For local businesses looking to get a bit more exposure, I encourage you to check out Groupon.com. This site was brought to my attention by John Jantsch over at the Duct Tape Marketing Blog. His blog post - "Groupon train is worth a small business ride" is worth checking out. I'll cover specifically how Denver small businesses can and are benefitting from using groupon.com in this blog post.
Groupon.com for Denver Small Business Owners Generates a Lot of Buzz for Little Effort
Revolutionary Marketing Concept
Groupon is an amazing concept - it is one that effectively incentivizes your customers to do your marketing for you. As a small business owner, you sign up with Groupon.com - the service works like this:
- Your Deal is featured in the Denver section of Groupon.com
- There is only one deal featured each day
- The deal that you offer is only available if a certain number of people actually sign up for and accept the deal (say 200)
- The fact that a certain number of people must participate for a deal to become valid encourages people who are interested in the deal to tell all of their friends and social media contacts to get them to sign up
- The result is customers spreading the word about your business for you
For more information on how to sign up as a Denver small business owner, check out this link. Groupon.com technically costs Denver small business owners nothing. Groupon.com gets a portion of the proceeds from the people who pay to sign up for the deal that you're offering. Of course you must honor the deal that has been offered, but it is truly a fantastic way to generate buzz about your business.
It appears that Groupon definitely works best for restaurants, coffee shops, and night clubs - but it isn't limited to those businesses.
Recent Denver Area Businesses to use Groupon include:
- Tuana Hair Design (hair salon)
- Melt Skincare Products
- Pizza Republica
- The Counter (Burgers)
- Denver Botanic Gardens
- Keystone Ski Resort
- Comedy Works
- Autawash Car Wash
- Maggie Moos (Ice Cream)
How Does this Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?
If you're a Denver small business - especially a restaurant owner, you MUST explore Groupon.com. If you're in a position to offer deep discounts for people to visit your establishment in the hopes for repeat business, then Groupon.com may be for you. It appears to be a great way to generate buzz about your business with very little effort (other than honoring the deals you've offered). The staff at Groupon.com will actually guide you through the process to help come up with a deal that will work best for your Denver small business.
I would think that these groupon.com deals would work best with a demographic in the 18-30 age range. Social media is the key to Groupon.com - where people can instantly broadcast your offer to all of their friends.