With less money to spend consumers are going to be looking for more value in tight times. Using coupons both offline and online can increase sales and provide just the right incentive to motivate a buyer to make  a purchase. Therefore using coupons could just be the key to get your sales moving, by providing value through discounts that consumers will perceive as getting more for less.

By using coupons you will be able to measure the marketing program’s success by coupons mailed vs. redeemed. Or if using an e-coupon online you can directly track that back to online orders or in store redemption. Using coupons for promotion also helps to introduce your store or service offering to new people who did not previously know about your business.

Also remember to create a sense of urgency by indicating an expiry date, indicating a limited time offer. This tactic usually helps to motivate anyone who is sitting on the fence and is unsure if they should buy or not. You may even noticed a recent trend to offer reduced pricing from your vendors or suppliers citing recent economic conditions as their motivation to discount prices. Ask yourself if this led you to increase spending to take advantage of the opportunity or to at least maintain your current spend.

But how do you distribute your coupons?

A recent study from comScore Media Metrix indicated, coupon sites were the fastest-growing online category in November 2008, up 32% from October to 35.6 million visitors.

One such example of a coupon aggregator is Coupons.com a site that allows consumers to select and print coupons that can be redeemed at stores offline.  Case in point the website had had 8.5 million visitors in November 2008. However Compete has since reported the site receives over 14 million unique monthly visitors which is a significant jump over last year.

Source:  Coupon Sites Grow at a Fast Click, eMarketer Feb 19

Coupon Promotion Tips

1. Name the product being offered at and at a discounted price. Example: “On Sale now for 20% off. ($X value)”
2. Add a start date if the coupon is mailed before the promotion starts. And remember to add an expiry date at a minimum.
3. Indicate if the discount is before or after adding tax. This will save alot of explaining later.
4. Limit quantities. Example: 1 per person/family
5. Define who should be receiving the coupon (New Customers vs. Rewarding Existing Customers)
6. Remember not to give away too much so you still make a profit even if honoring the discount.

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• Defining Advertising Objectives for Small Business
• Consider Timing as part of your Marketing
• Small Businesses still prefer Vendor supplied Business Advice
• HubSpot Study: Small Businesses That Blog Get 55% More Website Visitors
• How to get your Coupons to spread

According to “A Channel in Transformation: Vertical Market Trends in Direct Mail 2009,” from the Winterberry Group, US direct mail spending fell nearly 3% last year.
Worse yet, Winterberry is predicting further declines in direct mail spending by another 8% to 9% this year.

The financial services industry has traditionally sent a lot of mail in previous years, but they have had to cut back drastically too. Postage costs rising, and production costs continue to rise as well. Therefore the habit of  sending out a lot of direct mail pieces to an untargeted group of people is going to soon be  passé. In favor of small batch sizes that are more customized to the recipient.

Are you still planning direct mail campaigns for this year, or are you cutting back? Leave a comment below and let us know.

Read More about the results at eMarketer

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• Small Businesses still prefer Vendor supplied Business Advice
• Billy Mays the Unapologizing Direct Marketer
• Coupons can be used to accelerate sales in down economy