Expressing Real Brand Value
There’s a bit of a lie going around on the internet and it’s become such a part of main stream online marketing that it’s gone unchallenged and undetected by mostly everyone. I know you’ve seen this value on the internet on sales pages and probably in the bonus section of some of your favorite sites. Chances are, you’ve seen it done so much that you’re imitating it and doing it yourself thinking that it is a “best practice” for doing business. Your “gurus” do it, top business coaches do it, and almost everyone that I’ve seen offer a special report or free CD or “Irresistible Free Offer” has done it… the fake value of that item. And more than 90% of time, it’s a lie.
It begins innocent enough. It is not done to deceive you. Most business owners just don’t believe you’ll be interested in their stuff if they don’t give it a dollar value. You go to their website. They have a special little something they want to give you for no cost. It might be a report, it might be a subscription to a newsletter or it might be an audio recording or an interview. The offer, it should go without saying, really should be able to stand on its own without a fake price tag… but that’s not what happens.
What we see is… $97, $297, $999. That’s the price tag you usually see coupled with that item. For an ezine subscription like this one, the price is usually $97. Where did that come from? Who was the first person to attach a price to an item that has never been sold and that is produced to never be sold? Really? This has always bugged me.
We also see it when someone is selling a high ticket item or series or event and want to entice us with bonuses. Those “bonuses” are usually the give away no-cost lead generators from other service providers that can compliment the product or service in some way. The sales page is long, the offer seems good, even if we’ll never listen to, open up or watch all of that additional material, and we buy in.
Do we buy in, opt in or exchange because of the fake stuff or the real stuff? I can’t speak for everyone, but when I decide to subscribe to something, opt-in for information or exchange my address or number for something it’s 98% of the time because of that particular flagship item, not the fake and phoney add-ins. If the bonuses are truly things that are also sold by the merchant or someone else, I feel a real value has been added.
Instead of buying into the lie, a better option would be to communicate the real value of creating that product or service. For instance, for my own ezine, I do not have a fake value expressed. Because I don’t and never have intended, to sell it. Now, that’s not to say that it won’t end up in a book one day, but the purpose for which it is written is not for that. Instead, if someone asks me what it’s worth I would tell them that I pull in my 10 years of experience, and that I spend about 3 hours each week creating it so that people actual get real and usable tips and resources that they find helpful to move their brand forward.
I’d also tell them that I generally get several (not hundreds, not thousands… not yet anyway) emails each week from someone telling me that something in the newsletter helped them build a new brand component or make one better and that an opportunity came their way as a result of it. That’s valuable but the dollar amount of that advice is variable, as you can imagine.
I suggest that we change this flimsy way of doing business and adopt a more transparent and authentic way to express value. Placing devils advocate, one could argue, well, if someone’s usually getting paid $100 an hour, and they spend 3 hours a week on that ezine, it’s worth $300×52 weeks! But that’s really not true because a person’s time is rarely that concrete, especially when they’re creating something that’s got a lot of leverage.
You can easily express the real value of the things you offer by considering three important factors. Keep track of these factors and people will connect to what you’re offering based on true value:
1) How many hours did it take you to produce it? Consider everything such as the time outlining it, research, writing, development, proofing and putting it into the system.
2) What results are people getting or expected to get from it? In the beginning you may only be able to tell people what they can expect, but after a while you’ll be able to tell people the effect it’s having in the lives of others.
3) What makes it unique? Since it’s unlikely that you are the only one in your business doing what you do, express what makes it so remarkably different from the others. Could anyone in your industry do it? Are they? If so, find a way to give people what they need that isn’t currently being met.
I’d bet if you really expressed the value of the products and services you offer given those three criteria people would stand up and pay attention. We all are naturally attracted to the truth, and brands develop loyal and lifelong supporters when they express the truth in everything they do (even subtly).
Do that, stay away from the trend of expressing fake values and prices in your business and I’m sure you’ll see priceless rewards.
Want to know how you can make your brand different? It’s been said that genius runs through me. Call us at 888-YOU-BRAND (orĀ 201-356-9139 for international dialers) and we’ll get to the core of your true value, ok?