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say the least。
Marketing 99 
Value pricing 
Another consideration when se。。ing your prices is the value of the product 
or service in the customer’s mind。 His or her opinion of price may have li。。le 
or no relation to the cost; and he or she may be ignorant of the price charged 
by the petition; especially if the product or service is a new one。 In fact; 
many consumers perceive price as a reliable guide to the value they can 
expect to receive。 The more you pay; the more you get。 With this in mind; 
had Dyson launched its revolutionary vacuum cleaner; with its claims of 
superior performance; at a price below that of its peers; then some potential 
customers might have questioned those claims。 In its literature Dyson cites 
as the inspiration for the new vacuum cleaner the inferior performance of 
existing products in the same price band。 A product at six times the Dyson 
price is the one whose performance Dyson seeks to emulate。 The image 
created is that; although the price is at the high end of general run…of…themill 
products; the performance is disproportionately greater。 The runaway 
success of Dyson’s vacuum cleaner would tend to endorse this argument。 
Real…time pricing 
The stock market works by gathering information on supply and demand。 
If more people want to buy a share than sell it; the price goes up until 
supply and demand are matched。 If the information is perfect (that is; 
every buyer and seller knows what is going on); the price is optimized。 For 
most businesses this is not a practical proposition。 Their customers expect 
the same price every time for the same product or service – they have no 
accurate idea what the demand is at any given moment。 
However; for businesses selling on the internet; puter networks 
have made it possible to see how much consumer demand exists for a 
given product at any time。 Anyone with a point…of…sale till could do the 
same; but the reports might e in weeks later。 This means that online 
panies could change their prices hundreds of times each day; tailoring 
them to certain circumstances or certain markets; and so improve 
profits dramatically。 easyJet; a budget airline; does just this。 It prices 
to fill its planes; and you could pay anything from £30 to £200 (including 
airport taxes) for the same trip; depending on the demand for that flight。 
Ryanair and Eurotunnel have similar price ranges based on the basic rule 
– discounted low fares for early reservations and full fares for desperate 
late callers! 
Internet auction pricing 
Once the prerogative of the fine art and antiques markets; auctioning is 
a fast…growing pricing strategy for a whole host of very different types 
of business。 The theory of auctioning is simple。 Have as many interested 
potential buyers as possible see an item; set a time limit for the transaction 
100 The Thirty…Day MBA 
to be pleted and let them fight it out。 The highest bidder wins and; 
in general; you can get higher prices than by selling through traditional 
pricing strategies。 eBay was a pioneer in the new auction house sector and 
is still perhaps the best known。 But there are dozens of others covering this 
area and other auction houses you can plug into: 
。 eBay (ebay。uk/university) has its own ‘university’ training 
160;000 or so people in the UK; PowerSellers as they are known; in the 
art of successful auctioning。 
。 IBidFree (ibidfree); set up by Shane McCormack; a 
former eBay seller; with the proposition that you can have all the features 
of eBay but for free。 IBidFree was created as a perfect opportunity 
for the person working from home trying to market their products 
without all of their profits being swallowed up by charges and fees。 The 
rules are few and; unlike eBay; sellers are encouraged to place a link in 
their auctions back to their own websites。 They are also allowed to email 
each other directly to allow for be。。er munication。 
。 UBid (ubid); founded in 1997; went public in 2005。 
Its online marketplace provides merchants with an efficient and economical 
channel for selling on their surplus merchandise。 UBid currently 
carries over 200;000 items for auction/sale each day。 You have to bee 
a certified merchant to sell on the site; which cuts down on fraud。 The 
fees are no sale; no fee; and then from 12。5% down to 2。5% on sales of 
over 1;000。 
You could consider starting your own online auction house。 The case study 
example below is a good one; with an interesting twist。 To lend a bit of 
extra credibility; the products being sold can be seen in the showroom。 
Pay…what…you…like pricing 
This strategy is based on the auction concept but buyers set their own 
price。 The twist is that there is no limit on supply; so everyone can have 
one at the price they want to pay。 Radiohead; the band; released its seventh 
Founded in 2006 by Allison Earl Woessner; Auction Atrium ( 
auctionatrium) is an auction pany for fine art; antiques and 
collectables in the £30 to £3;000 price bracket。 Auctions run for 7–10 days 
and bidders can e and inspect lots downstairs in the pany’s 
Notting Hill showroom。 Julian Costley; former CEO of E*Trade; joined 
the pany as a non…executive director in September 2007 and the 
business is gearing up for expansion。
Marketing 101 
album In Rainbows in October 2007 as a download on its website where 
fans could pay what they wished; from nothing to £99。99。 Estimates by 
the online survey group Score indicate that of the 1。2 million visitors 
to Radiohead’s website; three out of five downloaders paid nothing and 
the payers averaged £3 per album; so allowing for the freeloaders the 
band realized £1。11 per album。 The band reckons that was more than they 
would have made in a traditional label deal。 In fact the version of the album 
released in this way was not the definitive one; that was released three 
months later in CD format; debuting at No 1 in the United States and the 
UK。 
A number of restaurateurs have experimented with this pricing strategy 
with some success; but as yet it is in its infancy。 Still; eBay is only a ‘baby’ in 
the business model world; so watch this space; as they say in the marketing 
world。 
Promotion and advertising 
The answers to these five questions underpin all advertising and promotional 
strategies: 
。 What do you want to happen? 
。 If that happens; how much is it worth? 
。 What message will make it happen? 
。 What media will work best? 
。 How will you measure the effectiveness of your effort and expense? 
What do you want to happen? 
Do you want prospective customers to visit your website; phone; write to 
you or e…mail you; return a card; or send an order in the post? Do you expect 
them to have an immediate need to which you want them to respond now; 
or is it that you want them to remember you at some future date when they 
have a need for whatever it is you are selling? 
The more you are able to identify a specific response in terms of orders; 
visits; phone calls or requests for literature; the be。。er your promotional 
effort will be tailored to achieve your objective; and the more clearly you 
will be able to assess the effectiveness of your promotion and its cost versus 
its yield。 
How much is that worth to you? 
Once you know what you want a particular promotional activity to achieve; 
it bees a li。。le easier to estimate its cost。 Suppose a £1;000 advertisement 
is expected to generate 100 enquiries for your product。 If experience tells 
you that on average 10 per cent of enquiries result in orders; and your profit 
102 The Thirty…Day MBA 
margin is £200 per product; then you can expect an extra £2;000 profit。 That 
‘benefit’ is much greater than the £1;000 cost of the advertisement; so it 
seems a worthwhile investment。 Then; with your target in mind; decide 
how much to spend on advertising each month; revising that figure in the 
light of experience。 
Deciding the message 
Your promotional message must be built around facts about the pany 
and about the product。 The stress here is on the word ‘fact’; and while 
there may be many types of fact surrounding you and your products; your 
customers are interested in only two: the facts that influence their buying 
decisions; and the ways in which your business and its products stand out 
from the petition。 
These facts must be translated into benefits。 (See also ‘Features; benefits 
and proofs’ in this chapter。) There is sometimes an assumption that everyone 
buys only for obvious; logical reasons; when we all know of innumerable 
examples showing this is not so。 Do people buy new clothes only when 
the old ones are worn out? Do bosses have desks that are bigger than their 
subordinates’ because they have more papers to put on them? 
The message should follow the AIDA formula: get A。。ention; capture 
Interest; create Desire and encourage Action。 Looking at each in turn: 
。 Ge。。ing a。。ention requires a hook。 Colour; humour and design are tools 
used to focus people on your offer and away from the masses of distracting 
clu。。er that occupy minds。 
。 Interest is achieved by involving people in some aspect of the product; 
perhaps by posing a question such as one diet pany does with its 
challenge ‘would you like to loose 2 kg in 2 weeks?’。 
。 Desire is about showing people the end result they could achieve by 
having or using your product。 Every speedboat advertisement has a 
beautiful bikini…clad girl posing on the bow; the inference being that if 
you owned the boat you would be sure to get the girl too。 
。 Action means provoking a painless way for people to start the buying 
process。 Free trial; money…back guarantee; offer only lasts this week 
and so forth are examples of the strategies used to achieve this result。 
UACCA – Unawareness; Awareness; prehension; Conviction; Action 
is another acronym used in this context。 
Choosing the media 
Your market research (see below) should produce a clear understanding 
of who your potential customer group are; which in turn will provide 
pointers as to how to reach them。 But even when you know whom you 
want to reach with your advertising message it’s not always plain sailing。 
Mar

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