You know how it goes: Boy meets brand. Boy buys brand. Boy loses job. Boy can’t afford brand. Brand charges less. Boy thinks less of brand. Brand value is lost forever. Ouch. Sounds harsh, but that’s what happens when you start to discount your product or service. Sure you might see an immediate increase of sales, but soon, you’ll end up in the brand graveyard with so many others that have discounted before you. So how do we avoid lowering prices in a recession but still maintain and attract customers? By adding value, of course.

A good value still prevails
I know what you’re thinking, that’s the same thing — more for less. Wrong! Value is the perceived benefit vs. the actual cost. In this recession we’ve seen low cost brands like Walmart and McDonalds thrive, but so have luxury brands like Rolls Royce and Hermes. That’s because they all have maintained their value to their target audience while also still maintaining the emotional appeal of their brands. McDonalds has always been about fast, cheap food. They’ve added more dollar-menu items, thus adding more value to their customers, but they kept their premium items priced the same. Rolls Royce has always been about luxury that rises above, would you expect any less now. Rather then try to add more features for less, they concentrated on the buying experience and ended up having a record year. OK, so maybe you’re not low-cost or high-end, but somewhere in between, then what? Ask your target market!

The RIGHT customer is always right
While money is always a concern right now, it’s not the only one. For example, car companies tried discounting out the muffler to get people to buy – no one did. So they took a step back to really find out why. The discovered people were afraid to finance in case they lost their jobs, so they created programs just in case that happened. Notice that they didn’t create an “if you already lost your job” program. That’s because they need people with money. Just like you. Let’s face it, if someone is out of cash, it doesn’t matter how low you go, they can’t buy from you. The only thing you can do is hurt the value of your brand by trying to squeeze them back into your target market. Remember, you’ve built your brand around a certain type of person, age income, and personality. If they fall out of that market for any reason, move on without them and continue to play to your brand’s strengths. So stop focusing your energy on the broke and start worrying about what paying customers are looking for. Ask them what you can do to make their buying experience better, easier, faster, whatever – just get them talking. Build your extra value around them, not the people who have fallen out. You’ll see that by doing that instead of just blanket coupons and discounts, you’re brand will be able to weather the storm and come out stronger than ever. And when Boy meets brand again, that same attraction they had before will be reignited.

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