Ian Furniss Photography » Blog Archive

Marketing

Ok, ok, I know he’s got nothing to do with marketing but I didn’t have any ‘marketing’ pics and everyone loves a cute puppy!!

Marketing. It’s not a new discussion, nor is it one I can claim any authoratative position on. At the same time though, i’ve been reading a lot of articles recently discussing the subject and I thought it was about time I threw my own hat into the ring ..for want of a better cliche.

When it comes to selling yourself there are few less qualified than I consider myself to be but fortunately in Manchester we have a saying that covers most situations… “You can have it done cheap, done quick, or done well. Pick any two”. This afternoon was spent up to my eyes in things as usual but part way through a quick break I came across a ‘tweet’ from @EstherHavens linking to this article here. In it, the writer is considering whether or not it makes sense to accept $200 assignments.

The short answer is to refer back to the saying “You can have it done cheap, done quick, or done well. Pick any two” the longer answer is to question “what is value?”. Value in the context i’m speaking of is simply what something is worth to you. If you have no money and you haven’t eaten for three days then there’s no way you should sensibly be turning down a $200 gig! In normal circumstances though, the question is broader and there are a lot of things that are far more important than money to consider.

I remember listening to an interview with a guy from Ford around the time that they were releasing the Mondeo over here. The interviewer asked him how much the car would be and his reply was along the lines that the price hadn’t been decided yet but it would be roughly a £1000 more than the competition. The reasoning for the strategy is simple. People like to aspire to something. It doesn’t matter what it is, people always want the best they can afford, preferably a bit more, and pricing yourself just out of reach makes you more desireable than just below.

There’s another old saying that comes to mind as I write this, “If you want monkeys, pay peanuts”. Well the reverse of that is equally true “If you want to be thought of as a monkey, work for peanuts”.

I’m back to the car analogies here and i’ll give you one word. Skoda. For those not familiar with the brand Skoda were always known as pretty much the worst car you could buy. “Why does a Skoda have a heated rear windscreen? So you can keep your hands warm when you’re pushing it!” Or so the old joke went. Skoda were taken over by Volkswagen a while back, a manufacturer renowned for its quality and reliability. The cars improved accordingly, but did the Skoda reputation? Not a chance. Their reputation was already solidly fixed in the minds of the market.

The point i’m trying to make with all this is that there are times when you might want to work on the cheap, for something more valuable to you than just the money. It could be anything, friendship, networking, experience, or just a plain good old-fashioned favour, but if you get a reputation for it, in the long run you’re just playing yourself. The guy who just paid you $200 for a days work, you think he’s going to want to pay you $1000 next time? Unlikely. When he recommends you to his friends, d’you think he’s going to tell them you cost a grand a time? Equally unlikely.

Pricing yourself too low is a long walk down a short road. I’d rather work one day a week for five times as much, than five days a week for a fifth. I’ll work for free too if I feel like it, but it’ll need a good reason. I’ll leave you with another thought and it comes from a Russian market trader. In England we often have special offers where you can buy things “two for one” or “three for the price of two”. When asked about why he didn’t do the same, the Russian guy thought for a while, shook his head in bemusement, and replied “Why? If someone wants two of something I sell, then they either like it a lot or they need it greatly. Either way that means they should pay more, not less”.