Pricing Strategies in marketing: Pre-selling

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Your pricing strategies in marketing can vary depending on how pre-sold your prospects are about your new product. If your prospects are eagerly awaiting your new product, then you can charge a lot more than if they aren't familiar with you or your product.

Why Pre-selling creates pricing power

Imagine a family preparing to go to Disneyland - are they going to stop the trip because Disneyland raised the price of the parking? No. They are so pre-sold that it doesn't matter.

Imagine if a customer has been waiting for two years for your new product to hit the market. Are they going to care if it’s priced at $19 rather than $9.99? Probably not.

The price is not their primary focus.

Pricing Strategies in marketing: Ways To Pre-sell

There are lots of ways to pre-sell. Smart marketers know that the success of their product frequently depends on the amount of pre-selling that can be done before the product "hits the shelves". Here are six great ways to do pre-selling:

• Create complete products lines. A complete product line is a powerful pre-selling tool for your new product. Sure, Apple could have stopped after making the first iPod, but why not make them in all the fruit flavors? Why not make them in all the possible range of sizes and with various amounts of storage? Once you've made the iPod, why not the iPhone? Most businesses aren't the most complete provider in their marketplace. That's usually a mistake in alignment with business strategy. Customers seem to appreciate product lines that are complete and reward businesses by buying new items as they come out.
• Create product launches. A product launch is a pre-selling story that you begin telling months before your product hits the market. You explain what you're going to make, then you explain how it's going, then you explain all the details, benefits, and unique attributes. Then you finally launch the product. The master of this strategy was, of course, Steve Jobs. His new product demo presentations were a master class in pre-selling and in brand building [what is a brand].
• Ask customers what they want. If you include the customer in the lean customer development process - by surveying them - then tell them what the survey results indicated - then tell them about the new product - people are more apt to come along for the ride.
• People want to buy from people they know, like, and trust. The very best way to pre-sell a person is to have already established credibility in their eyes. You do that over time. You do it by sharing your story. You do it be having a track record of really good products.
• Allow pre-orders and gift cards. If you can literally take pre-orders, or sell gift cards, (which are a form of pre-order), then your pre-selling isn't just theoretical touchy feely - it's cold hard cash. If you can take literal pre-orders, try it. The incredible rise of Kick-starter has proven that many people are willing to pre-order online.
• Email people. Capture email addresses during the sales process so you can email people the next time you have a product that comes out. And the best part is - if you can collect email addresses from the people who purchase from you today, you have a zero cost marketing option [traditional marketing vs digital marketing] as your next product comes out - simply email them with details about your product launch. If there is one pre-selling tool that is most critical - email marketing is it

Fueling The Feeling

There are a few key emotions involved in being pre-sold. As a marketer, you want to evaluate your images, copywriting, and promotional activities to ensure that you are connecting on an emotional level. You want to do work that will fuel:

Anticipation
According to Wikipedia, anticipation is, "The process of imaginative speculation about the future".

Trust
Trust in a retail context is earned as people begin to believe they will like and approve your future actions.

Hope
They say that in business "hope is not a strategy", but when it comes to outside in marketing, instilling hope in your customer's hearts is a great strategy.

Surprise
When you conduct an unexpected event you create a sense of surprise. Or, when people know you're event is coming up, but don't know what you're going to reveal, then you've set the stage for a fun surprise.

Joy
In a retail context, joy is about happiness with the product, the buying experience, and the overall interaction with the company. Some products can deliver a deep level of emotional joy. But even with less emotionally charged product offerings, you can still create joy by your actions and the overall experience the buyer has with you.

Pricing Strategies in marketing: Action Steps

Brainstorm ways you can develop complete products lines that make pre-selling easy. For example, consider how your products can "fit together" to make pre-selling feel natural and easy. Learn to create "launch stories" that generate interest and enthusiasm before your product is on the shelf, and if you don't already collect email addresses, start today.