Over the weekend, I went with some old friends from college to eat at this little “hole in the wall” seafood restaurant in St. Augustine. When I say St. Augustine, I say that loosely because the address may technically be St. Augustine but the restaurant is in the middle of nowhere, with nothing around it for miles. It sits on a portion of the St. John’s River that has extremely black, dark water and alligators. When you first drive up to the place, the parking lot is packed, which is always a good sign for a restaurant, but the building itself looks like a shack. Now, in fairness, “shack” is part of the restaurant’s name, so this may or may not be on purpose. When you walk into the restaurant it is very rustic, and the outside area isn’t anything to speak of either. The food, however, is amazing. This experience made me think of the old adage, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Then it led me to think about how marketing is the direct opposite. Marketing and advertising puts products and services in pretty little packages, which attract buyers. Sometimes when you open the packages there truly are great products and services inside, but sometimes the package is much prettier than what’s inside. That’s what marketing is. It is the process of capturing “lookers.” Lookers of the pretty packages need to do their own research to find out if what is inside is as pretty and worthwhile as the package.

Kristie Lorette is a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant who specializes in the financial services, mortgage, real estate, event planning and non-profit industries. Kristie holds a BS in marketing, BS in multinational business and an MBA. You can learn more about Kristie and her expertise by visiting her website www.studiokwriting.com.

Article Tags: Advertising | marketing | Packaging
Filed under: Advertising, Business, Marketing Trends, Packaging, Strategy