Using Groupon or a coupon service for home based business

I recently began a home based esthetics business. Eventually I'll move to an office or suite. I need to build my clientele and want to know, does anyone have experience using Groupon when starting out? Should I hold off on a promotion service until I get into a non home based facility? Any thoughts or comments are appreciated, thanks!

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Permalink Reply by BZ Catalano on June 3, 2017 at 7:30pm

Hi Niki,

I used Groupon when I first started my business. While I appreciated not having to spend a lot of money on advertising, I noticed that the clients that used Groupon were looking for cheap and were "hopping" from one discounted service to the next and not planning on being loyal clients.

Maybe you can consider using Yelp. You can offer deals on Yelp, such as a Check In discount. You can also pay for your Yelp page to be advertised on other pages that do similar services that you do. It can be at whatever dollar amount you set. People can also buy Gift Certificates through Yelp to use at your location. Yelp gets the payment, takes their cut of the money, and sends you a check. I found this to be pretty helpful while building my business. People that buy those deals and certificates will then most likely write you reviews, increasing your Yelp presence, which will also help people find you when they Google the types of services you provide in your area.

I hope all of this made sense. Wishing you the best of luck and you build your business and your brand!