How To Increase Your Perceived Value

It's hard to sell invisible

If there is one constant in all the marketing I see with my clients (and in my own), it’s that we undersell ourselves.

That’s because we fail to explain the full value we deliver. It’s incredibly easy to do, and it's down to taking too much of what we do for granted.

The solution is a copywriting technique called the Value Prism.

Value Prisms have three levels: Dimensionalised Benefits, Value from Parts, and Value from Creation.

Here’s how they work.

Level 1: Dimensionalised Benefits

Imagine you are buying a coat. 

Ostensibly, you’re buying protection from the weather (function), but you are also buying how it makes you feel (emotions) and how you think others will perceive you (status).

So, your coat has three values: Functional, emotional, and status. (Do not underestimate status as a hidden motivator in buying.)

Your goods and services have those same three values, and it’s your marketing’s job to highlight all three as best you can.

That means you are demonstrating the practical outcome you can deliver, how that will make the client feel, and how that will impact their status.

Here’s an example for a coach who works with sales teams whose numbers have been falling:

"Improve your team’s standing (status) with month-on-month sales increases (practical) with systemic changes you can have 100% confidence in (emotions)."

That’s a bit clunky, but you see how that works. 

Now think about a more subtle example, car ads: The practicality of a fuel-efficient car that feels great to drive and has that badge.

Or men’s razor blades: A close shave that will make you feel great and more attractive. 

Everything is a practical, emotional, and status sale.

Look at your marketing. Do you talk about or suggest the emotional and status benefits as well as the practical benefits?

(For B2B clients, the status sale will always include not making the client look foolish for hiring you. It's also true in B2C, but it can cost someone their job in B2B. That's why proof elements are so important.)

Level 2: Component Parts

One of the marketing challenges of being a copywriter is the word ‘writer’. Most people think being a copywriter means 'having a way with words'.

But ask any good copywriter and they tell you the same thing. Client after client sees what we do and says, ‘You do so much more than just write, don’t you!’

Yes, we do a lot more.

But that's true for most businesses. Most of us deliver value that our buyers are not aware of. That might be a property of the goods themselves or in the service and support.

That's why your marketing needs to explain the component parts of your products or process. It plays a huge part in increasing how your value is understood.

That can be done with a process page, case studies, or expert articles.

Level 3: Value from Creation

We are more willing to pay for something we believe took a lot of effort or expense to make or provide. It's part of our internal fairness meter. That means you need to be explicit about the cost behind what you are delivering.

Here’s how that might work in your copy…

"I use a proprietary framework to pinpoint bottlenecks in your business."

vs

"Over the last five years, and having worked with multiple seven and eight-figure businesses, I have developed a proprietary framework to pinpoint bottlenecks in your business."

See the difference when you talk about the effort that went into the framework? 

If you are charging high fees or prices, you need to give your clients reasons to see them as fair. 

Look at your marketing. 

Are there opportunities to talk about the cost of creating your process or the price of your goods?