Perceived Value | #27

Everyone preaches about value.

“Sell a high-value service and you can charge thousands!”

“Provide value to the client and they’ll keep coming back.”

This may be a little controversial, but value isn’t as important as perceived value. If your client perceives your services are more valuable, then you can charge more. No, this is not about tricking or deceiving clients.

Look at Apple. Now I’m an Apple fanboy, but when you really break down their computers and their phones, they aren’t really that much different from other brands in terms of performance. Apple is still able to charge way more for their devices. Why is this? Well, it’s their perceived value.

Everything from their marketing, to feeling like you belong to an elite club allows Apple to charge more than their competitors because of that perceived value.

You can also increase your perceived value as a creative. Offer things in your business that clients aren’t used to when working with creatives. You can offer things like fast turnaround times, awesome customer service, and custom mood boards to increase your perceived value to the client. Don’t send pdf proposals, use nice proposal software. It’s the little things.

Ask yourself “If Apple started a creative business, what would their customer service look like? Their marketing? Their fulfillment?”

These are bonuses that they normally wouldn’t expect, but by you offering them, it increases your perceived value and it allows you to charge more money. And because they’re paying more, their experience with you is going to be stellar.

Bottom line, don’t just offer photos and videos. Offer bonuses as part of your packages and make the customer experience amazing.