As I write this blog, I am five days removed from an eight-day family cruise across the Caribbean ocean aboard the massive Carnival Horizon. Massive is defined as follows:
- Capacity of 3,960 passengers and 1,450 crew
- Gross tonnage of 133,500
- Over 1,000 feet in length
- 15 decks
- 16 restaurants
- 15 bars
When you consider the famed Titanic held just under 2,000 passengers and 900 crew, you start to realize the sheer magnitude of the vessel I was on. Over the eight days – evenly split between sea days and port days – I explored every inch of the ship as I attempted to fully unplug for the first time in over five years. To me, fully unplugging means neither checking nor responding to work emails and, much to the delight and surprise of the team here at PromoCorner, I was able to do that successfully.
During the journey, I was able to do things I have never done (extreme zip lining where one of the tracks was over 1.5 miles long, using a Seabob underwater scooter to get up close and personal with marine life, and ride an ATV over salt flats), things I don’t make enough time for (hanging out with my family, reading for pleasure, and embracing the silence), and things I love to do (play trivia, bar-hop before dinner, and sing Billy Idol’s, “Rebel Yell” to a group of 60+ folks during afternoon karaoke). It was a truly fantastic trip – especially when you consider I was somewhat reluctant to ever take a cruise vacation. Now I think it might be the way to go.
So, what did I learn on the cruise that relates to marketing, branding, sales, or even general business? I’ve struggled with that a little bit, but I did come up with a few things as well as questions we need to ask ourselves as business owners:
- Branding is Still King – A few of the restaurants on the Carnival Horizon are affiliated with celebrity chef, Guy Fieri. As much as I don’t want to admit it, the food at Guy’s Burgers and Guys Pig and Anchor Smokehouse were, as he might say, “off the chain.” I’m convinced that one of my twin boys, Drew, ate a burger and fries every single day. While the food was really good, it was the branding that truly impressed me: it was consistent, fun without being goofy, and made you feel like you were in for a dining experience; very impressive on a giant floating hotel. Does your brand make your audience feel that they are having an experience? If not, it may be time to look at your branding and how it relates to an ever-shifting (and demanding) target audience.
- Just Because Some People Do It Doesn’t Mean You Should Too – Look, I grew up in the ’80s and '90s so I recall when jorts (jean shorts) were prevalent. Hell, I even wore them from time to time and, yes, they were acid washed. However, I didn’t realize they had made such a robust comeback as it seemed a full 13.7% of the passengers were wearing jorts at some point or another every single day. Friends, that’s a LOT of jorts…and a lot of people who shouldn’t be wearing jorts. It made me think of fads (and, make no mistake, jorts is a fad) and how, in general, fads are really about wanting to “belong” to a larger group. As humans, we do things or, in this case, wear things, because we want to fit in. In business, however, fitting in is a cardinal sin that quickly leads to irrelevance. As famed marketer Seth Godin states, “you can either fit in or stand out, not both.” How often do we try to fit in with the companies we compete against? From my perspective, far too often which means we need to ask ourselves what are we doing to stand out as opposed to fitting in?
- Nickel and Diming Hurts Your Brand – Since I was on a floating hotel/resort, of course I expected to deal with, “resort pricing.” However, when it came time to purchase the photos taken aboard the ship, the gouging hit an entirely different level. Here is a prime example: for each digital image (or actual print, for that matter) the cost was $19.99. At $5.00 the profit margin on a digital photo would be astronomical. At $19.99, it’s downright offensive and caused me to buy LESS than I would have had the pictures been priced more realistically. More importantly, it damaged the Carnival brand for me. Again, I get that it’s a vacation and I’m going to pay a lot more because I’m a captive audience. With the proliferation of quality cameras on cell phones, this pricing is an anachronism that made me think less of the brand and something Carnival needs to address. When was the last time you took a hard look at your pricing as it relates to technological advances and/or the willingness of your target audience to pay what you’re seeking? If it’s been longer than a year, it’s been too long.
I could go on and on, but my word counter tells me I’m already pushing it with this being the 866th word. Suffice to say that attempting to unplug so I could reengage was a rousing success. But there’s a final lesson that I’d like to share: I would NEVER have been able to truly disconnect if it wasn’t for a tremendous team – especially my direct reports – that allowed me to do it. They worked their tails off so I could sip on Mai Tai’s while doing nothing. So, a huge thank you to Laurie Moore, Amelia Madl, and Kelsey Cunningham for doing such a wonderful job while I was out. My family thanks you as well.
Now, if I could only figure out how to build a lido deck in my backyard.
Bill is president of PromoCorner, a digital marketing, media, and advertising agency, and has over 19 years working in executive leadership positions at leading promotional products distributorships. A featured speaker at numerous industry events, a serial creator of content marketing, president of the Regional Association Council (RAC) board, and PromoKitchen chef, Bill has extensive experience coaching sales teams, creating successful marketing campaigns, and developing branding that resonates with a target audience. He can be reached at bill@promocorner.com.