Sell transformations, not discounts
The laziest way to market is to promote a discount.
It's amazing how easy it is to research competitors on Facebook. Let's say you want to research what people are promoting in the spa & wellness space.
Just do a few searches spas on Facebook, and boom! – your newsfeed will be filled with tons of spas trying to sell you a promotion. Then you simply study them all. See what everyone is trying to promote.
Here's a bunch I saw, seconds after searching for "spa massage" on Facebook.
What do you notice?
Every ad is trying to outcompete the others by throwing discounts. Get 25% savings! First trial at RMXX. Just book an appointment, damn it!
Two things happen when they market this way:
- They attract cheap customers. Bargain-hunters who rarely buy again.
- They position themselves as a commodity. It becomes a race to the bottom.
There will always be a business willing to sell lower than you. If your strategy is to simply offer discounts, you'll soon go out of business when your customer acquisition cost becomes higher than the profit you make from each customer.
Luckily, there's a simple solution:
Sell a transformation instead
Instead of competing with the others, create a category of your own by selling a transformation.
Some offer examples for a spa & wellness business:
- The 6-Week Slim Down Ritual
- The Post-Baby Body Revival
- Pre-Wedding Glow Up
The difference is that instead of marketing a discount, like "40% for a massage", you package and market a transformation. Basically, it's the transformation your customers desire.
People buy products and services because they're looking for some form of transformation. When people buy a luxury car, the transformation is simple. They want to feel like they've made it. When they buy a pickleball trainer, they want to become better at playing pickleball.
But the biggest benefit is this. When you sell a transformation, price comparison becomes irrelevant. You're not selling the same thing anymore. Is a Post-Baby Body Revival the same as a body massage? Is it expensive if it's priced at RM2,000 or RM5,000?
Here's an example from a marketing campaign we managed a while ago.
Instead of promoting the features of INDIBA (an Aesthetic treatment device) such as how it uses deep-heat treatment, smart technology, etc. We talked about the transformation it does for the customer. In this case, this was about restoring youth.
And then we packaged the offer as a transformational package. Instead of selling something like "buy 10 INDIBA treatment sessions", we sold a "Restoration Therapy Journey" which included 10 treatment sessions.
Watch this video where I explain this in a workshop
What transformation do you create?
The thing to remember is that customers don't really buy products or services. They're buying the version of themselves after using it.
If your marketing talks about what you do, you're selling a transaction. If your marketing talks about what happens to your customers, you're selling a transformation.
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