The recent craze over these deep discount coupon sites (Groupon, Living Social, and Deal Chicken) has many businesses making rash decisions without thinking about the full cost for this type of marketing. Here’s how it works….
A sales person from one of these sites will call the business and present to them an opportunity to reach out to millions of users with an offer to try their business (at a severe discount often times 30% to 75% off regular prices) for no advertising costs. That’s right, it’s FREE advertising. Wait, it’s not really FREE. Typically, these sites will charge 25% to 50% as a commission for any sales generated from the deal. Let’s do the math. Continue reading