Coupons can be powerful marketing tools if you make yours stand out from the crowd.
Every day you’ll receive mailings through the post. Most companies make no effort at all and just send you a mailing in a plain envelope and a boring sales letter inside. You can easily see that it was obviously a mass-produced mailing with no real incentives whatsoever to use their services.
However if you make an effort and use proven money making incentives in your direct mail campaigns, you’ll definitely make much more money.
The lesson is if you want to attract and keep customers, you need to offer an incentive. Especially in a new business relationship. Don’t expect the consumer to buy something they have never seen or tried before. A coupon for a free sample or service, or some useful item related to your business, can be just the push a reluctant consumer needs.
Coupons can help you reach many goals:
* to help introduce a new product or service
* to increase repeat business, to fend off the competition
* to reinforce an advertising campaign
* or even to soften the impact of a price increase.
Traditionally coupons have taken the form of newspaper inserts, packs of assorted offers, individual direct-mail pieces, in package offers, and even handouts to specific businesses.
One of the most popular and easiest ways to use coupons is through direct mail. This is a powerful way to increase sales. It is especially good for occasions such as grand openings, re-modelings, the addition of new departments or facilities or the introduction of new products and services. It’s an enticing way to invite both current and new customers to visit your business.
Here are some tips to keep in mind when using coupons to make more money:
Coupons can be offered as a “thank you for buying from us” or “stop by and learn about us” message.
A coupon can be a single item for a one-shot promotion or be used in combination with other offers. Whatever the case, the value must be substantial enough to attract customers. Better to make the value too good than to err on the side of making it seem cheap or insignificant.
Do use coupon promotions sparingly. They wear themselves out if overused.
If you aren’t sure of your creative abilities, get professional help designing your coupon. Be sure the coupon says what the offer is, how long it lasts, and the terms for redemption.
Colour code your coupons if you are mailing them to a variety of different groups. For example, if you’re mailing to six different postal codes, colour each coupon differently so you know how many were redeemed from each area.
Direct mail isn’t the only way to distribute coupons. They can also be run in local papers or distributed via the Internet.
On your website, design your offer so people can e-mail you to receive coupons. Or consider using a Web coupon service, which offers coupons in booklets by mail or online for consumers to print out themselves.
Whatever method you use, discover how easy it is to make more money by using coupons with your business.
