I’ve written a lot about pricing in my book Psychology in Marketing and Sales, as well as in previous blog posts and I’m often surprised when I hear small business owners (especially startups) ask how they can possibly charge for something when other people are offering similar services for free.

A recent example of this is when a customer of mine pointed out that his competitor is charging £25 for a webinar. “How can they do that”, I was asked, “when everyone is currently doing similar webinars for free?”... and from what we could see, the competitor is successfully selling these webinars.

The reason for the success comes down to what I like to refer to as the ‘Offer’ - the way that the product or service is positioned including the key message, the benefits and who is being targeted.
As well as the way the offer is positioned, the price itself can have a big impact on perception. Without knowing anything about jewellery, for example, a customer might assume that the higher-priced necklace or earring is better quality. The webinar or training course that has a higher price tag could be assumed to provide more valuable content.

The purpose of this blog post isn’t to give you specific actions or strategies for your business when it comes to product positioning and pricing. The aim is to provide you with content to reflect on, and to help you think about how you can position your products better - and that’s why I’d like to share the following examples I came across recently (by the way, if you would like to have a review of your pricing strategy or how you position your offer then I provide a 90-minute one on one session that could make a huge difference to your business. Click here to find out more).

The apple story

I have come across this from multiple sources, and while I don’t know if it’s a true story, it’s still great to read…

An old man was selling apples. His price list reads:

1 apple = $3.00
3 apples = $10.00

A young man stopped and bought 3 apples individually - paying $3 for each.

As the young man was walking away he turned and said “Hey old man, do you realise I just bought 3 apples for $9, instead of $10? Maybe business is not your thing?”

The old man smiled and mumbled to himself “people are funny. Every time they buy 3 apples instead of 1, yet they keep trying to teach me how to do business.”

Comparing Apple, not apples

On the subject of apples, The iPhone (ok so a different type of Apple!) has been very successful over the years with a much higher price than many of its competitors.

We could get into an in-depth comparison on how good the iPhone has been over the years compared to other phones but, despite some phones being arguably better, having more features and being cheaper, they have not sold as well as the iPhone.

Why? Because Apple products have strong desirability. The brand has been built up over the years and the ‘Offer’ has been created and positioned in a way to make the iPhone a MUST HAVE product.

What’s your OFFER?

When it comes to selling and marketing your products and services, it’s not just about the price, or about the features. It’s about many elements that need to come together as a complete package. Success depends on creating the right offer and then communicating it effectively to the right audience.

The right offer consists of having the right product, with the right features and benefits at the right price, and that also needs to be communicated to the right target audience. That’s a lot of ‘rights’ but you get the idea.
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If you need help with positioning your offer correctly and making it a success, let’s have a chat to see how I can help. Get in touch today.

A few months ago I was out for a walk with my son and we passed a For Sale sign for a property, and the contact details at the bottom of the sign included an email address that was Hotmail (such as name@hotmail.com). My teenage son called out jokingly “at hotmail, I’m not buying that!’ - which got me thinking about the importance of professional branding (the fact a teenager is suggesting he’s interested in buying a house didn’t bother me, knowing that anything on the market is clearly out of his budget in the short-term!).

For many years, I’ve always argued that businesses serious about growth need to look professional, and seeing signage or wording on vans (such as for electricians or plumbers) that have a gmail or hotmail email included is likely to put doubt in the mind of the buyer. If you don’t know the two electricians, would you rather buy from john@premiumelectrician.com or gary123@gmail.com?*

But I would argue the importance for having a professional brand, right? Afterall, I’m in marketing and brand reputation, and building credibility and trust with customers is something at the front of my mind on a regular basis. But in this scenario, it wasnt me. It was a teenager with little knowledge about marketing concepts and who has no experience of buying high priced items such as cars or a property who clearly pointing out that the lack of professional branding in the contact details could be a reason not to buy.

Potential customers seek credibility

When a potential customer looks to buy from a business, they want you to show credibility that you are a trustworthy brand. If there is any doubt about your credibility then they will look at buying elsewhere, and not from you.

Think of it like a job interview. When recruiting, a business might receive a stack of CVs to find their ideal candidate. They can’t interview everyone and if they all look good then there’s a dilemna, so what to do?

An easier option, which is usually deployed, is to find a reason to discount a candidate with reasons such as ‘there are a couple of spelling mistakes, do we really want that lack of attention to detail in that role?’.

​Finding reasons not to hire or interview is as powerful as finding a reason to hire someone, and when it comes to brand reputation the same applies. The copywriter that sends you a badly worded proposal, or the accountant that messes up the figures in their quote they send to you, are sure to reduce the chances of getting the business. Of course there are many other factors that come into the decision making process but building trust and credibility is a major reason for someone to buy.

Attention to detail

Often it doesn’t take much effort to re-check wording on your website or in proposals to make sure that there aren’t any obvious mistakes, and having a professional email address or company logo doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to implement. In fact, the cost of having a registered domain that looks professional should be compared to the cost of losing business from potential customers who decide to go with your competitors!

In the example above, an estate agent makes thousands of pounds on the sale of a single property. The cost of registering a domain and setting up an email address with that new more professional domain can be as little as £20-80 a year (in fact, you can use Zoho mail which is free and the total cost can be even lower).

Is your brand up to scratch?

If you are worried that your brand isn’t providing the professional image that you need to win business then get in touch for a free marketing review. We would be happy to provide you with some top tips and suggestions. Call us today to find out more.

*These email addresses are made up. I also mean no disrepspect to hotmail and gmail accounts. On a personal level, they are great to use.

The number three is a magical number which if used properly in your marketing, can help get better results. I was trailing through my archived emails the other day when I came across an email talking about how remembering numbers is easiest when they are grouped into sets of three, and it got me thinking. How can this apply to marketing and sales?

Using the concept of grouping things into 3 means that you can do the following:

• Make your marketing and messaging clearer, and more memorable
• Nudge customers toward buying the product or service you would like them to buy
• Explain how your product or services works so that customers will want to use them

The way that the power of three works is simple (I could say I will explain it in 3 simple steps but on this occasion, I won’t). On its own, a single number, price or product seems ‘lonely’. It’s not comprehensive and there’s nothing to compare. The human mind can absorb a lot more information than that so lets at least double it…

Two is good, but it could be better. If I ask you to remember a set of numbers, let’s say 702393, you could remember them individually as six separate numbers. You could remember them in groups of two, such as 70, 23, 93 or in groups of three such as 702, 393. You are more likely to remember them - and longer groups of numbers, in groups of three.

In his book, How to Write Short, author Roy Peter Clark talks about how using the rule of 3 can be more entertaining and satisfying as well as being more effective.

Before we apply this to marketing, let’s consider some real-world examples of how three is being used:

Boris Johnson, the UK Prime Minister,  was involved in using a simple 3 worded slogan during the EU referendum campaign that was simple and easy to understand: Take Back Control. He then became Prime Minister and won a general election with the three worded slogan ‘Get Brexit Done’ which almost seemed like his answer to everything… but it worked. In 2020 during the COVID-19 outbreak, he also made the message clear ‘stay home, protect the NHS, save lives’. Ok, so the first and last part are only 2 words, but the slogan is split into 3 sections that are easy to understand, memorable and made sense. Staying at home helped protect the NHS and helps to save lives.

The power of 3 can be covering 3 words in a slogan or three individual concepts. 

Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights activist, often used the power of 3 with lines such as “insult, injustice and exploitation” in one of his speeches* followed by “justice, goodwill, and brotherhood.”. Listing 5, 6 or even 10 things would have been harder to remember and would have diluted the message. Listing three things also makes the presenter seem more knowledgeable.

Julius Caesar said “I came, I saw, I conquered”, Winston Churchill once said “Blood, sweat and tears” while the American Declaration of Independence says “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.

The power of three is not new, but it’s often forgotten when trying to make marketing more effective.

Using it in your marketing

In my book, Psychology in Marketing and Sales, I talk about Decoy Pricing which involves offering a third pricing option. This third option increases sales conversions and also results in customers opting for higher-priced products or services. This works for various reasons, one of which is that it takes the mind away from comparing lower-priced products, or not buying at all.

In your marketing communication you can also use the power of 3 as follows:

• To make your product memorable for when people are ready to buy
• To get the benefits across quickly and easily without losing the attention of your audience
• To highlight how easy to use or implement your product is, resulting in higher trust and consequent sales

Here are some examples to consider:

An accountant might highlight they offer ways to save on tax, avoid fines and grow your business as the main benefits.

A web designer might increase the value of a service by offering a 3 in 1 package: web design, blogging and social media for one single price.

A software company might communicate that their product can be set up in 3, easy to follow steps.

A fashion designer might use a slogan such as ‘look great, feel amazing, be different’

Whether you use 3 or another number in your marketing, it’s important to keep messages simple and easy to understand - while making your product attractive. If you would like help defining your marketing messaging and communicating to your customers then get in touch today.

*His speech “Non-Violence and Racial Justice”

Over the years, I’ve heard many people raise two issues when it comes to writing blog posts. Firstly, they don’t have the time and secondly, they don’t know what to write about. Although in reality writing a blog post every month should only take a couple of hours every month, I’m not going to address the first issue in this article.

Coming up with relevant and useful content can actually be easier than you think and once you get into your creative flow you’ll discover it’s actually a lot easier than you initially thought.

The initial resistance

The first reaction by the human mind to the idea of writing a blog is ‘I can’t do that. I have no idea what to write about and where would I start?’ - but it’s important to make a start and that should be with writing down or brainstorming a list of ideas and topics.

A few years ago, I did a training session for a marketing design company. They knew how to create amazing artwork and graphics for their customers but their team wanted to expand their knowledge on topics such as social media and how to create content on various social media and blogging platforms. After suggesting how often they should be posting content, the initial response from the team leader was ‘no, we won’t be posting that often. We don’t have the time to come up with ideas on a regular basis’ but half an hour later, they had a spreadsheet with a list of over twenty different topics they could use.

How had this happened?

After the initial ‘we can’t do that’ response, I suggested we spend 30 minutes discussing how to come up with ideas. we explored what sort of content could be covered and the conversation went something like this…

Me: When you talk to your clients over the phone or face to face, what sort of advice do you give them? Give me a quick example.
Team member one: Well, we might suggest that all artwork has their logo on to raise brand awareness and that the colours they use on their website, social media and other marketing materials are consistent and in line with their brand.
Team member two: And that the logo should be crisp and easy to identify. We get customers from time to time who have used a blurred logo or their logo is so small you can’t read anything on it.
Me: Great, you’ve just given me three or four top tips that you can use to create three or four separate social media posts and possibly a blog post with tips for creating professional branding.

At this point, we listed a few more tips before I asked why someone should use them rather than do it themselves or outsource to a generic digital marketing agency. The arguments in favour included their expertise and knowledge of what designs and type of designs work best in marketing. This then became the basis for another blog post on how to choose the right company to help you with your branding.

By now you get the idea. If you are a florist, what helpful tips do you give your customers that you can put into a blog post? Maybe this includes frequently asked questions such as ‘which flowers are best for this time of the year’ as well as tips such as how stems should be cut at an angle (I learned this from a customer who is a florist!) or what plant food to use.

If you are a bookkeeper, what deadlines should your customers be aware of that you could turn into a blog post? What tips for managing expenses and receipts would you give? Should they use Excel or an online accounting package to track invoices and expenses?

If you are a personal fitness trainer or health coach, what eating, sleeping and exercise tips could you give? Could you write about the importance of getting into a regular routine and creating healthy habits? And what are the benefits of using a personal trainer compared to trying to get fit on their own without personal guidance?

I’m not a personal fitness trainer, florist or bookkeeper but there are plenty of ideas in this blog post to get you started - and once you get into the flow, you will find that more ideas come up more easily.

By the end of my training session, the design agency had agreed to create a shared spreadsheet and team members could freely add suggested topics, tips and upcoming events that would be worth considering. The team leader would then review the spreadsheet and decide what content would be used and how it would be used. This would also include seasonal events throughout the year that were relevant.

You might not have a team of marketers to share your thoughts and to give you ideas but you can always use colleagues and even friends and family for ideas. Sometimes having a different perspective can inspire you with new and better ideas for blog posts!

I don’t want to give away too much information

I’ve heard the argument, especially with business offering services, that they don’t want to give away too much advice that they would otherwise provide as part of their service and make money from. I understand this but think of the approach differently. You should provide enough information that demonstrates that you know what you are talking about, that adds value to your potential customer and that leaves them saying ‘These are great tips and you clearly know what you are doing. I can’t do this myself so I need your help’.

A business coach, for example, can offer great tips but always highlight how business owners that have a coach achieve greater results because they are more accountable or have someone to ‘bounce ideas off’ (or whatever benefits you as a coach see customers get from using your services rather than doing it themselves).

This approach also applies to other types of businesses such as home DIY, gardening or even food manufacturing. You might provide some tips for baking their own cakes or painting their bedroom but many people still want you to do it for them - whether that’s to save them time or make sure the task or product is perfect!

Other content ideas

So far, we have mostly talked about tips and blog posts around why customers can benefit from your services, but there are other topics to talk about.

You could also post about what's going on in your company. This helps to give a personal element to your business that people can associate with - but I don't recommend doing this too often. Whilst it adds a touch of personality and familiarity with the company,  it tends to be of less value to a wider audience, especially if almost every post is ‘look at what we are doing’ rather than ‘here’s a post to help YOU!’

Here's a list of possible things that you can write a blog post about:

• Top Tips
• How to do things
• What's going on in your company
• What major events you are attending or charities you are supporting
• Topical discussions, based on what's going on in the news
• Opinions on ways to do things better

Let’s give some examples of what blog titles might look like based on the above list:

• A company selling kitchenware might write a post with recipes and ‘how to make’ a specific meal.
• A local business might write about a charity they are supporting and working with.
• A financial business may write about the impacts of the next election campaign or a recent natural disaster with tips to manage your finances.
• A leadership coach might give his opinions on why procrastination can severely impact business results.

You might not agree initially, but whatever your business, there are plenty of things to write about. If you're really struggling to come up with ideas then take a look at your competitor's blog posts to see if you can write about similar topics. It’s important to avoid plagiarism but I’m fairly sure that whatever you write about, some elements of it will have been covered somewhere in the world. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t cover that topic. People want to hear from you, whether that’s your thoughts or what you are doing locally or with your customers, specific to the topic you are writing about.

A great source for posts such as top tips can come from questions that you get asked frequently. This helps with creating ideas and also shows that you understand the concerns - and thoughts - of your customers.

Admittedly, it’s not always easy to come up with content but it’s easier than you might initially think. You are sure to come up with some great ideas to write about!

If you would like to find out more about writing blog posts for your business, grab a copy of my book Blogging for business, or get in touch. We would be happy to write some great blog posts for you!

When creating content for social media, it’s important to understand your objectives and the purpose of a post and a key objective for many posts should be to drive people to your website to take action. Unfortunately, there are many challenges such as:
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• Images on Twitter and Facebook grab people’s attention but aren’t clickable
• Instagram doesn’t allow links in Instagram posts
• Posting great content about third party articles sends visitors to the third party site - and not to your site!

There are many apps that you can use to get better results from what you post. In this blog post, I address the 3 issues mentioned above with some great apps worth considering.

Note: While some of these apps offer free features, costs may be involved.

Create your own thumbnails

While images can grab the attention of followers on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, they can’t have a link attached to them like they can on a website. That’s why posts with thumbnails get more click-throughs than images.

Frustratingly, it’s difficult to control what the thumbnail looks like and on Twitter, you might not get a thumbnail at all when you post a link. There are technical ways to manage this with your website but a much better solution is to use an app that controls what the thumbnail looks like.

I use Switchy to create a custom thumbnail. It allows users to add the image, title and description for the thumbnail and you can also create a custom URL.

Creating your own thumbnails means you can make them stand out better and use the wording you want to entice visitors to click through.

Create Multiple Link Bios

I have talked about this in a previous post. Social media platforms only allow one clickable URL in your bio but by using a tool such as Shorby or Link In Bio (from Later.com) you can offer your fans a menu of options such as a direct link to your latest blog post, a link to your YouTube channel and much more - including a simple link to your website as well.

Using this option gives visitors more choice on platforms such as Twitter as well as increasing the number of clicks from your Instagram posts.

Visit Think Twice Marketing on Instagram and click on our bio to see how it works. Alternatively, you can click this link here to see the menu immediately:

https://shor.by/9XC1

Third-party re-targeting

Sometimes it’s great to show relevant and valuable articles to your fans from other websites but doing so means that they will visit that website and not yours! That’s where tools such as snip.ly and JotURL can help.

At Think Twice Marketing we use JotURL for our customers so that a pop-up call to action appears on the third party website, promoting our customer and driving visitors back to their site. Yes - you read that correctly - a call to action on a different site!

Imagine that you sell finance support for investments and pensions. You see a great article about how best to invest in your pension. Using a tool such as snip.ly you can have a button with a message on the site they are visit saying ‘Contact us for a FREE pension review’

Here’s an example that we have used for our own business to promote my books:

https://jo.my/marketingbooks

Driving more visitors to your site and generating leads

Using the apps above are a great way to generate more leads and increase sales. If you are looking for help with social media and would like to benefit from the above tools that we already use then why not get in touch with us to see how Think Twice Marketing can help? We also use other tools that provide features such as the ability to add bold and italic in your Facebook posts!

Get in touch today to find out more about our social media marketing support.

When creating videos for marketing, there are various types of videos you can use. The type of video you use will depend on your objectives and other factors such as who your target audience is.

Here are some of the most popular and most effective type of videos you can use:

(Note: You may come across different names for some of these videos. We mention some of the alternative names where possible).

Animated videos

Also known as dynamic illustrations or explainer videos. Animated videos can contain cartoon-style drawings and animation such as a hand, writing the words across the screen. Animated videos are normally very short (up to 2-3 minutes) and have a very high tempo.

Animated videos are great for explaining how a product or process works which is why they are referred to as explainer videos.

Here’s an example of an animated video we did explaining how Google Search works.

Animated videos are great for keeping the attention of your target audience but on the downside, they don’t have real people in the videos and possibly lack the personality of some of the videos mentioned below. A video featuring you, people in your business or your customers talking about your service allows potential customers to become more familiar with your brand and to build a stronger bond.

Corporate/Brand videos

Corporate videos are a great way to show how professional and established a business is. These videos tend to be longer than animated videos and for best results, they are typically up to 10 minutes long. The video might include shots of the offices, the manufacturing or design areas, staff and possibly customers. A mixture of music and spoken audio (whether that’s someone in front of the camera or a voice-over) brings the video to life.

Corporate videos promote the brand and the company as a whole. They are useful for presentations and for showing to potential clients when bidding for business as they give valuable insights into how the business can help.

These types of videos, however, aren’t usually the most exciting videos, and they only connect with customers on a higher, possibly more superficial, level.

Testimonial videos

Is your product or service any good? How can anyone trust that you deliver a good service or that you will deliver on your promises?

The ultimate way to do this pre-sale is to be referred to and recommended by another customer who thinks what you have done for them is amazing. Of course, this isn’t always possible and many potential customers will find you through various marketing campaigns and channels. Having testimonial videos on your website and that you showcase on social media is a great way to convince people to buy from you.

A testimonial video involves having one or more customers on camera explaining what you did for them, the benefits and how it made them feel. Videos can be as short as 20 seconds with one customer or as long as 1-2 minutes with several customers giving very brief feedback.

The main challenge with testimonial videos is having customers who are willing to go on camera and finding the time and resources to record and edit the video. Having written testimonials is much easier and still powerful, but nothing is better than seeing a customer saying how delighted they are!

Live (and recorded) social videos 

These types of videos can vary in style and length. They can be the ‘on-the-fly’ style videos - you’ve probably seen the guy walking down a busy street using the camera on his phone, telling you what he is up to and sharing his top tip or thought of the day. They can also be a carefully planned out Facebook Live video recorded from your office that lasts anything up to an hour! (personally, I think that anything over 20 minutes is too long but there are circumstances where longer videos are needed).

Live videos are great for engaging your audience on social media and allow your fans to build familiarity with you and your brand on a personal level. Done properly, they can even be recorded and used in an Ads campaign to promote a service or special offer.

One speaker personal videos

This type of video is very similar to Live social videos. The only difference is that they aren’t live. These videos typically involve one person, talking on camera about a topic that interests your audience. This might be a special promotion you are running or it could be providing some great advice. A business coach, for example, might do a quick video to discuss the importance of delegating or how to motivate and lead a team for effective results.

Presentation style pictures and sound

There are a number of apps available that allow you to upload images and select a background soundtrack. The app then creates a video which involves playing the images in a sequence with the background soundtrack. You can also add overlay wording and special effects such as having an image fade out or zoom in. Using these apps are generally low cost and relatively easy to make compared to hiring a professional. They are also very effective but lack the personal touch that live social or testimonial videos provide.

Presentation style videos are great for presenting products such as tasty food dishes for a restaurant. They are also great for providing a summary of a blog post that you have written.

At Think Twice Marketing, we convert many of our blog posts into a video you can watch. See the video at the bottom of this blog post! We also offer this as a service to customers. Get in touch to find out more.

Desktop/Webinar style videos

Webinars involve sharing your screen, PowerPoint slides and possibly your face on the screen. They are a great way to interact and explain how something works and are often used with an educational focus. These videos can be used as part of the sales process by capturing leads (the people who attend your webinar, for example). Webinars can be delivered live or pre-recorded and hosted online, for example on your website.

GIF animation

GIF images are very short videos with no sound. You can source ready-made GIFs from websites such as Giphy and you can also make your own GIF image by using a third-party app to combine images together. GIFs are great for social media and email marketing as they are quick and easy to source and can grab the readers attention. You might point out that they aren’t really a video as there is no sound, they just bring images to life and they are very short but we have included them as they can provide a sequence of images like a video and they provide animation.

Summary

Above are the main types of videos you can use in your marketing. It’s important to use the right type of video for your objectives and to plan in advance what the video will include. You don’t, for example, want to start a live video and then realise that you aren’t sure what you want to cover in it!

If you would like help understanding how to use videos in your marketing, get in touch. We are happy to help.