Finding an evening when the kids have plans outside the home at the same time provides a unique opportunity for a date night. At this point in our marriage, that date night includes running a few errands that couldn’t be attended to during the week while the majority of my focus is on content marketing.

Necessities out of the way, we headed to a local eatery, ready to use a gift card presented by my awesome team for Boss’s Day. (Yes, I’m a little behind on the redemption curve.) Just before the 7:00 bell, our restaurant of choice was starting to overflow in the waiting area, an expected phenomenon on a Friday night.

Management must have forgotten to inform the hosting staff of this phenomenon as we were not greeted with quality service, but instead exasperated looks by individuals clearly annoyed at the prospect of serving yet another couple who had walked through the door.

While this particular location is supported by a national ad campaign and powerful branding, their food and service were not enough to attract my attention. The only reason for my business was the possession of a gift card that included three other restaurants not available in St. Joseph. My total spend? Only $2 more than the face amount of my gift card.

If I were truly standing on principal, I would have walked straight over to the night manager and pointed out the poor behavior of the staff responsible for greeting those providing their revenue. Will that hurt the restaurant’s business? Probably not, but they won’t get my money anytime soon.

For the smaller business without a national ad budget – or even local budget – the focus has to be on quality of service. We provided content marketing for companies all over the world, but even quality writing won’t bring new revenue for these companies if they don’t place a priority on service.

That said, plan for your content marketing strategy only after you implement clear guidelines for caring for your current customer base. It just doesn’t make any sense to attract new customers if they will quickly turn to your competitors.

If you’re ready to explore the power of content marketing, give SJC Copwriting a call – we’d love to help you with your strategy.