What’s The Big Deal?

Marketing and promotional deals go hand in hand.  When you want to increase your revenue you need something that attracts attention. Everybody likes a deal.  Just ask those Black Friday shoppers.  Many retailers are going the “the Deal” route.  In fact, Groupon and Living Social have built their whole business models on using a “deal of the day”.  Groupon’s success is largely based on their sales teams in each city who hunt down offers and create win/win scenarios with advertisers and consumers. In fact, many times it looks like a loss for the advertiser and a win for the consumer, creating a really great deal.

Best Buy, the Gap and Pottery Barn all offer a “Deal of the Day” through emails and their websites.  Ann Taylor offers a chance to win free product every day by “liking that featured item” on their Facebook page.  So how does a SMB get in on the action?

Use daily deals to:

• Promote new products
• Highlight underused/older products
• Entice customers to spend more when use the deal (hair salons do a terrific job of these deals)
• Sell a sample or a portion of something (giveaway a free pair of socks with every shoe purchase) to bring in new prospects
• Sell a dollar amount off.  A dollar amount off deal is used in  restaurants because staff still gets tips, sales tax is still paid and most customers will spending more than cost of the deal.

Deal Setup

Setup your emails and your website to offer daily deals.  If you currently have Volusion on your website, here’s how you create the deal.  Deals of the Day can be set up as one deal per day, schedule multiple deals for the same day, or schedule deals to span multiple days. With social media capabilities enabled, you can leverage Facebook Like, Send and Share This features for individual deals. If you offer multiple deals on multiple products, create a dedicated web page that lists all of your offers so the customer can clearly determine the best deal for them.  Know what times of day people visit your site and when you get high open rates on your emails to create maximum deal exposure to your prospects and customers.

The Package Deal

What if you offer deals, but no one is buying? Put on your marketing/creativity hat and “re-gift” your offerings.  Dress up the deals differently.  If you already offer a “free consultation with every order”, change the wording.  Maybe it is a “free evaluation”, or a add-on (one free plan with every purchase). Or it can be holiday driven; who wouldn’t want a “Christmas Concierge” or an “Elf Evaluation” this month?  There is still time to create a “12 Deals of December” promotion.

Expire & Evaluate

Deals need to end.

Expiration dates create urgency in your marketing and will move those prospects down the sales pipeline and create customers.

Look at the number of hits and deal redemptions.  Assume that the customers buying the deals will not come back again. The marketing activity must continue after the deal is sold!  Help customers enjoy the purchase experience–so they feel like paying full price would be worth it. You want to make sure they have a positive experience from booking an appointments, walking in the front door, the service or products offered, the payment/signout process, etc.  Even if someone isn’t paying full price for something, they can be great customers. Ask them to write a positive review.  You can convert those bargain hunters into loyal customers.

Getting “something” for nothing is the cornerstone of a deal.  At Vivid Image, we offer deals to our clients, too. Tomorrow, Vivid Image is leading the How to Boost Your Social Marketing IQ workshop/roundtable discussion with Constant Contact with the Litchfield and Hutchinson Chambers of Commerce.  Choose your best time and location and register today - What a Great Deal!

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