Manizesto

The day after Thanksgiving is the culmination of much planning, development work and anticipation for many marketers (and consumers, for that matter). Today, thousands of marketers are refreshing their revenue reports and biting their nails hoping for a not-too-dismal shopping season. But f you’re one of many marketers out there who didn’t cut your prices drastically to fill your store with swarming, finicky consumers today, congratulations.

I congratulate you because your self discipline will pay off. The truth is, huge fire sales are not the way to keep your business successful or your brand reputation strong. They cheapen your products (or your store), they do little to build relationships or loyalty with your customers and most concerning, they take away any emphasis on creating a good customer experience through a great storefront, outstanding customer service or better quality products.

You don’t want to be a fire sale business.

Having regular sales with deep discounts means your customers become accustomed to you having sales, so they wait to purchase until a sale comes along. No one expects to pay full price. And are those the kind of customers you really want?

Instead of rack your brain coming up with some innovative marketing plan for the holidays, you’d be much better served reminding people you’re out there, that you have great products, reasonable prices and that you’ll actually still be in business next year because you’re not killing yourselves selling low-end crappy products, skimping on service and attracting the wrong kind of customer.

It’s much better if your building is next to the business with the fire sale. Your store becomes a refuge from the madness.

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[Photo by jquiz]