"You are in the parking industry, this is obviously true. But you are also in the travel business. If your airport closes tomorrow, your company would be in a serious predicament."
"In recessionary times, small to mid-size companies have a real opportunity to position their brand in the marketplace and increase marketshare. The time is right now to implement a strategy while the larger brands struggle to compete and hold marketshare."
"No one goes on the internet to spend more money. Consumers are shopping for bargains first, and then a trusted brand who provides reliable service."
"Travel & Entertainment (a.k.a T&E) is the second largest expense in most companies. In the last three years, companies have cut travel costs simply because they can and must. This trend will continue until our economy shows any sign of growth."
"Common sense tells us that following success is smarter than following failure. Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrylser, once said 'you have to surround yourself with winners'. Having said that, I like following the most successful airline strategy in the U.S. - Southwest Airlines."
Why is Southwest Airlines the most profitable airline in American history?
Because they built a company going against the grain. In other words, SWA did not follow Delta, United, American and all the other others with respect to service, seats, marketing, operations, aircraft, etc. When the internet took off in the late 90's, SWA made a strong stance in being the only airline to block other third party websites (known as aggregators) from reserving seats through Centralized Reservation Systems (CRS). Fast-forwarding through their success, today the company transacts in two ways; http://www.southwest.com/ and 1-800-IFLYSWA. That's it!
The SWA website processes approximately 80% of the company's reservations. And the 800 number has played a recorded message since 1999 "Our lowest fares are found at Southwest.com".
Positioning your Brand and Branding your Business!
In today's competitive environment, it is about providing your lowest rates on your company's website to establish trust with your shopper. As a consumer, think about your own personal shopping experience for any product or service online. If you find a product or service on a third-party website you never heard of offering a lower price than your website, what would you think or do?
You would probably ask yourself the following:
This is your time for branding and positioning your business in your marketplace. And if you do it right (plan, prepare, educate, execute and track), you will reduce costs, increase revenue, build customer loyalty and compete at the highest level.
Here is a website that provides great insight into branding and positioning. Click Here.
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