The Many Faces of Price

I see businesses in this area (especially restaurants) using monetary price as a marketing tool. Do your customers and prospects care or even notice?

In other words, is monetary price sensitivity an attribute of your target market or are you just hoping for an easy gain in market share? If you do gain market share, will you gain enough to offset losses caused by the lower price? Are monetary price oriented consumers even the type of customers you want?

Most small businesses realize (some too late) that customers who are seeking a low monetary price are really not the best customers to have. Better to attract customers who value the unique service only you can provide.


More sophisticated marketers compete using non-monetary price, or what it costs a customer - other than money - to buy a product or service. These “prices” include the time spent on shopping, ideological factors and the risk that the product will deliver expected or promised benefit.

Here are some recent examples:Business Week on Supermarkets
Supermarket Strategies: What's New at the Grocer
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A Biznik article for service providers
Why Low Prices Don’t Attract Clients
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2006 Harvard business writing on the folly of lowering monetary price
Low Prices = More Customers? Not Always
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Cautionary item written after the dot com crash
Advice to services firms: Don't lower prices
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A nice piece from Jack Trout, written during the 1991 recession
Marketing savvy can triumph over tough times
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The 20 Keys to Online Marketing

Following are 20 keys to successfully marketing your product, service, and business online.

1. Have a professional, easy-to-navigate, quick-loading design. Hire a professional design firm or at least use a good site template.

2. Have lots of quality related content.

3. Build lots of links to your Web site.

4. Build credibility and rapport.

5. Start an e-mail newsletter with quality content and send it out at least once per month.

6. If you are selling a product, have an affiliate program.

7. Once you have an affiliate program, don't forget to promote it.

8. Do whatever you can do profitably to attract large affiliates and form key strategic alliances.

9. Position yourself advantageously in the search engines.

10. Use cost-per-click (CPC) engines, but make sure you know the lifetime value (LTV) of your customers and that you do return-on-investment (ROI) checks often.

11. Supplement your affiliate advertising with both online and traditional advertising, but track results and always do ROI checks.

12. Advertise using CPM channels to build brand recognition, but put profitability before brand recognition.

13. Offer yourself as a resource to the media as an expert in your niche.

14. Hire a great publicity firm or bring an experienced publicist in-house.

15. Use autoresponders to maintain constant contact with prospective customers.

16. Remember that business is all about relationships and communication. Always work to build more relationships, and once they are built, make sure you are in continuous contact with your prospects, customers, strategic alliances, suppliers, investors, and the media.

17. Encourage word of mouth among your customers.

18. Have superior customer service and have staff to answer all incoming e-mails within 24 hours.

19. Send out periodic e-mail follow-ups making sure your customers are happy and asking them for feedback on your product and the service your company has provided.

20. Blog frequently with quality content.

from the book Zero to One Million by Ryan P. Allisfrom

Obama and the Flim Flam Man

No, this isn't a political post - as a business person I focus on commerce rather than the body politic. Today's political headlines are providing ample fodder for my least favorite form of commerce - scams. There is nothing like a downturn to bring out the scum-buckets and scam artists.

Regular announcements by the President and press releases from various government offices are providing Americans with hope for a better economy but these same announcements provide a new language for scammers to use to dupe the unwary.

"Get your $12,000 stimulus check," "Stimulus grants for your business," and "Stimulus loans for start-ups" are just a few of the baited phrases the scammers are dangling while angling for YOUR hard earned cash.

Whenever assessing the validity of any offer, just perform this simple test - does money flow from them to you, or is there some form of payment or private information required?Throughout the SBA application process, the applicant is NEVER required to pay any up-front fees.

Here are some more in-depth articles about the scams making the rounds these days:

Beware of Scams Promising Help in Winning Stimulus Money***

Stimulus Prompts Small Business Loan Scams***

BBB Warns Grant Companies Exploit Confusion over Stimulus Bill to Rip Off Consumers***

FTC Consumer Alert - Seeing Through Stimulus Scams