One of the tools I’ve successfully employed over the years is packaging.

Now, for many people, the idea of packaging is limited to boxes and bows. In a mostly service kind of business, packaging is all about how you package concepts and principles in ways that define your core difference, methodology and brand.

Here’s the thing I know for certain – effective packaging of your particular form of service is the path to far greater profits.

I’ll use some examples from my company to shed light on the various opportunities behind this concept of packaging for service oriented businesses.

Brand

The name of my company was not always Duct Tape Marketing, but I chose that name as the foundation for my “packaged” approach to installing a small business marketing system. Even the concept of installing marketing created a new package for how to think about marketing.

My brand then inherited some of the mostly positive associations that people already had developed around all things duct tape and that further enhanced the idea that what I was doing was unique.

Point of view

Another crucial element to this idea of packaging is what I call your “point of view.” I developed 7 foundational principles that the Duct Tape Marketing system is built upon and each of these steps became the building blocks for creating a consistent and persistent message for how my approach to marketing is unique. (Here’s the ebook that outlines those 7 steps if you’re interested.)

The point of view runs through most every element of content for awareness, education, trust building, conversion and follow-up. It’s the basis of ebooks, webinars and paid speaking worldwide.

When you create and nurture a meaningful package of principles you also start to build a common language that your community, or in my case, network of Duct Tape Marketing consultants can begin to understand, share and extend.

Methodology

While our point of view helps tell the story that attracts potential clients, it’s our working method that helps us stand out and deliver results. We have, you guessed it, 7 stages, all named and communicated, that each client goes through on the way to creating and implementing their unique marketing action plan and system.

When providing a service it’s essential that you are able to both demonstrate the tangible deliverables that are coming down the path and orient the client as to where they have been, are now and are going in the process.

Process

Every one of our stages breaks down into a series of named and branded deliverables. This tightly packaged approach has lots of flexibility but it also keeps the level of consulting consistent in a way that it can be duplicated in the hands of others.

Again, this provides a highly detailed road map for what many might consider an intangible. Packaging like this allows you to turn intangibles into tangibles consequently making them much easier to sell.

Tools

We’ve created a set of about fifty tools that we employ in various ways with most engagements. Again, these tools have names, many are client facing and most are used to educate as much as help in the delivery of a consistent end product. (Here’s an example we call The Talking Logo)

Tools handle the routine so we can focus on the creative and tools can be used over and over again creating a much more effective and efficient way to work. (These tools also used heavily in the lead conversion process.)

Pricing

My final and perhaps most important aspect of packaging thinking has to do with pricing. Most service firms sell their time and are often assessed by the “going rate” in the industry.

When you sell a package you are selling a result based on the accumulation of previous results. Which is another way of saying it no longer matters how long it takes you to get a result, the evaluation is based on the elements of the package and the total perceived value.

A sale of a seemingly intangible thing comes down to “here’s what I’m going to do, here’s what you’re going to do, here are the results we can expect and, by the way, here’s what it costs.” That’s the value of a highly developed and fully packaged service.

When you own the package and the package is completely aligned with a point of view, methodology, process and tool set you effectively eliminate comparison and ultimately stand the chance to own the game.

If you liked this post, check out our Guide to Building a Small Business Marketing Consulting Practice.