✊ 6 premium pricing levers
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Hi friends, Yesterday, we kicked off a mini-series on how one of the most important jobs of your podcast (and marketing more broadly) is to “decommoditize” yourself in the eyes of your market. You can find the full newsletter here. But as a quick recap, we can define commodities as resources (including offers, service providers, and podcasts) that meet the following criteria:
If we want to create more time, profit, and creative margin in our business, then, we have to dedicate significant energy to demonstrating to the market that our work is:
Finally, we discussed how the reason why most business owners struggle to decommoditize themselves is that they:
By now, the benefits of aggressively decommoditizing yourself should be clear. The next question, then, is how exactly do you do it? In general, there are 6 ways to decommoditize yourself: 1. Track Record Where you have clearly (and publicly) demonstrated your ability to get your clients and customers the results you promise to the point that buyers feel you are the safest option in the market. 2. Proprietary Process Where you have a unique methodology, framework, etc—likely packaged into some named form of IP. A proprietary process is most powerful when paired with a strong track record of results achieved via applying that process. That said, a well-developed and packaged process clearly signals to the market that you’ve invested serious time in understanding the nuances and minutiae of the problem you solve—which is a strong signal of confidence even in the absence of case studies and testimonials. 3. (Counter) Positioning Where you make a (perhaps radically) different promise to the market than your competitors. Perhaps you target a different audience segment (ie. SEO services for local dentists). Or perhaps you claim ownership of a different variable the market cares about (ie. Apple’s focus on privacy, which has little to do with the actual privacy features of their devices and everything to do with directly attacking Google, Facebook, and other data-hording tech companies). As in the Apple example, the most effective counter-positioning occurs when you stake out a claim that your competitors simply cannot credibly emulate without hurting themselves in other ways. 4. Cornered Resource Where you have access to a resource that none of your competitors do. In the case of an expertise-based business, this might include proprietary data you’ve collected through your own research, IP you’ve developed, and, of course, you, your brain, and the specific way you work. Note that for the cornered resource of “you” to be effective in decommoditizing yourself, you must consistently demonstrate what exactly makes you and your thought process different, and why that difference is beneficial to potential buyers. 5. Product Quality/Capability When your product or offer is technically better than the others available. This is a tough lever to pull for most expertise-based businesses, though it can be relevant for agencies and freelancers who might decommoditize themselves through a unique (and valuable) blend of capabilities. 6. Brand Where, all else being equal, people will choose to buy from you based on your reputation and their existing relationship with you… and perhaps even pay a premium to do so. While I’ve listed Brand as a distinct lever to decommoditize yourself, it’s worth noting that your Brand is essentially the sum total of the previous levers and is impossible to apply in isolation. With the exception of demonstrable product quality/capability, every one of these levers can be applied to most expertise-based businesses. And in fact, they should be. The more of these levers you apply, the fewer direct competitors you’ll have, the less interchangeable you’ll become, and the more you’ll be able to charge for the right people. Of course, developing these differentiators is just the first step. As we discussed in part 1 of this series, your differentiators must then be demonstrated constantly, baked into the DNA of your brand, show, messaging, and more. Because gaining attention only matters if you make use of it. And when it comes to growing a higher margin business, that means communicating as quickly and compellingly as possible why you are the best (if not only) credible choice. If you're curious about learning more about how we could work together to decommoditize your business and unlock more profit, time, and creative margin, hit reply with "Margin". I'll share the process we use to develop a core brand argument that sets you up to charge premium pricing, and then apply it across your show, product, and marketing ecosystem. If you've already got a validated product worth $1000 or more and an audience of 500 people on either your podcast or email list, it's highly likely this process will help you 5–10x your rates over the next year. Once again, hit reply with "Margin" and I'll share the details.
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