28 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
28 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Attacking Groupon

by CreekChub
24 replies
Sort of.

I've been contacting smaller businesses that are advertising with Groupon, as it seems a no-brainer that I could help them get more results for the same or less money than they're "paying" with groupon. I put together what I thought was a fairly compelling email, and hit them with it as soon as the groupon is finished running.

It's a personal email, "Hi I'm Joe Blow, a local guy who specializes in helping small businesses get more customers", blah blah blah. It's not a one-line ala "If I could get you more customers could you handle the business?" because that always seems cheesy to me.

To date, no responses. I've sent maybe ten of the, so I'm well aware that isn't enough to base much on, but I was curious how you guys are doing it? Any thoughts?
#attacking #groupon
  • Profile picture of the author jimbo13
    Originally Posted by CreekChub View Post

    as it seems a no-brainer that I could help them get more results for the same or less money than they're "paying" with groupon.
    Why is it a no brainer?

    Dan
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4690118].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author CreekChub
      Originally Posted by jimbo13 View Post

      Why is it a no brainer?

      Dan
      Because I know my capabilities. Through using just the basics (onpage SEO, basic offsite tactics, mobile site, CPC SMS, etc.) I can cost effectively increase their customer base. Are you aware of the Groupon pricing structure? It is increasingly being seen as good for consumers, but not so good for many businesses. Many of these small businesses either have no site, or a completely non-optimized basic and ugly site with no way to capture customer information. No marketing, no nothing. They have been hoping for the best or sticking a small ad in the local coupon magazine, and just recently heard that Groupon was the magic bullet. That ain't the case, and they're about to find that out.

      That said, they're spending money and it isn't doing much for them. If they spent it with me, I could show some results.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4690139].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author jimbo13
        Okay. It is a no brainer for you then but I don't know your capabilities.

        So why is it a no brainer for me if I own a Restaurant for example?

        How would I or whoever you contacted know that?

        If you offered your services for a fortnight and I saw a dramatic increase in footfall then yes it would be a no brainer to continue with you.

        Are you doing this kind of thing?

        Dan
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4690167].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author CreekChub
          Originally Posted by jimbo13 View Post

          Okay. It is a no brainer for you then but I don't know your capabilities.

          So why is it a no brainer for me if I own a Restaurant for example?

          How would I or whoever you contacted know that?

          If you offered your services for a fortnight and I saw a dramatic increase in footfall then yes it would be a no brainer to continue with you.

          Are you doing this kind of thing?

          Dan
          Therein lies the question: How do they know?

          They don't, really, and I guess it comes down to my sales skills. I do well in person, but that isn't always an option. And I'm not terribly interested in offering my services for free for a couple of weeks. One, it cheapens the service, and two - 2 weeks isn't really enough time to generate alot of long-term traffic. It works for Groupon in the short term, and that's their hook. I'm more interested in long term results and a long term relationship.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4690262].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author somacorellc
    Just to offer a point of comparison, I had 100 of these made:



    I hit up groupon every morning and sent a postcard to everyone in my state that's running an offer. After 100 postcards went out, only one person called, and they already did all the things - email capture, incentives, seo stuff, etc etc.

    For me, it was pretty much a failed experiment. YMMV
    Signature
    Web Design Columbia SC
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4690272].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author RRG
      Originally Posted by somacorellc View Post

      Just to offer a point of comparison, I had 100 of these made:



      I hit up groupon every morning and sent a postcard to everyone in my state that's running an offer. After 100 postcards went out, only one person called, and they already did all the things - email capture, incentives, seo stuff, etc etc.

      For me, it was pretty much a failed experiment. YMMV
      Well, there are some problems with your postcard, first of all.

      Secondly, 100 pieces is nowhere close to enough for a legitimate test.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4690384].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author CreekChub
    From people that have put some time into this:

    Is Groupon a lost cause? I'm going to keep plugging away at it, but I wonder if the fact that the business owner doesn't actually have to pay money out of their pocket make the Groupon thing seem more appealing, even if it isn't the best way to go in the long run.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4690334].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Huskerdarren
    The Groupon model does seem very promising but I haven't heard from anyone on here that is actually doing it, at least someone who is not fictional.

    I'd like to hear from someone on this forum that is one of the regularly contributing trusted members. They don't have to share any details about how they operate, just that it is a worthwhile method.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4690684].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author CreekChub
    That's kind of where I was going with the post. I know this sounds bad, but it would be nice to know that someone is making it work before I invest a ton of time trying to tweak my delivery.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4690700].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author kirbymarketingconcierge
      there are # of wso's on this from the last few months.

      hope this helps

      I have been gearing up to hit these groupon leads myself.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4690995].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author tnleverett
    Hey Creekchub,

    Maybe you should go talk to some business owners in person and offer to do a test for free.

    If you can get things going, they would more than likely continue to work with you for a fee.

    I am sure you could get plenty of referral business, as well.

    It seems to me that you definitely have the right idea!

    Just keep at it!

    Tommy
    Signature

    Are you involved in the Network Marketing industry? How are you getting leads? Connect with me on my FB Fan Page and let's chat! www.facebook.com/leadstrategist

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4691513].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Warrior Ben
    I mentioned this in some other posts, but I gave it a solid two weeks of calling companies running Groupons. In total I called about 75 businesses (some more than once) and get ZERO appointments. To put this into perspective, I normally get around 10 appointments when I call 75 businesses. This number varies on how many decision makers I get a hold of when I make the first call, but the 0% response rate for Groupon made me wonder what was up.

    I dug into it a little more and found out that Groupon is well aware that other marketing companies call up the merchants who run Groupons. They heavily warn their merchants of this and scare them away from meeting with other businesses by holding a non-compete over the merchant's head. Yes the non-compete is only for using other similar services like LivingSocial, but Groupon's sales reps don't make this distinction.

    My personal advice would be to look for other leads sources. I limit my leads (besides referrals) to businesses who area already advertising. This way I know they have a marketing budget and it makes perfect sense to sell them a Mobile Website linked to a QR Code that they can place on their ad. To find ads, just start looking around-- Newspapers, magazines, yellow-pages, Coupon Clippers, ValPaks, etc.... Check out the front of your Grocery store and you'll see plenty of free publications for Real Estate, Apartments, Cars... these are all great lead sources. Just stay away from people selling $20 websites at the grocery store! ;-)

    I hope this helps!

    -Ben
    Signature
    The Best of Warrior Ben: My Most Popular Warrior Forum Posts
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4692225].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author jrobconsult
      Ben has lots of great advice. I will add a few more thing. many small business owners are lured into running a Groupon because of no cash up-front. These will result in some businesses not having the cash to pay you. I have personally seen small businesses juggling their shipments from UPS, because they could not pay the cash for merchandise and their credit is shot.

      There have been several WSO's and at least several big time marketer's targeting Groupon, so their is a lot of competition. I had limited success, but also giving some info for free and even then had a complete idiot owner calling and leaving me a message. There are better ROI's like Ben listed.

      One more fact is you are trying to get small business owners who do not follow up with their Groupon customers. I have purchased over 25 daily deals and had zero businesses try to get my contact offer or follow up with me. The small business owners don't realize they are leaving tens of thousands of dollars on the table.

      I have change my strategy to start collecting names and addresses of businesses in my state and one particular niche all over I will contact them 60-90 days after their campaign started and will bring up the non-compete. However, there are easier ways to make money with offline businesses.
      Signature
      San Antonio Estate Liquidators
      Estate Sales San Antonio
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4692620].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Chris Cho
    I'm sure you guys won't believe it... but I get about 25-30% call back and I close couple out of those. I honestly get too lazy and at this time I can't take on more clients so I stop marketing.

    i honestly was thinking about emailing or cold calling this list... but I guess I shouldn't any more. I also thought about postcard marketing but i'll stick to my guns. thanks for the info.

    I love this forum because people tend to test some things out for me. I just saved myself at least $1000-$3000 from testing. gracias amigos
    Signature
    My Blog on Offline, Travels, and Life!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4692626].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author jrobconsult
      Originally Posted by Chris Cho View Post

      I'm sure you guys won't believe it... but I get about 25-30% call back and I close couple out of those. I honestly get too lazy and at this time I can't take on more clients so I stop marketing.

      i honestly was thinking about emailing or cold calling this list... but I guess I shouldn't any more. I also thought about postcard marketing but i'll stick to my guns. thanks for the info.

      I love this forum because people tend to test some things out for me. I just saved myself at least $1000-$3000 from testing. gracias amigos
      Postcard marketing did nothing for me, and my limited success was a one page letter along with a short business article. I had a two page letter, but nowhere as successful.
      Signature
      San Antonio Estate Liquidators
      Estate Sales San Antonio
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4693075].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Chris Cho
        Originally Posted by jrobconsult View Post

        Postcard marketing did nothing for me, and my limited success was a one page letter along with a short business article. I had a two page letter, but nowhere as successful.
        At the end of the day, it's not what the post card, one page, or two page letters. It's all about what you write in the letter.

        Plus, are they even opening your mail? is it hand written? is it personal? should check out some of the gary halbert letters. It really helped me a lot w my direct mailing.

        referral > personal letter > post card > phone call > email
        Signature
        My Blog on Offline, Travels, and Life!
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4693321].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author jrobconsult
          Originally Posted by Chris Cho View Post

          At the end of the day, it's not what the post card, one page, or two page letters. It's all about what you write in the letter.

          Plus, are they even opening your mail? is it hand written? is it personal? should check out some of the gary halbert letters. It really helped me a lot w my direct mailing.

          referral > personal letter > post card > phone call > email
          That is partially correct. I have sent out way over 100,000 direct mail letters and postcards over the last 8 years for clients. My results have been excellent and use the other little tricks like a decorative stamp, female 's handwriting and no return address.

          I just tested different things and in this case, the results were better for the one page letter. Normally, postcards do the best for me.

          I have read plenty of Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer tricks on copywriting. I will address the no compete clause and see if the resultr improve at all. Thanks for the tips.
          Signature
          San Antonio Estate Liquidators
          Estate Sales San Antonio
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4693850].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author thomasmps
    I will chime in, because I am director of sales for a company that sources deals for 85 media companies that have their own daily deal program. I can tell you that we do warn merchants about others coming around trying to utilize this grouipon method.

    Our parent company provides a white label daily deal program that is used by many major media companies . If your interested in getting involved and doing your own daily deal program then let me know. I dont care what is being said on this forum but our business is going very strong and I get from 15-25 leads per day from business owners who contact us about running a deal on one of our media company daily deal sites.

    We walso work with major brands in regards to putting together daily deal promotions and these companies are very open to the exposure that this platform provides to them.

    If you have contacts with business owners who would like to do a daily deal then contact me,I can work out a commission for you as well. If you have a business owner contact who is well known in there market then I can get them tv time as well for no cost other than doing the deal,because 90% of our clients are television stations.

    As a matter of fact this could be a great way to make money and get in the door for offline market. You can see i have been a member for a long time so I just want to help warriors make some money from this growing market

    any question just ask.

    Thomas
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4697984].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author nowfindadam
    I hope plenty of you took Thomas up on his offer, he sounds like he has his finger on the pulse here from the merchants point of view.

    If you're working WITH small businesses and are considering daily deal sites as a lead generator and advertising platform, be sure to advise your clients carefully.

    Used correctly, daily deal sites can be an absolute GOLDMINE of leads and future business, but you really need to know how to work them. As Thomas says, he is getting 15-25 leads a day from businesses wanting to do daily deals....there is gold in these mountains
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4790021].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Quirpo
    I own a company that offers daily deals kind of like Groupon.

    It is not an easy market.....and we offer free deals to consumers (they have to earn them by referring friends and earning points), and we charge our businesses far less than most daily deal companies.

    I own a marketing company.....so we also offer our customers long-term seo and online promotion even when their deals are not running. - Still......businesses do not just come running at the opportunity. In fact, they will spend hundreds or even thousands on print and radio ads that may bring them a 0.5% response or less before they will try us.

    It is a profitable business....and has great potential.......but honestly a lot of business owners just don't understand or know what they are doing. I have seen business go out of business....when they should have jumped on a groupon.....it may have saved a slow season, etc., to bring them back in the black.

    Anyway......good to share with you guys.....and hope to meet some like minded business owners.
    Signature

    I give thanks everyday for my wonderful family......but I still work way too much!

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4828546].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author jrobconsult
      Originally Posted by Quirpo View Post

      I own a company that offers daily deals kind of like Groupon.

      It is not an easy market.....and we offer free deals to consumers (they have to earn them by referring friends and earning points), and we charge our businesses far less than most daily deal companies.

      I own a marketing company.....so we also offer our customers long-term seo and online promotion even when their deals are not running. - Still......businesses do not just come running at the opportunity. In fact, they will spend hundreds or even thousands on print and radio ads that may bring them a 0.5% response or less before they will try us.

      It is a profitable business....and has great potential.......but honestly a lot of business owners just don't understand or know what they are doing. I have seen business go out of business....when they should have jumped on a groupon.....it may have saved a slow season, etc., to bring them back in the black.

      Anyway......good to share with you guys.....and hope to meet some like minded business owners.
      Your post is full of good points. Unfortunately, there is a significant amount of business owners who could do much better, if their ego did not get in the way. I did many a promotional sale and liquidation sale and many of the owners were wonderful. However , about 20% should not have been running a business.

      Some of the ones running liquidation sales could have been avoided if they would take expert advice. Even after paying a large sum of money, these owners would want to do it their way instead of the proven strategy that had worked for many other businesses.

      Small business owners as a group are more resistant to change than the average population. They know their business needs help, but won't take the steps needed until it is too late.

      I believe than daily deal sites can be profitable for the right small business owner with proper planning and execution. However, many do not even attempt to capture the contact info or follow up with the new customers.

      All you can do is try to educate as many small small business owners as possible and then over deliver on your services.
      Signature
      San Antonio Estate Liquidators
      Estate Sales San Antonio
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4830529].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author prostarprofitsdotcom
    I see a problem with everyone advice check out this podcast with Den Jackson and Joe Polish Episode 024: The one with more cheese and less whiskers « I Love Marketing
    Signature
    Discover the secrets to Never paying out of pocket for your Advertising EVER AGAIN!! CLICK HERE

    Dial 888-888-9802, ext 66509 (3) , code 1 (#) FREE Recorded Message
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4830910].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author jrobconsult
      Originally Posted by prostarprofitsdotcom View Post

      I see a problem with everyone advice check out this podcast with Den Jackson and Joe Polish Episode 024: The one with more cheese and less whiskers « I Love Marketing
      I see problems with your advice also. Joe Polish is a smart marketer and the cheese for the Groupon business owners is no money up-front and the possibility of many new customers. However, I worked for a large company with many consultants and basically the following was stated by the consultants.

      Somewhere between 10-30% of small business owners should not be in business. They were either not qualified or would not change to make their business viable. I don't care how much "cheese" they were offered.

      Believe it or not, some owners would hope we would fail with their business, so they could say the consultant could not help me either(Unbelievable, but true). Their ego meant more than money. When, I was first told this, I thought no way. I had to experience it to believe it.

      I don't know your background, but I spent 4-8 weeks 50 hours weekly with the same business owner, so I saw many things others were not able to. This is the same all over the country and in many different industries.

      You may have some good points, but you would have better success without your quote "I see a problem with everyone advice". My rants over....Back to the regularly schedule program........
      Signature
      San Antonio Estate Liquidators
      Estate Sales San Antonio
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4831162].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Centurian
        Many good points and counterpoints here.

        To attract attention of these owners, you can attack Groupon's weakness.

        Groupon gets them more sales, but sucks all the profit out. Sometimes leaving owners gasping for air.

        Your copy needs to be compelling.

        Don't let Groupon suck your profits dry!         or

        Got more Groupon sales?

        The dirty little secret your salesman didn't tell you.

        How much profit did Groupon take from you?

        (chart showing terrible returns here)

        Did they warn you I was coming?

        Good thing. Here's why they fear me.

        (make a bold claim here. then back it up.)
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4831518].message }}

Trending Topics