Are You a Cage-Free Egg?

Intro by Skip Cohen

“People rarely buy what they need. They buy what they want.”
Seth Godin

One of the industry’s very best marketing and business writers, educators, and motivators is Sarah Petty. Signed up for everything she shares, I regularly get her emails, and they always track to something useful in helping me think through the challenges in business today.

Last week I got the email below, which got me thinking about how many artists miss the opportunity to elevate their products and services. Seth Godin’s quote above fits so well with Sarah’s message.

When you think you need to compete on price, you turn your work into a commodity item. You become the same as everybody else when the real message you want to share is what makes your work different and unique.

Don’t compete on price. Instead, create value and a unique combination of your ability to capture memories and the experience of working with you. Work to make your target audience understand why you’re worth more.

By Sarah Petty

I went to the grocery store the other day (mask on) to grab some eggs for my morning omelets.

And I was standing there looking at this WALL of eggs. 20 different brands of EGGS.

All eggs are basically the same, right? Brown, white, cage-free, organic – they all pretty much taste the same. But did I grab the cheapest carton of eggs?

Nope. Never.

I’m a loyal cage-free girl!

For some crazy reason, I want to feel good about my experience buying eggs. I like to picture happy chickens running around pecking the ground, like the chickens my grandparents had.

So, I happily pay 3X more than cheap eggs because I want my EXPERIENCE of buying and using my eggs to be positive.

Sad chickens in tiny cages = Sad omelets, I swear.

YOU, my friend, are a cage-free egg. Organic! Special! And people REALLY WILL pay more for a great experience with you versus a cheaper “shoot and burn” session with one of your competitors.

Because at the end of the day, EVERYONE wants to FEEL GOOD!

That’s why we:

• Pay more for gazillion-thread-count sheets
• Go on vacation when staying home would be cheaper
• Have kids and adopt pets!!

Because the price is not our primary motivator – pleasure is!!!