Posted by Matt Kersey in Uncategorized
This blog comes to us courtesy of Carmen Sognonvi, from Bricks and Mortar to Bread and Butter, among other businesses. I recently came across her video “How to Use Coupon Marketing to Build an Email List” and loved her easy to follow tips, as she covers both the pros and the cons of doing coupon marketing.
Coupons, in themselves, are not a long-term strategy to grow a business. However, if you combine them with something else like a sales promotion to create a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool, they can be very effective.
For a new business, your number one marketing goal should be to build a list of customers and prospects that you can keep in touch with on a regular basis.
When you think of coupon marketing, you normally think about something you cut out of an advertisement and take to the store. However, many of the same tactics can be applied with online coupons, or even giveaways and contests in B2B marketing. The idea is to provide something valuable to the prospect, with little or no cost to them.
What do you get in exchange?
What you ask for can vary, but as Carmen mentions in this video, building up an email list is crucial for start-ups and small businesses alike. Often times it takes multiple interactions with a prospect before they purchase. This is really hard to facilitate, if you have no way to get a hold of these prospects after your introduction.
Following is a summary of her video, with some of my thoughts mixed in.
4 Steps to Build an Email List with Coupon Marketing
Step 1- Use Coupon Marketing to Create an Incentive
Your coupon should not only provide a discount for your product but also provide an additional incentive to get them to submit their information. It’s important to create an incentive that will encourage them to want to give you their information. Some great options include a contest or sweepstakes.
Here at LinkedSelling, we regularly offer giveaways, as a way to incentivize prospects to opt-in or make a purchase. Another idea is to offer some sort of guarantee, if your products or services are a little pricier. This makes the purchase seem less risky to a prospect, if they know they can get their money back.
Step 2- Create a Landing Page
Your landing page doesn’t need to be overly complicated. But it does need to be a unique page on your website where people can go to enter in their information for the promotion.
This landing page will need to include instructions and a simple form, where the prospect can enter their information. Make the steps you want them to follow as few and as simple as possible.
[bctt tweet=”When creating a #LandingPage, make the steps as few and as simple as possible, to increase opt-ins”]If you’re CTA and subsequent steps look like the list below, you’ll get few, if any, opt-ins.
Get a lifetime supply of cat toys! Enter HERE!
- Now, jump on one foot.
- Go to this link.
- Fill out this 50 question survey.
- Enter your name and email.
- Write a 3 page essay on why you love Star Wars.
- Click next.
- Share this link with 10 people.
- Submit and you’re entered to win!
Step 3- Print the URL on the Coupon
On the coupon you’ll want to explain what they can win to get them excited. Then you must tell them HOW they can win. In other words, include a clear Call to Action (CTA) and then provide the URL to direct them to the landing page you’ve created.
This step is so important! If you don’t leave a clear trail for the prospect to follow, they’ll trash the coupon or leave your site.
Here’s an example of an actual CTA button we’ve used on one of our landing pages.
Step 4- Promote the Incentive
If you’re handing out the coupon in-person, make sure to talk about what they could win to get them interested enough to take the coupon. If you’re not marketing at an event you could create a POP (point-of-purchase) display for use wherever your product is sold.
[bctt tweet=”4 Steps to Build an Email List with Coupon #Marketing”]The beauty about this strategy is you have two ways to win. They could either use the coupon for a discount or submit their information for the promotion in which you could stay in contact with them. Or they might just do both!
To watch the entire video visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrh6JfIlfT0
Either way, coupon marketing is a strong method for building your email lists for both B2C and B2B. Have you tried using coupon marketing in your business?