This freelance copywriter is technically still on vacation today, but catching up on email and blogging now that I’m back home. Travelling seems to always give me plenty of blog ideas, but, being on the road and busy with my kids, I don’t get them jotted down and forget them. But this past week’s trip to Phoenix brought to mind two biggies in my humble marketing maven opinion…and both fit my marketing is like dating analogy.
Monday morning, we took a very short Horizon flight from Seattle to Portland, to catch a connecting flight. This was a smallish plane, only four seats across, nothing fancy. But there’s “nothing fancy” and there’s shameful. In this case, three rows up from our seats, the plastic panel that houses the fan, light and call button was duct taped in place. Ouch.
Marketing happens at every single touch point with your customer. And marketing is like dating. If a man shows up for a date and his glasses are duct taped together, or his pants are hemmed with duct tape, or any other obvious and in poor taste use of duct tape, the woman is going to raise her eyebrows and feel like she doesn’t really matter to this guy after all. Even if he impressed her on the phone, even if he takes her to a nice place for dinner, even if he shows up with a token gift, she’s going to wonder about the duct tape…and the lack of effort and caring the man shows by blatantly displaying it. If he (and Horizon) is so cavalier about that, what else is he cavalier about? His hygiene maybe?
The duct tape was not a confidence builder, rather a confidence shaker.
On the other side of the coin, Sam’s Café in Phoenix offers a great “free prize inside,” (And yes, I’m borrowing “free prize inside” from Seth Godin’s book of the same name.) The restaurant is marketed as a southwestern grill. The food was good, the service okay, but the free prize was a piece of white chocolate with almonds wrapped in a corn husk delivered to everyone at our table at the end of the meal. It was a free prize both as an unexpected treat, and in presentation. As a marketing is like dating analogy, this is akin to showing up for a date with a rose. Or choosing a particularly nice restaurant. Or some other sweet but simple surprise. It’s the extra touch that a customer—or date—remembers.
OK, last day of vacation so I’m off to ride my horse while the sun is still shining! Back to regular copywriting blogs next week, as I continue my commitment to blogs as marketing tools in 2009!
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