The Studio Source.com

In December each year, the Canadian Wildlife Federation sends me a calendar, and I send them a donation. This year they included a small fundraising insert with the following quote:

“In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.”
—Baba Dioum

I’ve been having vivid dreams for weeks now.  As in, take-me-to-the-movies dreams, with wildly elaborate plot lines, detailed to the Nth degree.

You might think this is normal for a creative type, but it’s way over the top for me, and it does not make for restful sleep.

My subconscious is trying to tell me something.

When was the last time you got a handwritten letter in the mail? We don’t see many handwritten letters anymore, or printed letters carefully laid out on beautiful stationery. It’s a treat when it happens. You get a little thrill when a package arrives in the mail, even if it’s something you bought and paid for yourself.

In my imagination, a new bank starts up. They send me a yo-yo, with the word “Steady…” engraved on the face. The introductory letter says something like, “We know how it feels, watching the ups and downs of the economy. We’re here to help you plan sensibly for a more secure future, so you can enjoy today.”

What happens when you fail?

If you do it right, you learn, sometimes a lot. You learn to suck it up and move on. You learn to trust your gut. You learn what everybody else is doing might not be right for you.

Mostly you learn your roof won’t cave in, the wheels won’t fall off your car, and embarrassment is not a fatal condition.

Here’s some insight from my other life, the one where I design and create work I sell directly to customers.

Last year, people weren’t much into gift boxes. Excess packaging wasn’t cool. This year? Just about everybody is saying yes. They’re spending less, for the most part, but they want the things they’re buying to be special. This year, a little detail like a gift box is important.

I suspect that customer mindset will stick around for a while.

That doesn’t mean dressing up a low-priced item with fancy packaging. There’s an old saying about silk purses and sow’s ears, and a good reason it’s an old saying.

That doesn’t necessarily mean you panic and drop your prices, either. You might be able to break a psychological barrier ($39.75 instead of $40.00, maybe, or breaking up services into smaller, more affordable pieces), but if a price is too low, the thing attached to it becomes cheap. You’re not selling to people who want cheap. You’re selling to people who want value.

People are thinking carefully about how much money they have to spend. They’re thinking about how they can find the best value for that money and still give a gift that will delight the recipient.

They’re getting it right without overthinking it: something thoughtful, that doesn’t break the budget, wrapped with care, because the recipient is important.

That approach should form the foundation of your marketing efforts.