Mobile offers; what are they, are they coupons, what do I do with them?
I am going to assume that you have already jumped on the mobile marketing/advertising bandwagon. What goes along with your mobile presence is mobile offers (and yes, those are mobile coupons too!). There are a few things that you should know before just throwing out a few offers to help get those new clients/customers in.
1. Make sure it is relevant. Be sure that the audience that you are trying to reach will understand and the coupon will drive them to action. Don’t post a summer promotion and keep it up during the winter (more on that later).
2. Be honest, don’t deceive. There is nothing worse than getting a mobile coupon, or any coupon for that matter, and finding out after you go to purchase the service or product that there is small print about needing to purchases additional products/services to redeem it. Put it all out there. You want your new customer to come back after you gave them the deal.
3. Be timely. In mobile, content becomes irrelevant very quickly. Posting an offer/coupon and leaving it there for months is not a deal, it is a price change. Create offers that have to do with the season/holiday that is relevant for that time of the year. Heating deals in September, floral in the week before Mother’s Day. Set an expiration date on your offer/coupon. I would suggest nothing longer than a couple months and take the time to update it regularly, you will see the difference.
4. Make the offer trackable. Many businesses make the mistake of creating offers/coupons and not being able to track the new business the offer brought in. Your consumers will not be bringing in a piece of paper for you to keep, they will bring their phone to show you the coupon. Many coupon/offer programs have a customizable field for you to enter in a code. If you do not have a system that generates one for you, make one up. Being able to track what your efforts are doing is important knowledge to have.
5. Call to action. Make sure it’s clear what you want the consumer to do. Get creative. Putting “Call today for a free estimate” is not going to cut it. “50% off your summer trip tune-up” is calling the consumer to action and keeping it relevant. You can also add info for upcoming local events; “Make your car sparkle for the Grand Prix this month, 20% off with this coupon.” In the mobile space, actions speak louder than words, so let’s get them taking action.
