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What I Learned on my Summer Vacation (Or "It Was a Nice Place to Visit . . . Now, where Did We Go Again?")
By Steve Boutelle ©2004
It's amazing
what you can learn about success and marketing when you're
on vacation. In July we took a much-needed and well-deserved
week and a half vacation with my wife and two young children.
Because
of their age, we planned to visit some places that would appeal
to them, like a zoo or train ride. It was our first vacation with our
one year old daughter and all in all, we had a pretty good time.
First there
was the Wilderness Park. It was small but featured a wide
variety of animals like lions, bears and emus and even featured unique
ones like the zebu. To our dismay the digital camera's batteries were
lifeless, so we thought we would buy some from the souvenir shop. Wrong!
They didn't have batteries of any kind.
And of
course, our video camera wasn't fully charged so we could only
use it sparingly (fortunately we were with my mother and my cousins- they
had cameras that worked!) Nonetheless, we all had a great time . . .
That is,
until we were ready to leave and wanted to pick up some
souvenirs. Imagine our surprise and dismay when we were informed that
this tourist stop did not even have postcards or refrigerator magnets
with its name on them! A webpage, yes, but something to remember them
by which would also provide free advertising for them, no! (Anyone taking
notes? This is a great example of how not to create your own brand of
success.)
The next
day we went on a very unusual miniature train ride. I'm a bit
of a railfan (the correct term for a "train nut") and was very pleased
and intrigued by the meticulous detailing of its cars. It was like a real
train that had been "shrunk". This time, of course, we had our camera
and video camera ready to go.
So imagine
if you will, the surprised look on our faces when we slowly
descended in circles passing several carefully-detailed miniature
buildings into a small valley and then disembarked at a large children's
play area. That was all there was to it! Of course the marketing done
through the brochure made it appear that it was much more than what we
had just experienced. We enjoyed the ride but it wasn't nearly what we
were expecting. (Success lesson: always strive to over-deliver; that
way your customer won't experience what we did-"buyer's remorse.")
We tried
to make the best of it (we did have a nice train ride) and
headed toward (you guessed it!) the souvenir shop. They did offer some
items that were branded with their name, however the most sought-after
type by the average tourists (our family included!)- postcards and 'fridge'
magnets with the railroad's name on it- weren't to be found. Practically
any other railroad name was available, but not theirs. So, once again,
no free advertising in the mail or on the 'fridge' for them from us.
We settled for a branded drinking glass, a branded toothpick holder and
a couple other small items.
Our final
destination was a city zoo. Though it was small, it had an
impressive design and an excellent variety of wildlife. There was a
also a petting zoo, live presentations and even a small train that circled the
zoo. Our family had a great time.
After checking
the map to make sure we hadn't missed anything, we
headed for the fairly large souvenir shop. Much to our surprise and
relief, they did offer postcards with the zoo's name and refrigerator
magnets. But other than some t-shirts, hats and toy kaleidoscopes,
their brand wasn't on any of the many other items. Too bad; we settled
for two kaleidoscopes, a magnet and some postcards. (They did a much
better job marketing, but still had room for improvement).
All the
way back home I kept asking myself, "Why would anyone in
their right mind want to sell a bunch of stuff that could have their
name on it but didn't?" And furthermore, "Why didn't they stock the
usual trinkets with their name on them that are typically in demand
by tourists?"
I guess
I'll never know the answers to those questions, but our
experience serves as a poignant reminder that, whether on or off line,
unless you purposely plan to differentiate yourself and to advertise
your own brand of success in the most cost-effective and convenient
ways possible, you're torpedoing the very success you seek.
(And if
you're wondering about the names of the places we visited,
I've purposely omitted them because I plan to contact each of them
with some marketing ideas of my own!)
(Note: This
article may be re-published but must
include the resource box below.)
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for turning "plain" information into a profit stream
with little or no cash outlay. Send a blank e-mail to
mailto:prosperityunleashed@pushbuttonresponder.com
and learn how to "Create Your Own Brand of Success."
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