Monday, November 14, 2011

Daily Deal Marketing for Businesses

By Angela Gymmy


The new big internet trend popping up all over is the daily deal site. Riding on the coattails of social media, this trend is the group couponing of the now. A deal starts with a business, whether it's a restaurant, a salon, or any other retailer willing to offer a discount on their products and services. The business teams up with a daily deal company to offer a coupon to their customer base in the hopes of bringing in new business.

Using one of these companies is, at the core, a marketing strategy, albeit a low-risk one with no upfront fees. The payment comes later, after the consumers have purchased the coupon. Typically, the cost is 40% - 50% of the profits from the deal sales.

Measurability and Scalability When you construct your list of five priorities, make certain that each goal is quantifiable and obtainable by the end of the year. For example, "sell more" is too vague. This goal is completely open to interpretation - one person might say you've reached your priority if you sell a single dollar more than you did last year, even if your costs are higher. Another employee might argue that "more" should mean a significant boost in sales. Set specific goals, which you can easily determine whether or not you've them. Here are a couple of examples of precise, quantifiable priorities: -Launch our website. -Complete a competitive analysis. -Earn $400,000 in revenue. Don't fence yourself in too strictly. For instance, if all five of your priorities are aimed at one huge problem in the business, that's fine. Let's say your client base is dwindling - it's completely appropriate for all of your priorities to be based around marketing strategy planning. The main thing is to choose five priorities that are measurable and attainable. Will your company be able to scale up if all five goals become reality? Make sure you're prepared to actually launch into the future you imagine.

Timing is Essential Avoid making assumptions about how quickly you'll be able to achieve your priorities. Spread them out over the year, quarter or whatever timeline you've chosen. Remember that you and your employees will need to accomplish these special items in addition to your typical workload.

It is also possible for customers to spend over their voucher amount AND become repeat customers, thus increasing their profit margin significantly and making the coupon a successful marketing strategy.

Once your list of top five strategic priorities is solid, be sure to share it with everyone in your organization. Indeed, it may be helpful to have every employee create his or her own set of five priorities that can help the overall company meet its goals. Harnish refers to this approach as "alignment;" in a sense, it's bringing integration to an entire firm by ensuring that everyone has their eyes on the same prize.

It may seem like a difficult decision for business owners to decide whether to take on the daily deal marketing strategy, but it's worth every penny of it, when it comes down to the bottom dollar. The best thing that businesses can do to make the most of these group coupons is to work with a company that looks out for them, and wants to help bring in repeat customers and referrals. Those returning customers are the lifeline of a business. With the many deal companies out there, it's important to find the one that will best maintain those customers.




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