Aug 26, 2022

Canmore, Alberta – “You saw a Grizzly! I hope he’s still there.”

Can’t read the full email – click here for the online version.

Amazing isn’t it. You spend 5 days in the wilderness with nary a sight of any significant wildlife and there on the side of a principal access road is the monster himself. Gorging on buffalo berries, seemingly oblivious to the cars lined up, tourists snapping photos as fast as they can.

Seeing one of these magnificent beasts, is a real treat. They really do represent the epitome of the wild. And the Canadian Rockies, with their vertical cliffs, towering peaks with glaciers shimmering in that deep blue of thousand-year-old ice, definitely feel wild.

It is little wonder then, that our tourist offices and accommodators use the Grizzly in many of their promotional pieces. Even when most will not see one when they visit.

This wildness, however, is not the sole reason people come to visit the area I call home. In fact, it wasn’t that long ago when, our tourism and town officials struggled mightily on how to promote and differentiate our community. 

They had some real challenges.

• The town existed initially due to a coal mine, which was closed in 1979
• It was located at the entrance to a world-famous national park – which also had a town built up entirely to serve tourists. How to compete with that? 
• There was little to no real services, restaurants, stores, cafes with which to keep visitors, after they had finished with their outdoor activities.
• And due to the smallness of its industry, there was little to no money with which to market the area.

Over time, residents from the largest provincial city, just an hour away, became the most important source of visitors. Many of those, then chose to become residents themselves, as they retired and/or were able to work from home. 

At one point, the town, with the local tourism office, embarked upon a rebranding exercise. They even consulted with one of the top destination marketers in North America. 

He recommended promoting the region as the “Canadian Capital of Mountain Sports”.

The town turned this down in the end. In their view it did not encompass all of the varied little industries that made up the town and the politicians of the day were persuaded to water down the branding to appease them.

Lost opportunity. 

Fortunately, our location and uniqueness in this province proved to be so overwhelmingly favorable, that we overcame the poor and expensive branding exercise – over time. 

And since it wasn’t their money, the town officials never felt any pain in the short run either, when there was no evidence, the branding had any effect.

You, however, as the owner of a small business or professional practice, cannot be so spendthrift. And you probably can’t wait 5-10 years for sales to improve.

You must, therefore, craft and build a uniqueness of your own, that will appeal to a certain demographic, so that they do not even think of going to anyone else, for the product or service you offer. 

With this market dominating position or unique strategic position, all of your marketing and sales becomes much easier. Your conversions increase. You rely less on the sales skill of your employees. 

With summer nearing an end, take some time to review what makes your company and its offering different and unique and how you might improve it.

Until next week,

Stay healthy and focus on profit! 

- Hugh 
The “Profit Accelerator” Expert

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