Benefits VS Price

   In marketing there are many techniques that can be used to sell a product. Two common selling points that often have an inverse relationship are Price vs. Benefits. Companies that offer low priced products usually lack the benefits of an expensive product while other companies offer a product that has premium benefits but a steep price tag. This is often seen when a company is trying to sell a car. When Mercedes advertises it focuses on the benefits of the car not the price because and $80,000 price tag tends to take purchase desire away, while on the other hand Kia focuses on price because the benefits of its car are less than that of a Mercedes. Often time’s benefits can justify the premium price for a product but it is usually only after experiencing the benefits that the price of a product seems to be reasonable. My point in all of this is that a company should not focus on price when the price is seemingly ridiculous.

 

   So you may be wondering why I am thinking about this particular aspect of marketing, it may be because we have been studying it in class or it may be because as I was driving down the road I saw a billboard advertising that you could lease a Range Rover for only $999 a month with a large payment due at signing. Seriously Range Rover? I can just see the conversation now, “honey I know we want to purchase a home but I think we should spend the mortgage payment on a new Range Rover because you know what they say, you can sleep in your car but you can’t drive your house.” I know that the majority of people who drive a Range Rover are not deciding between their home or a car but the fact still remains that advertising focused purely on price, when the price is more than most people pay for rent, is a terrible marketing decision. So since Range Rover seems to be having trouble coming up with a proper advertising strategy I have listed some slogans that might be more fruitful for their sales.

-Range Rover, unreliable as hell but it looks good doing it

-Range Rover, The world’s worst off road SUV

-Range Rover, Complete with wine fridge, for when drinking and driving is a must

-Range Rover, for when just keeping up with the Joneses isn’t enough
-Even if you aren’t rich, the people in the next lane will think you are

   Range Rover please feel free to use any of these tag lines in you next campaign. They are my marketing gift to you for free. I don’t claim to be a good marketer but I do know a terrible advertising campaign when I see one.