Originally posted 2-10-16, Updated 9-13-21
While advertising is important for every business, not every business has enough of a budget to advertise well. While anyone can use a little extra help making their advertising dollars stretch further, it's especially true of small businesses in highly competitive markets — restaurants, spas, nail and hair salons, single location retail stores, for example. Fortunately, you do have options!
In today's post, we're going to talk about ShopMidMo.com, a source of creative financing that's different from any other “coupon site” you’ve encountered.
ShopMidMo is a site that offers customers gift certificates from mid-Missouri businesses at special discounts, usually between 15% and 40% off. Through our email newsletter, they also have access to other coupon codes and special offers. All the businesses featured are local, and certificates are available both in print and digital (email or mobile). Many people hear the ads on ShopMidMo and listen for what's available, others bookmark the page and just check back periodically to see what's available. ShopMidMo is great if you're interested in dining at a restaurant (for example) and want to see if you can save a little money. You can shop by category, location, or sign up for the ShopMidMo newsletter to get an email with new businesses with offers on the site.
For businesses featured on ShopMidMo, however, it's a valuable opportunity for:
All the businesses featured on ShopMidMo.com are hand-picked by Zimmer Communications. In this way, we can ensure that those appearing on ShopMidMo are the businesses that need to be there, and are of a quality that ensures the growth and success of all the businesses listed.
When you visit ShopMidMo.com, you'll notice many of the businesses are restaurants. That's because their gift certificates sell the fastest, and tend to be a huge revenue driver on the site. However, that doesn't mean we only work exclusively with restaurateurs. Nail salons, hair salons, and massage therapists have found success by taking advantage of the creative financing this service has to offer. Customers can also find businesses like:
Lodges
Golfing
Mini-golf (and other types of entertainment)
Automotive services
Florists
Gyms and athletic services
Local apparel boutiques
What's more, businesses that want to expand their advertising from one radio station to two, or that want to increase the frequency of their advertising can take advantage of this program as well.
First, it's important to understand why ShopMidMo.com is different from other coupon sites. As we mentioned, businesses are personally selected by the Zimmer Communications rep partnered with them, unlike most coupon sites that accept any business.
However, the biggest difference is that your advertising opportunities are funded in trade, meaning that businesses with a small marketing budget - or no budget at all - can get access to effective advertising. For example, you provide the payment for your campaign by offering discounted gift cards or other offers through ShopMidMo.
Additionally, the marketing efforts the trade pays for are full action campaigns. These campaigns include strong calls to action at a frequency that should offer great results quickly. Your rep will work with you to determine which station is best for your campaign based on your industry and customer base.
It’s worth emphasizing that ShopMidMo utilizes discounted gift cards. This is another big way that this program is different, and why it has so much more to offer your business. First, there’s the obvious... customers are buying a gift card, unlike other coupon sites, which only offer a discount on goods or services. It is a discounted gift card, yes, however, it’s roughly equivalent to the sort of discount the coupon would be offering anyway. The other obvious aspect is that being on ShopMidMo.com is, in itself, marketing. It puts your brand in a positive light while also garnering you ROI through every purchase.
Traditionally speaking, gift cards are a liability, a promise for future services, but when they go unused (i.e., expire) or are only ever partially used, they positively impact your bottom line as revenue. And keep in mind that 72% of those spending a gift card will make purchases larger than the gift card amount — about 20% or more above the gift card total, to be exact. So a single gift card purchase can actually become a much larger sale in addition to bringing in foot traffic. Furthermore, 55% of gift card spenders require more than one trip to spend their card, which brings in repeated foot traffic. As you can see, by participating in ShopMidMo, what you offer in trade for a full action campaign can actually bring you so much more than just advertising.
Now that you understand why ShopMidMo.com is different from the other coupon sites, you can begin to consider whether or not ShopMidMo is a good option for helping your business get advertising. It offers the possibility to start a radio campaign, or to expand it, and thus reach your customers more effectively.