This week we are going to talk about attention to detail.
What’s up Fish Fans! My name is Marcus. You’re watching Marketing Madness, the Blue Fish vlog!
Many people don’t realize the reach their branding has. As we have discussed on this vlog several times, a brand is much more than just a logo. A brand is the sum of someone’s experience with your company.
Recently my family has been touring a lot of college campuses in preparation for my oldest two boys graduating high school. I’ll try and do this video without mentioning which campuses I am talking about. Both are within a 5 hour drive of Mobile though. And please… no hate emails.
We toured one campus and it started out just fine. We were shown a presentation about the school with all kinds of impressive stats. After the presenter finished we were broken up into groups and ushered outside. Now keep in mind, here in the south it is not uncommon for it to be over 100 degree with damn near 100% humidity. The leader of our group proceeded to walk us around the campus. We barely went into any of the buildings. I think we saw the inside of an older dorm room and one medium sized classroom and that was about it. It was a 1+ hour tour of the outside of buildings.
When we got to the end we were told to get on a bus. The bus was making it’s normal rounds picking up riders, this was not a bus specifically for our tour. We were not shown the town the school was in. We were not shown the insides of any recreational facilities. We were not shown the intramural fields. I would estimate that we were shown about 30% of the campus.
To make matters worse, when we got back to the visitor’s center many of us had to use the restroom. The visitor’s center did not have a bathroom! You had to go up some stairs and meander through some of the classrooms to find what was not the most impressive of bathrooms. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to things we noticed about the tour, but suffice it to say our marketing focused minds did not think this school had put it’s best foot forward.
Now compare that with another University that we visited. This university immediately ushers you to a shuttle bus. The drive you around campus pointing things out along the way. They drive you to a brand new dorm and show you suites that mean each student has their own room and shares a suite with 3 others. They have a full size fridge and kitchenette area. They also only have to share a bathroom with one other person. The guide pointed out the brand new 30,000 square foot workout facility next to the cluster of dorms.
They drive us past all of the various sports facilities pointing them out along the way till we arrive at the largest of the recreational facilities on campus. They walk us through explaining that anything the student could want is here. They even have kayaks that they can rent for free and take down to the river if they like. They take us back outside to the shuttle and proceed to drive us around the furthest reaches of the campus pointing things out along the way.
We finally arrive at the walking portion of the tour. We are told some of the history of the university and proceed to walk down the quad while the tour guide walks backwards… let me say that again, this young woman walked backwards, in heels, pointing out every building and factoid that she could.
We went into the student union and were shown the library. There were many other highlights to the tour. And when we got to the Admissions Office, we were greeted with a cold bottle of water and restrooms. They gave us a short presentation, they had our attention, and then we were free to go.
So this may sound like I am being picky. But the truth is there are tens of thousands of dollars at stake when making a decision about colleges. And both of these universities are competing. Both will enroll close to 10,000 students as a freshman class. I know I am rounding up but if you multiply that together you are talking about close to 100M dollars. And that is just for 1 year. But say my math is way off. Say it is off by 50%. That is still 50M dollars. And the details don’t matter? Show me the inside of the rec room. Talk to me about how the students get tickets to the top 10 ranked football team. Make your guides dress up a little and not just throw on a wrinkled polo. Put a bathroom in the visitors center and make sure it is clean!
So what about your business? You probably don’t represent a business that generates revenue at $50M a year. If you do call us, we do good work! But seriously, as the owner of the business, everything you do matters to the brand you are building. From the training of your employees, to the cleanliness of your bathrooms, to how you are greeted, to the quality and price of your product. And sooo much more, it all matters to your brand. So step back, and try and experience it as an outsider coming to the restaurant for the first time. And ask your guests or customers! What was their experience like? Was the team member they interacted with helpful? Was the facility in good shape? I’ll stop now. But PAY ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS. They make a big difference between you and your competition.
Well, that’s a wrap for this week! I want to thank you for checking in. Make sure to hit that like button. And if you have any questions or comments leave them down below. If you want to talk about how Blue Fish can help you grow your business just send us a message and we’ll get the conversation started!