See, I’ve been looking for a way to implement the same automated follow-up marketing offline via direct mail for about a year, and not a single direct mail print company (in Australia or USA) offered a solution. They all offered the ability to do a mail merge (variable data) print run, if I wanted to arrange a once off promotion, but nothing that even resembled an automated follow up sequence of post-cards and/or greeting cards.

Anyway, a friend ‘pitched’ a card sending business model to me over a year ago, which I completely blew off. It was an MLM business-model and he used the standard network marketing pitch as well – I had too many other projects on the go, didn’t want another income opportunity chewing up my time, and felt that I’d have to sell ‘snake oil’

BUT, then after helping him out in a completely unrelated area, I got one of these cards as a small thank-you note… and the thing that stood out for me was:

The cards (and envelope) were printed in his own Handwriting – With a Local Postage Stamp !!

Yep, the platform they use to print these cards allows customers to fill out a form and have their handwriting uploaded as a custom font — blew my mind ! Just imagine how high the ‘open rates’ of these cards are – 98%+ ? (Puts the open rates of even the best email copywriters to shame.)

So, after a quick conversation I also learned that the platform allows clients all over the world, to not only send out single cards, bulk mailings, birthday/anniversary cards on pre-set date (which is cool in itself) …

BUT you can set-up an auto-responders style sequence, where clients can get a ‘thank you for buying’ postcard immediately, 17 days later a ‘hope it’s all going well’ two-fold card, then a ‘it’s probably time for a refill’ postcard 45 days later etc etc etc.

As I talk about in the ‘Preneur Hierarchy’ section of the book, the easiest people sell to are your existing customers, right ? Well, this is that follow-up, stay-in-touch, up-sell, back-end real-world marketing program on auto-pilot.

The thing that really annoys me, is they don’t really ‘pitch’ the auto-responder feature of their service – They are more focused on people sending one-off thank you cards to friends and family.

The other amazing thing is that it costs a lot less than $1 per card… and that includes postage!! (You won’t find hallmark anywhere near that price – and the quality is identical to me)

There library has over 10,000 card designs, but you can obviously upload your own designs (in under 2mins) for custom promotional mailings.

This is one of the best direct response marketing services I’ve ever seen…

Now regarding, the often dirty term ‘Multi-Level Marketing’ – Firstly, let me say:

You can become a customer of their service WITHOUT joining the MLM structure.

I wanted to make this clear again, because I am not trying to pitch you on ‘joining my downline’, I really do believe the direct marketing service they offer is a powerful one.

If you want to also have a opportunity to make some (good) coin along the way, great… They offer some very healthy sign-up commissions, plus a (residual income) $% of every card printed and sent from people (customers) in your downline. But, that side of things is all explained on a video over at their site.

Either way, I really encourage you to check out their direct mail services.

I’ve arranged a 7 Day Free Trial, so you can send 2 or 3 one-off cards to friends, customers or even yourself (to see the quality first hand) and trial their direct mail marketing platform.

Just visit http://bit.ly/7DayCardTrial, ignore the crappy site layout, and click the big banner at the top of the page, then follow the simple sign-up process.

If you have any questions at all, feel free to shoot me an email anytime – I’d really love your thoughts and feedback.

That link again is http://bit.ly/7DayCardTrial

Speak soon.

Pete

P.S. Did I mention that once you’re a client they upload your OWN friggin handwriting as a font – and include a couple of signatures too !!!

P.P.S. Direct Mail Auto-Responders = No Spam Filters + Really High Open Rates + Less Competition (no one get’s “handwritten” mail anymore, unless it’s a bill)

P.P.P.S. Go and visit http://bit.ly/7DayCardTrial

P.P.P.S. And yes… given that it’s an MLM model, when you sign up for an account and implement this offline auto-responder service in your business, I will make a few bucks. But if you join their entrepreneur program I’m more than happy to ‘coach’ and help you grow your MLM business.

Forget Email – Offline AutoResponders Is Where It’s At In 2010… is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams
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‘Going Analog’ Sneak Peak is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams
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Just wanted to let you all know that Brent is running a little ‘challenge’.

If his recent blog post titled ‘Want To Watch while a Copywriter Writes Salesletters – for real?’, gets 20 responses by Thursday 13th, he is going to do a series of short screen-cam videos the week after showing each copywriting step he goes through as he goes through it, what he’s thinking at each step, and how you can duplicate his process to create your own sales letters – and make the videos available on his blog.

So why should you learn from Brent?

Well I was “some-what” on the inside of one product launches Brent wrote the sales letter for, which resulted in $560,000 in orders in under 24 hours… On a niche product… With the offer targeted to Australians (only) who were interested in this niche.

Need I say more ???

So, just make sure you go to his blog post ‘Want To Watch while a Copywriter Writes Salesletters – for real?’ and leave a comment.

Technorati Tags: copywriting, brent, hodgson, brent hodgson, over-the-shoulder, over the shoulder

Look Over Brent Hodgson’s Shoulder… is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams
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Todays post is based on the Robert Cialdini influence principle of ‘Liking’… and the two ways you can look at the factor of ‘liking’ when it comes to marketing and selling.

Firstly, you can say people will buy from people they like. Pretty plain and obvious, it’s just human nature that people are reluctant to throw money at people they don’t like.

There really isn’t anything new here… this principle has been openly discussed for decades. No sane marketer goes around trying to piss their prospects off.. that just ain’t cricket.

Although, what I am NOT saying is “try and get everyone to like you”.. trying to do this is a fast ticket to the insane asylum. Dan Kennedy talks about this principle really well and I will dedicate an entire post to it at some point.. but for now the take away is:

“Try and get your targeted prospects to like you… and just ignore everyone else… even Mother Teresa had her haters”

Secondly, you can look at it from the point of view that if, as a marketer, you can get your prospects to think/believe/feel that they are “just like you” it builds a very strong bond that is such a powerful selling tool.

Over-The Shoulder marketing is not just about letting your prospects look over your shoulder so they develop a liking for you… It’s about creating a subconcious connection in the prospects mind that the are JUST LIKE you..

It’s this take on the ‘liking principle’ that forms the foundation of ‘Over-The-Shoulder’ selling and one reason why Twitter has become such a powerful marketing tool.

Twitter is a great way to really engage your customer in this “Over the Shoulder” way.

Some of the greatest over-the-shoulder marketers around are really embracing Twitter to interact with thier herd (read: prospects) but posting what would otherwise be considered the most random collection of tweets (posts on thier twitter feed)… everything from what they had for breakfast, to what they are doing with their family on the weekend, to what random web-site’s they’re visiting.. plus the odd (strategically placed) sales pitch.

By reading the Twitter feed, you are practically reading over their shoulder and getting a glimpse into the persons life.

So is are these tweets really that random ?

Well, what’s actually happening in these prospects mind whilst reading these random tweets:

“Look at Scott… Look at what Scots’s doing. Aww, Scott’s with his family! I have a family… Oh, Scott had to go to the supermarket just like me. Oh wow, Scott has to do the same mundane taks as me… Cool, Scott likes wearing pink tutoos just like me… Scott really is so similar to me. Amazing, Scott is making like $100,000 a month doing this internet marketing thing… Well if Scott is just like me, there is no reasons I couldn’t do that too… Maybe i will buy his stuff and be even more like Scott….”

It’s not just about having someone look over your shoulder and exposing your life to the world (although thats why the majority of people twitter) – it’s about building a rapport, it about allowing your prospects to get a glimpse into your life and create that “i’m just like you bond”.

As Brent says so elequently…. It’s about making yourself similar to other people in your market – with some of the same struggles, joys and mundane day-to-day life. It’s “mirror marketing” – allowing people to see themselves in you.

It makes anything you do seem achieveable.

If you’re a guru, and you’re like them, your success becomes within their reach. It becomes achieveable.

Pete

P.S. – If you want to find out what Fleur and I are doing this weekend then subscribe to my twitter feed here.

P.P.S. – Make sure you check out Brent Hodgsons blog here – http://www.brenthodgson.com/. He’s just started blogging again after a little break and he really does know what he’s talking about.

Over-The-Shoulder Marketing is not just about letting your prospects look over your shoulder so they develop a liking for you… It’s about creating a subconcious connection in the prospects mind that the are JUST LIKE you… It’s about making yourself appear similar to the people in your market – with some of the same struggles, joys and mundane day-to-day life. It’s “mirror marketing” – allowing people to see themselves in you.

Technorati Tags: over the shoulder, over, shoulder, marketing, over the shoulder marketing, over the shoulder selling, brent hodgson, brent, hodgson, pete williams, peter williams, Robert Cialdini, Robert, Cialdini

Over The Shoulder Marketing [with Brent Hodgson] is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams
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As Brent mentioned in his post, we caught up for a long over-due dinner earlier in the week and as always got to talking about all things internet marketing…

Anyway, Brent mentioned he was working on an article about Robert Cialdini’s 6 factors of influence and how they can be used when selling online…

For those who have a mmory like me.. for reference the 6 factors are:

• Reciprocation - When people receive a favor, they feel the need to return that favor;
• Commitment and Consistency - When people commit to an ideal or goal in some way, they feel the need to honor that commitment;
• Social Proof - When people see other people doing something, they become more likely to do it themselves;
• Scarcity - Perceived scarcity in supply will create an increased demand;
• Authority - When asked to perform an action by an authority figure, people will usually comply;
• Liking – People are easily persuaded by people who are similar to and/or liked by them;

As Brent mentioned in his blog, the two factors which we spent most of the conversation discussing were “Authority” (how do you establish authority online?), and “Liking” (how do you get someone to connect with your identity through a sales letter?)…

So here is my take on the first of these two factors…

1. Authority

Traditionally, creating authority online has been done by having esteemed “experts” provide testimonials, or endorsement throughout your sales letter and launch process.

Just look at the latest Frank Kern, Mass Control launch, every perceived Internet marketing expert came out and endorsed the product – Ed Dale, Brad Fallon, Andy Jenkins, Mike Filsame, Jeff Walker etc etc etc

By having these experts, who already have authority in the niche of internet marketing, endorsing Frank (or anyone) and saying how great his stuff is, that he is a brilliant copywriter, that the course is amazing and so on.. the authority that expert has gets “magically transposed’ to the person they are endorsing.. in this case Frank Kern (who by the way didn’t really need these experts to get authority, but just roll with me here)

Another way people have traditionally gone about building authority in their sales pitches online (and offline for that matter) is through PROOF. You’ve all seen the proof online… normally in the form of a click bank screenshot showing how they’ve made like $109,543.37 in the past 46 hours etc etc

…. But how can you create authority if you are not an insider into this elite guru group or don’t want to give away your nett worth to all the identity stealers out there?

Ever thought about… PUBLICITY.

Yep I said it, free exposure in the real world media – radio, newspapers, TV – a very over-looked and under-valued internet marketing tool.

The reason publicity works so well as a authority generator for online marketers is that it’s the most amazing third-part endorsement. It’s the (ultimate) testimonial you can’t buy, fake or get off a buddy in an inner-circle.

If you get exposure from a media source that gives your website or product an endorsement via the story, then no amount of paid advertising can bring you the same amount of kudos or credibility.

If the prospect sees an article about you, your website or your product in the media, it’s instant KUDOS – you are the expert!

Also, if you’re selling information on playing the guitar, imagine the credibility and pre-eminence in the market you will gain by being able to refer to print or television media on your website. This will bring you instant expert status and result in harnessing one of the most precious commodities of the internet – trust.

If you want to find out more about Free Publicity, check out my site www.RenegadePublicist.com Uncover The Real Inside Secrets Of How To Put Bucket Loads Of Cash Into Your Pocket… Instantly Boost Your Profile Whether You’re A Small Business Owner, Internet Marketer Or Just Need Publicity To Promote Your Project Right Now! Discover How To Write And Send Powerful Press Releases In Under An Hour And Get National Media Attention For Less Than A Cup of Coffee! www.RenegadePublicist.com

Technorati Tags: selling, marketing, over-the-shoulder, Robert Cialdini, Cialdini, Brent Hodgson, Publicity, Authority, Expert, PR, Press Release, Media Release, Pete Williams, Pete, Williams, Preneur

Creating Authority Online [with Brent Hodgson] is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams
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When people think of the entertainment industry, and in particular the music industry, the first thing that usually comes to mind is the glitz and glamour, pop stars with unheard of fame and more money than they know what to do with. Yet, in spite of that reputation, the entertainment industry for the most part has always used marketing strategies that were just simply the worst to be found in any industry.

It usually worked by having a scout in the employ of the record label go out and frequent clubs where popular local acts would be performing, in the hopes that they would catch sight of up and coming talent that had yet to be discovered by anyone else.

Once an artist was “discovered” in this manner, the record label would offer them a contract and then work with them, trying to tweak their sound and image to fit what they saw as the current market trends. Once a corporate identity of sorts was established for the artist, the label would then spend outrageous amounts of money on marketing and promoting their album, in the hopes that it would appeal to the public and become a hit.

Of course, many great acts and performers have gotten their big break this way over the years. The system certainly works at least some of the time, and the fact that the record industry is still going strong is proof that when it does work, it tends to work rather well.

Still, with such an approach, it’s just as likely that the label’s investments would be sunk into an act that just never goes anywhere and doesn’t generate a profit. In other words, there was vast room for improvement.

Enter the reality television boom of the late 1990s, and its most identifiable breakout success: American Idol.

American Idol is not just a successful television show (although it is that), it’s a total revolution in the way that entertainment marketing is done. You see, like all smart entrepreneurs, the folks behind American Idol have done a complete 180 and made their market research an integral part of their product. Using a wildly popular television show that offers the promise of fame and riches, they bring potential acts to them instead of seeking them out, and then weed through them until a batch of qualified performers are selected for a final showdown.

Each week, one person is eliminated on the television broadcast, based on the number of votes that they receive from the viewers who call in to show their support. This approach is genius in two ways: first, it gives the record labels the opportunity to test the waters with an artist to see if they have the public appeal it takes to succeed without the need to invest much of their own capital upfront, and secondly, they actually make money by doing this, because they charge people to cast their votes and also profit from sponsorship of the television broadcast.

Rarely has there been a more innovative and redefining marketing move than the one put forth by American Idol. There’s no reason to let them reap all the rewards, though. Their success can be yours as well, if you’re willing to use a little creativity to apply the “market-first” concept of product development to your own business.

Technorati Tags: american, idol, american idol, marketing, pete williams, pete, williams, preneur, marketing

American Idol Marketing Strategy is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams
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It first came up during a Club Nesso session in June(ish), and then again recently in the Infiniti Telecommunications office during a marketing meeting (read: beers @ 6pm), when one of the new team members dropped the need to focus on Michael Porters 4 P’s and work hard to develop a widely recognised brand, when developing a new division.

They way I took the point this university educated (there’s the source of the problem) team member was trying to make was that we should be investing resources and time to develop a brand like Nike, Apple or Adidas… You know, adopting the whole ‘Madison Avenue Marketing’ approach to business.

That is.. spend the equivalent of Lindsay Lohan’s coke habit, on Billboards and TV commercials in hope to capture a small slice of the markets mind-space … so when they need a business phone system for their small business they think Infiniti and call us etc etc etc

As John Moore over at Brand Autopsy says regarding the brand phenomenon known as Starbucks “…(They) never sought to create a brand. The company was too busy being a business than trying to be a brand. Starbucks was too busy building a viable and profitable business to think about something as seemingly trivial as branding… You cannot create a brand before you create a business. Your business creates your brand. Your brand should never create your business.

In ode to my good mate Scott Ginsberg and his love of lists – For those of you who have small businesses the key to building a strong brand are:

• Build your business on direct response marketing… and word of mouth will grow your brand
• Focus on SEO and PPC advertising… and your brand will become associated with keywords you rank for. (…more)
• Donate to charities… helping the world, helps increase your brands exposure
• Speak at local events and chambers of commerce… sharing your experiences will increase you and your businesses credibility
• Join a local BNI Chapter… not only will it generate sales but word of mouth for your branding
• Really focus on getting your business in the media through free publicity… as they say any publicity is good publicity
• Create something that can go viral… Viral marketing is the best way to build a brand in a web 2.0 world.
• Do right by your customers… excellent customer service is the basis of a strong brand
• Force word of mouth… ask for referrals
• Use your logo, tagline and call to action on all marketing material… you’ll never grow a brand if you don’t at least mention it

What ever you do, always remember – You cannot create a brand before you create a business. Your business creates your brand. Your brand should never create your business.

More About Club Nesso: As I said, Club Nesso is lead by two of my great friends; Ross Mitchell and Travis Madden – If you are Independent Business Owner, ready to launch your own business or the next Richard Branson (yes I was a member, lol) you will be someone who is deeply committed to your success so you need to join Club Nesso. Over 12 months you will be able to diminish the loneliness and isolation of business ownership, you will have someone to bounce ideas off, you will have a sounding board and most importantly you will be encouraged and enabled to work on the business because we where to begin. You will become a strategy dynamo and maybe even a marketing and sales guru. Either way you will improve your business – http://www.nesso.com.au/

Technorati Tags: Branding, brand, marketing, adverting, direct, response, Starbucks, john moore, JohnMoore, john, moore, autopsy, BrandAutopsy, scott, ginsberg, ScottGinsberg, Scott Ginsberg, Club, Nesso, Club Nesso, Travis Madden, Ross Mitchell, Infiniti Telecommunications, Infiniti, itlecom, Michael Porter, Porter, Pete, Williams, Pete Williams, PeteWilliams, preneur, Prenuer Marketing, publicity, free, BNI,

Branding Should Be A Byproduct… is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams
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There you go, I said it! Most sales environments make selling easy.

Now, if you are in the sales game you are probably going red in the face right now, ready to go to war with me over this, especially if you have a boss like ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’… but, if you consider the parameters in which most sales people work – selling advertising, insurance or soft-drink accounts – it allows for the building of relationships (which makes the sale easier), the ability to continually follow up (which makes the sale easier) and the reassurance of the next sales period (which again makes the sale easier).

How does the game change when you need to sell a project? A project that has a defined and distinct end?

On the surface there’s not much different: it’s all about getting as many hungry and qualified leads into your funnel as quickly as possible and helping them discover that opening their wallets and throwing money at you is in their best interests.

Selling a ‘project,’ however, needs to solicit action immediately… not action later so the sale will fall in the next month’s budget… there is no reassuring ‘next sales period.’

Most sales trainers will preach the adage that ‘it takes 6-7 contacts to make the sale” and, if you have the luxury of time and opportunity for repeat business, these ‘clichéd statements’ actually do have merit.

But, when selling for immediate response, you need to make an offer that moves the prospect to jump NOW. You don’t have time to educate the prospect over 2 long lunches, a chat on the par 5 and 4 direct mail pieces.

It comes down to a powerful offer with a solid and justified ‘end.’ Did you notice the word justified?

Simply adding ‘this offer expires on February 30th’ won’t cut it– you need to explain and justify to the prospect, in their terms, why they must act now and why the offer honestly can’t last. It’s amazing what a candid explanation will do to your bottom line.

Now, did you also notice the term ‘hungry prospect’ above? This is the real key to selling projects (and accounts).

The late Gary Halbert often asked if you were to start a hamburger stand and could be the ‘best’ at one element what would that be?

Having the best hamburgers, a secret sauce, the best location, the best pricing, etc., etc.?

Well, all of that is irrelevant… all you need is THE hungry crowd, as they will eat anything if they are hungry enough.

Technorati Tags: Enlightened, Wealth, Institute, Selling, Sales, Tecnhiques, Gary, Halbert, Pete, Williams, Pete-Williams

Most Sales Environments Make Selling Easy is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams
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In business however, checkmate occurs when a customer says YES, opens their wallet and decides to take you, the salesperson, up on an offer.

Traditionally this ‘checkmate position’ would be known as ‘the almighty close’.

However, since any “checkmate decision” actually takes place in the brain of the customer, that buying decision is really outside the salespersons control – and thus makes closing the sale an impossibility…

This is the theory of Newsell (where the customer, not the salesperson, closes the sale) put forth by Michael Hewitt-Gleeson, one of the greatest thinkers ever and the man whoco-founded the School of Thinking, with Edward de Bono, in New York in 1979.

Michael defines “checkmate” as occuring when a customer says I’ll buy it and offers her credit card, or when a buyer accepts the deal and signs the purchase order… or in show business, it’s when the director says, “You’re in!” and you get the part you auditioned for.

The main strategic feature of the checkmate situation is: the salesperson (you) CANNOT control checkmate.

In this “newsell” approach all the saleman can control is the check position…

And, the check position signifies any type of customer contact:
– check is a unit of measurement for ‘customer contact’
– check = CUSTOMER CONTACT = check
– check is when your meme enters the customers brain
– check is when one customer WOMs (word-of-mouth) another customer
– check is when it is possible for the customer to say NO or YES
– without check there can be no checkmate– check is the penultimate state, the set-up move for checkmate
– check is the position of the energy switch which makes it possible for checkmate to happen.

Whether you are making offers directly in person, via direct mail, an email auto-responder or even leaving messages on customers voicemail, in business, check is the moment of ANY customer contact.

Check occurs when you have put the prospect in a position that allows them to say YES or NO as a result of an offer made by you. In other words, the customer’s brain has been stimulated by some form of communication (check), so that the customer can/will respond by deciding whether to act or not to act – YES or NO.

Check is when;
– …you ask the customer a buying question
– …you mail the proposal
– …you meet in a boardroom for a presentation
– …you offer a free taste-test in the supermarket
– …you send out a press release to the media
– …you make the follow up call, after an earlier ‘check move’
– …you give an elevator speech; or
– …a hooker asks if you need some company for the night

The fundamental rule of Check Move Theory is that you the salesperson, CAN and must control check… It’s not about trying to “close the sale” with some ‘used-car-salesmann-swindle’, it’s about making as many “check moves” as possible… The more check moves you make, the more opportunities prospects have of saying YES.

On his website, ‘New Sell Coaching’, Michael Hewitt-Gleeson offers a free e-mail course which go’s into much more detail on ‘check move theory’ and covers things like – The UnCheck Position – What An OldSell Check Is – How To Implement A Check X10 Sequence – The T.C.B. – Even More Types of CheckMoves Pardon the punn, but “Check Out” the ‘New Sell Coaching Course’ and sign-up today here.

P.S. The really ironic thing about Michael’s course, is that he doesn’t try and sell a single thing throughout the course… Yep, not even one check is offered during the whole email course.



Download The Audio Version Here (Right Click and download it)

Technorati Tags: new-sell, check-move-theory, check, move, Michael-Hewitt-Gleeson, closing, sales, selling, sale, techniques, pete, williams, preneur

Checkmate Selling – Why You’ll Never ‘Close’ A Sale… is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams
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With more and more sales being conducted through direct mail and the internet, plus fierce competition for shelf space in retail stores… consumers often simply don’t have the time to make an informed decision, and will make a choice based entirely on which product has the better packaging.

The right packaging can immediately give the customer a sense that your product is the perfect one for him and can often close a deal just like that. However, it’s not enough to simply have good copy and strong visual design in your packaging; there’s one other thing to keep in mind that might be the most important one of all.

“Product Perception” refers to the way customers identify new products. Their unconscious mind makes links between the new product and old products they’ve bought in the past. Like many of the unconscious processes of the human mind, this isn’t always a logical process, but luckily it is a predictable one.

Take for example a book. No matter the content of that book, a customer who first approaches it will take it for what it is on the surface: a book. What’s more, they’ll associate it with other books they’ve bought in the past and at that point, the main idea of product perception comes into play. If the customer has routinely paid $20-30 for a book in the past, it’s unlikely that he’ll be willing to pay more than that for your book.

If the exact same material covered in that book, however, were recorded onto audio discs and then re-packaged, or if the exact same book were to be bundled with a piece of matching computer software, the customer would approach that type of merchandise with a higher price point in mind from the start. Keeping this in mind, we can anticipate and control a customer’s initial, most basic reaction to our products.

So, now that we know about product perception, how can we make it work to our advantage?

The first step is to talk to your marketing department and have them consider product perception in all their research. Through surveys and other polling tools, you can figure out what the average customer is willing to pay for products that use various types of packaging, which is valuable information indeed. With this at your disposal, you can repackage a lower price-point item such as a can of paint and market it as part of a “home renovator’s kit”, making it seem much more valuable.

What was once an ordinary pair of shoes can have their packaging turned around to focus on the health benefits they provide over the competition, thus making them more of a high-cost medical item instead of just your basic pair of shoes. These are just a few of the many possible ways to repackage and redefine a product to make it seem more “high-end” at a glance.

At first, you might feel disappointed or frustrated that the content of your product is being overlooked in favor of its appearance, but it all comes down to the first impression. Once you master the concept of product perception, there’s no need to worry!

With the right approach, you can truly set yourself apart from the competition and control exactly how the customer views your product, as well as how much they’ll be willing to pay for it.

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Why Your Products Perception Matters… is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams
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