I recently went shopping for a new party dress.
Somehow, nothing in my closet would do — funny how that works 😉
At the mall, I wandered into a store I’d never been in before: Lily Pulitzer.
I felt like I had been blinded.
Neon greens, electric blues, and hot pinks swirled together in intricate patterns of elephants and umbrellas, peonies and paisley, pasted onto shift dresses and swim cover ups.
My corneas burned. My brain turned to scrambled eggs.
I slowly backed out of the store …
Now, if you’ve never heard of Lily Pulitzer before, here’s the run-down: It’s an upscale line of posh women’s clothing, known for bright (too bright?) patterns and classic cuts. Lily Pulitzer basically defined the whole “Palm Beach Chic” look.
I walked out of the store empty handed, swearing to never, ever set foot in there again. Sensory overload is just not my thing.
And yet — Lily Pulitzer revenues topped $233 million dollars last year.
How could a brand that I was so turned off by rake in that kind of dough?
Because Lily Pulitzer doesn’t care about me.
It’s not FOR me.
Every sorority girl has a Lily Pulitzer dress in her closet.
Southern sweethearts who love short hemlines and bright colors flock to Lily Pulitzer.
And so that’s who the line caters to.
They’re not trying to appeal to everyone (and certainly not a pale, doughy D.C.-ite who spends most of her day in pajamas!).
In fact, if Lily Pulitzer did try to appeal to everyone, they’d lose their best customers.
Because Lily knows the secret to killer marketing: Speak ONLY to your ideal client — and don’t give a flip about what anyone else thinks.
This absolutely applies to your travel agent marketing.
If you have a niche (and you should), all of your marketing should be geared toward pleasing the kind of people who take vacations in your niche.
In fact, I think that if your website copy isn’t turning SOMEONE off, it’s not doing its job.
(This is why I caution folks against sharing their copy with their spouses or friends, if their spouses or friends wouldn’t be considered ideal clients — because just because your hubby doesn’t like you about page, doesn’t mean it’s not good. Your ideal client may love it).
It takes focus — and a bit of bravery — to decide you’re going to tune everyone else out and only care about the opinion of your ideal clients.
But that bravery has a big pay off.
For Lily Pulitzer, it means sales in the millions.
For you, it’ll mean a steady stream of consultation requests — from the kinds of clients you LOVE to work with.
So go ahead and take a page out of Lily’s book.
One gal’s sensory overload shopping disaster is another gal’s retail therapy heaven 🙂
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