently, the protagonist is reluctant to be a champion, and/or is of low or humble origin, may have royal ancestors or parents but does not know it. Though events are usually beyond their control, they are thrust into positions of great responsibility where their mettle is tested in a number of spiritual and physical challenges”.
I accept that not everyone likes heroic fantasy, or any fantasy fiction for that matter, but I’m convinced that many more people do, and just don’t know it, or are unwilling to admit it.
So next time someone says: “I don’t like fantasy”, I’ll just smile and resist the urge to say “Really?!”. After all it’s their loss if they don’t want to live in a magical world where anything can happen…and it does.
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