A marketing campaign based on specials is not a marketing campaign. It definitely isn’t something that builds a brand either.
I have had the great fortune of working with clients for a number of years. In this time, I have run a variety of marketing campaigns and deals. This is what I have learned.
Building a Brand Isn’t About Price
Giving discounts or lower prices on your products/services will never differentiate you. That’s something that they taught us in business school.
If you think you going to beat your competitors on price, you will not last long.
Price is overrated. It does not have as strong a hold on our day to day decisions as we think. Now, this may sound contradictory to everything you know, but it really does make sense.
Check below a video from RSA Events: Money has been shown to not be a great motivator in the workplace. It doesn’t motivate creativity and it certainly does not dictate our purchasing habits.
To punch the point home, how many times have you gone to Starbucks to buy a coffee that is 5x more expensive than buying a black coffee from your local donut shop.
Your Marketing Needs to Go Beyond Price
Saying that your marketing cannot be all about price. There has to be much more.
- What does your clinic/brand stand for?
- What words or messages does your brand send with your marketing?
When you creating your marketing strategy, think about what you will represent. To belabor a company that is always used in every case study, we will use Apple.
Apple stands for innovation and superior design.
They don’t give try to outprice their competition, but rather beat their competition through their brand.
For your business, you have to determine what attributes you would like to stand for. Does your clinic want to represent itself as the most technologically savvy clinic for the most tech-savvy pet owners?
Or maybe you want to be more of a family clinic where the whole family comes in together.
Stand for Something
One of the hardest parts of digital marketing is standing for something. This is because you will have to eventually siphon off certain parts of the market.
Think about Apple. Their brand alienates those who do not like technology and want simple, easy to use tech.
Your own clinic needs to stand for a certain brand and then understand that the implications will not outweigh the major benefits of having a strong brand that represents a concept or attribute.