Page 142 - Duct Tape Marketing

Get Found Online in Your Town

retailers like Eddie Bauer have been around for years, but
smart offerings by folks like PlacePop (www.placepop.com/)
are making the punch card concept an easy virtual or online
play. Merchants can offer their own version of a check-in—
and capture rich data on their most loyal customers.
Ride the group buying craze—If you’re not familiar with group
coupon buying services like Groupon, then you’re probably
not reading this book. Facebook app maker WildFire (www
.wildfireapp.com/) offers small businesses the ability to create
their own group buying offers and take advantage of the
viral and social nature of this play to create local Facebook
engagement.
Google Places coupons—When local shoppers do turn to a search
engine for local shopping, they often uncover your Google
Places page (or at least you should be working to make sure they
do). Google has a handy coupon tool that automatically creates
mobile versions of your coupons and offer.
Advertise on mobile coupon networks—You can also place your
ads on Mobile coupon networks (www.getyowza.com/learn/
merchant) and get distribution of your coupons across many
local sites.
Make your own game—The game-playing aspect of many social
location biggies is an aspect that should not be overlooked when
trying to develop your own strategy. The Web app SCVNGR
(www.scvngr.com/) is a tool that allows you to create your own
game and have it related to verified check-ins for a specific QR
code. This would be pretty cool for a merchant association to
use to create a scavenger hunt check-in game.

And, of course, make sure your business is listed with the major
players—Foursquare, Yelp, Gowalla, and Facebook Places.

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