Holiday Branding: Maximizing Opportunities without Devaluing Your Services

Larry Roberts [00:00:08]:

What is happening, everybody? I'm Larry Roberts.

Sara Lohse [00:00:11]:

And I'm Sara Lohse, and this is Branded, our comprehensive guide to creative

Larry Roberts [00:00:16]:

And on this very merry episode of the podcast, we're gonna talk about holiday branding practices.

Sara Lohse [00:00:25]:

There are so many ways you can have a lot of fun with your brand over the holidays, but we have to make sure that we're not doing anything that's going to devalue our brand as a whole.

Larry Roberts [00:00:36]:

Yeah. It could be very, very tempting during this time of year to give things away, To give away your time, give away a product, give away a service, and we can if we're not careful, we can position ourselves in a way that We we kinda regret those offerings.

Sara Lohse [00:00:55]:

Yeah. I think, especially I mean, we're a little late on the Black Friday boat. But With Black Friday, that makes sense in, like, big box stores when they're have, like, a 200% profit margin or something. But when your When it's your time that you're giving away, you wanna be really careful with that. Your time is not less valuable on a certain day of the year than it is on every other day. So I think we do ourselves a disservice by suddenly going and doing Black Friday offers. It's different if we're selling products or selling, like, softwares as a service or something. Being able to do giveaways or deep discounts on something that doesn't take extra time from us.

Sara Lohse [00:01:38]:

If it's a already established product or a service that is you kinda create it once and then just it's can be used forever. That's different. But for people like like you and I, We are more on the consulting side and the we're we sell our time. I would never wanna say, like, oh, suddenly, my rate is 75% less just because we ate a turkey yesterday. Like, that just seems that just seems terrible. That just get it like, where is the value of my brand if my rates are that low?

Larry Roberts [00:02:11]:

Sometimes I feel 75% less after I eat the turkey.

Sara Lohse [00:02:15]:

I Lohse 75% more.

Larry Roberts [00:02:17]:

Well, yeah, there's always that side of the coin too. But, you know, it's funny because you mentioned the big box stores doing things like this, and this is this is what you want to avoid. And, I I don't know how often you're perusing your social media, but I saw so many videos and memes of Target this year Where they had just gone through, and on Black Friday specifically, all they did was retag everything in the store. They put different pricing labels on everything, and people were going through the store. And they were pulling off the price labels that had the Black Friday pricing, And behind it was the old label that was the exact same price.

Sara Lohse [00:02:57]:

And that was because I've seen those, like, price tags, like, Was 19.99. New price, 19.99.

Larry Roberts [00:03:04]:

It is it was it that's exactly what

Sara Lohse [00:03:06]:

it was. Wasting paper.

Larry Roberts [00:03:07]:

Well, it's it's marketing. It's branding. It's it's building the perceived value. And, you know, it's it's interesting because I actually talked quite a few people over this last Black Friday, and my understanding, it wasn't quite as profitable as, traditionally a Black Friday is typically Perceived as. And now Branded we're in an interesting economy right now, and, I I lean towards more so it being that we have more information than ever before, and people are smarter than ever before, and we're aware of these not so straightforward marketing tactics to try to Present something with a perceived discount that's really was never there in the 1st place.

Sara Lohse [00:03:52]:

I mean, there's some stores like, I used to work in retail, and stores like Kohl's, They they're famous for always having sales. Everything is always on sale. They just just mark the prices up so they can discount it. And I worked in like, I worked for a board game company when I first moved to Texas, and we would go around the holidays to the different stores and just See how they present our products and our competitors' products.

Larry Roberts [00:04:16]:

Sure.

Sara Lohse [00:04:16]:

And products that, like, we had as MSRP 1999 Or, like, 24.99, you would go to Kohl's, and it would be double the price, but 50% off. So they're still pay like, you're still paying full price. You just think you're not. And that is why, like, I avoid stores like that because it's just so obvious if you know the actual product. I think also with I mean, now we're getting off branding topic just at Black Friday in general, but it used to be a day, and now it's, like, a month. So, I mean, I was getting Black Friday deals on things that I just needed anyway. They just happen to be on Black Friday for Amazon, like, 2 weeks before Thanksgiving. And I was just like, I've been needing a new vacuum.

Sara Lohse [00:04:54]:

Oh, look. This one's on Black Friday deal. I guess it's gonna make the day less profitable because people have already done it. No one has to wait at 1 in the morning for Walmart to open up when the deal has been active for, like, the whole month, so that makes sense. But I think when it comes to, like, our brands, we We can play with holiday messaging. Like, post the cute graphics. I I do one for every holiday. I put I decorate my logo in my profile photos with Sara hats and, spiderwebs and stuff.

Sara Lohse [00:05:26]:

Do that and have fun with it, but don't make yourself Work more for less just because of the time of the year.

Larry Roberts [00:05:35]:

You do a much better job of of branding favorite daughter with holiday specific branding. I I jump in there from time to time on the big holidays, but, you know, I I don't address each and every one. And I often wonder if it's something that I should do or if my approach is is the same. But one of the reasons I do it is because I don't look at A holiday facilitating a need for me to reduce the cost or price of my services or the value of my services that I provide. The holidays, definitely, they're a time of celebration. They're a time of fun, and, they're typically perceived, especially this time of year, as a time of opportunity to maybe take advantage of something that you weren't able to during the the previous months of the year. As a business owner, It's very difficult for me to step back and go, I'm still providing the same very high level of service that I provide On a regular basis, what's the real value prop in me discounting my brand for this month?

Sara Lohse [00:06:37]:

And, I mean, I definitely do things like, right now, I just sent out an email to my entire list offering free 30 minute brainstorming sessions.

Larry Roberts [00:06:46]:

Mhmm.

Sara Lohse [00:06:46]:

And that is my, quote, unquote, holiday gift for my subscribers. But I did that strategically. It wasn't just like Here, I'm gonna give this away. I did I mean, I made it clear there's no strings attached. I'm not gonna try to sell you anything. But doing the that free 30 minute session, I'm able to reengage the people on my list that may have kind of forgotten about me. And if the ones that do book the session, I'm answering questions, and I'm giving proof of my expertise and giving them a real look at what I offer, But I'm not actually doing any work. There there's not gonna be anything that they get to walk away with other than information and ideas.

Sara Lohse [00:07:28]:

So if they do want those implemented and they don't know how to do it, they still need me. These 30 minute sessions are more lead generation than anything else. That way I see value in it for myself and for the person that I'm meeting with. So they can get ideas. They don't have to pay me. I'm not gonna force them to make You do it. You can take the idea and run with it. If I spend that 30 minutes really proving that I'm the expert in this and I have these great ideas and I can easily implement it, probably more easily than you could learn how to do it yourself, that could lead to a client relationship for me.

Larry Roberts [00:08:01]:

And and that's absolutely critical is having that out there for people to take advantage of and give you that opportunity to establish a relationship that you didn't have before. So, Again, I love the way that you're going at this so strategically. You know, you have a goal in mind, you have an approach in mind, and you understand the value proposition from an extended point of view that goes beyond just the fact that you're giving a free 30 minute consultation to potential clients. That's the differentiator there. I mean, that's what makes all the difference in the world is that you already know from a strategic perspective What the real value, the extended value of these consultations could be. I think that's another thing that we need to address is that a lot of times, and I'm speaking for personal experience. I look very shortsightedly at things like this, and I go, well, I'm not about to discount a A podcast audit, there's no way. I mean, there's a lot of work involved, and there's this and that.

Larry Roberts [00:08:55]:

But if you were to discount one of your products or services, what's the long term ROI On the fact that you're investing more time at a lower price point, could that translate to more value down the road? And that's where, again, from a business owner's perspective, it's very easy to look only at the right now and only that direct value prop.

Sara Lohse [00:09:18]:

Yeah. And I think another, part of the strategy too is if you're going to get do, like, a free giveaway that is either your time or a product, Like you said, podcast audits, make sure it's the introductory product. So with a podcast audit, you're it's, Again, you're not implementing anything. What you're doing like, the podcast audit that you do is a really deep dive and analysis is on someone's podcast and everything that they're doing right, doing wrong, and where they can improve, but you're not fixing it for them.

Larry Roberts [00:09:49]:

Right.

Sara Lohse [00:09:50]:

So it's an introductory offer. You sell them for an affordable price, but there is a step 2 if they're interested. So that that can turn into you actually implementing some of the changes and and helping them grow their show. So by doing, like, a giveaway of the audit, you're able to then turn that into potential clients. So make sure you do have that strategy. Make sure that there is a next step. There is an opportunity to turn it into profit so that it's not just, oh, hey. Here's free stuff.

Larry Roberts [00:10:23]:

And you do the same thing with the branding audits. When you look at somebody's brand and you look at their The consistency throughout the brand and whether or not they have brand guidelines and all the primary components of a brand, you do the exact same thing there and then wrap it up with potential steps that you could take to improve your Branded. Just like I have potential things you could do to improve your podcast right out of the gate, But neither you nor I with either one of these audits do anything to implement any of those potential steps. It's all back on the potential client, And we we need to take that same step regardless of what our business model is. We need to have something, that entry level product where we have an opportunity to establish that relationship and understand the value that you can bring. This time of year is the perfect opportunity to have that introductory type price As long as, and I wanna reinforce this, we have the strategy that we're going to build on that down the road.

Sara Lohse [00:11:18]:

I talk about lead generation all the time and giving away free content in exchange for email addresses. So I will always stand by that. I love lead magnets. I think they are fantastic. But A lead magnet, for the most part, is something that you make one time, and then it can just be downloaded over and over again. So it's only putting in the work that one time. So that's even different, but you can do something like a free giveaway of, Sara podcast audit as a lead magnet because they can sign up to enter to win it, so now it's really just a contest. This isn't us saying do not do free giveaways.

Sara Lohse [00:11:56]:

Do not do discounts. Just do it strategically so it can lead to greater revenue later.

Larry Roberts [00:12:03]:

Well, I do it too from going back to that strategic perspective. Do it too with the understanding that If you do give away x number of these items or these services, it's on you to provide those.

Sara Lohse [00:12:15]:

Mhmm.

Larry Roberts [00:12:16]:

So now you have to look at how do you fulfill all of these giveaways that you've been able to connect with your audience on. So keep that in mind as you're doing that because you don't wanna position yourself where now you've got all of this discounted work that you have to do in order to fulfill that implied contract with a new potential client.

Sara Lohse [00:12:35]:

And think about what that is worth too. So if You have an introductory product. You know what you'd usually charge for it. Or if you have if you're doing a free, like, free consultations, what is your hourly rate? What is that actually costing you. So that way you you can see an ROI later when you look at, okay, this free consultation led to this amount in business. Actually, pay attention to that so that you know whether or not that's feasible because you could play around with these different strategies. I mean, holidays come up every couple of months. Try one now.

Sara Lohse [00:13:06]:

Try a new one next holiday and see what really works. But if you're not paying attention to what you're putting into it and what you're getting back, You're not gonna know what's really working. And I think when it comes to, like, we're giving away our time for free, we forget to put a price tag on it. If I'm doing a 30 minute consultation, I have to think about what is my hourly rate I would normally give. That 50% of that hourly rate is what I'm giving away. So what is this costing me? Because if I wasn't giving this half hour for free, I could be using it with someone that was paying me. So you really are putting money into it, whether it's direct or indirect.

Larry Roberts [00:13:43]:

I love that you said that because I was talking to somebody just this morning, and we were looking at their approach to building Their speaking career, and they have flown all over the country the last 4 to 6 months. They have literally been in front of 30 different audiences, And we were looking at how many people they actually got in front of as compared to how many of those people converted to a sale or an engagement with their brand As compared to how much money they spent on plane tickets, how much money they spent on Ubers, how much money they spent on food and all of these random cities. And when it came down to it, they lost a ton of money. It's very easy when we're trying to build a brand or we're trying to build a business To only look at those actual dollar values that maybe we're putting out. So many times we look at being literal with what is this costing us, but we don't take into account the time we're investing and all of the other things that come into account to make these offers and to make these, Quote, unquote holiday values valuable. And if you look deep, 9 times out of 10, you're losing a ton of money to make this happen. And as someone that's trying to build a brand and build a business, the last thing we wanna do is lose money. So be sure when you're structuring these holiday offers and these these Black Friday type offers.

Larry Roberts [00:15:05]:

Make sure you're taking into account all of the extra stuff that's involved as well. How much time is going to be put in putting together that lead magnet magnet. How much time is going to be involved in executing on that lead magnet? How much time is going to be involved in providing the product or or the service that you're giving away. Once you start looking at that, you go, wow.

Sara Lohse [00:15:26]:

Yeah. And I think it's also important to Not only have like, know the value that you're getting from whatever this free session is, but make sure you actually are delivering value to the person because you don't want it to seem like a bait and switch. You don't want it to be the price tag with the new branding on top of the same price tag.

Larry Roberts [00:15:45]:

Very, very cool. Lohse, hey, Let me ask you this. If you found some value in this episode of the podcast, do us a favor. Smash that subscribe button. That's all we ask, that you subscribe to the show so we could continue to bring you this content each and every week. And with that, I'm Larry Roberts. I'm Sara

Sara Lohse [00:16:03]:

Lohse, and have a happy holiday.