Your Customers Aren’t Buying What You Think You’re Selling
It isn’t the roller coasters, the food, or the pumpkins that bring us back to Vala’s each year.
It’s the tradition. That’s what they’re selling.
A place in our family’s October. Something we look forward to together. Another year of memories added to the years before.
The ticket gets us in. The tradition brings us back.
If you lead a business, this is where you need to pay attention.
You know your product. You can explain every feature. You’ve spent years making it better.
But can you explain why it matters to the person buying it?
Or does your marketing keep listing what’s
included and hoping they’ll figure it out?
And if you position yourself as premium, here’s a harder question:
Are you giving people a reason to want the experience—or just explaining why you charge more?
Stop talking about your premium price. Start showing your premium experience.
People want to get their experiences right. They’re choosing where to spend their time, who to trust, and what deserves a place on the family calendar.
Give them something worth choosing.
This week, as October comes to an end, I’ve been sharing about Vala’s Pumpkin Patch. On my My Stories By David Schomer YouTube channel, you can watch one of the real human stories of people who call Vala’s their fall tradition.
That story gets at something a picture of a pumpkin can’t.
It shows what this place means to someone.
If I were working with Vala’s, that’s where I’d push further. Show me the families who return. What do they remember? What do they look forward to? Why does this place keep earning a spot on their calendar?
Help the next family see themselves on the farm. Give them a glimpse of what their own tradition could look like.
That’s why the story matters.
It helps your customer understand what your product could mean in their life.
Another video of your merchandise might show me what I can buy. A real customer’s story can show me why I’d want it.
The relief your service provides. The confidence someone gains. The time a family gets together. The feeling that makes someone say, “We’re doing that again.”
Those things can sound abstract until a real person shows you what they look like.
Does price matter? Of course.
But telling me something costs more doesn’t prove it’s worth more. Neither does slapping “premium” on your website.
Show me an experience worth getting through the gate for.
Then deliver it.
The food, the attractions, the service, the details—all of it matters. Every visit has to earn the next one. Your story makes a promise. Your experience has to keep it.
If you only market the individual things you sell, you may be missing the reason people choose you.
So ask yourself:
What are you really selling?
What brings people back?
Is it really just your product?
