Marketing Publicity Builds Perceived Product Value

What could be more unsatisfying than having a great product but only a small portion of the market? Hours of product research and development resulting in a product of high value should translate into greater market share, right? Wrong — it’s not enough. It’s not the actual value of a product which ultimately produces the sale; rather it’s the perceived value of that product which determines not only whether the customer will be willing to purchase it, but how much they are willing to spend as well.

“In the market, everything is about perceived value,” says John W. Elliott, CEO of Power PR, a marketing public relations firm. “If you have two products, say a nice ballpoint pen versus a Mont Blanc pen, one is $20 and one is $250. What is the difference? Mont Blanc has a higher perceived value.”

Using the techniques of marketing publicity, Power PR imbues its clients’ products with value by increasing the perception of that value in the mind of potential customers. For this reason, companies that want a greater share of the market come to Power PR to bolster sales.

“Companies don’t come to us if they are already number one in their market,” explains Elliott. “They often have a product that has high actual value, but which has to be perceived that way in the market.”
Because perceived value is an alterable commodity, a CEO in tune with today’s marketplace will utilize the most effective methods available to have the consumer choose their product over a competitor’s product. To increase perceived value, the best tool today is market publicity.

Marketing publicity is a hybrid of marketing and PR that involves promoting a product or service through the mass media. By writing feature articles, customer testimonials, and new product releases and getting these placed as editorial in consumer or trade publications (online and print) a marketing public relations firm can generate many published articles over time to build brand awareness and generate a large quantity of qualified leads.

Elliot clarifies the salient point. “Branding is all about perceived value. It’s like an inherent warranty of value.”

Marketing publicity is superior to tired and largely ineffective advertising methods, in which ads tend to get lost in the clutter of a glutted advertising market. To increase perceived value, one must first actually reach the consumer, and this marketing technique accomplishes this goal.

Another reason marketing publicity outweighs advertising is that while consumers tend to be suspicious of advertising claims, they are much more inclined to believe legitimate articles written by a third party which has done its research.

A third party endorsement by a marketing publicity firm builds the reality of perceived value and can result in an extraordinary level of response from consumers. With a guarantee of five published articles per month — and often quite a few more actually placed — in places where consumers are likely to read them, Power PR effectively raises the perceived value. This makes for satisfied clients claiming a larger share of the market.

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For more info
Contact: John W. Elliott
johne@powerpr.com
www.powerpr.com
Phone: 800-757-3715
FAX: 800-504-9983