There are a lot of "daily deal" websites out there. Sites like Groupon, Living Social, and many others have built an impressive following of users and fans and can use their large group of subscribers to offer deals to a very targeted audience. These services make it very easy for smaller local companies to reach a huge audience that are willing to try something new…if the price is right.

Retail companies have usually relied on print publications and especially newspapers to notify users of sales and special offers. With new Internet coupon sites, it is possible to reach a large group of users looking for a good deal. Retailers can use these discounts and special offers as a way of attracting new customers and/or simultaneously increasing sales on other products as well.

These coupon sites can send out daily deals to a very targeted and self-selected group of consumers which can be a great way to reach foodies, techies, fashionistas and any number of consumer groups, or to reach out to a broader audience.

However, using these types of coupon sites as a part of your offline or online marketing services is not always straightforward, and so there are a few things to consider.

Points of Consideration

• Short Term Impact: Will you be able to handle the traffic?

• Long Term Impact: Will you be able to create and/or increase customer loyalty?

• Do the Math: Will you be able to afford the deal?

• Negotiate: Are you getting the best deal possible?

• Ongoing Marketing: How will this benefit future marketing efforts?

Short Term Impact

Fortunately, most daily deal sites are very popular and drive a lot of traffic to your business, either online or into a physical location. Plan for this. Of course this will depend a little bit on the terms of the offer, but in either case, plan for success.

If you are an ecommerce website, make sure that your site can handle the upsurge in traffic. This may involve communicating with your hosting provider, or purchasing more bandwidth. If you are a physical store, make sure you have enough staff scheduled to help with the extra customers. Just like on Black Friday, this will not be a time to be understaffed and unprepared.

The downside is that if you are understaffed or unprepared, you create a bad impression for your business which will destroy customer loyalty.

The other side of this is to put a cap on sales. Determine in advance how much traffic you can handle while still providing optimal service, and put a cap on the deal so as to not exceed that limit.

Long Term Impact

As explained above, plan for these deals to be effective and expect to get a lot of response. Think of it almost as an open house or a second "grand opening" in which you have the opportunity to explain to a new audience who you are and what you are about.

The possibilities here are endless, but basically you want to ensure that customers are greeted and welcomed into the store, and that they have some incentive for coming back. For example, this could work really well by having the owner greeting customers and talking to them, or sharing the creative vision for the store, or just making it very easy and simple to make the purchase.

You want to make them feel invited into the store, but you also do not want to make them feel trapped by an overambitious attempt to up sell them with other products, or obligate them to future purchases.

Do the Math

Not only are you offering a very good deal to customers, but you also need to pay a cut to the site that is publicizing the deal for you. Some deal sites do profit sharing and will take as much as 50% of each deal. That means you may only be getting $25 on a $100 offer, which may not be enough to cover your costs, especially if you sell too many.

This may mean capping the number of sales (which is an option that is not always publicized), and understanding what the impact will be when you actually sell to your cap. For example, if you are a large restaurant, you may be able to handle the influx of a few hundred extra customers over the course of a week. However, if you are a masseuse operating a one or two person massage parlor, even an extra 20 to 30 people might become unmanageable.

Negotiate and Customize

Most of the coupon sites work with you one-on-one to craft a deal that creates a win-win situation. However, this is also a negotiation to some extent, so make sure you understand each element of the deal and that you impose the necessary restrictions. This means determining a limit on the number of offers available (perhaps you can afford to do 100, but not 500), and ensuring that you understand what cut the coupon site will take.

Also, even their commission is usually also up for negotiation. Although they often start at 50/50, some services are willing to negotiate to a 30/70 or even 20/80 cut, which lets you offer a better deal to your customers.

There are many different features and options, so if this is your first time trying this type of service, be sure that you ask questions. They want you to be as successful as possible (so that you will use the service again), so be willing to express your concerns and work through the deal.

Ongoing Marketing

Besides the deal itself, this can be a good way to build online visibility and local visibility. A lot of the promotions themselves are heavily promoted, so by offering a good deal you can quickly build a lot of lasting interest in your business. From a web perspective this also means a lot of traffic, links, mentions, and positive interest which has a lasting impact on your ability to rank for certain searches ("Denver Bistro" for example).

It also helps build your reviews on important review sites, especially as people are more likely to rate you positively when they feel like they have received a good deal.