Zimini Blog

Recent Couponing Trends A few facts about coupon trends and how you can use coupons & promotions to grow your business. Here’s a few interesting facts about coupons you may not have known: In recent years more than 300 billion coupons have been distributed annually! Coupon distribution is growing. In the first half of 2009, there was a 23% increase in consumer response to coupons! 1.6 billion coupons have been redeemed so far this year! Coupons delivered via the internet have grown by more than 300%. Internet/print-at-home coupons now account for more than 2% of all coupons. Food-related coupons grew by more than 25% in the first half of 2009; non-food coupons grew by more than 15%. “Wealthier” and “younger” consumer segments are showing the largest increases in coupon usage. So, how can you use coupons as a promotional tool to grow your business? Its simple…just get the right promotional message, to the right consumer, at the right time & place with the right offer. I’ll talk more about this in a future blog post!
Zimini @ 35,000 feet Over the past several days I’ve been traveling to meet with some our business customers, learn more about how they use Zimini’s marketing software, and gather some first hand input on the types of enhancements they would like to see us add. Its been a great trip. It is always interesting to hear about the promotions and coupons our customers use to grow their businesses, and what they learned from using Zimini’s marketing software. For example, one customer found that limited-time promotions (e.g. weekend promotions valid only for the upcoming weekend, and one-night only promotions) worked best for driving new customers into their store. In the past when he ran these types of promotions, they would show up in the customers mail or doorstep days before the promotion kicked off – and apparently, potential customers forgot about them by the time the promotion start date rolled around. That’s is one of the reasons we designed Zimini to “gently” alert consumers when a new coupon, promotion or special offer arrives – to get the consumer excited to see what new coupons or promotions Zimini has found for them. It looks like this…a message that shows up for about 5 seconds, then disappears. And consumers tell us they love this! It is just enough to let them know something new has arrived, but not overly intrusive, nor demanding of their immediate attention. In addition to the feedback I heard from some of our users, I had the opportunity to do some testing on Zimini while flying at 35,000 feet! That’s right…using Zimini to create and launch new coupons & promotions while flying across the country. Let me explain a bit…on my recent flight, an online data service called GoGoInflight was available. This service provides a live internet connection while you’re flying in a commercial airplane. You can surf the internet, check email, and even use Zimini! I really wasn’t surprised, because we designed Zimini to work with just about any type of connection, and even without an internet connection. But it was cool to see it work while traveling on a plane. I’ll share more on this in later blog post - we’re about to land and I need to wrap things up!
Twelve Ways to Grow Your Business Two marketing mistakes to avoid, twelve ideas to grow your business, increase profits and get more customers. With economic uncertainty, small business owners worry about how they will sell their products and services, and how they will compete with large national brands who often buy at a discount and have much larger marketing budgets. They often make two big mistakes: they focus entirely on discounting individual products to get customers in the door without considering alternative approaches and spend more time thinking about how to get their promotion distributed rather than what offer or promotion might be compelling to potential customers. With a bit of planning, you can avoid these mistakes and develop promotional ideas that can help your business prosper (even during slow periods). It’s clear that consumers are looking for more value and spending less, but there are still ways to get them into your business and spending money on your products and services. Business owners often overlook simple, inexpensive and easy-to-implement promotional strategies. In working with thousands of businesses, we’ve identified 12 easy promotions almost any business owner can utilize to grow their sales. 1. Grow you customer base by attracting new customers. Growing your businesses customer base is the number one reason merchants and marketers use promotions, special offers and coupons. This can be especially useful for new companies, or those with excess capacity (e.g. slow periods, slow selling items). Here are a few examples of these types of promotion: 15% OFF of Your First Order Sign-up NOW and Get 3 Months FREE FREE Introductory Lesson 2. Introduce new products or services. Another opportunity to grow your businesses revenue and customer base is to introduce new products or services. For small businesses, who may not have access to large product development budgets, the introduction of complimentary products and services is often an easy and inexpensive way to gain new customers and sales. Here are a few ideas: Try our new wines New Spring Fashions Just Arrived 2 New Menu Items Expanded Tax Planning Services Now Available 3. Increase your average transaction size. Want to grow your revenues? Try packaging complimentary products together and selling them at a bundled price. Many businesses use this approach to earn a larger share of the customers total spend – think of telephone companies, cable companies and fast food restaurants. What products or services can you package together? FREE Delivery on Purchases Over $100 Take $20 OFF Purchases of $150 or More Buy one Entrée, Get the 2nd Entrée FREE Take $50 OFF any complete vacation package 4. Drive repeat business and increase customer loyalty. There’s nothing better than a loyal customer! Studies have shown that loyal customers help decrease operating costs because they often require less “hand-holding” than a new customer, and are familiar with the companies policies and procedures. And what could be better than a steady stream of loyal customers? Here are a few advertising ideas to help you grow a loyal customer base: Your 5th sandwich is FREE Your Second Session is ½ price Every 3rd order is 15% OFF Buy 8, Get 1 Free 5. Hold “By Invitation Only” and “Special Events”. Why not use a special event to gain new customers? You can create a special event to preview new products, to educate your customers about your product or service (e.g. wine tastings or cooking classes) or provide your customers with the inside scoop on something related to your business or industry. Try these ideas: You’re Invited to our Bridal Show Tuesday Night Wine Tastings Summer Barbecue Specials Every Tuesday Night Come See the New Spring Fashions 6. Generate customer referrals from existing customers. Satisfied customers are a great source of new business. They are credible and often speak enthusiastically about products and services they like. Why not incent them to help you grow your business? Bring a friend and get 25% of your order Refer a friend and get a $5 rebate 1 Month FREE when you refer a friend Buy One, Get One FREE when you bring a friend 7. Sell specific items or services. Need to sell slow-moving products, out-of-season products, excess inventory or more high-margin/high-profit items? Specific items promotions, discounts, and special offers can help. Consider these examples: 10% OFF our Gold Package 2008 Snowboards 25% OFF (While they last) 15% OFF all Pre-Packages Coffee 8. Increase business during slow times. Every business has periods of slow activity. Let your advertising help you grow your business with these promotional ideas: 33% off mid-week rentals $3 off Haircuts Weekdays 10am – 3pm Early Bird Special – 15% off all Entrees Before 5pm 9. Capitalize on seasonal, special or one-time events. Seasonal and special event provide an opportunity to highlight your business in a new, perhaps unique way. Use these events to draw customers into your business with these ideas: Back To School Special $2 Beers on Game Night Prepare your pool for summer $75 Spring Gutter Cleaning Special 10. Simplify your business process with regular specials. Are there opportunities to streamline your business or operational processes and pass the savings on to your customers? Service businesses are excellent candidates for these types of advertisements: Take $1 OFF our daily lunch specials Daily Dinner Special $7.99 Engine Service Special $99.99 11. Capitalize on customer traffic from nearby events. Why not take advantage of customer traffic from nearby events to grow your business? Nearly every town and city has a listing of monthly events – get it! Look for opportunities to take advantage of the customer traffic and get new customers into your business. Here are a few examples: Pre-Game Special $2 Beers Show Your Movie Ticket – Get a $1 Single Scoop of Ice Cream High school Baseball Game Lunch Box Special $4.99 12. Invite a local dignitary to your place of business Why not invite or host your local mayor, congressman, or high school/collegiate athlete to make an appearance at your store? Bringing Hollywood celebrities to your local business may be cost prohibitive, but there are plenty of local celebrities that you can tap – think creatively. They could sign autographs, talk about their area of expertise, or just be on hand to meet your customers. Here are a few thought starters: Ice cream social with Mayor Jones Meet the State Football Champs on Saturday Share a cup of coffee with Congressman Smith on Tuesday morning. These promotional ideas are just the beginning - you'll still need to think through what particular strategies, products and offers will work best for your business. It is often helpful to put together a plan that outlines all of the steps you'll need to take to launch a successful promotional campaign - you'll want to include everything from creative ideas for bringing your promotion life, to operational details regarding how your offer will be redeemed and tracked. Too often, business owners are pulled in a dozen different directions at once and don't think creatively about how they can grow sales, customer traffic and revenues. These promotional ideas and special offers go beyond the traditional cents-off coupons used by many merchants.

Recent Couponing Trends

A few facts about coupon trends and how you can use coupons & promotions to grow your business.

Here’s a few interesting facts about coupons you may not have known:

In recent years more than 300 billion coupons have been distributed annually!
Coupon distribution is growing.
In the first half of 2009, there was a 23% increase in consumer response to coupons!
1.6 billion coupons have been redeemed so far this year!
Coupons delivered via the internet have grown by more than 300%.
Internet/print-at-home coupons now account for more than 2% of all coupons.
Food-related coupons grew by more than 25% in the first half of 2009; non-food coupons grew by more than 15%.
“Wealthier” and “younger” consumer segments are showing the largest increases in coupon usage.

So, how can you use coupons as a promotional tool to grow your business?

Its simple…just get the right promotional message, to the right consumer, at the right time & place with the right offer. I’ll talk more about this in a future blog post!

Zimini @ 35,000 feet

Over the past several days I’ve been traveling to meet with some our business customers, learn more about how they use Zimini’s marketing software, and gather some first hand input on the types of enhancements they would like to see us add.

Its been a great trip. It is always interesting to hear about the promotions and coupons our customers use to grow their businesses, and what they learned from using Zimini’s marketing software. For example, one customer found that limited-time promotions (e.g. weekend promotions valid only for the upcoming weekend, and one-night only promotions) worked best for driving new customers into their store. In the past when he ran these types of promotions, they would show up in the customers mail or doorstep days before the promotion kicked off – and apparently, potential customers forgot about them by the time the promotion start date rolled around.

That’s is one of the reasons we designed Zimini to “gently” alert consumers when a new coupon, promotion or special offer arrives – to get the consumer excited to see what new coupons or promotions Zimini has found for them. It looks like this…a message that shows up for about 5 seconds, then disappears. And consumers tell us they love this! It is just enough to let them know something new has arrived, but not overly intrusive, nor demanding of their immediate attention.

YouveGotPromotionsGraphic

In addition to the feedback I heard from some of our users, I had the opportunity to do some testing on Zimini while flying at 35,000 feet! That’s right…using Zimini to create and launch new coupons & promotions while flying across the country. Let me explain a bit…on my recent flight, an online data service called GoGoInflight was available. This service provides a live internet connection while you’re flying in a commercial airplane. You can surf the internet, check email, and even use Zimini! I really wasn’t surprised, because we designed Zimini to work with just about any type of connection, and even without an internet connection. But it was cool to see it work while traveling on a plane. I’ll share more on this in later blog post - we’re about to land and I need to wrap things up!

Twelve Ways to Grow Your Business

Two marketing mistakes to avoid, twelve ideas to grow your business, increase profits and get more customers.

With economic uncertainty, small business owners worry about how they will sell their products and services, and how they will compete with large national brands who often buy at a discount and have much larger marketing budgets. They often make two big mistakes: they focus entirely on discounting individual products to get customers in the door without considering alternative approaches and spend more time thinking about how to get their promotion distributed rather than what offer or promotion might be compelling to potential customers. With a bit of planning, you can avoid these mistakes and develop promotional ideas that can help your business prosper (even during slow periods).

It’s clear that consumers are looking for more value and spending less, but there are still ways to get them into your business and spending money on your products and services. Business owners often overlook simple, inexpensive and easy-to-implement promotional strategies. In working with thousands of businesses, we’ve identified 12 easy promotions almost any business owner can utilize to grow their sales.

1. Grow you customer base by attracting new customers.

Growing your businesses customer base is the number one reason merchants and marketers use promotions, special offers and coupons. This can be especially useful for new companies, or those with excess capacity (e.g. slow periods, slow selling items). Here are a few examples of these types of promotion:

15% OFF of Your First Order
Sign-up NOW and Get 3 Months FREE
FREE Introductory Lesson

2. Introduce new products or services.

Another opportunity to grow your businesses revenue and customer base is to introduce new products or services. For small businesses, who may not have access to large product development budgets, the introduction of complimentary products and services is often an easy and inexpensive way to gain new customers and sales. Here are a few ideas:

Try our new wines
New Spring Fashions Just Arrived
2 New Menu Items
Expanded Tax Planning Services Now Available

3. Increase your average transaction size.

Want to grow your revenues? Try packaging complimentary products together and selling them at a bundled price. Many businesses use this approach to earn a larger share of the customers total spend – think of telephone companies, cable companies and fast food restaurants. What products or services can you package together?

FREE Delivery on Purchases Over $100
Take $20 OFF Purchases of $150 or More
Buy one Entrée, Get the 2nd Entrée FREE
Take $50 OFF any complete vacation package

4. Drive repeat business and increase customer loyalty.

There’s nothing better than a loyal customer! Studies have shown that loyal customers help decrease operating costs because they often require less “hand-holding” than a new customer, and are familiar with the companies policies and procedures. And what could be better than a steady stream of loyal customers? Here are a few advertising ideas to help you grow a loyal customer base:

Your 5th sandwich is FREE
Your Second Session is ½ price
Every 3rd order is 15% OFF
Buy 8, Get 1 Free

5. Hold “By Invitation Only” and “Special Events”.

Why not use a special event to gain new customers? You can create a special event to preview new products, to educate your customers about your product or service (e.g. wine tastings or cooking classes) or provide your customers with the inside scoop on something related to your business or industry. Try these ideas:

You’re Invited to our Bridal Show
Tuesday Night Wine Tastings
Summer Barbecue Specials Every Tuesday Night
Come See the New Spring Fashions

6. Generate customer referrals from existing customers.

Satisfied customers are a great source of new business. They are credible and often speak enthusiastically about products and services they like. Why not incent them to help you grow your business?

Bring a friend and get 25% of your order
Refer a friend and get a $5 rebate
1 Month FREE when you refer a friend
Buy One, Get One FREE when you bring a friend

7. Sell specific items or services.

Need to sell slow-moving products, out-of-season products, excess inventory or more high-margin/high-profit items? Specific items promotions, discounts, and special offers can help. Consider these examples:

10% OFF our Gold Package
2008 Snowboards 25% OFF (While they last)
15% OFF all Pre-Packages Coffee

8. Increase business during slow times.

Every business has periods of slow activity. Let your advertising help you grow your business with these promotional ideas:

33% off mid-week rentals
$3 off Haircuts Weekdays 10am – 3pm
Early Bird Special – 15% off all Entrees Before 5pm

9. Capitalize on seasonal, special or one-time events.

Seasonal and special event provide an opportunity to highlight your business in a new, perhaps unique way. Use these events to draw customers into your business with these ideas:

Back To School Special
$2 Beers on Game Night
Prepare your pool for summer $75
Spring Gutter Cleaning Special

10. Simplify your business process with regular specials.

Are there opportunities to streamline your business or operational processes and pass the savings on to your customers? Service businesses are excellent candidates for these types of advertisements:

Take $1 OFF our daily lunch specials
Daily Dinner Special $7.99
Engine Service Special $99.99

11. Capitalize on customer traffic from nearby events.

Why not take advantage of customer traffic from nearby events to grow your business? Nearly every town and city has a listing of monthly events – get it! Look for opportunities to take advantage of the customer traffic and get new customers into your business. Here are a few examples:

Pre-Game Special $2 Beers
Show Your Movie Ticket – Get a $1 Single Scoop of Ice Cream
High school Baseball Game Lunch Box Special $4.99

12. Invite a local dignitary to your place of business

Why not invite or host your local mayor, congressman, or high school/collegiate athlete to make an appearance at your store? Bringing Hollywood celebrities to your local business may be cost prohibitive, but there are plenty of local celebrities that you can tap – think creatively. They could sign autographs, talk about their area of expertise, or just be on hand to meet your customers. Here are a few thought starters:

Ice cream social with Mayor Jones
Meet the State Football Champs on Saturday
Share a cup of coffee with Congressman Smith on Tuesday morning.

These promotional ideas are just the beginning - you'll still need to think through what particular strategies, products and offers will work best for your business. It is often helpful to put together a plan that outlines all of the steps you'll need to take to launch a successful promotional campaign - you'll want to include everything from creative ideas for bringing your promotion life, to operational details regarding how your offer will be redeemed and tracked.

Too often, business owners are pulled in a dozen different directions at once and don't think creatively about how they can grow sales, customer traffic and revenues. These promotional ideas and special offers go beyond the traditional cents-off coupons used by many merchants.