Is this what you picture when you think of Iraq?
Last night we attended the annual meeting of the Marietta Convention and Visitor Board. It was an especially interesting session for me because I got to learn a lot more about what Marietta has to offer (for example, there is an active kayaking crew around here. Who knew?). The meeting was primarily about the best ways Marietta and the Mid-Ohio Valley can present itself as a tourist hot spot, which it is doing very effectively so far. In fact, Marietta is one of the hottest tourist spots in Ohio!
One part of the meeting stood out to me above all others though. The keynote speaker was a woman named Melinda Johnson Huntley, Executive Director of the Ohio Travel Association. Huntley told 2 stories that reiterated how very important perspective is to the PR (and marketing) professional.
Ship Envy
The first story was all about ships. Huntley said she was down in Marietta with a friend of hers from Toledo, which is where Huntley hails from as well. Toledo is up near the Great Lakes and Huntley’s friend had never seen the kinds of river boats that float down the Ohio River here in Marietta. “How beautiful that is!” She said. A man was listening to the conversation and said, “Oh, that’s nothing. You should see those big cargo ships you can see up in Toledo.”
Of course there is a life lesson inherent in this story, which is that we should always be grateful for what we have. The grass is not always greener. However, there is an important PR/Marketing lesson here as well. Instead of looking at what other companies are doing and saying, “Oh man, I wish we could do that,” find out what about your company, your products, your services, are attractive to your customers and prospects. What your company does will seem old hat to you because you are living and breathing it every day, but remember, it might be 100% new for someone else. How might they see it as a positive?
What you tell others is what they’ll know
The second tale was a little interactive. Huntley asked us all to think of one image of Iraq. We all closed our eyes and thought of something. Then we opened our eyes. What Huntley had on the screen was a picture of lush green hills and a beautiful river valley. That was northern Iraq. Of course what we all pictured was the desert or images of war and desolation. Why? That is all we’ve heard about Iraq for decades upon decades.
This is another important lesson for your company. If you present your products or services as sort of boring or run-of-the-mill, that is exactly how they will be perceived. How can you show a new and interesting side to what your company does? Is there a way to think about the kinds of products you make that your customers and potential customers may not have thought of before? Look for interesting trivia tidbits or parts of your own company story that will engage people because it such a different way of thinking about what they are buying. It can be quite an eye-opening experience.
All of this advice was given in regards to promoting a city or region for tourism, but the lessons hold true for any kind of business in which you may be working. Perspective and forming that perspective can mean the difference between a sale and crickets. Your company needs to make sure that everyone has a positive perception of where they work and what your company does from top to bottom, and then you need to get that perspective out into the world.
How can you present your company as unique? How can you present your products or services in a new and perspective-altering way? It’s fun to think about!
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via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1jzZ1Ql
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