I recently had the worst dining experience in my life. Can you guess why? No, not because of the food. Yes, because of the service! MY GOODNESS, what awful service. And, because the service was sooooo awful, I will never step foot in that restaurant again. I will not go into the details of the server’s lack of enthusiasm, politeness and general understanding of what makes the service industry tick. But what I will do is highlight a couple of key things that may be applicable to all businesses.OK, what is this restaurant doing wrong?

#1 - Obviously, not training their staff properly. This staff member had no clue about the importance of providing the highest quality service possible. Proper training requires the proper training materials: training manuals, guides, posters, refresher meetings, hand-outs, tests and more. Yes this takes time to implement, but without these materials customers will not get the service required to keep them coming back for more. And, without repeat-customers, that business is going to have to implement an awful lot of marketing.  

#2 - Not measuring customer satisfaction. The restaurant management team has no idea how awful my experience was, why it was so awful and that I will never give them my business again. If a small satisfaction survey was sitting on the table, or was attached to my bill, I would have happily let management know how I was feeling and what I thought about their training program. This type of information is priceless. Management can use it positively to prevent this level of service quality if future. Can you imagine how many people that server “ticked-off” that day, that week, that month?

What are your thoughts? How else can a business avoid delivering appalling service?  

Comments(0)

Written by: Alison Ensworth
Marketing Communications Writer, PKG Communications

Whether you’re producing a brochure, poster, flyer, banner, business card, newspaper advertisement, or sign, you are trying to get people’s attention so your message can be heard. Furthermore, you want to leave people with the right information and enough interest to pursue it.  So how do you decide exactly what to print and how it should be communicated?

At PKG Communications, we know that there are THREE THINGS that should always be included in any kind of print marketing. We also know that accuracy, efficiency, and appeal play a key role in successful advertising. Ample experience has taught us to use multiple communication strategies to bring a point home with optimal results. Practice has proven to us that the THREE MOST IMPORTANT things to communicate to your target population through print marketing are:

• WHY the crowd should respond
• WHAT the product/service is and WHAT are its features and benefits
• WHO is behind the advertisement

The most important part of the advertisement is the WHY…WHY your readers NEED your product or service. There should be an enticing reason for them to first, take a deliberate look at your advertisement, and second, take the action you are promoting. The why needs to motivate that reader to take action now because they cannot or will not live without that product/service. This is often the trickiest part of an advertisement to write.

There bulk of the text should be devoted to the WHAT of your message: what exactly is your product and/or service. What comes with your product/service (features and benefits), what makes your product/service the best in your market…

The WHO part of the print should be clear and distinctive…a major constituent. Otherwise, potential customers will not know where to go to pursue your offer. You want them to recognize your label immediately, or at least make a connection that will help them search for more information. A logo or brand name is essential. Be sure to include contact information (i.e. website, phone number, address).

Of course, the three most important things in a piece of print marketing will vary depending on: the marketing vehicle, the nature of its message, and the circumstances it affects. That’s why professional help in the advertisement copywriting process can make a remarkable difference. PKG Communications can help you with all of your print copywriting needs: we do everything from brainstorming the concept, planning, writing from scratch, to editing your copy. Let us be your messenger!

Comments(0)