Naturally Attractive.

Today's Marketing Cookie is about being naturally attractive.

When I think of "natural attractiveness," I think of my wife. Sorry. It's quite true. I realize that it may be too early in the morning for mushy stuff, but please allow me to follow this thought for just one moment more. She rarely wears makeup and always looks astonishingly terrific, but I am not talking about natural beauty today. No. I am talking about natural attractiveness. While beauty can add to attractiveness, I believe a person can be naturally attractive without great beauty. Do you get the distinction? People want to be around my wife. They listen when she speaks. She is memorable, remarkable, and she is uniquely attractive.

Is your business naturally attractive?

I'm not talking about your gorgeous logo, perfect advertisements, and your beautiful website. No. Those are shallow beautification techniques, not unlike wearing makeup. I am asking if your company is attractive. Think about it. Take an audit of your company's attractiveness. Do people follow, read, and share your tweets? Has anyone subscribed to your blog? Do your customers enjoy doing business with you? Do you have to beg, hunt, and cold call for new business, or does it come to you organically? Do you constantly have to offer coupons, discounts, and sales to bring people in the door, or are others referring you?

We have a favorite pizza place on Main Street in our hometown called the Mansfield House of Pizza. They call it M-Hop for short. While the restaurant is clean, it's nothing special to look at. While the sandwiches are pretty good, you could easily find something as good or better at a dozen other places in town. While the pizza at M-Hop is not my favorite, I often order pizza from that place. Why? I can tell you, it's all because of "Zee."

Zee is the owner of M-Hop. He knows my name and the names of all my family members. He smiles when we go in there. He recognizes our number when we call. Zee knows that I don't like onions, and that I work in marketing. Zee knows that my wife is a published children's author and that she likes gyros. Sometimes on Saturdays, my son and I will order sandwiches from M-Hop, and he always goes up to the counter and tells him, "You put the Zee in Amazing!" Zee doesn't need to have a big sale to bring people in the door. Zee doesn't need to offer coupons or need to advertise. The truth is, Zee makes M-Hop naturally attractive, and we choose his restaurant over dozens of others on a regular basis.

How about you? Is your company naturally attractive? Do you put the Zee in Amazing?