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I had the opportunity to make a…um, site visit this past weekend.  I decided I’d take along a couple of old college buddies associates for the occasion.  And while the most important lesson learned from the trip was most likely that I’m not quite 22 anymore, I was also reminded that Las Vegas is easily the best practical case study for marketing in the world. 

 

So I’ll spare you the messy details of my trip.  Besides, I really just spent some time in my room handling administrative work and getting caught up on my reading.  Instead, and to better suit the purposes of my little corner of the Web, I’d like to share my perspective on marketing lessons taken from Vegas.

Always make it really, really, really easy for your prospects to become customers. 

I’m sure I’m not the first or only person in the world to notice that, if you’re not careful while on the Strip, and even sometimes if you are, you will end up in a casino.  The ultimate product of the Vegas casinos is gambling.  The first time I’d gone to Vegas, I was amazed at all of the little things that pointed back to the casinos, staring with the very sidewalks on the strip, which amazingly found ways to route you into casinos.  You’ve probably noticed that you can’t get to your room in any hotel without walking through the casinos.  You’ve probably noticed you can’t get to a restaurant without walking through the casino.  Ever share a cab with a “whale?”  Me neither.  Bottom line is that, if you go to Las Vegas to gamble, you’d have to be incredibly incapacitated to not find your way to a slot or table.  And, this being Vegas, even the incapacitated sometimes make it to their destinations as well. 

This also applies to your marketing (the “making it easy” part, not the “incapacitation”).  Sending out a marketing e-mail without a very easy way to click to an informational landing page and easy way to order?  Then don’t send it at all.  Sending a direct mail piece, but you forgot the phone number, an easy order form or, best of all, a Web URL?  You’ve just wasted your postage, but the USPS thanks you for your donation.  It’s simple.  Your marketing is intended, one way or the other, to facilitate sales, to encourage a certain type of behavior.  Why make it hard on those who want in?

 

Make sure everyone takes some value from their participation. 

Nobody beats the house.  The fountains of Bellagio and the canals of the Venetian were NOT built with TARP funds.  So why do millions of people travel to Las Vegas every year, when the vast majority end up losing their money there?  Couldn’t they just do that in East St. Louis?  Simple.  Most of them have fun doing it.  Not losing the money, but taking in the spectacle, enjoying the free drinks, eating at restaurants they enjoy and being treated like royalty (more often than not).  Funny how treating people well makes them forget that they’re giving you their money. 

So, let’s apply this lesson to our own marketing communications efforts.  Social media is a good place to start.  Is your participation in a LinkedIn industry group limited to “I want to sell you something?”  Ever seen the Wynn advertise how much the average customer loses at its tables?  Does your simple sales letter serve more to list your specs and discuss your product than to relate to the prospect and convince him or her that you understand his or her needs?  Does Mandalay Bay show you the markup on the entrees at its restaurants?  Get the point?  Make sure your communications efforts create a tie to your market.  Try to give them some value whether or not they make the purchase.  Seems to be working on the Strip…

 

Know who your customer is, and know thyself. 

You’ll notice that places like the Wynn don’t lead their advertising with talk of their buffet (although I’m sure it’s quite good).  And Harrah’s doesn’t play up its best suites.  Vegas is the ultimate example of businesses that do not try to be all things to all people.  The value casinos do it right.  The luxury casinos do it right.  The restaurants get it right.  From the décor to the food and drink available to the nature of the dealers at the tables, it’s clear from the moment you walk through any door on the Strip that the business you’ve entered knows the customer to whom it caters. 

So, do you?  Are you in every industry group you can find on LinkedIn, competing with fellow vendors for the same three prospects?  Does your marketing rely heavily on bad, rented marketing lists?  Do you take the “carpet bombing” approach to your direct marketing or the “blast” approach to media relations?  Most importantly, could your message be read by anyone (including your true target) without giving them the remotest sense that you know something about your reader?  If so, it’s time for you to get to Vegas, baby.