Prospective customers make significant value judgments based on first impressions.

Like it or not, whether it’s a first date, job interview, visit to a restaurant, view of a packaged product, or even just a web banner ad or voice on a phone, your product is can be 50% accepted (or 100% rejected) in just a few minutes or seconds of first impression.

So why do we flub the marketing so many times?

Today’s example is courtesy of my field researcher, the Blonde Bombshell, who, even though she claims to be no marketer herself, has a huge amount of common sense.

Seems there’s a large annual convention for companies related to the hospitality industry. (Think “Attendees are thousands of people in key management and executive roles at companies like Starbucks, McDonalds, etc).

Imagine you’re the lucky hotel and convention center chain who gets chosen to host this event.

If you’re on the marketing side, you have quite a windfall. Thousands of your target customers are actually –paying- to experience your property!

One would imagine that you’d steer them to the best-run, best-proven property you had, and do whatever it took to ensure that their experience was stellar.

Apparently this common sense was lost on Gaylord Hotels, who booked the event into their newly opened Prince George MD convention center… except the word “newly opened” should probably have read “almost ready to open, but not quite”.

Guests were treated to rooms missing toilets, no cell phone coverage, no local restaurants, mice in rooms (lots: http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=708&sid=1384462 ), missing basic services like spa and health club facilities, staffing shortages… in short,  something close to what one would expect at a mid-range truck-stop motel.

All for the discounted rate of $299 per night. That they paid the hotel, not the other way around.

If I’m a guest, what’s my first impression of this hotel?

Will I ever return?

What will I tell my friends? My company?

How much money, in other forms of marketing, do you think it will take to recover from this black eye?

Think about this story the next time you’re planning a marketing campaign. What’s the first impression you’re going to create? Check for that spinach in your teeth, spelling mistakes on your resume, and make the impression a great one.

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