This post first appeared in the January 2020 issue of Markeating, a monthly email to restaurants + small businesses with tips, post ideas and more, focused on the local Charleston community. Sign up for it at creativsocial.com/markeating

It’s Restaurant Week again. 

There are few things I love more than a celebration around food, especially when it’s in the spirit of supporting local businesses and Chefs, but if you know me, you know I have mixed feelings around this popular event (read them here). After working through my ambivalence, I’ve realized it’s because this promotion is an example of one thing local businesses the world over do that drives me the most crazy: discounting. 

I can’t think of one good reason to ever discount as a local business. Yes, even though everybody does it. Yes, even though your customers and guests might expect it. I mean literally never. They expect it because we train them to.

A few weeks ago, I spoke with a former corporate executive at Chick-Fil-A who was sharing his insights into why their company was in a whole different league when it came to raving fans. This nerd (me, not him) was ecstatic to hear that they attribute their uncompromising commitment to brand value as a core catalyst to their success. Theoretically, this is nothing new, but it’s not always easy to remain unfaltering in this regard in practice, especially when it means you zag when everyone else zigs. 

So, while, I understand you probably won't wake up tomorrow and decide to never discount again (even though I challenge you to try in 2020!), maybe you will consider committing to doing three things before you decide to knowingly undervalue your product or service from this day on:

3 Things to Try Before You Discount

Tweak / Add Value To Your Experience

Brand value comes from overdelivering on expectations. To do that well, you need to know your baseline. Find out why people actually continue to buy what you’re selling. For most businesses, it’s never about the transaction but how you’ve made that person consistently feel. What can you add before or after the transaction that surprises your customer? Can you host an event that makes an experience with you more memorable? Maybe it’s a simple as a follow up note to past customers that genuinely seeks to find out how they’re doing since you’ve seen them last. 

Seek Out A Local Partner to Cross Promote With

There’s power in collaborating, especially if you find a local partner with an audience that shares interests with your own, but it has to be meaningful. Maybe it’s packaging your products or services together to give customers something new. Maybe it’s doing something that gives back to a cause important to you and your customers, that can turn a regular visit to your business into one that’s driven by purpose. 

Give Something Away… FOR FREE!

The fact is, the reason why so many people discount is because it’s easy. It’s also validating to see a spike in traffic, whereas a gradual loss in brand value and perception on the part of your customers is much more intangible. Making something half off for a limited time seems like a better alternative to giving something away for free entirely because maybe it feels like at least some dollars are still coming in.

This is a trap. Value is subjective and especially when it comes to price. Someone’s $20 deal is another man’s $100, and if he has no need for what you’re selling or it doesn’t make him feel how he wants to feel right then, neither price matters. 

Luckily for you, giving something away for free is just as easy as discounting.

If you do it strategically (low cost, high value) and selectively, it makes people feel special. If you add a layer of making it personal, giving away something for free can even become something they talk about with their friends. You’ve surprised and delighted them. 

MAKE IT HAPPEN

Here are some easy ways to do that as soon as you get to the end of this email:

• Open Instagram, search “Charleston ', hit Places, go to Recent and DM 10 people, inviting them to redeem something for free at your business over the next couple of days by showing you this message (Shamelessly took this out of Gary Vaynerchuck’s playbook, so let me know how it goes).

• Read this month's Spotlight below. Page’s recently gave something away for free in a way that excited people, but also gave them valuable insight into their guest preferences.

• Empower your managers or employees and make them look good to their friends. Ask them to hand out their business card and invite a handful of people to redeem something for free.