Last week I asked you to find any morals or tips from the story of the worlds greatest musician. If you haven’t read the story then read these two first:

worlds greatest musician story
The marketing challenge

I asked you to contact me with your answer to this challenge.

Many of you gave great answers, infact, two emails in particular mirrored my own thoughts on this.

So I will explain my opinion first, and then I will post some examples of emails I received:

The Key is To Use The Three P’s

*Perception
*Presentation/Packaging

I have tried many times to explain this previously, but I think the best way to explain would be via an actual event that happened to me last year.

In 2006 I sold a network of sports gambling websites. The flagship site offered advice and tips for upcoming sports events.

The tips made a profit, and they were well written, but the site simply struggled to convert.

Due to my SEO and Marketing services being fully booked, I decided it would be best to sell this site. The new owner bought the site and made one crucial change that now has the site earning 6 figures per year.

So what did he do to make the site increase conversions by a massive 160% OVERNIGHT???

He Packaged and Presented the advice to give the Perception that they were highly valuable.

Personally I just put the articles on the site and presumed the quality of the advice would be enough, but he created an ebook cover for every single type of advice on the site.

But there were no ebooks, nor was he selling ebooks. But by showing an ebook cover and giving it a name like “The Sports betting Retirement Plan” he gave the perception that the advice was part of a life changing and normally expensive package.

The reality is that the advice was the exact same advice that I had been giving, but the perception of it’s value had gone from next to nothing to high value.

I am sure you can find ways to apply this story to your website, if you need help then contact me directly at : contact@deanhunt.com and I will try and take a look.

Your Views

From SalesManInPrint.com

Dear Dean Hunt,

I was reading your blog and I think I have the right answer.

Why World’s Greatest Musician Makes Only $40 Per Hour?

The answer is simple and it was given before by Claude Hopkins in his book, My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising.

Here’s the answer. It’s about perception of value. Nobody knew he was such an extraordinary musician. So nobody thought he was worth their time. Nobody knew his violin costs so much money. So nobody wanted to hear the kind of music played from “such expensive violin”.

If any of these facts have been publicized even on a board next to him, there would be a huge crowd and the fire department might have to show up. In other words, it’s all about the marketing behind the package (the musician and his tools). With the right marketing (he’s a famous musician who only plays for the elite and his violin cost an astronomical amount), he would have attracted an extraordinary crowd.

People are curious. They would come to see at least:”The Man Who Plays With A 3.5 Million Dollar Violin”

In Scientific Advertising, Claude Hopkins tells the story of a hat. First displayed, without price, it passed by without a glance. But when it was said that the hat cost a significant sum of money all the women wanted to see such an expensive hat…..which they could never afford.

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From: Harry at GetSFB.com

Hey there Dean!

I really enjoy your new blog. I thought about your post the other day and have what I think is the best answer. It’s all in the presentation. When you take any product, whether it is a physical product or a skill, and package it in a common, boring package, it automatically demands a lower price. If you give it away, it also takes away from the perceived value.

I worked for a company that manufactures plastic consumables for life sciences. The products we make are every bit as good, if not better, than the highest priced, most valued brand. We couldn’t achieve good margins and market share because while our product worked just as good, it came in a plain white box, in a white plastic holder, with no branding or marks. Our same products packaged in colored racks, 4-color pack boxes, and labelled with 4-color plastic labels fetch 30+% higher prices and are perceived by the end consumers to be a better product.

The World’s Best Pianist in the wrong setting with the wrong approach will never make what he’s worth.

Hope we’re on the same wavelength here. If not, I’m still right!

Harry Bakken

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Dean.. the answer/secret is simple… perception is reality.

Have a great day.

Michael Fleischner
www.MarketingScoop.com

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From: Marlys

I still think it has to do with “selling the sizzle” of Joshua Bell in a concert hall. If the product (his glorious music) is too easily obtainable, or is delivered scattershot to people who aren’t shopping for it (buying a pricey ticket and showing up at the hall), then it’s elevator music.
This is the reason my company doesn’t do a kisok in the local mall–part of our product is our exclusiveness and our beautiful location. Our customers bother to drive here because we’re a special interest kind of business, we know our product and we have WAY cool stuff.

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There were many, many more replies, and this was also discussed at many forums. But I wanted to keep this post from being too long.

I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Dean