In the world of travel, a destination is defined as a place or area where people travel to for recreation, relaxation, and enjoyment. How great would it be if your business, or better yet, your area of businesses, were to become known as a destination for those purposes?

Becoming known as a destination may not be as difficult as you think. How many businesses are in your area? Your area could be just one block of a street or a couple of block, a shopping plaza, a mall or even a town. The idea here is for the businesses within your area to partner for the purposes of creating yourselves as a destination, a place for people to hang out, relax, and enjoy.

Let’s say that your area has a couple of restaurants, a couple of boutiques, and a night club. Maybe you define yourselves as a destination to shop, enjoy good food and night life. Or, maybe your area has restaurants, a spa, a hair salon and a nail salon. So you could define yourselves as a destination to get pampered in. It can be done no matter what the type of businesses are. It’s a matter of being a little creative in your marketing.

A destination has the ability to attract far more people than one business can. The more people there are in the area, the better the chances of them stopping in your store are.

Talk with the businesses in your area to see how you could partner to become a destination. It’s an exciting concept and has the potential to be more profitable as well as a lot more fun, not only for the customers but for the businesses involved as well. I’ve said it before, two heads (or better yet, 10 heads) are better than one. One person may be able to do some great work but a small group can do some amazing things.

Steve and I are working on a project now to help small businesses create a community. It’s something that we both very strongly believe in and are very excited about the opportunity to help businesses with this. If you are interested in learning more about this project and receive updates, please sign up above to receive our free report and we’ll keep you updated on our progress.

Photo credit: ap.

The definition of brand has changed quite a bit over the years.  In the early 1900′s, brand was simply an identifying symbol or mark that distinguished a product from its competitors.  Cattle ranchers, for example, branded their cattle with their symbol or mark.  Each ranchers product (their cattle) could be easily identified by the brand.

Today brand means so much more than that.  Sure, your symbol, your logo is still part of the equation but it really is just a small part.  Your brand is also everything from the feel of your marketing campaigns, the look and feel of your store, the quality of your product or service to the perception your customers have of you and your business.  Your true brand is the unwritten, unspoken promise that you make to your customers about your products or services.  It is the feeling that your customers leave your store with.

What is the feeling your customers have of your business?  Is it what you intended it to be?  Are you unsure of what impression your customers have of your business?  There’s no doubt in my mind that you know what you want your customers experience to be like but are you sure of what their experience has been.

If you haven’t already done it, now is a perfect time to determine what your brand is.  Make sure your store, inside and out, gives the impression you are going for.  Make sure your staff know what you want your brand to say and what your expectations are of them.  Everything that you and your business does, from advertising, to online presence, to communicating with customers should reflect your brand.

If you are just starting out in business, know that developing your brand takes time.  It’s a matter of showing your customers time after time the same experience.  Eventually, they will come to know you as the company that is [insert your brand here].

What does your brand say?

Photo credit:  Erfellie