You have probably heard business experts say 'you need to raise your prices' but it's not just as simple as putting up the price tag on your offers. If you want people to pay more for what you offer, they need to perceive it as being of that value. Plus you need to feel confident in your pricing. If you feel really uncomfortable about charging more then what I am going to share with you in this post might just help you overcome that.

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When people join my email list, I have a welcome email that has a question on the bottom asking 'what is your biggest struggle when it comes to branding?' It's really interesting sometimes to get the replies and find out what people are really struggling with so that I can create better content to help people with the things they're struggling with.

Most recently, I got a reply to this email and someone said that the thing that we're struggling with most was charging more for what they offer. They felt like they were creating great work, but they were struggling with being able to price it for what it was really worth.

You may feel the same way. Putting your prices up isn't as easy as changing a number. It takes some mindset shifts, but also requires your offer to be perceived as being worth what you are charging, otherwise it will only put people off.

Luckily one powerful way we can change the perception around the value of what you offer is through branding. This branding change will allow you to charge more, make more money, and feel really confident about the prices you're putting on your products and services.

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Changing your and your customers mindset with brand positioning

Now the thing that often holds people back from charging what they want in their products and services is imposter syndrome, feeling like they're not good enough. And the quickest way to up-level that and change that is through your branding, by repositioning. You want to create a brand that looks and feels like a brand that is charging those prices.

If your branding doesn't align with your pricing, people are going to feel like they're being cheated or that something isn't quite right. If your brand looks really cheap, but your prices are really high, people are going to feel like it's some sort of scam. Whereas if your branding felt really high end and very luxury, but your new prices are very cheap, then they'll probably be thinking that they're not that great and then they won't buy anyway even though it's cheap because they think, well, it probably isn't that good.

Making sure that your brand positioning aligns with your product pricing is so important. Your brand's visual identity is going to create an impression about your brand's positioning in the marketplace. When people first come across your branding, they're instantly going to get an impression about its positioning, whether this is a really high end luxury brand that's going to be very expensive, whether this is more sort of high street level where maybe it's a little bit more expensive, but it's still fairly affordable.

If you've been struggling with your pricing, one of the first things you need to look at is does your brand give the impression that it's the kind of brand that would be charging the prices you want to charge?

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How to asses your brand positioning

1. Research your competitors (fellow businesses in your industry)

If your branding doesn't align with the prices you want to charge, you need to start looking at why that is. What it is about your branding that's pulling down your positioning in some way? One way you can do this is by researching your competitors. Look at other people that are doing similar things, have similar offers.

Looking at the style of their branding and what they're charging, and then thinking about how you want to position your own brand compared to them. Where do you want to sit on the scale? There's a lot more repositioning than just simply pricing, but because we are looking at your pricing for this particular case, we'll just look at this in terms of your slider.

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So looking at who's charging the most, who's charging the least, and then where do you want to sit in your pricing compared to those people? And then look at their visual branding. How are they establishing that positioning? What are they using that's giving that impression that they are that kind of brand that would charge those?

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2. Assess your brand through the eyes of your target audience.

It's also important to keep in mind who you actually want to attract and get to know the audience to make sure your positioning actually attracts the right kind of people. So thinking about who would actually be paying those kind of prices you want to charge, and then getting to know them, getting to know what appeals to them, what are they actually looking for?

What do they find impressive? What is the kind of brand that they're gonna feel attracted to versus the kind of brand that they're going to feel turned off by. By getting to know them and getting clear on that, you can make sure that your branding is actually going to appeal to that person. So then when they come across it for the first time, they're instantly going to think, 'this is a brand I might be interested in', rather than just, 'oh, that looks too cheap for what I am after' or 'that looks way beyond my budget'.

You want them to think 'this looks like a brand that could be a good fit for me'.

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Set the Expectation

Just think about when you walk into a store like Walmart or Kmart first, when you walk into a store like Chanel, there's going to be a completely different feeling and that's what you want to create with your branding.

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You're going to set the tones so people instantly get an impression about the kind of pricing they might see from your brand. When you set that expectation, then people aren't going to get a shock when they see the pricing because they already feel like they've got a general idea of what to expect. And so if they've got to the point that they're actually checking out your products or services, then they already are aware that that's the kind of pricing that they're probably gonna see.

You're not just suddenly going lose them as soon as they see the price. They're more going to be looking at other details such as, is this the right fit? Is this what I actually was looking for? Rather than worry about if they can afford it.

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How to Improve Your Brand Positioning

So what can you do to improve your positioning?

To improve your brand positioning so you can charge more for your offers, you should focus on creating a unique and memorable brand identity that resonates with your target audience and positions your brand in alignment with the prices you want to charge. Establishing a clear brand message and values can help you stand out from the competition, making customers more likely to pay a premium for your services. You should also focus on building a strong reputation by providing exceptional customer service and creating high-quality products and services. Finally you want to look the part, set the tone and look like a brand that charges those prices.

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Visual ways to improve brand positioning

One of the biggest visual elements that can uplevel your positioning is font choice.

Fonts can create a real impression about positioning. So something that's very luxury and high end, you're gonna want to use more traditional, simple, and classic. Whereas something more cheap and cheerful, you're gonna use more playful, fun, and rounded type fun.

Then there's colour. Colour is very emotionally powerful and it creates certain feelings and certain memories and connections with things.

When we see a colour, we instantly form an impression. It also evokes different feelings and emotions. Picking the right colours can really make a big difference. A more luxury brand is going to have more dark, muted tones, whereas a cheaper brand is gonna have really bright colours.

Now this doesn't mean that there can't be some level of in-betweenness where you could have some bright in a luxury brand or some more muted in a cheaper brand, but certain colours are gonna give certain impressions. It's not necessarily about just the colour itself, but the saturation and tone and what colours it is paired with.

So for example, if you are trying to pick a colour for your body fonts a black is going to look very luxury, high end. Even a dark rich grey can look good. Whereas a really light grey, brown or blue is going to look cheaper.

Whatever tones you choose are going to create an impression.

Another big factor is your photography. Your photography is really going to set the tone about the positioning of your brand. An elevated brand will have photos that look really high end, beautifully curated, styled and look like they're taken by professional photographer.

They're going to look much more high end, whereas you have something that looks very basic like you just took it on your phone or something that looks very obviously like a stock photo that's obviously going to cheapen your brand. So using the right kind of photography that really sets the tone is gonna make a huge difference.

If photography is something that you struggle with, this might be one area that you might want to hire out if you really want to up-level your brand.

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Review Your Positioning

Once you have worked on re-positioning your brand, it's important to make sure it is working. Find some people that would be your ideal audience and test it in front of them.

Ask them:

• How do they feel about your brand?
• What kind of impression do they get from it?
• What's the expectation they feel is being set when they come across your branding?
• Do they think this is a brand that's going to be charging the high prices, mid-range prices, low prices?
• What impression are they getting?
• What was it that made you think that? Was it the colour? Was it the font? Was it the photos? Was it the logo? Was it something else?
• Does anything feel out of place or like it doesn't match the rest of the brand?

Now you can see how you might be able to adjust things.

By setting the tone and then people are gonna be willing to pay the prices that you want to charge. I hope you found this helpful and it really got you thinking about your own brand positioning.

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