Building Brand Within the Organisation - Not Discounting, is secret to success.

See this comment on marketing and discounting from Diana Williams the founder of the successful Fernwood Womens Health Clubs...

AG: Have you increased your marketing though, this time?

DW: No not really, not our advertising. What we have done is spent time really evaluating our brand and on building our brand within the people in our organisation, that is our franchisees and their staff. This is a very important aspect of business. When you are in tough economic times you have to manage the brand well. People can be tempted to discount or do things outside what we are trying to achieve.

AG: So you have been very clear on holding your line on discounting?

DW: Yes we have. We are very strong about not discounting - always have been. There are other ways that you can offer value without giving away half of your business. The reason our membership prices are the way they are, is because that’s how much it costs to deliver the kind of service and if we start discounting then the level of service drops. If the level of service drops then it is a downward spiral. We have been able to sustain that so it hasn’t been an issue.

Read the whole interview at Smart Company.