Mind Readings: All Value is Relative

In today's episode, let's talk about value. One of the things that we forget as marketers is that value is entirely relative. That value is perception. And that what someone thinks of as value is incredibly dependent on context. Take a chair, for example.

What is the value of a chair? What is the value of a chair that's um 36 inches long uh front to back? If you're in your house at your desk or whatever, that chair has you know some utilitarian value. If you're on an airplane, uh, in at least here in the United States of America, um, a a chair with 36 inches of legroom is luxury, right? Because most airplanes have 31 to 33 inches of legroom.

And so the value of that chair with 36 inches of legroom is substantially higher. E the same chair, but in a different context, that value is incredibly relative. I was flying recently from um to and from Serbia. Uh I was flying an economy, and I had an aisle seat. And you know, okay, that's that's that's fine.

Um the last time I traveled internationally, the uh company I was flying with had put me in first class, and that was a very big difference in in circumstances and context. The perception I had of the economy seat was that was less valuable than the first class seat, and it was. Um there's obviously a big price difference. But when you look, you know, it's you take a step back and look at you know, how what exactly is different. Well, yes, there's some there's a little bit more room on each side.

Um, and the food is better. And then when I was flying to Las Vegas, um, because of scheduling and stuff, I had gotten stuck with a middle seat in economy. And suddenly the economy seat on the aisle seemed so much more valuable because again, the context is different. Thankfully, I was able to change my seat uh to get an aisle seat. The middle seats are the absolute worst in any aircraft.

All value is relative. So if people are not seeing the value in your marketing, you have to take a look and say, well, what is the context that they are looking at our value? What is the contrast to something else? What do our customers contrast us with? Right?

When I look at an aisle seat compared to first class, the aisle seat in economy looks like a poor value, right? If I if I had a choice and money wasn't an issue, I would see the aisle seat in economy as a poor choice. When I look at an aisle seat in economy versus a middle seat in economy, suddenly the contrast is different, and now I go, gosh, the aisle seat's great, right? I can get up when I want to. Um so if people aren't seeing the value of what you do, the question to ask is what are they comparing it to?

And this is something that I've certainly had to deal with uh many, many times in my own career, I'm sure you have as well. When you're trying to sell a product or service, what are you comparing it to? When someone says, gosh, should I buy something? You know, should I buy this service, this product, this platform? What are they comparing it to?

Are they comparing it to nothing at all? Are you better than indecision? Are they comparing it to a competitor? Right? Is it is your product more valuable than a competitor's product?

If you're unclear about the value that you provide, start looking at contrast. And if you can't find a contrast that's reasonable, that I think illustrates a really big hole in your marketing. A hole that you have you have to patch that gap. You have to close that mental gap because otherwise people will look at your value as kind of this amorphous abstract thing and go, well, what am I getting for my money? If I'm selling, for example, Google Analytics for training, which I am, go to trustinsights.ai slash GA4 course.

What am I contrasting that to? On the one hand, there's inaction, right? Just suffer until you're uh and deal with you know not knowing how to use this application. Certainly, in that case, the the paid course that I sell is better than suffering. And when you compare it to the free course that Google offers, that's a bit more tricky, right?

On the one hand, you have free versus 499 dollars, but on the other hand, is what Google has to offer a good value for the problem you have? And if the answer is no, then the paid course probably is going to do the trick for you. But you've got to know what those mental comparisons are. If you don't know what people are comparing you to, you can't you can't describe your value, you can't set your value. And that's that's probably one of the hardest things to do.

You have to talk to customers and prospective customers and say, hey, what problem are you trying to solve here? What is the value of that problem? If we solve this problem, what is it worth to you? If the answer is eh, it'd be nice to fix, but you know, it's not important, then you're gonna have a real hard time selling whatever it is you sell. If on the other hand, the person's like, I will sleep better and my boss will not fire me and my boss will get a bonus, okay.

How much of a bonus? You know, half a million dollar bonus. Okay, clearly, so this problem is worth half a million dollars. If you're selling a solution for $29, you can charge more. So that's that's why we struggle as marketers with value.

We don't do enough contrast and comparison to understand how our offering looks in the minds of our customers compared to all the alternatives. So if you're stuck, try that exercise. Thanks for tuning in. Talk to you soon. If you like this video, go ahead and hit that subscribe button.