What is the value of what you produce at your business? How do you decide what you will charge for what you do? Marketing will help you determine your value.

On this date in 1864, the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia began distributing the two-cent coin. Back in those days, coins held the same value as the metal used to mint them. Paper money was simply a note from the Fed saying it could be exchanged for "real money” – metal coins. Paper was little more than an IOU. Since the American Civil War was stretching the resources of the government in 1864, many people began to horde coins in anticipation of a recession and the Fed was running short on metal to be used for money. Congress authorized the use of a brass coin – an alloy of copper and zinc – to make the copper they had available to them to stretch. They also decided to stray away from the metal value equivalency rule and authorize a two-cent coin made from metals costing a fraction of a cent. The two-cent coin was produced for ten years before being retired. Most of them were rounded up and melted down to produce new pennies. However, some survived and remained in the hands of private collectors. Today, a two-cent coin is worth anywhere from $15 – $20,000! How can a small piece of brass that was struck using metal that was worth less than a penny, and was circulated at a value of two cents, now be worth up to 1,000,000 times its stated value? First, there is a limited supply. They don’t make two-cent coins any longer. Second, there is a target market in coin collectors who are buying and selling rare coins. They create a demand for old coins. Third, there are the opinions of published experts who gauge the quality of coins and help set the price. In the middle of all these factors is marketing.

When we are talking about defining the value of a product or service, the term "marketing mix” is often used. What exactly is the marketing mix? It is all of the different components of a marketing strategy to get a product or service to market. One of the more popular marketing mix strategies is called the Four Ps. This was developed by Harvard Business School professor Jerry McCarthy over 60 years ago. The Four Ps are Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Product is the way you define the benefits of what you are selling. How does it solve a problem for your target market? How unique is it? We wrap this up into a brand so the customer understands with just a word what it is you are offering them. The more unique and problem-solving your brand, the higher the value. Price is driven by the perceived value of the brand and how it compares to other solutions in the marketplace. Place is the location where your target market is most likely to search for a solution to their problem. That may be the internet or that may be in a coin store. Promotion is the way in which you inform the target market of your brand. Promotion entices your customers to experience the other three Ps. You promote to them the Place where they will experience the Product and Price. Take away any of the four Ps and the other three will not work.

Marketing sets the value of what you do. The marketing mix helps you define the uniqueness of your product/service, evaluate what it is worth to your target market to solve their problem, place it where they can encounter it, and communicate why they should buy from you.

There is my two cents! By the way, have you ever wondered why that phrase came about? Why not, "There is my penny or my nickel?” Now you know the story behind the phrase.