Why Discounting Feels Amazing (Until It Kills Your Brand) | Marketing Strategy

Discounts can boost sales fast… but they can also train customers to never pay full price again. 

In this episode of Full Fat Marketing, Leonora explains why discounting becomes addictive, how it hurts margins and brand value, and what smarter brands do instead to grow without constant promo codes. Ideal for founders, ecommerce brands, restaurants, and marketers.

⭐ If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a rating and review, it helps more founders discover the show.

And if you’re building a food, drink or hospitality brand and want help applying these strategies to your business, feel free to reach out at leonora@lrbcreative.com

Follow along: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonora-brebner-90817413b/

Check out our website: https://www.lrbcreative.com/

Sign up to the email newsletter: https://fullfatmarketing.substack.com/?r=4cq8g1&utm_campaign=pub-share-checklist

Disclaimer: Insights shared are based on Leonora’s experience with food and hospitality brands and are for educational purposes only. Results may vary.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You'll agree with me on this, but discounting feels amazing. And that is where the problem starts. It gives businesses the same emotional energy as ordering a takeaway when you're trying to save money, immediate comfort, questionable relief, and serious long-term consequences, especially if you keep doing it. And now you offer 20% off. The orders come in, notifications start flying in, the team gets excited, someone says, we should do this more often. Please, that is a deeply sinister sentence, and please don't go ahead with it. Discounts can feel like growth while quietly damaging the very thing you're trying to build. And loads of brands don't realize it until customers refuse to buy, unless there is a discount code involved. At which point you're no longer leading behavior, you're being held hostage by vouchers. I'm Lenora and this is the Full Cut Marketing Podcast, where you'll hear the uncomfortable strategy truths of FMB brands that most people won't tell you, but I will. Now let's be fair. Discounting works sometimes very well. It creates urgency, it removes friction, it gets hesitant buyers actually moving forward and clicking order, it can clear stock, it can reactivate dormant customers as well, especially through newsletters. So this is not me saying never discount ever again and burn all promo codes in the street. The issue is serious dependency on this. When something creates really fast, visible results, businesses tend to get attached to it really quickly, especially stressed businesses, especially impatient businesses, especially businesses with monthly targets breathing down their necks and feeling like they've got a leash around their neck. That is when discounting becomes less of a tactic and more of a coping mechanism for the business. Every time you discount, you're not just making sales, you're teaching consumer behavior. You're teaching customers to wait a bit, don't buy a full price, another code will probably be coming on the way. This price is negotiable. Once customers learn to delay purchases, you start creating these spikes and droughts. Busy when discounted, quiet when normal, panic, repeat. That is not healthy growth. It's honestly like having mood swings. A really good example is crispy creme and the hot light. Now we've all seen it, we know it, we've all been buzzing for that hot light to come on. Like I know you've been there because I've been there too. Now, to be clear, crispy creme, of course, is a strong brand. It's got huge awareness, it's got years of product desire, and it's got built-in demand. And that is exactly why they do not need to rely on discounts all the time. They already built something better than a discount, a reason to come now, like creating that sense of urgency. When the hot light turns on, that means fresh donuts from Krispy Kreme already. It creates this sort of sense of urgency. And you can see it outside the shop. Literally says like fresh donuts, and then the light turns on, and that means they're literally just out the fryer. And it creates this sort of excitement, desire, a reason to visit today instead of like sometime soon. And importantly, it protects price. I mean, I've seen cues round the block for this. There's this roundabout in Edinburgh in Scotland, and there's a crispy creme just off the roundabout. The minute that light is on, there are people around the roundabout is cute. I mean, there's no getting round the roundabout, you know? It's just fully, it's chock a block. There's no getting round it. It's just crazy. But many smaller brands see the giveaways or the really big promotional moments and think, oh, like we need to do that too. So they cut and slash these prices. They run offers, they push urgency, they try to create these spikes, and they're copying the visible tactic, but not the engine underneath it. Krispy Creme can create excitement because the brand already means something. So the hotlight is not just a sign, it's this really serious anticipation and trust built over time. And a weaker brand often uses discounts because it's not built another reason to act or give something back to the consumer. Now, I'll do a whole episode on how to get from A to B as a small business too. So don't worry about that. But back to this, used carelessly, constant discounting can weaken things like perceived value, margin, trust in full price, customer patience, premium positioning, emotional connection beyond price. Now, if the main reason people buy from you is the deal, what happens when someone cheaper appears? They leave. Price-led loyalty is usually rented, not owned. Very sadly, but that is the truth of the situation. So here's what to do instead: build reasons to buy that are stronger than just offering money off. Things like better positioning, clearer differentiation, stronger brand identity, and creating something about the product that can create that excitement, like I said about crispy creme. You can have loyalty systems, limited drops, habit building offers, better customer experience, even emotional relevance. In other words, make people want you, not just tolerate you because you're a 15% cheaper today. That is a much stronger business model and something that will keep you going in the long run as well. So if you're a founder, operator, marketing manager listening to this, here is the practical takeaway from this episode. Before launching another sale or discount offer, ask yourself this. Is this strategic or reactive? Are we solving a real issue or actually masking one? What behavior are we teaching customers by doing this? Could we create demand another way? Are we building a brand or bribing purchases? And discounts are really powerful tools when done right. And good uses of discounting might be clearing dead stock, rewarding loyal customers, reactivating past buyers, launching during quiet periods strategically, creating a one-off event, and acquiring first-time customers with a follow-up retention plan. That is very different from sales are slow, panic 20% off. There you go. But discounts are powerful tools when done right. But the thing is, tools can also become dangerous when they're the only thing you know how to use. And that's the Faux Fat version. Tomorrow I'm talking about the$10 croissant test. In other words, why people happily overpay for some brands, which is excellent news if you're sick of discounting just to get sales. Thank you so much for listening, and remember you can listen to Faux Fat Marketing Podcast wherever you get your podcasts with new bite-sized episodes released daily from Monday to Friday. You can thank me later for that. Oh! And if you enjoy this episode, please send it to someone currently being emotionally manipulated by their own discount strategy. Thank you so much, and see you tomorrow.