(Time to read this Blog is about 3 minutes)
Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking or smiling:
- My Biz Quote of the week:
“The World doesn’t need one more mediocre anything! First you need a compelling value and experience story…and then you need to tell that story in everything you do.
What’s your compelling and differentiating value ‘story’ that makes you the clear ‘wise choice’ for your target customers…and how effectively are you telling that story?”
…Donald Cooper.
- Quick Biz Tip:
Companies rated the best for ‘customer experience’ are also rated as great places to work:
In survey after survey, the companies that are rated the best for delivering great ‘customer experiences’ are also rated as one of the best places to work in their industry.
This is not a coincidence! You cannot be a great place for your customers if you’re not a great place to work. So, what 4 or 5 things will you do, in the next 6 months, to be a better place to work? Ask your Team for their input. Trust me, they have a list. Remember, the best people have to work for someone…it’s just that you have to deserve them!
For help with this, use my insightful Biz Tool #B-18, ‘The 17 Keys to Creating a Winning Culture…how do we rate?’ To download, no charge, Click Here.
- Fun fact: In a recent Survey by UK-based travel agency Travelbag, Melbourne, Australia was named the world’s #1 culinary destination. Toronto is #2. Dubai #3 and Sydney, Australia #4.
- A different perspective on the Canada / USA Trade Deficit: Trump complains that the USA buys much more from Canada than Canada buys from the USA. He says that the USA is ‘subsidizing’ Canada with billions of dollars.
So, here’s a different perspective. The population of Canada is 40 million. The US population is 340 million, or 8.5 times larger.
On a per capita basis, the US purchases $1,374 in goods and services per person, per year from Canada while Canadians purchase $10,875 per person, per year from the USA. That’s about 8 times more, per capita, than they buy from us. So, who’s really subsidizing whom …and why aren’t our politicians barking out this message loud and clear?
Now, to this week’s important topic:
Do you have a clear & compelling Brand Promise…and do you keep it?
We’re big fans of Regent Cruise Lines, but they need to clarify their Brand Promise…and then they need to deliver it better. As a business, if we don’t know who we are and what we commit to, how can our Team and our customers know who we are and what we commit to? Clarity begins at the top…and it seems to be missing at Regent.
If you look at Regent’s ads and look around their ships, they seem to have a number of Brand ‘positioning statements’ on the go at the same time. Never a good idea. In the last year, I’ve seen 5 different Regent ‘positioning statements’. They are:
- Luxury Perfected.
- An unrivalled experience.
- Unrivaled at Sea™
- The Most Inclusive Luxury Experience®.
- Nobody does it better. (introduced in December 2024).
The most recent one, ‘Nobody does it better’ is ‘borrowed’ from the Carly Simon theme song for an old 1977 James Bond movie. In my opinion this is the weakest of the 5. It lacks originality and it appears not even to be true.
In spite of this new claim that ‘Nobody does it better’, Surveys of the best luxury cruise lines, rated both Viking and Seabourn higher than Regent, which is in #3 spot.
Another Survey of luxury cruise lines by the well-respected Travel & Leisure Magazine, rates Viking as #1 and Regent as #4.
And, according to Travel Advisor and Consumer Advocate Christopher Elliott’s, ‘Readers Choice Awards’, the following cruise lines rate the highest for Customer Service:
- Viking
- Holland America
- Celebrity
- Disney
- Seabourn.
…so Regent is not even in Christopher Elliott’s top 5 in the ‘Service’ category, according to his thousands of followers.
You can take a 3-year course on Advertising and Branding. Here’s Cooper’s 7-second course on Advertising and Branding. “Advertising is Creative Bragging. And, first you get good, and then you brag.” That’s it. You don’t brag and then try to figure out how the heck you’re going to pull it off. That will end badly!
Regent Cruise Lines, like every other business on earth, needs to come up with one clear, powerful, believable and deliverable Brand Promise that ‘grabs’ their target customers, clearly differentiates them from their competitors, makes them famous and grows their bottom line.
What does that look like in your business?
That’s it for this week…
Live brilliantly and be kind to each other!
Donald Cooper
Donald Cooper speaks and coaches internationally on management, marketing, and profitability. He can be reached by email at donald@donaldcooper.com in Toronto, Canada.
