How to efficiently use coupons to market your business

8 01 2010

I recently took advantage of a company discount at a local dry-cleaning business. And though I am not going to complain about how inefficient their discount process was because they didn’t have to give me a discount, I can’t help but offer a suggestion for a more efficient way to reward customers.

Here’s how it went down. Usually at my company we get a 10% discount at surrounding businesses. I decided to use my discount at a local dry-cleaning company. But when I went to pay and redeem my discount, the clerk said I couldn’t redeem it right then, and that they would give me a gift card with the amount of the discount on it. Figuring it was only 10% I wasn’t going to argue. So I paid and left the store.

A few days later I received an envelope in the mail. Inside the envelope was a gift card made out to me in the amount of $7.43, 10% of what I spent. And though I appreciate the clerk’s follow-through I can’t help but wonder if there was a more efficient way to reward their customers.

There are many reasons to offer discounts. You may want to get people into your store and introduce your product, you may want to reward your loyal customers or you may want to promote a particular product or service that you’re offering. Whatever the reason, redeeming the discount should be easy and efficient for you and your customer.

Here are some suggestions to streamline the process:

  1. Create a paper coupon redeemable at time of purchase – include details like expiration date, whether or not it is valid with other offers, company name, address and contact info.
  2. Create an online coupon redeemable at time of purchase – include a code for the customer to submit for redemption for tracking purposes.
  3. Create an ongoing discount card for frequent shoppers to redeem each time they purchase something at your business.

I really do appreciate the 10% discount and regardless of the discount I will frequent their store again. However, the envelope, the card, the stamp and the labor to coordinate it all seems like a bit of a waste for $7, don’t yout think?


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Categories : Advertising, Marketing Musings

Using Google’s Local Business Center to promote your business online

2 12 2009

One of my retail clients recently had a customer come in to her Massachusetts consignment shop and redeem a Google coupon that we created for her business! First off, the fact that a customer printed, cut and redeemed a paper coupon is a miracle in itself but also this customer found the coupon in the Google business listing while searching for one of our targeted keyword terms and that just tickles me pink.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about you should probably read on.

Like most businesses these days, my client has a limited marketing budget and wanted to spend all her resources online (smart woman!). And there is so much you can do online that is absolutely free. Yup, that’s what I said folks, FREE. Aside from social media, which is a whole different blog post (if not book), there is a ton of marketing you can do online that doesn’t cost a dime.

But where to start you ask? Google, of course.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to list your business in the Google Local Business Center. Aside from the possibility to show up at the top of the fold on some pretty competitive keyword terms, you have the opportunity to further promote your business with coupons,  photos, videos and product reviews. And all for the low, low price of…wait for it…nothing!

Once you have listed your site in the local business center you can enhance your listing with photos, videos and coupons. Here are some of the things you can do:

  • Create a coupon to get people into your store
  • Link to the coupon from your site or other sites, blogs, etc.
  • Retrieve data on how many people viewed your listing and took action (# of impressions, # of actions, top search terms, where driving directions queries come from)
  • Upload up to 10 photos
  • Upload videos
  • Include store hours and contact info
  • Utilize tags (words that people might use to find your business)
  • Display customer reviews

Here’s what it looks like from a visitors point of view:

If you have not yet listed your business in Google’s business listings. Stop reading this now and go do it.

For tips to creating a great listing visit Google’s business center support page

Just remember all listings are ranked on relevance to the search terms entered so, as always, make sure you write relevant content pertaining to your business.

This is just one of the many free opportunities out there to further promote your business online.  It’s just a matter of getting creative and utilizing all the tools out there effectively.

Good luck.


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Categories : Advertising

Get listed locally in the search engines

22 11 2009

If you haven’t yet listed your site with all the search engines, you could be missing key placement in the local search results. An easy way to find out if your site is listed in the major search engines is to use the Get Listed tool and type in your business name and zip code. The tool will come up with a score and let you know which search engines you have listed in. Here are the major players and where you should get listed:


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Categories : SEO

Beware of Facebook Page Poachers

30 08 2009

securityRecently, I set up a Facebook page for a client of mine who owns a consignment shop called Fabulous Findz. We have been doing a ton of online marketing including pay per click advertising on Facebook, Bing, Google and using various other tools that have increased traffic to both the website and the store’s Facebook page. When I went into the Facebook page today to see if there had been any more traffic, I noticed that a competitor became a “fan” of the page. At first I thought it quite neighborly that a competing store owner should join our fan page and make a contribution to our site. But then a few minutes later, I had a friend request in my own inbox from that very same competitor. Apparently, this competitor (and I won’t mention who) sent friend requests to all our fans.

Now, I’m a marketer and I know the only way to survive these days is to get creative and push the envelope, so I do applaud this competitor’s creativity and determination. However, I wasn’t very happy with them trying to poach our fans. So I deleted the competitor from our page, banned them from ever returning and asked our fans to ignore the friend request (unless of course they knew this person).

I guess the moral of the story is twofold,  make sure that you are really friends with someone before you accept a friend request and, most importantly, be kind to your neighbors.


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Categories : Social Media

Using social media for the good of the people

27 06 2009
Social Networking

Social Networking

In past posts I have discussed ways to apply social media to gain visibility online, connect with consumers and build customer relationships.  Recently, I came across someone who is utilizing this space for a very different reason; to help others.

Joe Mescher, is a social media enthusiast in the Burlington, Vermont area. If you haven’t read Joe’s blog, responded to his tweets or viewed his videos, then you’re just not in the know. Trust me when I say this, this guy lives, eats and breaths, social media.  Recently, Joe decided to take his passion for this space to help unemployed Vermonters find work.

video guyThe project is called the Vermont Video Resume Project and offers free video resumes to those searching for a job. The concept is to utilize new media technology to let job seekers show a little bit of who they are to potential employers. Employers can then view the resume as a real person instead of some words on a page. It’s a great way to utilize web 2.0 to connect businesses to potential employees and to help the unemployed land a job.

After coming up with the idea,  Joe got the word out through Twitter which has sparked a flurry of attention. Seven Days, an independent weekly,  is partnering with the project and offered blog space enabling job seekers to post their video resumes and allowing  local businesses and human resources departments to view them.

If you are interested in helping connect job seekers to those looking for quality employees, here are some ways you can help:

  • Tweet about the project and link to the website: VideoResumeVT.com for all your followers to see
  • Blog about it to offer information to your readers
  • Go to the website and fill out a form offering tips, insights, suggestions on how to further the project
  • Tell your friends and family about it
  • Talk about it at parties
  • Or contact Joe at joe.mescher@gmail.com.

If you’re a job seeker and looking to take advantage of this opportunity visit VideoResumeVT.com and fill out the form.

There are many ways to utilize social media but I haven’t found one yet that beats helping other people.


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Social media, join the conversation

2 06 2009

socialIt was a packed house in Alumni Auditorium at Champlain College on Monday when various social media guru’s spoke on the importance of integrating social media into a marketing plan at Burlington’s Social Media Breakfast. Basically the message was; stop focusing on the tools and start engaging in the conversation.

It was a sold out show which leads me to believe that people are actually beginning to catch on that social media is an integral part in building a brand. But with the plethora of tools out there where does one start? Here are some of the take away points from yesterday’s presentation:

Make a plan – What are your goals with this space and how will you measure success? Think about where your audience is and “fish where the fish are.”

Don’t push, gather - New media is about building a relationship and listening to your customers. “Its not push, its gather,” said C.C. Chapman, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of The Advance Guard. Old media talks at you, new media talks with you.

Start with a good brand – Offer a quality product and give them something to talk about. You can’t control your message online. People are already talking about your product, embrace it. And most importantly, listen to your customers.

Be found – It’s all about findability said Todd Defren, principal at Shift Communications. “Our job is to make sure we are found,” he said, “through content- blogs, SEO, Flikr, YouTube, etc. If social media is a pot luck, content is what you’re bringing to the party.”

Act on user feedback – Social media is digital word of mouth, its your online reputation. Create compelling content and act on user feedback. Give the people what they want.

The most important thing to remember about social media, is that it is all about building relationships with your customers. Be a part of the conversation people are having about your brand. Listen to your customers and give them what they want. This takes time, so be patient and remember to have fun.

Note: the above photo came from the Library of Congress. You can find many other these photos at www.flikr.com/commons.


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Going overboard on SEO

18 04 2009

I recently had a client who decided to add pages to their web site to achieve higher organic rankings in the search engines. Although this can sometimes be a useful strategy, it is not always the best approach.

This particular client was trying to rank for a certain geographic keyword and created a page targeting a specific area. The problem was, the page was  designed to attract the search engines and not the visitor. The page was filled with links and the information was already stated throughout their website and offered no unique content or new information for the visitor. This is what you call doorway pages, pages whose only goal is to lead the visitor to another page. They are not very relevant and are not very useful. These doorway pages (sometimes considered Black Hat SEO) can actually hurt your rankings.

So how do you increase your rankings then?

Google measures over 200 signals on your website to determine where your site belongs in the search engines. So it’s not surprising that it can be a difficult task to rank high. Especially if you’re trying to rank for a popular keyword. Unless you are an SEO expert and live, eat, and breath this stuff I suggest you just remember the following rule: The content on your website should first and foremost appeal to your audience.

A good foundation for any SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy begins with website content. You must remember that your content must appeal to your audience first, as this is the best SEO tool you have. You want them to visit often, stay for a while, link to your site and share it friends. The search engines will do the rest.

Here is basic outline of what your SEO strategy should look like long before you start creating extra pages:

  • Develop a targeted keyword list – there are various tools out there to help you and most of them are free including Google’s Adwords tool.
  • Develop keyword rich website content – once you have your list of keywords, incorporate them into your content.
  • Create keyword rich meta data (keywords, description, title tags)
  • Link to other relevant pages in your site
  • Build a linking strategy with incoming links from relevant sources
  • Utilize social media to help build your brand

Though these strategies take time and effort, if done correctly, they can significantly increase your organic rankings, your website traffic, your leads and your conversions. Which is really why your here right?

So the next time you’re struggling because your site isn’t placing on the first page of Google. Go back to this list and figure out if you can tweek anything. And remember it takes time. No one knows when the search engines will index your site so be patient.

Good luck!


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Categories : SEO

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