A lesson from bananas

40 years ago this week a small crowd gathered outside my window to watch a couple of bananas ripen. It was one of my first tourism marketing lessons, gained on the other side of the Iron Curtain. 

I'd gone to Magdeburg in the former East Germany/GDR to work as a translator/interpreter. It was a long time ago when only the most naive, foolhardy and stubborn (i.e me) from Western Europe stepped into the country ruled by Russians, under a very strict regime. 

When I left Yorkshire my mum did what she still does for every long journey - gave me a bunch of bananas because they're the ultimate quick, nutritious food. She'd ordered that bunch specially - asking for bananas that were green so they'd survive the journey. (Bear with me, there's a point to this story - I was reminded of it this morning when I heard it's National Banana Day...)

When I reached the East German border the guards searched me and my bags. It was very rare for anyone to actually choose to enter the country to work so they asked me lots of questions and then confiscated my Cosmopolitan magazine (they wanted to stop 'Capitalist propaganda from the West') and took most of the bananas, just leaving me with the two greenest. 

I was miffed but the guards had guns so it didn't seem like a good idea to be as stroppy as I normally am. 

I put those green bananas on the window sill to ripen. Suddenly people were standing with puzzled expressions, staring at the bananas. 

Point of the story: bananas were something I took for granted. Something my family saw or ate almost every day. 

But in East Germany they were an incredible rarity - they didn't import much food, certainly not 'exotic' fruit. 

I realised the border guards would have gobbled up the bananas as an unexpected treat. The people looking at my window sill were wondering where the bananas came from - while I was there if you saw a big queue outside a shop you automatically joined it and bought whatever it was.

Every day we do things, and see things that are normal to us but extraordinary to someone else. It's often the smallest things that give joy or make people smile. 

Here's a mini marketing challenge:

What are the everyday things you are taking for granted but need to mention to potential visitors in your marketing? 

Last week family visited from a big town. Here are the things they commented on, that they loved but which are completely normal to me: 

• So many sheep and lambs, often wandering around the moors without fences - they were fascinated by the idea of being hefted to land
• We rarely remember to lock our house door (or when my husband does, his speciality is leaving the key in the door...)
• The constant call of the curlew, and regularly spotting birds with nest-building materials in their beak
• The lush green of the hedgerows, especially the hawthorn and the bright yellow of dandelions
• The ease of parking and sense the car was safe

See what I mean? What everyday details can you use to give potential visitors insights into what they can enjoy when they visit you?

Remember, it's hard to imagine something if you haven't already experienced it, so it's up to you to paint the picture.