Want Maximum Pricing Power? Try This!

You offer a great product, so why not set your pricing to what your product is really worth? The elements in your direct mail marketing, such as the images, embellishments, and nishes you choose, can help. Here’s how.

MarketingSherpa recently tackled the subject of how to get maximum pricing for your products. It explains that being able to charge at the top end of the tier depends upon your “pricing power.” Knowing your pricing power will help determine how to frame your messaging and identify the types of direct mail that make sense for your marketing goals and what level of embellishment and nishing will support your message.

Here are the different levels of pricing power:

1. LOW PRICING POWER (COMMODITY)

You have little to no control over pricing because the product is so readily available that the open market sets the price. Take, for example, a pack of gum.

2. MID-RANGE PRICING POWER

At the mid-range, you have more control over pricing because you offer a unique value proposition. Say your gum is made from 100% organic ingredients. Now you have a product that commands a higher price because it offers something different from what the competition is offering.

3. HIGH PRICING POWER

When something is truly scarce, it is worth the most. Sayyougetina shipment of a rare fruit concentrate that will only be around for a very short time. You will only be able to use this concentrate to make it into a certain number of packages of gum. Now you can set a premium price.

How do you translate this into your direct mail design? Find where your product is unique or rare and then focus on this in your messaging. Support your value proposition with the right stock choices, embellishments, and nishes that are justi ed by your pricing and consistent with your message.

If you have mid-range pricing power, you can justify upgrading your mailers to a higher grade of stock, for example, or using over-sized postcards and high gloss. If you have high pricing power, you might consider high-end nishes like dimensional printing, metallized foils, and spot or specialty coatings to highlight key elements of your design.

Your direct mailers are like high-end suits. If you pair them with dollar store shoes, you undermine your message. So it goes with direct mail. Make sure that your pricing, your messaging, and your nishes are all sending the same message—and it’s the message you intend to send.