Marketing standouts and well, those not-so-much-so

Now that my first eBook, Synchronize or Sink: Developing an Online Marketing Strategy that Works, co-written with Leslye Reaves, is about to be released, my thoughts are turning to my next eBook.

I've been working on an idea for awhile now to publish a book with photos of public displays that exemplify both superb and well, let's say bizarre, examples of marketing and/or advertising.

I always go around with my camera on hand, so I plan to intensively collect examples over the next few months.  I also ask you to send me examples that you may see.  Any submitted photo that is used will receive a credit and a discount to the final eBook.

Now let's get one thing straight as I embark on this endeavor.  We all have our glorious moments, and we all also make mistakes, sometimes HUGE mistakes.  

My credo is to be gracious with the winning moments and admit mistakes in a forthright manner and learn from them.

As for the latter, ok, I'll go first . . . like that time early in my career in South Carolina where I put out an audition notice for child actors for an TV spot, and through a series of "miscommunications" (completely on my part), 750 kids with their parents showed up at the front desk of the TV station late on a Friday afternoon.  Talk about angry parents and some really bad PR!

Again no one is perfect.  

And so, with preface, let's begin with a strange example I ran across recently during a trip to Philly.

While you can't help but laugh at the above church sign, you have to wonder, "What happened?"

What was the decision process that let this be built?  Wouldn't you have loved to have been a fly on the wall in that meeting?  Perhaps it might be better to learn that it was the result of a lapse by a single individual.

The sign is well constructed and professionally presented, which makes my cringe factor all the more intense.

It would be an understatement to say that the Catholic Church is dealing with an image problem these days.  Ugh.  A sign like this just adds to the perception, doesn't it?.

Maybe I'll try to contact the Diocese and see what they have to say.

Let me know your thoughts as well.  Feel free to write a comment below.

And while at it, you might want to take a look at an earlier blog post of mine that talks about several great examples of marketing.

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Contact me at 240-268-3504 or dcryan7@gmail.com