This is a picture from our last vacation in northern Wisconsin. Our daughter was 16-months-old, and she was not crawling (or even close to walking) yet. At the time, this wasn’t a huge deal for us; she was still toddler-sized, so she was easy to tote around.
Now at age five, we're heading back to the same resort, and tote-ability is a huge deal for us. Our once toddler-sized girl now weighs close to 40 pounds and still struggles with physical mobility.
So why are we going back to the same place? If you guessed accessibility… ding, ding, ding!
All the walkways at this resort are well-paved which is great for walkers and wheelchairs. There’s an indoor swimming pool (we can't let her swim in the lake for medical reasons), and there's a playground on-site. The lodging is air-conditioned, the bathrooms are highly accessible, and the kitchens are great for cooking and storing frozen meals (she has a limiting diet, so we need to cook and bring some pre-made frozen dinners).
Out of curiosity, I looked at the resort’s website to see how well they're highlighting this higher-level of accessibility for the area (not only for special needs individuals but also for elderly persons or anyone who struggles with mobility).
Unfortunately, said resort is not highlighting the accessibility which is a shame. It's a shame for the ownership, because accessibility (done well) is a big selling point. It's a value proposition that makes them more attractive to certain individuals and helps them standout in a crowded hospitality field. If you've been to northern Wisconsin, you know there is no shortage of places to stay. We have plenty of choices, but we went back to this particular
resort (and paid more money) specifically for the accessibility.
This got me thinking about how frequently organizations fail to highlight all of their value points. How often are you leaving important pieces of your unique worth on the table?
Are you capturing your point of value well, or are you missing something that helps you standout? Perhaps you have the POV in your marketing material, but it’s not optimized well.
Example, the resort we’re going to alludes to accessibility throughout the website but never with a truly direct-to-consumer voice that says, “This is something we do well; this is something we take pride in and adds value to your stay.”
I want a video that speaks directly to the accessibility hitting on all of the amenities that make the experience better for certain groups of people and families.
This is why it’s important to regularly take stock of what your organization does well. Do some basic research. Survey your customers and your employees. You need to know what’s being said internally and externally. What’s the unique value you provide? Then, put that point of sale front and center, and make sure it’s optimized well for the right platforms and for the right audiences, otherwise you’re wasting valuable marketing dollars.
And with that, I’m taking a vacation.