Yesterday was about having something worth saying. Today is about keeping your promise…

Last weekend we visited a seaside town. Strolling up and down the street, we kept running into the Candyman, a colorful character singing and handing out coupons and samples of saltwater taffy. Well, of course my youngest was excited to go to his candy store. After all, he was fun!! A bonafide Candyman! But what a disappointment. The place was shoddy and dirty. The carpet and floors were worn, the employees rude and uncaring. And worse, they didn’t even make the candy there. It was basically an outlet store. Even the taffy was a letdown. A big bag of saltwater taffy is a family tradition for us whenever we go to the coast. But we’ve always purchased from candymakers before, and I made the mistake of assuming someone called the Candyman with a store called the Candyman would be making the candy, and the store would be fun, not drab and icky.

By now you’re probably wondering why this is such a big deal, and really, what it has to do with marketing communications, right? Here’s the thing: Marketing is a promise. Whether it’s your Web content, your email marketing, your printed sales collateral, you’re telling prospects “this is who we are, this is what we’re selling, this is what you’ll get.” And then you have to deliver. If your copywriting markets the professionalism of your staff and employees are dressed shoddily or rude, you lied. Ditto for software that’s sold as scalable but won’t. Or the low-maintenance gadget that keeps needing repair. Etc., etc. Maybe your marketing will get you the sale the first time, but you likely won’t get a chance to sell to that customer again.

Your marketing communications make a promise. Make the right promise, and you’ll get the customers. Keep your promise, and you’ll get the repeat customers.