Amazon runs Prime Day to offer discounts and get people to buy more.

Other e-commerce players do the same.

This makes small businesses think that they should also offer a discount, especially when they can’t think of better ideas to promote what they made.

All said and done, I don’t think a discount code will make for a good incentive.

Here is why:

1/ Because discount devalues a product. 

And your audience will remain the same.

You want to sell more products you’ll create in the future.

If we offer them a discount for whatever reason now, they will expect a discount in the future.

So, this is a short-term vs. long-term decision.

2/ Because discount reduces your profit margins.

Discounts eat into your profit margins.

And this could hurt if you are running ads or selling low-priced products.

3/ There are better strategies to promote a course than offering a discount.

Here is what you can do:

When building a new product, offer a pre-launch price. 

To do this, show what’s coming up, and get people interested. 

This also helps validate your idea and allows you to test your offer and product and get a chance to improve with early feedback.

For the final launch, increase your price.

Offer bonus on purchase.

These can be your old ebooks that you are not actively promoting or checklists.

Offer a free consultation.

This works well for high-ticket courses because you may get too many questions for low-ticket courses.

Offer free access via email for 30, 60, or 90 days.
What else has worked for you to promote your courses?