The Budget Room

Coupons are tokens ? usually in the form of documents (say tickets) or digital codes, through which a business offers discounts to the buyers (and prospective buyers) of its products. They are among the most under-utilized business promotional tools, yet they offer a business a good opportunity to grow to the next level.

There are at least two ways through which a business owner can promote their enterprise using coupons, which are basically described as ?discount tokens? ? that is documents or codes which a business gives to its customers or prospective customers, so that upon entering the code or showing the document which makes up the coupon when making a purchase, they can get the discount contained therein (in the coupons).

The first of these is where a business uses the coupons as a new customer attraction tool. The arrangement is simple: you hold an awareness creation campaign ? where you tell people about your product (which could be a tangible good or a service), what it can do for them, how it can enhance their lives and so on, and then proceed to offer them the coupons, telling them that should they present the coupon tickets when making their first purchase (in the case of a brick and mortar store setting), or should they enter the coupon code (in the case of an online store setting) when making their first purchase, they would qualify for such and such a discount. Of course, while this might not make people who have no use for your product to buy it, it is sure to make those who have some need for it, and who would have otherwise bought it from your competitor to now purchase it from you ? hence giving you a new customer, whom (depending on how you treat him or her) can be converted into a ?lifetime customer.?

In that way, too, coupons can be used to lure customers from competitors (like where they get to see the opportunity to making a significant saving by opting to buy from you rather than from a non-coupon offering competitor). Where the aim in offering coupons is to lure customers from competitors though, the discount in them has to be huge enough to cut off loyalty ties, which often run very deep.

Coupons could also be used to create loyalty among your very own customers ? a handy tool in a competitive market, where it is often much easier to retain existent business than to try to create new business. Where coupons are used for this purpose, the idea would be to tell your existent customers that upon every purchase they make from you, they would be getting a coupon, which qualifies them for some discount the next time they come to make a purchase from you.

The money to finance the coupons can come from your marketing budget, where instead of splashing money on marketing campaigns that target people who would never, for their lives, buy what you have to offer; you get a way to target ?better prospects? offering them something that sends the subconscious message that you care for them and appreciate their business.