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"To establish credibility we took a different approach to marketing ... we marketed the destination hard. Not just ads identifying the cities we served, but also here are the reasons you should be visiting those cities."

This is a great strategy for any company that doesn't have a long enough track record to become credible in the eyes of consumers. As a matter of fact, it's a good strategy for numerous businesses that can offer added value to their products or services which then makes a consumer want to do business with them even more.

What Kelleher was doing with Southwest Airlines (LUV) was to promote the various things that the different cities they served had to offer. As a result, the cities receiving the business would look favorably on Southwest Airlines, and consumers would appreciate the information and research done on their behalf to show them intersting things they could do while in those cities.

But there is even one other very important result from these promotions: people starting putting the destinations and Southwest together in their minds. Not only the city itself, but the attractions or other venues that may be going on at the time.

So when people thought of these things, Southwest would start to become part of their thinking processes. Southwest started identifying themselves together with all sorts of other events and cities which gave them instant credibility with people.

It created good will all around and gave people reasons to fly with the new upstart at prices they could now afford to do more often.

Kelleher and Southwest created and enlarged their own market by going beyond the call of duty in promoting those cities and customers they served. This type of strategy can work in just about any business.

Other Herb Kelleher Sources:

Special Event

Leadership: The Essential Herb Kelleher

The CEO as Brand Guardian

Herb's way

Speeches and Presentations from Southwest Leaders

Southwest Airlines: The Hottest Thing in the Sky

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