Only a few years ago the coupon looked like it was riding the coattails of the printed newspaper into oblivion. Along came Groupon, which basically reinvented the entire idea and, in the process, provided small retail and store front businesses a new tool for marketing to the masses.
If you’re not familiar with Groupon and other social coupon sites like LivingSocial and you are in the process of opening a new restaurant, coffee shop, salon, dentist office or just about any other retail or storefront business, then you should study up. They offer a great way to bring lots of customers in the door quickly and without an expensive or complex marketing campaign.
Let’s imagine that you are a barber shop that has just opened for business. Your standard men’s haircut is $20. Business has been slow, because people get set in their ways when it comes to their hair and it’s hard to get someone to try a new shop if the old one has been doing an alright job. I personally loath having to find someone new to cut my hair. To get people to give your haircuts a try, you decide to use a a social coupon site like Groupon and offer haircuts for $10. That’s 50% off and really cuts into your margins, but you can envision an army of loyal customers.
To begin your social coupon campaign, approach a site like Groupon and propose your offer. Pay attention though, because Groupon takes a 50% commission, so now you’re only earning $5 per haircut. That cost might be acceptable if you’re confident in your skills as a barber and enough people become regulars. If your offer is accepted by Groupon, or another social coupon site, it puts the coupon online and if enough people like it, then it goes live for a limited time and people can buy the coupons directly through Groupon. Hopefully you’ll see a rush of customers coming in with coupons.
This can be an incredibly valuable and targeted way to spread the word about your new business because people are looking coupons in a new way. They are now considered cool. The site Small Business Trends has put together a quick list of 7 reasons to use social coupons and other deal sites.
However, take a look at this for some insight into the downsides of this kind of marketing. Make sure you do your homework and do your numbers before you jump headfirst into this new way of marketing.
Below is a list of some of the more than 400 daily-deal, social coupon and other related sites:
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