Kelly McDonald

Biography

Kelly McDonald is a nationally recognized marketing expert, with deep specialization in diversity marketing and business trends. She was named #1 on Successful Meetings magazine`s list of "26 Hot Speakers".

Kelly is the author of "How to Market to People Not Like You" and has been featured on CNBC, in BusinessWeek, on CNNMoney.com and on Sirius/XM Radio. She works with clients such as Toyota, Harley-Davidson, Sherwin-Williams, State Farm and Miller/Coors. Her company, McDonald Marketing, has twice been named one of the top advertising agencies in the U.S. by Advertising Age magazine.

As a professional speaker to businesses and organizations, Kelly shares marketing insights and teaches strategies and tactics for cultivating diverse consumers emotionally, rationally and with cultural relevance. Her topics are always customized to the specific industry and localized geographically as appropriate.

Kelly is a member of the National Speakers Association.

Her style ...
Kelly is high energy and high content. Her enthusiasm ignites audiences of every size. She is often chosen as an opening or closing keynote speaker to set the tone for a conference. Repeat clients also choose Kelly for "after lunch" sessions when audiences need to be enthused and excited.

Kelly is a great fit for ...
- Independent business owners (dealers, agents, franchisees) who need help with marketing and need clear, actionable steps, not just theory.
- Retailers who need to keep up with changing demographics and how these affect business, today and tomorrow.
- Association members who need ongoing marketing expertise, the latest thinking and trends and how to apply these to growing their business.
- HR professionals who want to educate their executives and associates about the growing diverse population of the U.S. and what it means to their business. Also, HR professionals who want to increase productivity and communication through better understanding differences between people.
- Corporate clients who hold sales meetings, marketing meetings, management meetings and leadership development meetings.
- Hospitality professionals who need to know how to recruit, hire, train, retain and manage a diverse workforce.
- Any business with a workforce that has different generations working side-by-side.

Publications

Reach new and diverse customer groups and expand your market share.

The standard approach to marketing is to look for as many people as possible who fit one core customer profile. How to Market to People Not Like You challenges this traditional thinking about core customer bases, giving you a new approach to expand your customer base and your business.

Arguing for focusing on customer values rather than demographics, How to Market to People Not Like You reveals how you can grow business and profits by targeting those who are different from your core audience, rather than those who share similarities.

Find out How to Market to People Not Like You, understand the needs and values that distinguish diverse customers, and reach their hearts, minds, and wallets.

Titles

Tips & Tricks for Taking Social Media to the Next Level
So you`re blogging, tweeting and posting away and your fan base and followers are growing accordingly. Now what? What are the next steps in social media? How do you monetize it, track it and keep it growing?

This session will focus on how to use social media to build your brand and elevate your marketing. The social media landscape is changing fast and new tools like QR codes, Google +1 and more are entering the picture that make consumer connection, dialogue and purchase influences easier and better than ever. This session will cover key tips on what`s new in social media marketing as well as best practices and top tips to try. Along the way, a few social media marketing myths will also be shattered.

Disaster Recovery and Crisis Management Using Social Media
Most people know that social media and social marketing are great for building relationships with customers and prospects online and for marketing your products and services in a low cost or no-cost manner.

But few people realize the power of social media when it comes to the bad stuff: what happens when you`ve had a security breach or other crisis? Should you be communicating with your customers via social media during a time of crisis? For serious matters, is social media an appropriate environment for handling urgent, sensitive and disastrous matters?

This session will focus on how social media & communications can be used to handle a crisis effectively. It`s not just about trying to smooth things over with customers when they are upset or concerned about something. Today, information is shared quickly and widely, and bad news and bad information travel fastest of all.

Learn the ropes of how to use social media platforms effectively and correctly, to not only handle a crisis, but also to come out on the other side with improved customer satisfaction and positive public relations.

Changing Demographics and How this Affects Your Business Today and Tomorrow
The 2010 Census numbers are in and the findings are startling and profound. One in three Americans is not White. Four states have "minority majority" populations. Young people increasingly are opting not to get married. Asians have the highest household income of any race or ethnicity. Rural communities are losing population fast.

Now, more than ever, it`s imperative that you understand the changing demographics of the communities and groups you serve. How can you best serve a local community or organization if you don`t know what your community looks like today?

And the changes in demographics take many forms: racial, ethnic, gender, generational, sexual preference, linguistic, even lifestage and level of affluence, to name a few. Diversity of thought helps companies stay leading-edge and proactive as well. And learning about differences in values among different groups is the key to maximizing relationships, marketing efforts and business opportunities.

This presentation will focus on why changing demographics and diversity are business opportunities and how these changes affect your business today and tomorrow.

How to Market to People Who Are Not Like You
Learn the key differences in marketing to different generations, different races and ethnicities and why tapping into our values is really what diversity marketing is all about.

Customer Service: How to Keep Customers Rushing Back for More
Learn the latest techniques that innovative companies are using today to train their staff to deliver exceptional customer service. And it doesn`t have to break the bank to be the best!

Diversity in America

Social Media & Marketing

Come Together: Generational Differences & How to Work with Someone Much Older or Younger than You

Relating, Not Translating: How to Market to U.S. Hispanics