How To
Raise Prices
& Accelerate Your
Creative Business
Part 1
visit: www.AccelerateYourBrand.net
mike
gorzeck
AS A COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHER for
more than 25 years, I’ve had the unique
opportunity to see marketing through a
unique lens. I believe in times like these, your
customers are more likely to stop and think
before they make a purchase.
They’re still buying but they’re more cautious.
You know you have to work even harder to
build your sales, so innovation and creativity are more important than ever. I think the key is
to catch your potential customers’ attention and arouse their curiosity. Encourage them to
stop and think about what you have to offer. The goal, of course is to have them purchase
from you.
FROM MY EARLIEST BEGINNINGS I was inspired to create poetic images that comment on
life and society. But a few years after getting my BFA from the Maryland Institute College
of Art, I found myself shooting pots and pans at a large production studio in Miami.
©2017 | www.AccelerateYourBrand.net
I was selling my soul, but knew I was having unique experiences that would always be
there at every phase of my work. I started teaching studio lighting & photography at
Miami Dade College; and within a few years I was teaching full time at the Art Institute of
Ft Lauderdale, (which was 24 hours per/week) giving me plenty of time to start my studio
business.
I OPENED IMAGE STUDIOS and begain looking for ways to get clients. I was like most
photographers who were getting projects. I showed my portfolio, reached out to decision
makers, and lived from assignment to assignment.
MY FIRST HACK accididentally came after completing a photo shoot for a woman’s
workout clothing catalog. I noticed that my client had left behind their trade-show guide.
Not only did it have listings for all the companies that had set-up booths at the show - with
all their contact information, it also had a (postage paid) co-op response postacrd to
request marketing materials from all the companies that were listed. in the guide.
visit: www.AccelerateYourBrand.net
WITHIN A FEW WEEKS 83 companies had sent me (at their expense) marketing materials.
that I was able to use to get to know them better, before reaching out to them. Working
over the years I’ve had the pleasure of knowing many creative professionals. All too often
there is one common question that I’m still asked in conversation.
HOW DO YOU SELL AND GET SUCH GREAT CLIENTS?
I WENT FROM being like most creative professionals watching others get assignments I
dreamed of; feeling sure I could have done them better. It was challenging, but I finally had
a break through, a moment of self-realization, an epiphany, that photography had to be
approached with a business mindset (or any creative business for that matter).
SMALL DIFFERENCES REAP BIG REWARDS The most successful people, the rockstars in
a given field are not overwhelmingly better then their rivals, they just do small things a little
better everyday, and it adds-up over time. CONSIDER THIS - two cars run in a car race and
one car wins by a few fractions of a second. The winner may win 10x more then the second
place finisher. Was the first place finisher 10x better? No, the winner only won by fractions of
a second.
WHY DOES THIS MATTER? If you’re able to make this your mindset, then maybe you
can achieve a 2-3 percent improvement in some characteristic of your business. Can you
visualize the payoff on a daily basis? What impact could this have on a monthly or annual
basis? And if you can push that 2-3 percent to 10-20 percent or more, well you get the point.
Having a STRATEGIC BLUEPRINT will to identify and plan where to make changes so you
can monetize your efforts. At the ACCELERATE YOUR BRAND live event, I’ll be walking
everyone through creating their own STRATEGIC BLUEPRINT, so when you leave, you’ll
know what to do.
FOR THE PAST 15 YEARS in addition to creative services, I’ve brand consulted with several
large corporate clients to develop their identies through collateral materials. My participation
has led to several of them growing their revenue from about 5 million to over 75 million
annualy taking about a 5 year timeline to achieve this level.
TODAY, I THINK OF MYSELF AS A BRAND DISRUPTOR
I’m launching - ACCELERATE YOUR BRAND, the system
I created for creative businesses. Im driven to share how
I’ve simplified building a successful business into a step
by step playbook that anyone can follow.
mike
gorzeck
I’m also the founder of of Print Advisors, a brand
consultancy.. Thanks for taking the time to get to know
me, and I hope this system inspires you enough to give
these practices a a try.
THEY ARE PROVEN and THEY WORK
Welcome | Intro
ARE YOU
THINKING BIG AND
AIMING HIGH?
Hold on tight you’re about to take-off....
Your brand needs to constantly evolve
to stay ahead of the field, at the velocity
essential for today’s marketing.
I believe customers tell us what they want
and need in their lives. If only we’d listen,
because every so often something comes
along and changes the rulebook.
It requires in equal proportion - dazzling
bursts of imagination, and fanatical
attention to detail. You know the place,
where the Big Picture grinds against the
bottom line throwing off sparks.
WHO IS THIS
GUIDE FOR?
If you’re building a creative business
where you trade your expertise and
creativity, usually in hours - time for
money...
©2017 | www.AccelerateYourBrand.net
...then keep reading,
You’re about to discover how brand ties
into what you charge, and how improving
your brand leads to being able to charge
more...
visit: www.AccelerateYourBrand.net
PERCEIVED VALUE
Accelerate Your
Brand
YOU’Re ABout
tO discover:
...how brand ties into how much you charge,
and how improving your brand leads to being able to
charge more.
In many ways Price comes down to the Perceived-Value of
the brand -it’s public awareness, it’s public acceptance
Perceived-Value is a market response to a brands
acceptance.
To start, the path to creating a great brand is having a
mindset that concentrates on increasing it’s perceived value.
simple:
©2017 | www.AccelerateYourBrand.net
NOTE NOTE:
How Do You Fit The SPIRIT OF A BRAND into a two
dimensional image like a bill-board, a magazine ad, or even
in a video or TV commercial?
Understand that company so well that with a few words
and images you indelibly imprint the essence of that brand
in your audience’s mind.
Having the right message, and defining yourself is
perhaps one of the greatest challenges because defining
yourself is positioning yourself. Where do you want to be
positioned?
I believe it takes practically the same effort to build a
relationship with large client as it does for a small one...
Larger customers have budgets, they often have on-going
work, and typically theiy’re more educated. Unfortunately,
everyone wants them as clients, but it’s worth it once you
establish a relationship. There is a double edge sword if you
reley to heavily on only one customer. TBD
visit: www.AccelerateYourBrand.net
How to Raise Prices
Are You the Top-of-Mind “Go-To Celebrity”
A RAINMAKER - A ROCKSTAR THOUGHT LEADER?
It’s straight-forward...
if you’re offering everything under one roof,
and you’re the one who is doing all of the everything, it’s endless...
I know if you’re busy like me,
consistently finding time for marketing is demanding, but necessary...
Research shows it takes 21 days to develop the mindset necessary to adapt a
process for it to become a new behavior - part of you psyce and your everyday
routine. Reframe and repeat. Change your routine. - follow through for 21 days,
and you’re on your way to making something happen...
FocusedCHANGE
It can be something you do in as little as 5 minutes per/day. Creating a new
mindset won’t happen overnight. Change can be unconfortable, but with
repitition it becomes more clear. Accelerate Your Brand, Your’re About to Take
Off. Prepare for Success...
RAISING PRICES AND BOOSTING SALES
...A well executed brand brings in more revenue-profit, while creating a
perception of quality and exclusivity. It begins with stepping-up your brand’s
Perceived Value.
©2017 | www.AccelerateYourBrand.net
What Critera Do You Use To Derive Your Selling Price?
Are you like some people that use the PFA Method - stick their finger in the air
to see which way the wind is blowing (Plucked From Air)
I• Do you copy, and undercut your competition - to be the “low-cost leader”
• Are you caught up in a saturated commoditized market?
• Are you confronted with non-stop selling that results in low profits?
• Which market niches do you position yourself in front of?
• Who do you want to serve, and how do you differentiate yourself from your
competition - are you authentic?
3 things successful Celebrity Rockstars do to EARN MORE MONEY:
• Stay focused on keeping their profitable current business,
• Engage in developing new customers,
• Energize Yourself and be a though-leader.
visit: www.AccelerateYourBrand.net
What You are
Selling is You
...YOUR THOUGHTS, YOUR EXPERIENCE,
YOUR PROCESS, YOUR PLANS?
Today most everybody
is linked together on social media; as part of energized tribes
of motivated inffuential buyers willing to pay a premium for the
brands they identify with...
You could be your worst enemy, if you don’t have the
confdence to raise your price. And what’s more, if you don’t
believe your worth it, nobody else will either.
Warren Buffet said:
“Price is What You Pay, Value is What You Get...”
Make it a habit to give Value in everything you do, and people will
recognize and appreciate it.
The psychologically of Perceived-Value and Price is based in your
reputation, and how in-demand you are at the moment, while
your competition and actual selling price are less of a factor,
...because if someone wants to work with you, they’ll be willing to
pay a premium.
©2017 | www.AccelerateYourBrand.net
In his book “The Brand Called You”, Tom Peters wrote:
“Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the
business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the
importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me
Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head
marketer for the brand called You.”
visit: www.AccelerateYourBrand.net
Have you Ever
Fired a Client?
THE 80/20 RULE: 20 PERCENT OF
YOUR CUSTOMERS EQUAL 80 PERCENT OF YOUR SALES...
How Supply and Demand Impact Price
Define and Dominate Your Market
• being able to charge higher prices
means what you are selling is
in-demand,
• as prices go up, some clients will
drop off giving you more time to
develop better clients,
• if there’s no demand, your price may
be need to drop,
• With low volume there is downward
pressure to reduce prices to increase
sales.
Holding on to a bad customer is
probably holding you back. Yes, it’s
diffcult to get rid of a paying client, but
if you’re not making any money from
them, then what’s the point?
©2017 | www.AccelerateYourBrand.net
...And you know the ones that demand
the biggest discounts, offer you the
smallest projects, and take-up way too
much of your time, because you never
seem to make any money from them..
Sometimes You Have to Let Them Go
It may be time to reset your brand...
“Listen to the Market” to determine
your Price Strategy.
If volume goes down, you feel pressure
to lower your pricing to increase sales,
but is that always best?
“Perceived Value” is a market response
to your brand positioning.
“Supply and Demand” are
consumer market forces that self adjust
on a continuum - a sliding scale that
reacts to the balance between: “market
price”, and the “quantity of something
customers want to buy”.
Lowering price might create more
demand, but you could end up with
more customers than you can handle,
having cash-flow with little profit.
If you have a: HIGH BRAND VALUE, YOU
CAN CHARGE A HIGHER PRICE. and
MAKE MORE MONEY...
NOTE: If you are not getting enough
business, you’re pricing could be too
high, or it could be a sign that you need
to resset your brand.
visit: www.AccelerateYourBrand.net
Are You a
Commodity?
DO YOU SELL TIME FOR MONEY?
Let’s say you wanted to buy a
business card. In today’s reality you
can do a quick search on the internet, and tons of companies will popup, one offering to be cheaper then
the next, and they’d all be produced
pretty-much the same in scope and
quality.
THE VALUE OF YOU, THE VALUE OF CRAFT
...so basically your buying decision is
made on price.
©2017 | www.AccelerateYourBrand.net
The comnoditization of the printing
industry has overflowed heavily into
creative services - for very low costs,
on a abudence of websites. Software
is a great equalizer, but your creative
mindset differentiates you.
WHAT’S THE ANSWER?
...sell the outcome
visit: www.AccelerateYourBrand.net
Go From Being a Commodity to the
“Go-To Celebrity”
COME TO THE WORKSHOP
JULY 25th & 26th IN JACKSONVILLE, FL
©2017 | www.AccelerateYourBrand.net
Early Registration Ends June 31st
Here’s What You’ll Receive for Attending:
the Accelerate Your Brand 21 Step - Brand Reset System: $1,895.00 Value
Strategic Blue Print: $995.00 Value
Rapid Results Strategy Session: $295.00 Value
Clickfunnels Workshop
TOTAL VALUE: $3,185.00
EARLY REGISTRATION for two day workshop: $99.00
visit: www.AccelerateYourBrand.net