The rules for a cream tea are very simple:
- First, you have your scone; halved;
- Then you add your clotted cream (lots of it); and finally
- You put the jam on top.
That’s it. The only way to do it. The end. No debate.
It is the way that I have always done it – possibly because all of my summer holidays were in the lovely fishing village of Hope Cove in Devon.
And this is where I am right now, which, bearing in mind what I have just ordered, is going to be front of mind and front of chops ‘In a Devon minute’ as the owner of The Cottage Hotel just said to me.
So, I do my cream tea the Devon way. The saying “in a Devon minute” means that it could take some time – certainly longer than 60 seconds (in fact it was around five minutes in case you were interested, so excuse me for a moment while I pause to eat my scones………).
Wow – that was lovely. Since becoming wheat intolerant a few years ago (long story) I haven’t had a cream tea, but the hotel now offers gluten free ones and they were fantastic (unlike much of the gluten free bread which is like eating cardboard – nasty cardboard at that).
Another thing about this particular cream tea at this hotel is that the pot of team came with extra hot water – hardly anywhere does that these days. The reaction was happiness for me and now I have shared the details of the hotel with you and who knows, one day you might visit. If you want to step back in time and enjoy an immense view you certainly should.
I think that there are quite a few good email marketing takeaways for you from my visit here today:
1. Traditions/preferences/traits. Whether you are a Cornwall cream tea person (jam on bottom, cream on top), also known as ‘wrong’, or a Devon cream tea person (the only logical way to do it) talking about traditions or preferences in your sector or in an unrelated one but tying it back to your services stirs emotion in people which leads to better engagement from your readers. Some will respond, others will forward your email on to their friends or colleagues who they know disagree with the method that you are talking about. Engagement in your email marketing is very good for you and for your business;
2. One of my pet sayings is “To beat your competition you only have to do slightly more than they do”. This hotel did three things that made me take note:
a. They provided me with gluten free scones;
b. They served extra hot water with my tea; and
c. Their plus silver tea pots have the hotel name stamped on to them. It doesn’t matter in and of itself, but it just makes me think that if they go the extra mile with these little things, they must do a lot of other things behind the scene that make them successful.
What else can you do that makes your service just slightly better than your competitors so that your clients talk about you to their friends too?
3. When I sat down to write this email, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to write about, until I ordered the cream tea. It is often the way with email marketing. Sometimes you cannot think of anything to write about, but the act of sitting down and starting always produces a result. When it comes to email marketing, don’t wait until you have your brilliant idea to write about, notice that it is nearly time to send your weekly or monthly email, sit down and start writing it or dictating it and it will come. Above all else, email marketing needs consistency.
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