Local Small Business Marketing with Plazaly

When businesses do local small business marketing by offering a deal, it’s a great way to appeal to customers. Everyone loves saving money, especially when the savings are on items people typically buy or activities they normally do.

We’ve been busy the past few months! First, we partnered with central Austin sushi restaurant, Mikado Ryotei, to run a special one-night deal. The chef created a custom six-course meal using ingredients that are not on the restaurant’s regular menu. The event sold out in a matter of days.

We have another offer in the works with Warrior II Yoga in North Austin. If you have a business and you’re not sure what type of deal to run, see if this offer inspires some ideas. We found out that Austin is one of the “yoga friendliest” cities in the U.S. So we knew there was an opportunity to promote a unique deal to professionals in Austin. One thought was to promote the yoga studio for office team-building events. Our Yoga II Warrior deal is expected to go live any day now. Sign up for our newsletter so that you’re alerted to all of our latest and greatest local deals.

Local small business marketing drives growth when they offer a deal

Research has shown that people who otherwise have no interest in making a purchase will do so if there’s a discount or deal. And in many cases, people who use a coupon will spend more than they intended.

But there are so many more benefits for businesses when they offer a deal to new and existing customers.

Offer a deal locally to increase local SEO and website traffic

Businesses see increased website traffic once their deal is doing well in local SEO and promoted on social media, in blog posts, subscription newsletters and email blasts. So thousands of customers who otherwise don’t know about your brand will have a great incentive for visiting your website. Our goal is to inspire them to go on a money-saving buying spree. 

Local deals increase customer retention

Once consumers visit your website to browse your inventory or make a reservation or appointment, the first step to improving retention numbers is by asking customers to sign up for your newsletter and follow you on social media. It costs five times more to acquire new customers than to retain existing customers. Don’t be one of the 44% of businesses that know about this statistic but still focus on new customer acquisitions.

Local small business marketing increases sales

Sure, there are more established deal sites out there, but many business owners see them as predatory vampires only interested in squeezing merchants out of every penny of profit. They’re known for pressuring small business owners to offer deals that are much too steep. They’re also notoriously dishonest about how much demand for their deals owners should expect to see. Plazaly takes a smaller commission because we want you to be successful. Our goal is to help increase your sales. The way our business model is set up is that we can succeed only if local businesses succeed first.

Improve your ad and marketing efforts

The best way to drive growth and increase sales is by getting your brand out in front of more consumers. The type of marketing strategy needed to move the needle is nearly impossible to execute without access to marketing, promotions and SEO experts who can create original content for blogs, ads, and social media platforms. If your competition is running deals on old-school deal sites, there’s even more urgency for your business to offer customers a good deal. Just be sure to partner with a deal site that has stakes in your survival. 

Here are some instant advantages for business that offer a local deal:

• You will attract lots of customers. Sixty-one percent of consumers say they use deals to get discounts on products and services. More than 80% of American shoppers say they’re thinking about finding a deal when shopping. But nearly all consumers are actively looking for a deal while shopping.
• You can retain more customers. It’s easier to market to consumers if you know a little bit about them. While shoppers are adamant about maintaining their privacy, some customers will share info with merchants in return for a special offer. Sixty percent of men and 66% of women will let you in on their age, income, likes and dislikes if in return you give them a good deal. And then it’s easier to retain customers if you know a little bit about them.
• Running a deal is an inexpensive way to advertise. While you’re tweeting about your buy-one-get-one-free deal, you’re also promoting your brand like crazy. Not only will a deal entice existing customers to return, but new customers will be tempted to try your business. People love to share deals with their friends and loved ones, too. So a good deal can get a lot of mileage on Facebook and Instagram. And there’s very little you need to do to make that happen.
• You can sell slow-moving inventory faster. Merchants love using online discounts and deals to sell slow-moving items during slow periods, like after the holidays. Restaurants have a lot of success using deals to attract customers on otherwise slow evenings. And service providers use deals to get customers to try new things. For example, rock-climbing gyms sell lessons for beginners, dentists offer tooth-whitening kits, and massage studios add a free 30-minute massage with the purchase of the first half hour.