I often do a small marketing experiment when I am leading a group. I will purchase snack foods of different types. I intentionally choose some name brand items and some off brands or relatively new food products. I also purchase some very ordinary snack food – such as candy bars or potato chips – and set them alongside more sophisticated snacks – such as Swiss chocolate bonbons. I ask participants to choose only one snack, then I ask them to tell me why they chose it. Here are some typical responses.

• It looks good.
• It is better than the other choices.
• It sounds delicious to me.
• I know someone who eats these and likes them. I will give them a try.

I then proceed to ask why they did not choose the other items. Here are some common answers:

• It looks cheap.
• I have never heard of these before.
• It doesn’t sound good to me.
• I don’t eat junk food.

Then I ask a series of questions. Why is one product perceived to be of greater value than another product? What would make you try a product for the very first time instead of what you normally would choose? Why would you perceive one snack product to be "junk food” and another snack product to be "health food?” (I often slip in an energy bar into the mix.) The answer is that our buying habits are shaped by our perceptions of the value of one brand over the other. That is the sum of marketing. The way the product is portrayed on the label and the exposure the promotion of the product gains works on our psyche and, many times quite subconsciously, we like or dislike a product before we ever try it! How does this happen? We hear the promotion and we see the label. Sold!

Here is something to keep in mind, especially in a day when more and more items are sold on the internet and end up on your front porch in a brown box. Labeling still matters. Another thing I will ask my participants is to rate the most expensive to the least expensive items in my snack collection. Most of the time they can figure out the most expensive item simply by its label. When you compare the ingredient list of the items they consider worth more and the items they consider to be less expensive, there is not much difference. They are typically nearly the same size or weight. Why do people pay more for one than another? The label and the promotion tell them it is worth more and people believe them both.

Take a look at your products and services, especially if you are selling them off of a website. It may be time to create a new label for your products and services. There are millions of products sold across the internet. You have to be able to catch people’s fleeting attention with a well-crafted label. And you have to promote your product in a way that will not only catch their attention, but say the words that will make them want to pay you more than they would pay for your competitor’s brand. Why? Because it is worth it… or so goes the promotion.