SUBJECT: Give Before You Take – A Brief Exploration of Value in Internet Marketing
Most anyone reading this is going to be familiar, at least in some
abstract way, with the concept of “value.” The concept of value, or
utility derived from content, products, or other offerings, is not
unique to IM, however, and those working across a variety of markets,
both online and offline, have to be keenly aware of the ways in which
their value is perceived by customers. In this post, we’re going to go
over the importance of balancing your ‘give’ with your ‘take’, and a few
ways in which you can maintain that balance when working with IM
clients.
The Why
Basic economics courses teach students that most people make their
purchasing decisions based on a concept called ‘utility cost’; whenever
someone is deciding whether or not to purchase an item or make a trade,
they weigh whether the utility of what they will receive is greater than
the utility of what they already have. Most commonly, this is the often
quick and (nearly) subconscious assessment you would make as to whether
an item is “too expensive” or seems like a “good deal.”
In online marketing, your customers make these decisions several times
throughout your sales funnel:
– Is the freebie being offered worth more to me than the potential
privacy giveaway and possible unwanted messages that entering my email
could incur?
– Is the information this person posts on their site helpful enough
to me that it’s worth taking ten minutes out of my day to read?
– Do I trust this person enough to take their recommendation that
what they’re offering is worth my hard-earned money?
For many marketers, the second and third bullet points are where they
lose people.
The Mindset Swap
Even though your end goal may be to make as much money as possible, your
customer always wants to feel like they’ve “won.” In most IM-related
instances, this means feeling like they’ve gotten the promise of greater
future value from a product, tool, or training/coaching course than what
they paid for it. However, there is another crucial evaluation that
happens long before they’ll ever get close to purchasing, and that’s
value-based-trust.
I recommend marketers practice a mindset swap, which involves taking the
focus off of their bottom line and simply becoming a customer. Read
every offer you’ve got, every promotional email, every review, and ask
yourself, does this feel valuable? You are not smarter than your
customers; if you know deep down that something you’re offering feels
like a half-solution or copout, they’ll pick up on it too.
Most marketers, both experienced and novice, have a sales funnel riddled
with these holes where offers feel like they’re doing more for the
seller than the (potential) buyer. Remember, when perceived utility of
an offer is viewed as a loss, people aren’t going to bite.
Actually Over-Deliver
Many of these low-value gaps occur because marketers are afraid of
giving away ‘the whole solution’, system, or secret. Why then, you
might ask, would someone make a purchase if they feel they’ve already
been given the solution to their problems? It is a tricky balance, but
too many err on the wrong side of the scale and come across as
withholding value from their customers.
It shouldn’t be surprising that customers are often more likely to
purchase after they have already had success with your methods and
recommendations, and you offer them up a paid product that complements
that success, rather than offering them a tiny piece of the puzzle with
what they need to see any positive results locked behind a paywall.
Which scenario do you think is more likely to foster an ongoing,
positive relationship with a new customer? An opt-in freebie that gives
visitors a complete system to make $1,000 per month, which you then
upsell to a different version with larger earning potential later on, or
just offering them the first page of the main system right off the bat,
which essentially renders it useless to them and gives them nothing they
can act on immediately?
The former has a high chance of resulting in a lifelong customer, the
latter might just tick someone off and see them opting out of your email
list as fast as possible.
The point? Give before you ever ask to take, work from the customer’s
shoes, and always over-deliver.
Of course ultimately to make sales after you’ve delivered value, your
product needs to have a solid hook.
If you feel you still haven’t developed the perfect HOOK for your
product you might be interested in checking out how a dead-broke
stand-up comic turned a simple joke formula into a million dollar sales
hook (and how you can use it to skyrocket your conversions Ð even if you
don’t have a funny bone in your body!)
Check it out now at: