.Running marketing and advertising campaigns to get customers is important for any business.
However, what’s more important is understanding whether your business can really afford to run that campaign and how it will impact your bottom line. Just because the advertising campaign worked and more customers went to your business doesn’t really mean that the result is good for your business. Some marketing campaigns can even hurt your profitability.
Bob Phibbs, in his book The Retail Doctor’s Guide to Growing Your Business: A Step-by-Step Approach to Quickly Diagnose, Treat, and Cure advises retailers to limit their discounting. He explains:
Limit your discounting. Without a plan, you’ll do anything to get money in. I know one toy store owner who, using Twitter, tells her followers they’ll get 30 percent off if they come in that day. What she doesn’t realize is how she is robbing herself of profits to pay bills.