Option B Mon, Dec 05, 2016

As always, when I'm looking for Loop inspiration, my reserve of saved Seth Godin blog posts usually do the trick. In a recent post, he talks about the importance of price when it comes to commodities - we always consider price when we're buying something, but we'll never purchase something solely because of what it costs.

That means that there are two options. You can either go with Option A, where you flatly set the price for the given commodity, and that's the end of it. You're selling X item for Y price and that's it. As Seth says, "you're a commodity provider by choice, which is fine as long as you're okay with competing in a race to the bottom."

On the other hand, Option B is the tedious, difficult and occasionally risky work of earning your praise, attention and reputation by becoming more invested through storytelling. With Option B, you're moving out of the simple "commodity" space by bridging the gap between product and connection. In doing so, the product and brand earns its own space, which is defined by meaning, possibility and attachment. 

As a company, we've done this really well - much better than the brands with tacky infomercials or impersonal advertising or terrible customer service. It's why so many people are self-proclaimed lifelong SlideBelts wearers. And the best part is, those people who feel a personal connection to our brand become the best advocates we could ever ask for.

We price our products higher than most ratchet belt brands because of our patented ratchet design and our superior materials, but also because we know we have a story to tell and a unique connection to bridge with our consumers. We don't want to compete with the $20 ratchet brands of the world, because we are creating our own brand in our own space on our own level. Which means those other brands in a race for the bottom have no choice but to get on our level. *Mic Drop*