How to unleash the power of context and turbo-charge your marketing

There are few more powerful insights you can generate than learning the main contexts in which demand for your product/product category arises. Having such knowledge will allow you to elevate your marketing and develop deeper, more profitable relationships with your customers.

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Step 1: identify the most frequent demand contexts
The first step in unleashing the power of context is to identify the different contexts in which demand for your product is triggered. Think of yourself as a detective attempting to answer the questions:

• Under what situations do people become interested in my product?
  
• What triggers their interest in my product? (Events, changing circumstances, etc.)
  

In sleuthing your way to an answer, you may find that there is a series of events that take place before demand is sparked. You will also likely learn that there are several distinct demand contexts for your product, some of which will occur with far greater frequency than others.

Your key objective in step 1 is to assemble a list of those demand contexts that account for at least 75%-80% of total demand for your product/product category.


Step 2: ask the 6 power-questions to elevate your marketing strategy
For each of the most frequently occurring demand contexts for your product, ask the below six questions:

1) How can I tweak or reconfigure my product to better meet the consumer need in the given context?

2) Are there complementary products or services I should consider offering, whether though my company or a partner?

3) How might I adjust my pricing to better reflect the value provided by my product within the given context?

4) How can I more effectively communicate & position the value provided by my product within the given context? Is there specific imagery, tonality & language I should use in my marketing communication?

5) Are there any changes I should make from a channel perspective, whether it be my channels for building awareness, for selling, or for servicing customers?

6) How can I detect when demand has been triggered for this given context? Can I actually identify these people with some degree of certainty? (Dig deep to answer this crucial question. There is almost always a way)
(Note that some of the questions may not be pertinent for certain product categories and demand contexts)


Let's make this pop! with a brief real-world example

Product du jour: Cars

Step 1: identify the most frequent demand contexts for cars
-The lease is expiring on the existing car
-The price of gasoline jumps and the person owns a gas-guzzler**
-The car is old & worn out (tail pipe tickling the pavement, etc.)
-The car died & resuscitating it would cost a whole lot of money
-The person is moving from the City to the ‘Burbs

Step 2: ask the 6 power-questions for each frequently-occurring demand context for cars
**Below I've answered the questions for the demand context in which the price of gasoline jumps and the person owns a gas-guzzler

1) How might we tweak our cars to better meet the needs of the owners of gas-guzzlers?
We could develop a fuel-efficient car or one that could run on cheaper types of fuel (given the long R&D cycle for new models, auto companies are always best suited to have such a model either always available for sale or one that can easily be ramped up for production)

2) Are there complementary products or services we should consider offering, whether though our company or a partner?
We could develop services or partnerships that would cheapen the price of gas - e.g., partner with credit card companies to develop attractive cash-back rewards on gasoline purchases

3) How might we adjust our pricing to better reflect the value that our cars provide to owners of gas-guzzlers?
Consumers who are feeling increasing pain at the gas pump are likely willing to pay more for a car that will significantly reduce their “gas pains”... Then again attempting consumer-level pricing can be tricky and a risky move from a brand perspective (not to mention the current distribution structure for cars does not readily lend itself to such a pricing strategy).

4) How can we more effectively communicate & position the value provided by our cars to owners of gas-guzzlers? Is there specific imagery, tonality & language we should use in our marketing communication?
We could position our cars as “fuel-smart” alternatives that could save them thousands of dollars, which could be put towards more enjoyable things than gasoline, such as a much-needed vacation in the Caribbean(!)

5) Are there any considerations we should make from a channel perspective, whether it be our channels for building awareness, selling, or servicing?
(Response not included to maintain brevity)

6) How can we detect when this demand trigger has been fired? Can we identify the owners of gas-guzzlers during a spike in gas prices?
Knowledge of rising gas prices is a layup - CNN & our local gas stations would make any major rise in gas prices abundantly clear. And, there are a number of ways to identify owners of “gas-guzzlers” with fairly good precision, starting with identifying the geographic distribution of SUV sales & SUV dealerships.


Your assignment
1) Select one of your products or services – especially one that you believe has the most “improvement potential” & could provide the most upside for your business.

2) With a pad & pen in hand, walk the product through Step #1. Also, ask colleagues and friends & family to complete Step #1. And, hold a brainstorming session if timing & calendars permit. (I’ve always found the collective IQ of a good group to be far greater than any one individual flying solo)

3) Take each of your top demand contexts and run through Step #2. For this step it is particularly valuable to hold a brainstorming session or two, as the collective brainpower of your colleagues in this step can be the difference between a $1mm idea and a $10mm idea.

4) Share your experience with us here on the blog, including any interesting things you learned from the process and, of course, any successes you have to-date.


A note on business strategy & demand context
In a future post I’ll be writing about the role that the demand contexts of your product should play in (re)designing your business strategy. Depending upon a number of factors including the economics of your business and the positioning of your brand, there are likely certain demand contexts that you would want to focus your efforts upon. More to come on this, so stay tuned...

And, as always, please feel free to leave a comment, question or shout-out.

Sources: car demand contexts based upon 2005 study by the American International Automobile Dealers (AIADA).

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Injecting some Maslow into your marketing

What would you say if I told you that just a few miles off the coast of Australia was a tiny island where a man's success was indicated by the colorfulness of his shirt? Think male peacocks or Seinfeld-as-pirate, whichever is easier to visualize.

For fear of defaming the semester I studied anthropology in London, I will leave the "anthro-isms" to the anthropologists. That said, we in the US are as knee-deep in symbols as the aboriginal cultures of Papua New Guinea. Of course, most of our symbols have been manufactured by companies competing for our attention & disposable income - and some of them have done remarkable jobs imbuing seemingly ordinary "objects" with profound meaning.


American Express & Maslow
Case in point - American Express, a company that successfully turned a tiny piece of plastic, into a symbol that represents the fulfillment of one of Maslow's core human needs: the need to feel significant. Companies, such as Amex, that successfully transform their products & brands into symbols that represent the fulfillment of a Maslow need are often some of the most successful.

This has no doubt been one of the biggest success factors for American Express since it introduced its charge card fifty years ago. The card quickly became a powerful symbol of one's success (and hence significance); pulling it out from one's wallet generated a profound "buzz", filling one with feelings of pride, accomplishment, and a rush of endorphins. Pretty wild to think that a little piece of plastic (or back then, a piece of paper!) could mimic the feeling one might get from a quadruple espresso or pulling up to one's high school reunion in a shiny red Porsche.


How to inject Maslow into your marketing
While your company or product might not have the tailwind of 150 years of brand-building at its back as Amex does, thinking about how to inject aspects of Maslow's hierarchy of needs into your marketing is an absolute must.

The key to achieving this is to first identify which of Maslow's needs is addressed by your product or service - and yes, it may address more than one. Then, ask yourself the following questions to stimulate your thinking and get the ball rolling:

1) How can my marketing better communicate how the benefits of my service satisfy this Maslow need?

• Example: the old “reach out & touch someone”AT&T ads are a perfect illustration of taking the core Maslow need filled by phones - social connectedness - and bringing it to life in compelling, emotive ways.


Note: if you don't see the video of the old AT&T ad on your browser, the link to the ad can be found here on YouTube.

2) How can I link my product touch points & brand elements to reinforce the fulfillment of this Maslow need? Are there tweaks or enhancements I can make to my service that would enable it to provide even greater fulfillment of the Maslow need?

• Example: Imagine you do marketing for a group of upscale lounges in your town. One of the core Maslow needs you would likely be trying to satisfy is the need to feel important. In thinking about how to add touch points or brand elements to support the fulfillment of this need, you may consider adding to your lounges amenities such as bathroom attendants, coat checkers, well-garbed doormen, and servers who address patrons as Mr/Ms .

3) Are there aspects of my product that undermine the success with which it satisfies this Maslow need? How can I remove or reduce them?

4) Are there other Maslow needs I should try to satisfy in order to provide even greater value to my customers, and perhaps attract new customer segments?

• Example: a simple, yet highly successful move made by many manufacturers of home appliances has been to tap into the Maslow need for beauty by imbuing every-day appliances with style, color and form. In fact, in his excellent book, A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink devotes an entire chapter to this trend, and retailers such as Design Within Reach have successfully exploited it.
  

As always, feel free to send me an email or leave your comments & questions. Best of luck in your endeavors and in building some Maslow into your business! It's well worth your time & energy!






Other posts on Maslow:

• Innovating around Maslow's needs

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Manage your core business assumptions and secure your company's long-term success

What have you come to accept about your customers, products and competitors? What assumptions has your company consecrated as gospel? How confident are you in the assumptions you are making about core dimensions of your business, such as:

• The price sensitivity of your customers
• Your partners’ biggest priorities & challenges
• The macro forces - e.g., technology - that are having the greatest influence on your industry

Which of your existing assumptions are most ripe for "busting"?
Let's warm up with a little target practice. In the cross-hairs today: Laundromats

Let's make "assumption busting" a little more concrete by looking at one of my favorite examples of an industry with assumptions ripe for busting, the glamorous world of Laundromats. I currently live across the street from one of the thousands of fluorescent-bathed Laundromats that dot the streets of New York City. I've had the pleasure of living in New York most of my life, and have sampled a myriad of the City's laundry establishments. While they all tend to look a little different - the age of the machines, the color of the walls, the out-of-order sign hanging above the change machine - they all share one thing in common. They are some of the most unpleasant spaces to spend time in, only slightly edging out the Post Office and the DMV.

So what exactly is going on here? Is the aesthetic appeal of Laundromats simply a reflection of the economics of the business model - i.e., fluorescent lighting & lime-colored paint are all that Laundromats can afford given their thin profit margins? Tell Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks that and I'm sure it would make him chuckle. Starbucks showed the world, or at least the US, that masses of people were not only willing to spend more than $1 on a cup of coffee, they were willing to spend 5x that amount given the right atmosphere and the proper balance of sugar & caffeine. Starbucks busted the lid (no pun intended) off long-held assumptions regarding the range of possible coffee behaviors of US consumers, and completely redefined the market.

It's not about the bottom line
The bottom line on Laundromats is simple - it's not about the bottom line. Laundromats are unpleasant places not because they cannot afford to look nicer, but because their owners have come to assume, whether explicitly or implicitly, that customers are satisfied with the existing price/value paradigm. And, given the dearth of available alternatives, it’s reasonable to conclude that customers are in fact (relatively) satisfied.

Were Laundromat operators to BUST existing assumptions regarding the role that a Laundromatcould play in people’s lives, and, for example, make Laundromats more hospitable places to spend time, operators could open doors to whole new revenue streams. These new revenue streams could more than cover the cost of Laundromat “beautification”. Much as Starbucks transformed the drinking of coffee into an experience which enticed people to linger around and purchase additional goods (e.g., desserts, CDs, coffee-related "gear"), Laundromats are perfect places to follow such a strategy given that their patrons are captive to their dirty socks for an hour or longer at a time.


How do I locate busting opportunities within my industry?

Let’s set our opportunities within the Laundromat business aside and discuss how you can locate the assumption-busting opportunities within your industry. Busting is a 2-step process, and like many approaches that can uncover large opportunities, it requires your time, your focus and some of your best thinking.

Step 1

In step 1 you want to codify - i.e. put down on paper - all of the critical assumptions under which your company currently operates. By critical, I mean those assumptions that are core drivers of your company’s growth & sustenance .

An easy way to determine whether an assumption is critical to your business is to ask, "If this assumption proved to be wrong, how much would my business suffer?" If you assess the potential impact to be excessive - e.g., you could lose your most important customers, miss out on explosive growth opportunities, be made extremely vulnerable to competitors, or be put out of business altogether - then the assumption is a critical one.

Categories under which critical assumptions typically fall include assumptions regarding products, prospects & customers, competitors, the industry, organizational structure & competencies, partners & suppliers, technology, and the macro environment. (Below I have provided examples of some common types of critical assumptions)

Completing step 1 often serves as a major eye-opener. Businesspeople frequently find it challenging to identify even a few of their most critical assumptions. Often this is because over time a company’s critical assumptions have become so ingrained within the company’s DNA that they have become all but invisible to most employees¹. Organizations that find themselves in such circumstances place themselves at great risk to external "surprises" – or what I like to refer to as things organizations would have seen coming had they actively monitored their critical assumptions!

Step 2

After you have identified your critical assumptions, you’re ready to move onto step 2. The goal of step 2 is to identify assumption-busting opportunities. This is accomplished by analyzing & pressure testing each of your assumptions from step 1; asking simple, yet provocative, questions such as:

• Is this assumption still valid, or is it ripe for busting? How would I find out? Does my business have processes that allow for efficient, low-risk validation of this assumption? (I.e., can we easily test whether this assumption has busting-potential?) If we learn that the assumption is ripe for busting, what does it imply for our business strategy, our products, our marketing, our organizational structure, etc.? What activities or projects should we start/stop/increase/reduce?
• How can I effectively monitor this assumption on an ongoing basis? Does my business have the flexibility to respond quickly & effectively to changes to this assumption?
• If we learn that this assumption is still valid are there any activities or projects that we should start/stop/increase/reduce?
  

Enough reading. It’s BUSTING time!

Busting is best started by practicing the process within your "personal lab". Your first objective is to become comfortable with the two steps of busting and adept at surfacing your critical assumptions. Begin by doing exercises in which you focus upon a single category (e.g., Products) and try to identify a few critical assumptions within it. Take each assumption you've identified through the battery of questions listed in step 2 above. Now imagine a scenario in which you determine that the assumption is invalid, i.e., ripe for busting. What could it imply for your business? What actions might you consider taking? Write down all of your thoughts.

When you’re done, move onto another category (e.g., Technology) and run through the exercise again. Run through this exercise for each category over the course of a week or two, and see what you come up with. As you become more comfortable with this exercise you can start to bring busting-based thinking into your organization, leading the effort to push for the deep, strategic thinking that is in dangerously short supply in our modern corporations.

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1 - This seems to be more common within large organizations and organizations where people change roles on a frequent basis. I believe this is because in such organizations, the designers of the original business strategies have either left or moved into different parts of the company, taking with them the assumptions that underpinned the strategies they developed. What is left behind is a set of activities, processes, and reporting procedures to be carried out by new employees, often with little explanation regarding their rationale.

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Your pricing and marketing strategy should be influenced by your customer's reference point

We love to think of ourselves as rational, objective beings. And yet endless scientific studies indicate that we are anything but... context, the framing of information, and cues can have a profound influence upon how we view the world, and the decisions that we make...



Let's start with a fun warm-up exercise!
Real quick - what animal is displayed in the picture to the right?

(make a mental note of what you think and then scroll down for the answer)






















The answer is... drum roll please... there are two answers in fact. The picture is most certainly of a rabbit. But the picture is also of a duck. Can you see both of them?

For the majority of you who are seeing this optical illusion for the first time, I would guess that you saw a rabbit when you looked at the picture. Why? Thumper. The picture of Bambi's pal sitting at the top of this post alongside a carrot acted as a "cue", priming the "rabbit neurons" in your brain, and shaping your perception in the process. (Had I shown you a picture of Daffy Duck instead of Thumper, many of you would have seen a duck, not a rabbit. Sorry, Daffy.)



But what do "rabbit-ducks" have to do with marketing & pricing?
Simple. To be a successful marketer, it is critical that you develop an adeptness for identifying consumer contexts & reference points, as these factors strongly influence consumer perception, behavior, and price sensitivity. Of course, identification alone is not enough - you must use such insights as key inputs into your overall marketing strategy.

So to use a silly, "Thumpereqsue" example, if you know that people are bringing a "bunny-loving" lens to your restaurant because Bambi is playing at the movie theater next door, you might not want to offer wild rabbit as one of your dinner specials.


"Doug, can I interest you in tush warmers?"
Let's bring the concept of consumer context & reference points a little closer to home with an example that many of us can relate to: the old "car-options" strategy utilized successfully by thousands of car salespeople every day... it goes like this: if you're purchasing a big-ticket item (e.g., a new car, an expensive vacation, a new suit, etc.), you're more likely to also purchase lower-priced "options" or 'add-ons' than if you were offered these same items at a later date.

(hypothetical scene of me in a showroom purchasing a new car)
"Doug, how about we add those tush warmers to the car?... only $250 per seat... you know how chilly leather seats can get in New York during the winter..."

"Sounds good, Mr. Salesperson... what's an extra $500 when I'm already spending $XX,XXX on the car?"

Now instead imagine Mr. Salesperson offering me the same "warmers" for my new car 2 weeks after I've driven it off the lot. Even if he could have them installed without my having to lift a finger, I would likely balk at the offer.

"Thanks for the offer, Mr. Salesperson, but I think I'm all set. Love the new car, by the way. Thanks again for all your help"

Same tush warmers. Different context, different reference points, and different willingness to make a purchase.

In the first scenario I was in "open-wallet" mode. In the second scenario I was not. In the first scenario my reference point for the tush warmers was the several thousand dollar new car that I was in the process of buying. In the second scenario my reference point might have been an outrageous electric bill that I had paid only moments before the salesman made his offer.


Jelly belly's popcorn-flavored channel & pricing strategy
Jelly belly, a leader in the jellybean industry, provides us with a good example of a company that leveraged its knowledge of consumer reference points to develop a channel strategy that enabled it to charge premium prices for its jellybeans.

Instead of selling its jellybeans through traditional candy outlets, Jelly Belly made the conscious decision to sell them at specialty and gift stores, where sweets alternatives included higher-priced items such as gourmet chocolates and fruit baskets.

Since the reference points of people shopping at gift stores were these higher-priced sweets and not other jellybeans, Jelly Belly could price its 'beans at a substantial premium to other 'beans and still provide a cheaper sweets alternative for the gift-store shoppers.

Same jellybeans. Different context, different reference points, different price sensitivity.


How do I start applying these concepts?
Leveraging your insights around consumer context & reference points can turbo-charge the performance of your business by providing you with the means to significantly improve your marketing & pricing strategy.

The first step in this powerful process is to generate deep insights around your target customer's context & reference points. Below I have supplied some initial questions to get you started:

insights around customer context
What are the most common contexts in which your target customers [develop a need for | search for & learn about | compare & purchase | install | use & maintain | repurchase] your product or service?

-What do I mean by "context"? Context refers to those attributes that describe the environments of your target customers, such as: where they are - time & place. who they are they with. what they are doing. what is on their minds. their current objectives & goals. their current physiological & emotional states. get the idea?

insights around reference points
What reference points are your consumers using when they [search for & learn about | compare & purchase | use & maintain | repurchase] your service? How do these reference points impact: Their receptivity to your offering? Their openness to the price of your offering? Their experience when using your offering?

-What do I mean by "reference points"? Reference points are the points of comparison or anchors a consumer uses when assessing or experiencing your product. To use an extreme illustration, imagine two people who are given a used 2005 Toyota Corolla for free. One is a first-generation immigrant who earns $17,ooo a year, whose only mode of transport is a beat-up Yamaha motorbike. The other is a multi-millionaire who already owns 4 luxury cars. Given the two people's vastly different reference points for the free Toyota, their responses to the news about the free car will differ dramatically.

After generating insights around your target customers' contexts & reference points, you will want to explore how you can use these insights across critical aspects of your marketing strategy. In some cases how to leverage the insights will be obvious; in other cases you will have to stretch your thinking and percolate your creative juices.

In a future post I will run through some concrete examples so you can see these essential marketing concepts in action, and develop a greater understanding for how to use them in your business.

As always, I welcome your comments, thoughts, and questions.

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions about pricing and how to effectively use reference points within your business.






Related posts

• How to unleash the power of context and turbo-charge your marketing

• Product-sandwich product & pricing strategy

• Marketing & the 5 W's: why every marketer should take a journalism class

• CoNtEXT is King
  

Great books on pricing strategy

• The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Growing More Profitably (4th Edition) (Pie)

Check out my favorite business books

read more

How your pricing and marketing strategy should be influenced by your customer's reference point

We love to think of ourselves as rational, objective beings. And yet endless scientific studies indicate that we are anything but... context, the framing of information, and cues can have a profound influence upon how we view the world, and the decisions that we make...



Let's start with a fun warm-up exercise!
Real quick - what animal is displayed in the picture to the right?

(make a mental note of what you think and then scroll down for the answer)






















The answer is... drum roll please... there are two answers in fact. The picture is most certainly of a rabbit. But the picture is also of a duck. Can you see both of them?

For the majority of you who are seeing this optical illusion for the first time, I would guess that you saw a rabbit when you looked at the picture. Why? Thumper. The picture of Bambi's pal sitting at the top of this post alongside a carrot acted as a "cue", priming the "rabbit neurons" in your brain, and shaping your perception in the process. (Had I shown you a picture of Daffy Duck instead of Thumper, many of you would have seen a duck, not a rabbit. Sorry, Daffy.)



But what do "rabbit-ducks" have to do with marketing & pricing?
Simple. To be a successful marketer, it is critical that you develop an adeptness for identifying consumer contexts & reference points, as these factors strongly influence consumer perception, behavior, and price sensitivity. Of course, identification alone is not enough - you must use such insights as key inputs into your overall marketing strategy.

So to use a silly, "Thumpereqsue" example, if you know that people are bringing a "bunny-loving" lens to your restaurant because Bambi is playing at the movie theater next door, you might not want to offer wild rabbit as one of your dinner specials.


"Doug, can I interest you in tush warmers?"
Let's bring the concept of consumer context & reference points a little closer to home with an example that many of us can relate to: the old "car-options" strategy utilized successfully by thousands of car salespeople every day... it goes like this: if you're purchasing a big-ticket item (e.g., a new car, an expensive vacation, a new suit, etc.), you're more likely to also purchase lower-priced "options" or 'add-ons' than if you were offered these same items at a later date.

(hypothetical scene of me in a showroom purchasing a new car)
"Doug, how about we add those tush warmers to the car?... only $250 per seat... you know how chilly leather seats can get in New York during the winter..."

"Sounds good, Mr. Salesperson... what's an extra $500 when I'm already spending $XX,XXX on the car?"

Now instead imagine Mr. Salesperson offering me the same "warmers" for my new car 2 weeks after I've driven it off the lot. Even if he could have them installed without my having to lift a finger, I would likely balk at the offer.

"Thanks for the offer, Mr. Salesperson, but I think I'm all set. Love the new car, by the way. Thanks again for all your help"

Same tush warmers. Different context, different reference points, and different willingness to make a purchase.

In the first scenario I was in "open-wallet" mode. In the second scenario I was not. In the first scenario my reference point for the tush warmers was the several thousand dollar new car that I was in the process of buying. In the second scenario my reference point might have been an outrageous electric bill that I had paid only moments before the salesman made his offer.


Jelly belly's popcorn-flavored channel & pricing strategy
Jelly belly, a leader in the jellybean industry, provides us with a good example of a company that leveraged its knowledge of consumer reference points to develop a channel strategy that enabled it to charge premium prices for its jellybeans.

Instead of selling its jellybeans through traditional candy outlets, Jelly Belly made the conscious decision to sell them at specialty and gift stores, where sweets alternatives included higher-priced items such as gourmet chocolates and fruit baskets.

Since the reference points of people shopping at gift stores were these higher-priced sweets and not other jellybeans, Jelly Belly could price its 'beans at a substantial premium to other 'beans and still provide a cheaper sweets alternative for the gift-store shoppers.

Same jellybeans. Different context, different reference points, different price sensitivity.


How do I start applying these concepts?
Leveraging your insights around consumer context & reference points can turbo-charge the performance of your business by providing you with the means to significantly improve your marketing & pricing strategy.

The first step in this powerful process is to generate deep insights around your target customer's context & reference points. Below I have supplied some initial questions to get you started:

insights around customer context
What are the most common contexts in which your target customers [develop a need for | search for & learn about | compare & purchase | install | use & maintain | repurchase] your product or service?

-What do I mean by "context"? Context refers to those attributes that describe the environments of your target customers, such as: where they are - time & place. who they are they with. what they are doing. what is on their minds. their current objectives & goals. their current physiological & emotional states. get the idea?

insights around reference points
What reference points are your consumers using when they [search for & learn about | compare & purchase | use & maintain | repurchase] your service? How do these reference points impact: Their receptivity to your offering? Their openness to the price of your offering? Their experience when using your offering?

-What do I mean by "reference points"? Reference points are the points of comparison or anchors a consumer uses when assessing or experiencing your product. To use an extreme illustration, imagine two people who are given a used 2005 Toyota Corolla for free. One is a first-generation immigrant who earns $17,ooo a year, whose only mode of transport is a beat-up Yamaha motorbike. The other is a multi-millionaire who already owns 4 luxury cars. Given the two people's vastly different reference points for the free Toyota, their responses to the news about the free car will differ dramatically.

After generating insights around your target customers' contexts & reference points, you will want to explore how you can use these insights across critical aspects of your marketing strategy. In some cases how to leverage the insights will be obvious; in other cases you will have to stretch your thinking and percolate your creative juices.

In a future post I will run through some concrete examples so you can see these essential marketing concepts in action, and develop a greater understanding for how to use them in your business.

As always, I welcome your comments, thoughts, and questions. 

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions about pricing and how to effectively use reference points within your business.






Related posts

• How to unleash the power of context and turbo-charge your marketing

• Product-sandwich product & pricing strategy

• Marketing & the 5 W's: why every marketer should take a journalism class

• CoNtEXT is King
  

Great books on pricing strategy

• The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Growing More Profitably (4th Edition) (Pie)

read more