The price is right

In some (but not all) cases, advertising the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (that’s the MSRP you hear about on car commercials all the time) is helpful. In the automobile example, where a dealer typically sells cars for less than the MSRP, the dealer looks very good. But in the case of a candy bar, for example, where the MSRP is 50 cents, but the big chain stores sell it for 40 cents, and the airport gift shop sells it for a dollar, you find customers scratching their heads and wondering what the heck the real price is on this candy. 

Be very careful when using price or terms as reasons for customers to visit your store. When you advertise price, you run the risk of getting caught in what I call the price trap. If you’re only selling price, you have to continue to lower that price — or come up with even better terms — on an ongoing basis in order to continue to attract new customers. 

For example, the cell phone business has fallen into the price trap. When you look in the newspaper, you may have a tough time choosing a wireless phone company or deciphering the best available bargain because you have to sift through the various stores’ offers of free minutes, free phones, free longdistance, free mobile-to-mobile calling, and any number of price and terms offers. And all of these stores have to continually create new and better offers in order to compete.

Let ’em know your uniqueness

A certain way to attract customers (more certain than anything else I know) is to offer something they can’t get anywhere else. If you’ve stocked your store with creative, hard-to-find items that other stores simply don’t carry, then you are way ahead of the game. If your doughnut store can state for certain that your doughnut holes are smaller (and, therefore, your doughnuts are more substantial) than a doughnut junkie can hope to find elsewhere, then that is your message. If you carry truly unique greeting cards in your stationery store, cards that aren’t available anywhere except at your location, then people looking for such an item are sure to respond. 

Of course, if you’re selling the idea that your business is unique, you need to work overtime to assure that it remains so. Do you remember when Starbucks was the only place where you could get gourmet coffees? It didn’t take long for hundreds of imitators to come along and make the same claim. If you’re successful in positioning yourself as totally unique, you can be sure that others will copy you — and you’ll have to continually reinvent yourself to stay ahead of the competition.

Don't sacrifice service!

Service, in my estimation, is the most overused and under-delivered promise made in advertising today. Just about every business claims to deliver the very best in “service,” or “customer service,” or “customer care,” but in reality, hardly any business actually does provide great service. Most market research shows that what customers want most from their bank, supermarket, dry cleaner, car dealer, shoe repair shop, accountant, or whatever, is good, old-fashioned service. All businesses know this, but most businesses seem totally incapable of delivering it. 

My agency handles a local Audi dealer that lives and dies by the results of factory-sponsored telephone surveys it does following every new car sale and every service appointment. The results of these customer satisfaction surveys go a long way in determining this car dealer’s relationship with the factory and with how many cars it allots him each month. He ranks very highly in his survey results, and we advertise the fact that his dealership is top-rated in customer service. And this advertising focus on service (as well as fair pricing and a wide choice of inventory) is obviously working — this dealer, located in San Jose, California, sells so many new Audi cars that he’s now number two in the nation. 

If you use service as a reason for customers to try you out, then you’d better deliver the goods. If you can’t service your customers in an efficient, courteous, timely manner, or deliver, replace, or repair what you promised when you promised it, then don’t tell customers you can. Don’t make any promises you can’t keep, because people will soon see through you and your promises like a piece of cellophane.

Convenience: More than location

The top three factors in getting rich on real estate are: location, location, location. The same may be true of your store or business. Convenience can be a huge incentive to customers. But when I say convenience, I’m not just talking about location. Convenience may be ample free parking within a few feet of your door, or easy freeway access, or a well-thought-out store design so your customers can get in and out quickly, or a store policy of always helping customers load merchandise into their cars, or a service policy of always delivering on time. 

If you do have a convenient, available location with great parking and a bright and cheerful ambience, easy access, an easy store layout, or any number of conveniences that customers find attractive, include this information in your advertising message. Convenience is also a very simple and effective way to differentiate your store from other, less-convenient, less-attractive stores. 

For example, when I need hardware items, I patronize a small local store, instead of one of those big discount warehouses, because of the convenience factor. The store is small (it would fit into one corner of one of the large chain stores, and you’d never even know it was there) so I can quickly find what I need and be on my way. It also has a large parking lot right outside its back door. I know I could save a lot of money if I went to the chain stores, but I’m willing to pay for the convenience of the mom-and-pop. 

If I were the owner of this small hardware store, I’d advertise with messages such as, “Park within 20 feet of our door. You may pay a few pennies more for nails, but think of the money you’ll save on shoe leather!” Or, “Is saving a nickel on nails worth getting hammered in a parking lot?” Or, “Drive for miles, search three acres for a parking place, get lost in a huge labyrinth, save 50 cents. Can we talk?” 

Similarly, if I owned a service business, such as a car and limo service, I’d advertise with a message such as, “Don’t stress about getting to the airport on time — call us instead! We’ll pick you up on time and get you to where you’re going, in the comfort of one of our luxury cars, driven by our safe and professional drivers.”

You've got personality!

Customers often choose one business over another based on the personality of the business. And that, of course, begins with you and the people who work for you. For example, I’ve become a regular at a very good Italian restaurant in my hometown for the simple reason that the personality of the place (and of the people who work there) suits me to a T. It has just the right combination of location, ambience, menu choices, and friendly, caring management and staff to have won my undying loyalty. 

A half-dozen outstanding Italian restaurants are all within a six-block walk of the one I frequent, and my wife and I have tried them all. But we visit the same one quite often because, from the moment we walk through the door until we waddle out a few hours later, each employee treats us like visiting royalty, whose continued satisfaction and patronage is a very high priority. Everyone, from the bartender to the waiter to the busboy, makes us feel not only welcome, but at home. 

So if you own a restaurant and want to advertise your establishment’s unique personality, you can use a headline such as, “Like having dinner at Mama’s, but without all the kids.” If you’re a car dealer and want to tell your customers that they can find something unusual during their service appointment, you can say, “Put your feet up, have a cup of gourmet coffee, catch up on the soaps, and relax in our customer lounge.” In other words, if you truly believe that your business has a sparkling personality and offers certain benefits that customers can’t find elsewhere, then find a creative way to use these strengths in your advertising. Then be sure you deliver on the promise after the customers arrive. Don’t call attention to something that isn’t really there, something that you don’t — or can’t — really offer.

Image is everything

People drive or walk long distances past one fast-food restaurant, service station, doughnut store, or hair salon in order to patronize another because the image of the store they seek out is more in tune with their own tastes and desires. Image, as they say, is everything. 

When it comes to image, peer pressure (or what you think the rest of the world is doing) also comes into play. People want to project the right image, and often, they do that by choosing the product, service, or store that they think helps them do so. For example, if dozens of people are working out at one particular gym in town, their friends may also try that gym because “everyone else is doing it.” Price, quality, convenience, and many other factors come into play, but if that gym’s image is the one that the customers can best identify with, then it most certainly gets the most business. 

Your business’s good reputation for customer service, fair value, good prices, and after-sale concern and care also goes a long way toward ensuring your success. If you can honestly say that you provide the very best of any of these virtues, broadcast it widely.

Understanding Why People Choose One Product or Service over Another

As you devise your positioning strategy and, ultimately, your advertising message, you need to keep in mind why people choose one product or service over another. That way, you can help to ensure that they choose your product or service over your competition’s. In the following Understanding Why People Choose One Product or Service over Another sections, I cover some of the main reasons people choose one product (or service or company or store) over another.