How to Use Mobile Coupons for Your Local Business
If you are looking for ways to market your business, you should know that mobile coupons are a great way to increase your online visibility while driving traffic to your local business. Customers love opportunities to save money wherever they can. Promotional offers and discounts are one way that you take advantage of that! The following information is designed to teach you how to use mobile coupons for your local business.
1. What Are Mobile Coupons?
Mobile coupons are almost exactly like the coupons you see in magazines, newspapers, and circulars, with one important difference: mobile coupons are text message coupons. Mobile coupons work the same way as a printed coupon, offering your customers a chance to save money, earn rewards, collect freebies, or receive discounts.
2. Can My Business Save Money By Using Mobile Coupons?
Yes, mobile coupons can save your business a great deal of money. Print marketing and advertising campaigns are expensive. With the cost of a postage stamp ever on the rise, the cost of mailing coupons to customers can be extremely expensive. On top of that, the United States Postal Service does not deliver mail on Sundays, so you will not be able to reach consumers with a mail campaign one day out of every week. Even if you choose to purchase advertising space in a magazine or newspaper to avoid the cost of a direct mail advertising campaign, there is no guarantee that customers will use your paper coupons. That means that if you rely on printed coupons, you may be wasting money on printed material that will simply find its way to a trash can.
Mobile coupons are a much more cost effective solution. Mobile coupons are delivered to customers via text message or email, and can be used simply. Rather than bringing a printed coupon with them, all a customer needs to do to use a mobile coupon is bring their phone in to your local business, and show the coupon to the person who will be ringing up their purchase. If a customer chooses not to use the coupon, no waste is created – all they have to do is delete the coupon. Using mobile coupons is a great way to make your business ‘greener.’
3. How Can I Get Started?
If you are ready to begin using mobile coupons, the first thing you need to do is find a reputable SMS service (Short Messaging Service) to deliver your coupons. SMS marketing services are generally quite affordable, especially when compared to the high prices of print advertising. After you have found a reputable SMS company to work with, you need to decide what type of coupons you will offer. Be creative! Think about your target customer. What is your most popular item or service? Consider offering a percentage discount for that product or service. Free offers and BOGO (buy-one-get-one) offers are extremely popular among consumers, so if you can’t think of any ideas, that may be great place for you to start.
4. How Else Can I Benefit From Using Mobile Coupons?
By collecting mobile phone numbers from your current customers, and informing them that they can save money with mobile coupons, you will be able to create a list of numbers to use for your first mobile coupon marketing campaign. After you have sent the coupons, in many cases you will be able to track the success of your mobile coupons to see how many of your target customers viewed the coupon, and how many actually used it. That will help you to design better and more attractive offers for your future coupons.
As you can see, mobile coupons are a great option for local business owners. Do not let your competitors reap the benefits of this exciting new way to increase traffic to your local business while you are left in the dust! Why not give mobile coupons a try? You will be amazed to see how effective they truly are!
TrueNorth3 Mobile Social Local provides SMS Text Message Marketing services, including mobile coupons to our satisfied clients. Contact us today to get started with your very own mobile coupon campaigns for your business.