In my many years of restaurant marketing, this phrase was really important – Marketing and Operations had to work together, because if Marketing communicated something Operations couldn’t deliver on per the expectation of the guest, based on their perception of the marketing promise…
Whew, that is a mouthful, but I digress.
If Operations couldn’t or didn’t deliver on the marketing promise, chances are the guest experience was going to be compromised.
On the other hand, if the expectation didn’t represent the delivered goods well, that would be an issue too. They used to call that Bait & Switch – reel them in with something compelling, with specific claims about the quality or low prices, with the goal of upselling them to something higher priced. But, if that promise came with caveats, or was not available or looked completely different, well – you know how you would feel – like you’ve been duped.
The goal of marketing is to bring people in to experience what you are offering, whether it’s a product or service, regardless of the delivery system.
- Is it a webinar, dining experience, online course, or product purchase?
- Regardless of the business, you are selling an expectation about your brand, product, and/or service, and what the consumer experiences is a reflection of how they perceive who you are based on their interaction with your brand and the people who represent your brand
The guest experience is evaluated by:
- What the consumer was promised – perception
- Compared to what they got – satisfaction
- Quality
- Value
- Solved their problem
- Desire to repeat it
If you’ve got great marketing: creative (copy, images), media avenues, messaging, follow up – great! You’ve set an expectation of what the consumer will be getting when they engage in your brand.
But, if the experience the consumer has when they utilize your service or product does not align with the marketing they responded to, they most likely will not be satisfied and will not be repeat customers
So, think about what you are selling – ask yourself these questions:
- Whether it’s a product or an online course, are you representing it adequately with all your communication elements?
- Does the promise align with what you can deliver, or will there be a disconnect with the consumer?
- Do you know your audience and what will resonate with them?
- Have you thought through what will be needed from the Operations team to execute a smooth guest/customer experience?
Great marketing is only great if it is aligned with what gets delivered to the guest seamlessly in terms of their total experience with your brand – if you deliver what they expected, and, even better, over-delivered, you will create raving fans who will be your best marketing ambassadors!