Customers Don't Buy On PRICE - They Buy On VALUE! | Small Business #Marketing Tips

What do we actually mean when we talk about value? Simply using the word value opens up a can of worms, since its meaning depends on who's using it. There are a number of ways of looking at value, such as an accountant's definition, but marketers are most interested in the perception of value from the point of view of the customer. After all, nothing happens until there's a sale, right? So hopefully we can all agree that having people buying from you simply because it's cheaper than buying from someone else isn't exactly a long-term business plan. Because no matter what you sell, there will always be someone somewhere who's prepared to sell it for less. Moreover, imagine you have a product that costs you $8 to make that you sell for $10. If you give a customer a 5% discount, that means you have to increase sales by 33% to make the same amount of profit. If you give them a 10% discount, you'll need to double your sales. Urgh! Discounting is a mug's game. Selling on price is for marketers who've run out of ideas. The only way to build long-term business value and ongoing success is in delivering and communicating a differentiated value positioning that potential customers can appreciate. Without a customer-benefits-led value proposition, customers don't see a difference between your product and the product of your competition. The inevitable result is the customer ends up buying on price. So even if you didn't lose a sale, you certainly lost a chunk of margin. Tactical niceties such as marketing automation, content marketing, AI, social media— yes, they may make the headlines, but they won't bring you sales in of themselves. Before any of that stuff, we need to get back to basics and do our job. Away from the "making it look pretty" perception that plagues marketers wherever they're to be found.