Did anyone who bought a Rolex watch, think, “Ahh, I need a Rolex to tell the time”?
Nobody buys a Rolex because of that. They buy a Rolex to increase their status. To feel good about themselves. “I’ve worked hard, I deserve this”.
So, if you were Rolex, how would you market your watches?
You don’t put a headline on your website that says, “Upgrade Your Status”. That would be unfitting. Instead, the message is implicit. Rolex partners with events and ambassadors that shout “status” and “excellence”. That’s why they sponsor golf tournaments, and tennis grand slams, and partner with achievers in various fields – shouting “excellence” and “prestige”.
People don’t buy books
Recently a friend reached out to me.
He knew I loved reading and had some ninja Google search skillsets, so he asked, “Where do you get your free books”
I told him I bought them. Unsatisfied, he pressed again, “No, how do you get them for free online?”
It’s sad there are still people looking to get books for free – or illegally when they cost less than the price you pay for dinner at a restaurant.
We can complain about this, but that’s not the point of this post.
The point is to see the world as it is. As marketers, we observe how people behave.
And so the observation:
People don’t buy books.
People buy things when the perceived value is worth more than their money. They buy status, belonging, confidence, knowledge, solutions to their problems – and sometimes hope.
So the only reason someone would buy a book is when they perceive the value they get back to exceed whatever they’re paying for it.
And that’s probably why my friend thought books were too expensive, yet he’s willing to spend 10X the amount on a single night of drinking. Well, maybe because the book he wanted, didn’t do a good enough job of marketing the value that he’ll get back, reading it.
When marketing a product, build it so that the perceived value is higher than what your customer pays for it.
Google search operators
By the way, it’s easy to find digital books that you can illegally download online.
Just use Google search operator. Search on Google: “Book title” filetype:epub
Here’s an example:
