Own a Brick and Mortar Business? Consider Creating a One-Day-Only Deal

Writing by Brick Marketing in Internet Marketing

One-day-only deal websites like Groupon and LivingSocial have been garnering a lot of attention lately. Starting with Groupon’s rejection of the $6 billion (yes, that’s a b) buyout offer from Google in early December, to the Living Social offer from Amazon that offered buyers $20 credited to their Amazon account for only $10 (which sold over 1.3 million vouchers in 24 hours!), one-day-only deal sites are definitely gaining momentum and earning the attention of marketers, businesses and consumers.

Have you considered creating a deal and offering it through one of these sites? They are a great chance to promote your business and reach out to a broader consumer base. Both Groupon and LivingSocial offer deals in most major metropolitan cities and are expanding into the surrounding suburbs, so you can easily target the town your business is based in. If you are looking for a temporary spike in foot traffic, offering an amazing deal on these sites is a good way to go.

Let’s say you own a small fitness center that offers various group workout classes. You decide to create a class punch card that lets purchasers come to 10 classes of their choosing for $30. They have to use all ten classes within three months. We’ll assume the deal did great and you sold 400 punch cards. Take advantage of that fact that you have 400 new potential repeat customers! At the end of the three months, you send out an email offering ½ off your usual signup fee to punch card users. 39 people take advantage of the deal and become full-time gym members! Not only did you increase your temporary gym membership, you also converted a good percentage of them into repeat customers.

One-day-only deals aren’t for every business, so you should decide if the benefits are worth the cost. Groupon and LivingSocial usually require you to offer your products/services for at least 50% off their regular price. But promoting your business through one of these sites is a great way to introduce your brand to a new consumer base, increase foot traffic and (hopefully) convert some of those bargain hunters into repeat customers.