Mike Kim is a marketing consultant that specializes in creating personal brands. He is also the chief marketing officer for an education company in New Jersey. He is the host of the Brand You! podcast, and a speaker at Podcast Movement this summer in Fort Worth, Texas.
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Positioning Yourself with Price
- What is the most important thing you can share about pricing?
- You can probably charge higher than you think you are worth.
- The mental block is in your mind, not others'.
- Charge a little bit beyond the price with which you are comfortable.
- It will increase your confidence in the value you bring to people.
- Price it normally, and increase it by 10-20%, and see what happens.
- Especially for projects that you aren't that excited about, getting paid more can help you push forward better.
- The more you hate the work, the more you should be compensated.
- What is the relationship between branding and pricing?
- It is about positioning.
- The more something costs, the more value we assign to it.
- You can be a premium brand or a bargain-basement brand.
- Your approach will vary greatly, depending on the type.
- If you are a premium brand, scarcity is your friend.
- If you are bargain-basement, you have to be able to increase sales through volume.
- As a service provider, you can't create volume.
- Consider a four-quadrant graph:
- Quadrant One would be high-paying, high-influence customers in the upper left.
- High-influence, lower-paying customers, go Quadrant Two in the upper right.
- Quadrant Three is lower left: High paying, low-influence customers.
- Lower right is Quadrant Four with low-paying, low-influence customers.
- You want to reach them via different mediums or offerings.
- Do not do one of these quadrants at the expense of the other.
- Use them all together to build your brand.
- Create services for the quadrants and price accordingly.
- If you focus on one quadrant at the expense of the others, you leave money on the table.
- Copywriting is one of the easiest ways to generate income at a low cost.
Your Visual, Verbal, and Value Identity
- What are the three identities that shape your brand?
- Brands have a visual, verbal and value identity.
- Good verbal identities are very intentional – Eat24 is a good example.
- The visual identity is a website but includes the verbal aspect of it.
- Apple is a good example of how the verbal backs up the visual.
- All three of the identities have to work together to be cohesive.
- Business owners struggle when they try to shape their brand by themselves.
- It is very difficult to market yourself.
- What was your first exposure to value pricing?
- The first time that Mike read about consulting, it had value pricing woven into it – Getting Started in Consulting by Alan Weiss.
- Mike did value pricing from Day One, except for hourly advice phone calls.
- To help someone switch over from hourly billing to value pricing, create a line item on your invoice that justifies the “discount” you are providing.
- Even your invoice is a marketing tool.
- Include a price of $0 for something that you added in so that the customer understands the value you created.
- What have you learned about pricing as a Chief Marketing Officer?
- He created a position for himself at one of the highest salaries in the company based on value.
- He is now working part-time, and his salary has remained the same.
- He started his salary negotiations intentionally high.
- If someone wants to negotiate down, you can determine what value (line item, deliverable, service, etc.) you can remove from the deal.
- Don't just accept the lower number.
- It preserves the integrity of your value as a provider.
- Prices have been raised every year, increasing income.
- They market themselves as a premium, so the marketing, sales and prices all work together.
- What have you learned about pricing as an entrepreneur?
- For a large company, you would see a set price list.
- As a service provider, every customer needs something different, and there is no price list.
- Mike sets a price in terms of total budget.
- He has a form on his website that shows his minimum and allows people choose their price range.
- Requiring a potential customer to select an option allows you to know how to frame the conversation.
Non-Profit vs. For-Profit
- What is the role of pricing for a non-profit organization?
- Mike was formerly a pastor and worship leader.
- Writing a Winning Support Letter is the e-book that Mike wrote.
- Non-profits still have to raise and have money.
- Mike doesn't discount for non-profit deals.
- He knows the value he will bring and there is a dollar amount attached to that.
- You can still charge a premium price to non-profits.
- Don't be afraid to move your products to different quadrants over time.
- Marketing should be the same whether you are a non-profit or a for-profit company.
- A non-profit should have a value perspective for their customers as well.
- Keeping the organization afloat or helping the end-user is often the priority for a non-profit.
- Instead, it should be that you treat your donors well so you will have the financial capital to help the end-user.
- Treat your donor like a customer.
- It's always easier to keep a customer, rather than get new leads.
- The same goes for donors.
- What is one of your best stories about creating value for a customer?
- An early marketing customer was a wedding photographer.
- The young photographer, who had medical challenges with his son, was doing odd jobs to make ends meet.
- “Because of what we did, I am fully booked for the next year with photography gigs, and I quit my other jobs and I can stay home with my son otherwise.”
- Mike helped change his customer's life and his family's life.
About Mike Kim
- Website: MikeKim.com
- Twitter: @MikeKimTV
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