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Your price determines your brand

Mark Schaefer
3 min readJul 1, 2019

I have a wide range of interesting business clients and I had a conversation the other day that I thought could benefit all of you.

This particular entrepreneur had created an extraordinary, premium niche with a home electronics product. His company has a unique capability and is able to charge nearly 400 percent more than competitors. His profit margin is a thing of beauty.

He wanted to discuss a new strategy with me. He was planning a line of lower-functional units that would be less than half the price of his premium line. “This seems like a great opportunity to reach a bigger chunk of the market that can’t normally afford our product,” he said.

A chill went down my spine.

He was about to screw up his whole company.

The price determines the brand

“Look at it this way,” I said. “Your competitors can only dream of having the price and profitability that you do. You’re going down to their level. Why would you lower the value of the brand? You’re going the wrong direction!”

Your price is your brand. Think of Nike as an example. What would you think if you walked into a store and saw a new pair of Nike sneakers at a retail price of $19. Something is wrong!

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Mark Schaefer
Mark Schaefer

Written by Mark Schaefer

Keynote speaker, marketing strategy consultant, Rutgers U faculty and author of 10 books including KNOWN, Marketing Rebellion, and Belonging to the Brand!

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