Marketing doesn’t just mean discounts smh

One of the jobs I had as a young’n was working the grave shift at Old Navy. 

I’ve never been a fashionista. Especially not a low-budget fashionista. But alas, tis was a job I held years ago. 

I wasn’t particularly good at this job. Especially because Old Navy decided to switch their entire floor design around every other week - which sent me on long and painful treks from one end of the store to the other in a desperate search to find the home of whatever clothes I had unpacked from the truck and held in my hand. 

Anyway, every so often, in addition to unpacking the truck, we’d have to replace the in-store signage. There was a guy who worked there who was also in “marketing” (as Old Navy called it), and he’d get a new shipment of signage in with a new hot deal that we’d have to replace yesterday’s deal with. 

Even at the time, I thought it was quite weird for my co-worker (who also mostly unpacked the trucks with us in the early hours of the mornin’) to call himself a marketer.

Because to Old Navy, to this old guy I worked with, and to damn near every retail store in the world, marketing starts and stops with discounts. 

Now, in Old Navy’s defense, their sales bring in the most people through the doors than mayhap anything else. Part of their strategic advantage in retail - at least at the time, I have no idea whether or not their clothes are still cheap or not - is offering high-value fashion for a low budget lifestyle. 

The biggest promo we had every year was slanging dirt cheap flip-flops. This promo crushed every year I worked there and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re still having tremendous success with it. 

But still - marketing doesn’t start and stop with discounts. 

Yes, a discount or a bonus is one of many tactics at your disposal in marketing. 

Yes, people love deals and they love thinking to themselves that they’re saving money when they’re doing the opposite. 

But a marketer’s job is far more important than slapping a % off sign up above a section of the store and calling it a day. 

But y’know what?

Most email marketers act no different than this “marketing” guy I worked with at Old Navy. 

Their strategy starts and stops with discounts. 

Which, when not done in a strategic way (like making the price more expensive so you can discount it later), only cheapens the brand, makes your customers feel like a dirty one night stand, and can send a massive wave of indifference -- the death of any sale -- throughout your entire email list. 

This is especially true when you bombard your list with discount after discount after discount. 

Many such cases. 

If you wanna see how an email marketing strategy could work without relying on discounts (and experience how much more profitable it is for your brand for yourself), hit reply, and let’s hop on a quick call. 

Capisce?

John