Groupon: Good for guests, Bad for Business

Image courtesy of Google images

We all love a to save some money these days and companies like Groupon and Living Social benefit us as consumers greatly.

If you're unfamiliar with how Groupon works, I'll explain. Businesses offer a discount to their product or service to customers. They set an amount of purchases that have to be made and if there are enough people to buy the offer then the "deal is on." The concept is that a large amount of purchases will make up for the discount they are giving.

The 'Benefits' to the Business

These businesses benefit from inflated sales for a period of time (or so you think). The true benefit they get is the amount of NEW customers to buy their product. When a Groupon representative talks with you this is one of their biggest selling points. They tell you about all of the new faces you'll see and after testing your AMAZING product they will keep coming back. It's true! You WILL see a lot of new people.

BUT, the truth about all those new customers is that the majority of them will not come back without another discount. This is a proven fact and I invite you to even ask these businesses. There are a few reasons why they won't come back:

• They've come to expect a discount and they will wait for your next Groupon offer.
• They like to try new things, but your product just wasn't to their liking. (Surprise, not EVERYONE likes your product)
• They have always wanted to try your product, but the price without a discount is just way too high, so they won't be coming back.

Bad for Business

So what's so bad about offering a discount on Groupon? It's a rip off! Most business owners are blinded by the large amount of new customers that they think they're getting a great deal. In reality, they are still not making full profit on all of those sales. Most offers are 40-60% off their regular price. If a business could live on selling their product all the time at that rate then they shouldn't be charging the original price to begin with.

The other thing most people don't think about with regards to Groupon is they have to be able to make money, too. The way Groupon makes their money is by taking a percentage (40-60%) of the money customers pay for YOUR offer. Let me repeat. They take a cut from your already discounted price!

Let's use one of my favorite offers for an example, 18 holes of Golf with cart rental at 50% off.

Each Offer:

Regular price of such offer is $50

Golf Course through Groupon offers $25

Groupon takes 50% of offer price = $12.50

$50 x 50% = $25

$25 x 50% = $12.50

$25 - $12.50 = $12.50

Total amount business receives = $12.50 or 25%

In the end, Golf Course gave their product away for 75% off!

As a consumer I'm going to keep buying Groupon offers every week because they save me a bunch of money and I get my fix of eating out and trying new things. It's awesome and you know it! But as a professional and someone who helps small businesses with their branding and growth I will absolutely never advise a business owner participate in Groupon. There are countless ways to get exposure and new customers through your doors without needing to discount your product and without giving money away to another company.

If you want some advice to get new customers and keep them loyal or grow your brand please contact me and I'll gladly help. Until next time... #BeAmbitious

Type and text tips for a top-notch brand

It seems as though a lot of people think it does not matter which font your designer chooses with your branding. Well, what kind of expert would I be if I told you that was true? There are tons of tiny details in the font you choose with any body of text that can make a BIG difference in how your brand is reflected. So I'm going to give you some tips to watch for when having someone design your ads or other marketing materials. I will also give you a quick course in the different styles of fonts and what they mean for your brand.

Sans vs. Serif

Lets start with the basics and a couple terms that people who don't work with typography everyday can easily get confused.
There are four main types of fonts: Serif, Sans-serif, Script, and Novelty. Script fonts often look like cursive or hand-written. Novelty fonts are basically any font that does not fit in any of the first three categories. The most commonly used of these are Serif and Sans-serif, but what are they and what's the difference?

This image illustrates the difference between the two. As you can see, there are little notches on the ends of the strokes on the top word. These things are called serifs and they are on a lot of the most used and the oldest fonts like Times and Baskerville. The bottom word has more uniform sized lines where the widths don't vary, this is called sans-serif. The term sans directly translates to "without". So, sans-serif = "without" serif.

Now that we've got that all cleared up here are some tips for the proper use of each type style:

Large amounts of text

When you have large amounts of text in paragraph form it is imperative to consider readability. Certain fonts just make it very difficult for readers to follow. Serif and sans-serif fonts are the ideal typestyles here. It is absolutely never acceptable to use script and novelty fonts for larger amounts of text! These fonts are very difficult to read and should only be used in small amounts – no exceptions. When considering how wide columns of text should be, the rule of thumb is to allow 10-14 words per line. Any longer and the reader may have trouble moving their eyes from the end of one line to the beginning of the next. Too short and your paragraphs will seem long and overwhelming.

So when can I use script and novelty fonts?

I advise limiting your use of script and novelty fonts to short pieces of text like headings and logo use. These fonts often have nice qualities that are very particular to the style of a brand. Script fonts are often wispy and and curly and have nice feminine qualities. They work well for brands of female targeted products, but beware of using them for holiday advertisements since they get overly used by other brands.

What does your typestyle say about your brand?

So which font is right for your brand? Good question. Depending on how the font is used and treated by your designer almost any type style can emit different emotions. The safest routes are these... Serif fonts have a look of old fashion. They give the viewer a sense of reliability in the brand. Sans-serif fonts are often more rectangular and sturdy-looking. This means they represent being strong. However, if you use a lighter weight sans-serif font you can get an opposite result. Sans-serif fonts also work great for giving a very contemporary, sleek, and modern look. As mentioned earlier, script fonts have great feminine qualities. They work well for a softer feel and representing attention to detail. The toughest typestyle to talk about is novelty fonts because they come in all shapes and sizes. My only suggestion here is to use them sparingly.

Still have questions? Don't fret. Shoot me an email or visit my website to learn more. Comment with any questions you might have an I will gladly answer.

As always, #BeAmbitious.

Will your brand be 'scary' this Halloween?

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. It's the start of the holidays, the ides of football season, and all the sweet candy you could wish for is going on sale. (My personal favorite is Reese's peanut butter cups.) My least favorite part of this holiday is all of the poorly executed advertisements by local small businesses. One of the best ways to be effective with your advertisement is to be relevant to current events, and holidays fall in that category. Holidays are your chance to do unique things with your marketing and advertising. Halloween in particular is a great opportunity to make your ads 'scary' this season while still being effective? I'm glad you asked...

Narrow your focus.

I always see small businesses trying to make up ground with larger companies by offering the world to their customers. You give away your product like a last ditch effort from Groupon. (I'll talk about the fails of Groupon in a later post.) What you should be doing is focusing on one promotion and making it a good one. Don't sell yourself short. Your products are good and you just need to advertise THAT. Sure you can take a little percentage off, or some other promotion. Just be sure to focus your advertising on your product, not your price. A consistent, well thought out plan is the key here.

Don't be cheesy.

It seems everyone wants to use crazy colors and sunbursts and huge letters in their ads this time of year. Dial it back a notch and make your ads simple. They should be clear and to the point with an easy to understand message. Go ahead and be ominous and use some cool imagery of skeletons and pumpkins but keep it to a minimum. Just consider the last advertisement you remember and I bet you it was very clean and simple.

Be scary.

Lastly, be scary. By that I mean do something that might not have ever been done before in advertising. Try something new, take a risk. Use guerrilla marketing tactics to surprise your audience. Perhaps try using a social media campaign that you've been wanting to try. #BeScary. Maybe have a sale with the lights off or wait around the corner in a costume with a free sample of your product. Just be sure to be professional.

Let me here what your plans are for your branding these holidays. Leave a comment or email me with your questions.

As always #BeAmbitious.

Template sites like Vistaprint are bad for your business

We've all seen the commercials lately... "I carry 50 business cards on me at any given moment... thanks to Vistaprint, business is BOOMING!"

Besides the fact that no one can actually fit 50 business cards in their wallet or pockets to awkwardly carry around at all times, companies like Vistaprint can't actually have an effect on your business. And here's why...

You see, websites like that, and ThemeForest, and Ink'd give you hundreds of templates to choose from. They claim to have designs to suit every type of business (which is pretty true). The concept behind theses websites is to make your marketing as 'easy' for you as possible. This is all fine and dandy, however they don't truly care how your business grows. If your business doesn't succeed after using their products you can't speak to their representative and work out a new strategy. (they might laugh in your face if you try)

Recognize this design?

The other fault to template companies is that even if you find a perfect design to 'suit your business' there is likely 10,000 other businesses who have the exact same design as you. These companies make their money on quantity over quality.

This is the after effects of good branding. 

Funny story... about 10 months ago I went to visit a client of mine at one of her places of business to do a little research before we started on her branding. She travels to expos and shows to sell her vintage repurposed products. The first stand I noticed at the show had business cards exactly like hers. I of course assumed this stand was the same company as hers and I asked the person if she knew my client and that I would be working with her. After she gave me a very confused look I had to ask where she got her business cards from... you guessed it, Vistaprint.

The moral of that story is that with templated designs you can easily have your business get lost in the mix and easily lose business to competitors with the same look.

Wondering where you should go instead of these sites? Comment with your questions below or visit my site, here, to see the unique styles I put together for my clients.

... and as always

BE AMBITIOUS.