Increase Business by Using Coupons

By: Tom Falco - [site]

A great way to test a marketing strategy is with coupons. Coupons also allow you to0 monitor which advertising methods are working for you. It's easy to see where the returned coupons are coming from and that shows you which method is the strongest and pulling in the most customers.

The most obvious way to use coupons is by having them printed in newspaper or magazines. You can even have them on flyers that are handed out or posted. But what about the internet?

Have you considered putting a coupon right on your internet page? This can work in two ways, you can have an actual coupon that your customers can print out and send in, or you can have a code number on the coupon that could be used to purchase on line or on the phone. All the coupon user would have to do is tell you the code number and they would receive the discount or whatever is being offered.

We have seen this used in many instances on promotional items like post-it notes where each sheet is printed as a coupon and stuck to a brochure or some other medium. Newspapers are a very popular place for the ads to stick on to. Many times you'll see an actual post-it note stuck to the front page of a newspaper displaying an ad for anything from a car dealership to a new club opening.

It's important to put expiration dates on the coupons so that they don't show up months or years after the promotion is over. Usually 30 to 90 days is standard but you can make the offer run as long as you like. But do put an expiration date to protect yourself down the road.

If you are considering running ads in a publication and are not sure of its pulling power. Coupons are great for this. You can run a small coupon ad and see if any coupons come in from that particular publication or how many come in. Just put a code on the coupon indicating to yourself which publication this coupon ran in.

You'll notice on all newspaper or magazine coupons that there is a code somewhere so that the advertiser knows what publication the coupon came from.

Even on TV ads where you may purchase by phone or mail in, they ask for the "department number." That is just a code to tell them what station or channel or even what TV show the offer was seen on and which ones are bringing results.

It's very important to track the pulling power of the coupons and the places you advertise in. Keep track of this so that you are advertising and promoting wisely.

About the author: Tom Falco is editor of XpectMore.com Marketing eZine and also owns: http://www.TheDiscountPrinter.com To subscribe to XpectMore.com Marketing eZine mailto:ezine@x... put "subscribe" in the subject line or visit: http://www.XpectMore.com

>>Reprint/Distribution Source : ArticleWareHouse.com