Living in the heart of Patriot’s country (Foxboro, MA) the Super Bowl is an unofficial holiday. While I’m not a native MA resident (I’ll let you Google what they call themselves), I do get swept up in the Super Bowl storm and have made it my duty to give you all the details you need to celebrate the 50th game.
Super Bowl 50
With Super Bowl 50 just a month away, now is the time for your local business to start thinking about how to generate more sales from one of America’s favorite sports holidays.
The amount of money that goes into the Super Bowl, from player salaries to ticket sales is astounding — and even more so when you consider the amount a company will pay for a TV ad spot.
So, how can your local business make money without investing a small fortune in the process? It’s safe to say a TV ad is out of the question, but that doesn’t mean you can’t play into the hype and event planning around the game.
Using coupons and deals to attract customers
While the Super Bowl isn’t a national holiday, like Independence Day or Labor Day, many businesses use this high profile event to have special promotions and sales during a time of year that is ordinarily slow. When you are thinking about a Super Bowl special, you should consider the shopping habits and preferences of your customers in order to get the most bang for your buck.
One tried-and-true method of increasing sales is to use coupons and deals.
90% of Americans regularly use coupons, making it an effective way to bring in consumers and convert them to paying customers. And coupons aren’t just for households on a budget: middle-class and wealthier households are 2x as likely to use coupons as those on a budget.
You may be thinking, “I just had huge sales around the holidays, why have more?” Coupons and deals actually grow customer loyalty, creating a solid base of customers you can rely on for repeat business.
In fact, it’s the 60% of consumers who feel like winners when they use coupons that will be watching the Super Bowl — with that same competitive spirit. Not only will your coupons and deals pique their initial interest, but by combining this strategy with social media and content marketing, you will have loyal customers that repeatedly shop at your business — regardless of deal or promotion — in no time.
Example: The Bed, Bath & Beyond approach
Bed, Bath & Beyond is known for their consistent use of coupons. From $5 off your next purchase to 20% off your next purchase, they send their customers incentives to visit their stores on a regular basis.
Unlike receiving 1x a week promotional emails or fliers, like the Pennysaver, Bed, Bath & Beyond prints their coupons on heavy stock paper that customers put up on the refrigerator, are dropped into a purse or next to car keys as a reminder for the next trip out to buy new hangers, sheets, baking trays, etc.
While many of the products Bed, Bath & Beyond sells can be found at other retailers, like Walmart or Target, these coupons drive dedicated trips to their stores and away from the competition.
Once inside the store, Bed, Bath & Beyond knows that it’s unlikely a customer will only buy the item that drove the visit; after all, Bed, Bath & Beyond is the land of “impulse buys.”
While Bed, Bath & Beyond is a huge national retailer, you can still take a page out of their coupon strategy book and apply it to your local business. Create a consistent and easy-to-access coupon (or promotion) that consumers regularly see and you’ll create the same type of customer loyalty that Bed, Bath & Beyond has perfected.
Getting your ticket to the big game
If you haven’t been regularly sending out promotions to your customers, launching your program during the Super Bowl is a great time to start. Not only will it be your first big promotion since the holiday season (while also giving you a minor break), it will also jumpstart customer loyalty that will build as the year progresses.
The biggest obstacle you’ll face is understanding how coupons and deals fit into your business model, especially during this timeframe. Local businesses such as restaurants, convenience/grocery stores, retail stores with football related decorations or clothing, electronic stores and home servicemen who can make sure new TV set-ups are fully functional in time for the game will generally have an easier time building the big game into their marketing strategy.
Here’s a few coupon ideas for football-friendly local businesses:
- X% off an overall purchase during Super Bowl timeframe
- X$ off a Super Bowl-related product/service
- Free Super Bowl-related item with minimum purchase
While these are just a few ideas to get you started, you need to be sure that whatever type of deal you create that your local business is still making more money with the promotion (discount included). Discounting is a fine line and if you rely too heavily on it, you run the risk of going the way of retailer C. Wonder.
Football doesn’t relate to my business, what now?
Not every local business can — or should — relate to this great football holiday, and that’s okay! You should never try and force your local business to fit into a promotions holiday that doesn’t apply. However, all the coupons and deals strategies above can still be applied to your business, just leave off the Super Bowl angle.
My point? Coupons and deals are a great way to build customer loyalty, regardless of event or holiday, and you should incorporate them into your overall marketing strategy.
Getting coupons and deals in front of consumers
Once you decide on the coupon you want to share regularly (whether that’s monthly, every other month or quarterly) your work isn’t quite done; you still need to get your deal in front of current and prospective customers and there are multiple ways to accomplish this task (I highly recommend testing to see what works best for your business and once you find something that works, stick with it!).
Mailers
Go the full Bed, Bath & Beyond route and send out mailers. You can do this through a distribution company or by creating a mailing list, just like you have with email.
One interesting way I’ve seen this strategy actioned is with the USPS online change of address service. When someone uses the service, they can choose to receive a “Welcome to the Neighborhood” coupon, giving you the opportunity to showcase your local business to a new customer.
The downside of printed mailers is that they are expensive to create and add up quickly (not to mention the fact that many of them will end up in the trash or recycling bin).
You can use your existing email list in a variety of ways to share coupons and deals, whether it’s inclusion in your monthly newsletter or a dedicated blast to kick off a big promotion.
The nice thing about email is that it connects you directly with people who you know are already interested in your business because they signed up to find out more. Keeping your email list informed about coupons and deals is a surefire way to guarantee you increase sales.
SMS Messaging
SMS messaging is a newer type of coupon/deal distribution strategy, but shortly it will be leading the way. Just like you collect email addresses, start collecting mobile phone numbers that you can send your promotions to.
68% of Passbook users have used the app for coupons and discounts and I know I started using Passbook simply because it was the easiest place to “store” and access a coupon I received via SMS messaging.
Digital distribution
Similar to mailers, distributing your promotion digitally will get your local business in front of customers who you would not have reached via other marketing channels. If you use the LocalVox platform, distributing your coupon or deal across the Internet is easy — all you do is click a button and you’ve shared it on email, social media, business listing directories, coupon sites and apps and your own website.
However, the LocalVox platform does much more than coupon distribution. If you’re interested in learning more about all the features and functions of LocalVox, contact us for a free marketing consultation and we’ll show you how we get results for thousands of local businesses of all types.
The 2016 Super Bowl will be one of many events throughout the year that you can use to jumpstart customer loyalty with coupons and deals. Whether you are a local business that can create Super Bowl-related coupons — or one that runs deals unrelated to the big game — now is the time to beat the competition with a new play!
How has your business used coupons and deals in your sales strategy? Let us know in the comment below!
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