Easy Street Designs at 109 Kiva Rd in Security, CO is pleased to announce we now carry MacVan street maps of Colorado Springs, as well as their Colorado map book.
Regular maps retail for just $4.95, the laminated version is $7.95 and the big map book is just $24.85. Other MacVan maps also available upon request.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
20 Cent Color Copies or Prints
Easy Street Designs' 20 cent color copy sale starts Monday! Two-sided, 39 cents. Upgrade to gloss just 3 cents more!
Customer provided file or hard copy, no full bleed.
$7.50 flat rate shipping anywhere in the continental U.S.
Customer provided file or hard copy, no full bleed.
$7.50 flat rate shipping anywhere in the continental U.S.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Traditional Values can Make For Happy Holidays
Many businesses count on the fourth quarter holiday season to make their year. With unemployment nearing 10% nationwide and an uncertain economy still with us, this holiday season will likely not be a blockbuster. However, that doesn't mean you can’t make it a jolly one.
Owning and operating a successful small business is not all about piling up cash. It’s about freedom, rising to challenges, meeting and exceeding people’s needs and expectations and generally making people’s day a little brighter and having fun doing it.
Whether you’re a religious person or not, the holidays are a time to focus on the real values in your life; family, friends, remembering good times past and creating new ones. Perhaps it’s because the days are shorter and the weather is colder that we have come to see this season as a time to concentrate on the warm and the bright side of life. Whatever the motivation, this is a good year to really take it to heart.
How does this relate to your holiday business strategy? Well, money may be tight for consumers this year, but they still want to reinforce personal connections and traditions. If you don’t currently carry greeting cards, maybe you should start. Unique, custom cards are particularly popular, but if you aren't the artsy-crafty type, a service like Leanin’ Tree can provide both the displays and the stock.
You may carry fewer of any given high end item, but don’t bail on them entirely. Many families will still choose to make high end purchases, just not as many of them. On the other end, you’ll want to offer low priced alternatives, but don’t go low quality. An inexpensive gift that lasts can be appreciated for years to come. A cheap trinket that breaks within a week might just foster disdain. Ornaments make a great low cost gift item. Whether it be a wreath, a wall hanging or something for the tree, it’s something that most everyone can afford and may even be passed along to future generations.
Don’t be afraid to deck the halls. Despite what you may have heard on the news, a festive atmosphere is not going to offend enough people to worry about, unless your business model is strategically targeted at killjoys. You don’t have to be a born again Christian to appreciate a good light show, even if it does involve a manger. You can also include Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Santa Claus...go nuts.
A great in-store promotion, especially in tough economic times, is drawing for free gifts or stuffed stockings for the kids. This year, rather than one big one, consider several smaller ones. Make the drawing at least a week in advance of Christmas. Kid’s love to unwrap surprises. It doesn’t have to be a new car or a PlayStation. Just something fun. A gift card or certificate to a local restaurant can provide an evening of family fun for your customers while also helping out a fellow local business owner.
In uncertain times, people often look to the past for comfort and for grounding. Think nostalgia. Traditional holiday books, albums and the toys and games you grew up with could be good sellers this year. On the “new stuff” end, think communication. While you may not want to go head to head in the cell phone sales arena, you could offer accessories like colorful cases and head phones. Flash drives are inexpensive and handy items as well. Speaking of comfort, maybe an assortment of chocolates on display near the register?
None of these things are going to lead you to record breaking sales this year. There will be some businesses that achieve that, but they will be the exception, not the rule. Adding some inexpensive, thoughtful items to your inventory may help at the margins however. More importantly you want to show your customers, and yourself, that a tough year is not going to bring you down. Remember what’s really important to you. It’s the fundamentals that will bring us through this economic fog, ready to move ahead in the right direction. Now is the time to reflect upon and celebrate them.
Owning and operating a successful small business is not all about piling up cash. It’s about freedom, rising to challenges, meeting and exceeding people’s needs and expectations and generally making people’s day a little brighter and having fun doing it.
Whether you’re a religious person or not, the holidays are a time to focus on the real values in your life; family, friends, remembering good times past and creating new ones. Perhaps it’s because the days are shorter and the weather is colder that we have come to see this season as a time to concentrate on the warm and the bright side of life. Whatever the motivation, this is a good year to really take it to heart.
How does this relate to your holiday business strategy? Well, money may be tight for consumers this year, but they still want to reinforce personal connections and traditions. If you don’t currently carry greeting cards, maybe you should start. Unique, custom cards are particularly popular, but if you aren't the artsy-crafty type, a service like Leanin’ Tree can provide both the displays and the stock.
You may carry fewer of any given high end item, but don’t bail on them entirely. Many families will still choose to make high end purchases, just not as many of them. On the other end, you’ll want to offer low priced alternatives, but don’t go low quality. An inexpensive gift that lasts can be appreciated for years to come. A cheap trinket that breaks within a week might just foster disdain. Ornaments make a great low cost gift item. Whether it be a wreath, a wall hanging or something for the tree, it’s something that most everyone can afford and may even be passed along to future generations.
Don’t be afraid to deck the halls. Despite what you may have heard on the news, a festive atmosphere is not going to offend enough people to worry about, unless your business model is strategically targeted at killjoys. You don’t have to be a born again Christian to appreciate a good light show, even if it does involve a manger. You can also include Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Santa Claus...go nuts.
A great in-store promotion, especially in tough economic times, is drawing for free gifts or stuffed stockings for the kids. This year, rather than one big one, consider several smaller ones. Make the drawing at least a week in advance of Christmas. Kid’s love to unwrap surprises. It doesn’t have to be a new car or a PlayStation. Just something fun. A gift card or certificate to a local restaurant can provide an evening of family fun for your customers while also helping out a fellow local business owner.
In uncertain times, people often look to the past for comfort and for grounding. Think nostalgia. Traditional holiday books, albums and the toys and games you grew up with could be good sellers this year. On the “new stuff” end, think communication. While you may not want to go head to head in the cell phone sales arena, you could offer accessories like colorful cases and head phones. Flash drives are inexpensive and handy items as well. Speaking of comfort, maybe an assortment of chocolates on display near the register?
None of these things are going to lead you to record breaking sales this year. There will be some businesses that achieve that, but they will be the exception, not the rule. Adding some inexpensive, thoughtful items to your inventory may help at the margins however. More importantly you want to show your customers, and yourself, that a tough year is not going to bring you down. Remember what’s really important to you. It’s the fundamentals that will bring us through this economic fog, ready to move ahead in the right direction. Now is the time to reflect upon and celebrate them.
Penny Pinching Marketing
Times are tough. Budgets are tight. But you’ve still got to keep yourself out there in terms of marketing. There are some time-tested marketing techniques that require a bit more time and less cash than what you might focus on when cash flow is healthier.
If delivery of your product involves any kind of packaging, consider full color labels. A box of 100 - 2” x 4” Avery type labels can be had for less than $30. You can buy and print yourself, or your friendly neighborhood print shop can provide labels and full color printing for about $2/sheet (10 labels). At 20 cents a pop, it’s a cost effective way to create a bit more awareness among your customers and the people they deal with. It’s also a good idea to include samples and/or promotional items along with packaged or shipped items. Toss in some extras, so they can share.
If you’re sending out invoices, including a flyer, update, magnet or a couple of business cards likely wont cost you any more in postage and makes it easy for your existing customers to refer you to friends and associates.
If direct mail is no longer in your budget, consider door hangers. They don’t cost any more than postcards and even if you don’t have time to distribute yourself, it shouldn’t take long to find some enterprising individuals willing to do the job at 10 cents/piece. You may even be able to enlist your favorite non-profit to provide the footwork in exchange for donating what you would have paid hired help. Another distribution alternative is inserts in local, regional papers. Most charge about 5 cents per piece (not including printing). It’s not quite as direct as a mailing list, but at just over 10% of the cost of first class mail, it’s a great value.
Banners can be a great value as well. They can be used many times over and they’re portable. You can display them on your site and/or, for a small fee, many youth sports organizations and community events organizers will let you display them at games and other activities. Many new cars are not conducive to car magnets, due to the contours of the doors. But, if yours is, you might want to put your vehicle to work. Even if you only put them on while parked in a conspicuous location during business hours, it’s extremely cost effective. Just be sure to store them flat when you take them off.
Business card and calendar magnets are a perennial favorite as well. Again, if you want your current customers to remember and refer you, make it easy. What’s easier than walking over and looking at the fridge or the side of the filing cabinet or microwave while you’re talking on the phone?
Above all, don’t let fretting over a tight budget cause your execution to suffer. The customers you already have are your number one priority. Take good care of them and they will bring you others. If you run into a problem, be up front and communicate. Most will forgive a mistake. But if they feel like they’re being ignored or misled, they’ll take it personally. There are too many people competing for the same business for you to lose a good customer because you didn’t want to make a potentially awkward phone call.
These are not revolutionary new ideas. But they may be ideas that got brushed aside when you could afford to try other things. The key, when money is tight, is to focus not on what you can’t do, but on what you can do.
If delivery of your product involves any kind of packaging, consider full color labels. A box of 100 - 2” x 4” Avery type labels can be had for less than $30. You can buy and print yourself, or your friendly neighborhood print shop can provide labels and full color printing for about $2/sheet (10 labels). At 20 cents a pop, it’s a cost effective way to create a bit more awareness among your customers and the people they deal with. It’s also a good idea to include samples and/or promotional items along with packaged or shipped items. Toss in some extras, so they can share.
If you’re sending out invoices, including a flyer, update, magnet or a couple of business cards likely wont cost you any more in postage and makes it easy for your existing customers to refer you to friends and associates.
If direct mail is no longer in your budget, consider door hangers. They don’t cost any more than postcards and even if you don’t have time to distribute yourself, it shouldn’t take long to find some enterprising individuals willing to do the job at 10 cents/piece. You may even be able to enlist your favorite non-profit to provide the footwork in exchange for donating what you would have paid hired help. Another distribution alternative is inserts in local, regional papers. Most charge about 5 cents per piece (not including printing). It’s not quite as direct as a mailing list, but at just over 10% of the cost of first class mail, it’s a great value.
Banners can be a great value as well. They can be used many times over and they’re portable. You can display them on your site and/or, for a small fee, many youth sports organizations and community events organizers will let you display them at games and other activities. Many new cars are not conducive to car magnets, due to the contours of the doors. But, if yours is, you might want to put your vehicle to work. Even if you only put them on while parked in a conspicuous location during business hours, it’s extremely cost effective. Just be sure to store them flat when you take them off.
Business card and calendar magnets are a perennial favorite as well. Again, if you want your current customers to remember and refer you, make it easy. What’s easier than walking over and looking at the fridge or the side of the filing cabinet or microwave while you’re talking on the phone?
Above all, don’t let fretting over a tight budget cause your execution to suffer. The customers you already have are your number one priority. Take good care of them and they will bring you others. If you run into a problem, be up front and communicate. Most will forgive a mistake. But if they feel like they’re being ignored or misled, they’ll take it personally. There are too many people competing for the same business for you to lose a good customer because you didn’t want to make a potentially awkward phone call.
These are not revolutionary new ideas. But they may be ideas that got brushed aside when you could afford to try other things. The key, when money is tight, is to focus not on what you can’t do, but on what you can do.
Friday, September 11, 2009
The Press Release - Another powerful marketing tool
You see company press releases every day. How do companies get access to this kind of free publicity? How can you get in on the action? How do you write a press release that will catch the attention of a publisher, and more importantly, the reader? How should you submit a press release? Well, I can't speak for all publishers, but I can tell you what I look I for in submissions to our monthly business paper, The South Side Business News.
The first thing to understand is that a press release is not an ad. When creating an ad, being bold, in your face, loud and blatantly self-promotional can be perfectly appropriate. But when you're presenting something as news, readers want news. It needs to be informative, accurate, entertaining, interesting and hopefully, memorable.
That doesn't mean your press release needs to announce a cure for cancer. It can still be as seemingly mundane as the purchase of a new piece of equipment or the introduction of a new product or service. You just have to make it interesting, and your connection to it needs to be much more subtle than an ad, almost incidental.
Let's suppose ABC Corp is announcing a new product offering. The headline, and perhaps the first sentence could be something like "ABC Corp adds cat toys to its product mix". Now the reader is asking him or herself "So what?". This is not the time to launch into a bunch of accolades about how great ABC Corp is. That wasn't the question. Why do I care about increased access to cat toys? Every solution needs a problem. You've told me about your solution. Now tell me about the problem. Maybe surveys show that happy cats live longer healthier lives. Maybe studies show that cats play with these particular toys more than other toys on the market. Maybe those same cats outlive cats who don't have those toys and have fewer health problems. Now I care about your cat toys.
Now you can go into blatant self promotion, right? Wrong. Again, you've presented this as a news story. If you slide into infomercial mode, you're going to lose the reader. The reader probably does want to know when these toys will be available, how much they're going to cost, where you're located and what your hours are. But you should present this information in a matter-of-fact manner, not a Crazy Eddie's Discount Cat Toys Emporium commercial manner.
The whole story can be just a paragraph or two, but you have provided the reader with a nugget of useful information they didn't have before. It's something they may pass along to others. They'll remember who provided it, even if you don't beat them over the head with it. If they don't, no worries. You'll catch them next time.
Creating urgency in the mind of the reader or viewer is a legitimate goal in display advertising. Displaying urgency in a press release smacks of desperation. To quote from "Bonfire of the Vanities", "A desperate salesman is a dead salesman.".
Now on to the submission. DO NOT send a pdf, jpg or fax. My favorite press releases are simply text in the body of an email. Why? Because it makes it very easy to cut and paste into whatever format I want. It also makes it easy to edit. The number one rule of press release submission: Make It Easy for the publisher. Sending a picture or graphic along as an attachment is a great idea too.
Don't get discouraged if your release isn't printed. Publications have limited space and lots of other people are submitting releases as well. It's okay to follow up and ask why your release wasn't printed, but if the answer is "there wasn't room" or "I didn't find it interesting" or "I didn't find it appropriate for my venue" or whatever it may be, do not get defensive. Ask for advice, pointers, deadlines, format preferences, but don't suggest the publisher did you wrong by not giving you free exposure just because you asked for it. If the venue was right and your timing was wrong, just keep submitting. Writing makes you think. Whether it gets published or not, that's a good thing.
Again I can only speak for myself, but I greatly appreciate even the submissions I don't run. More options makes my job much easier. This is one reason I've created several blogs to which I can post stories that don't make the paper. I want to spotlight the small business community to the greatest extent that I'm able. I'm a big fan of small business. I think there is a misguided perception among a lot of people that businesses are comprised of buildings and equipment and products and logos and paperwork. That's a perception I'd like to try to correct. As we all know, the best businesses are good people sharing their best ideas, and that's a story worth telling.
The first thing to understand is that a press release is not an ad. When creating an ad, being bold, in your face, loud and blatantly self-promotional can be perfectly appropriate. But when you're presenting something as news, readers want news. It needs to be informative, accurate, entertaining, interesting and hopefully, memorable.
That doesn't mean your press release needs to announce a cure for cancer. It can still be as seemingly mundane as the purchase of a new piece of equipment or the introduction of a new product or service. You just have to make it interesting, and your connection to it needs to be much more subtle than an ad, almost incidental.
Let's suppose ABC Corp is announcing a new product offering. The headline, and perhaps the first sentence could be something like "ABC Corp adds cat toys to its product mix". Now the reader is asking him or herself "So what?". This is not the time to launch into a bunch of accolades about how great ABC Corp is. That wasn't the question. Why do I care about increased access to cat toys? Every solution needs a problem. You've told me about your solution. Now tell me about the problem. Maybe surveys show that happy cats live longer healthier lives. Maybe studies show that cats play with these particular toys more than other toys on the market. Maybe those same cats outlive cats who don't have those toys and have fewer health problems. Now I care about your cat toys.
Now you can go into blatant self promotion, right? Wrong. Again, you've presented this as a news story. If you slide into infomercial mode, you're going to lose the reader. The reader probably does want to know when these toys will be available, how much they're going to cost, where you're located and what your hours are. But you should present this information in a matter-of-fact manner, not a Crazy Eddie's Discount Cat Toys Emporium commercial manner.
The whole story can be just a paragraph or two, but you have provided the reader with a nugget of useful information they didn't have before. It's something they may pass along to others. They'll remember who provided it, even if you don't beat them over the head with it. If they don't, no worries. You'll catch them next time.
Creating urgency in the mind of the reader or viewer is a legitimate goal in display advertising. Displaying urgency in a press release smacks of desperation. To quote from "Bonfire of the Vanities", "A desperate salesman is a dead salesman.".
Now on to the submission. DO NOT send a pdf, jpg or fax. My favorite press releases are simply text in the body of an email. Why? Because it makes it very easy to cut and paste into whatever format I want. It also makes it easy to edit. The number one rule of press release submission: Make It Easy for the publisher. Sending a picture or graphic along as an attachment is a great idea too.
Don't get discouraged if your release isn't printed. Publications have limited space and lots of other people are submitting releases as well. It's okay to follow up and ask why your release wasn't printed, but if the answer is "there wasn't room" or "I didn't find it interesting" or "I didn't find it appropriate for my venue" or whatever it may be, do not get defensive. Ask for advice, pointers, deadlines, format preferences, but don't suggest the publisher did you wrong by not giving you free exposure just because you asked for it. If the venue was right and your timing was wrong, just keep submitting. Writing makes you think. Whether it gets published or not, that's a good thing.
Again I can only speak for myself, but I greatly appreciate even the submissions I don't run. More options makes my job much easier. This is one reason I've created several blogs to which I can post stories that don't make the paper. I want to spotlight the small business community to the greatest extent that I'm able. I'm a big fan of small business. I think there is a misguided perception among a lot of people that businesses are comprised of buildings and equipment and products and logos and paperwork. That's a perception I'd like to try to correct. As we all know, the best businesses are good people sharing their best ideas, and that's a story worth telling.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Getting the most from Facebook, Twitter and other onlines social networking sites
So you've decided to find out what all the fuss is about and get yourself a Twitter or Facebook account for you business. Now what? What can you expect? How do you make the most of it?
When the internet first became wildly popular, way back around 1998, many were under the impression that all you had to do is post a website and suddenly you'd have an audience of millions. Posting a new website inspired the kind of excitement expressed by Steve Martin's character in The Jerk, when he first got listed in the phone book. As it turned out, of course, a website is a nice addition to your communication tool box, but not a total marketing solution. Online social networks are the same. The value you get from them depends on how you use them.
Your online social network sites can help you reach and stay in touch with more people, but don't expect all of your "followers" to hang on your every word, or even read every post. They're likely following hundreds of other people as well. Don't use your online networks to replace your face to face contacts. They can compliment your other forms of communication, but a handshake is still worth a thousand "tweets".
If you have a business based Facebook or Twitter account, keep it focused on the business. If I'm "following" Bob's Hardware store, I'm looking for updates regarding Bob's Hardware store. I'm not interested in how Bob's cat is doing. Save that for your personal page.
Value quality contacts over quantity of contacts. Networking as a science is still in its infancy. There is a popular formula that puts the value of a network at the square of it's number of members. This is not accurate. Bill Gates recently quit Facebook because he was overwhelmed with "friend" requests and updates. You can only process so much information in a given period of time. Do your best to ensure you're getting valuable input. Connect with people who are really interested in what you're trying to communicate.
Don't "over-tweet". I have dropped several people that I had been following on Twitter because they felt compelled to send an update 5, 6, 10 times a day, or more. When I check my Twitter or Facebook page, I want to be able to scroll down a page or so and see messages from a variety of people. If you're taking up half my page, you've gotta go. If you really have that much critical information to put out every day, perhaps you should hold a press conference. Limiting yourself to 1 or 2 short messages a day will also help ensure that you're making quality, meaningful posts, and your "followers" will be more likely to continue to read them.
Don't fall for services that claim to "get you lots of followers". First of all, randomly collecting meaningless followers will only fill your network with clutter and actually reduce its value. Second, these services require you to follow others who have also signed up for their scam and they broadcast spam through your account, further diminishing its value.
Promote your network partners. I've never been a fan of networks that require you to promote your fellow members. I have no desire to be a 24/7 salesman, but when the opportunity presents itself, I try to recognize it and get in a plug for friend when I can. Making quality referrals as opposed to large quantities of referrals maintains your credibility and makes your referrals more effective. If you're trying to think of a good "tweet" for today, consider simply mentioning that you worked on a project with "Gino's Jewelry Repair" today. Gino gets a little exposure and your followers get a little insight into what you do and the type and variety of businesses you work with.
While others may disagree, I don't see online social networking accounts as a great mass marketing tool (although paid ads on the site can be a great value, but that's another story.) I see them as a great tool for expanding and maintaining a personal, wide-spread and powerful network of contacts. It allows you to communicate directly and regularly with individuals from across the street and across the planet. It's a better tool for sharing ideas than for making sales.
When the internet first became wildly popular, way back around 1998, many were under the impression that all you had to do is post a website and suddenly you'd have an audience of millions. Posting a new website inspired the kind of excitement expressed by Steve Martin's character in The Jerk, when he first got listed in the phone book. As it turned out, of course, a website is a nice addition to your communication tool box, but not a total marketing solution. Online social networks are the same. The value you get from them depends on how you use them.
Your online social network sites can help you reach and stay in touch with more people, but don't expect all of your "followers" to hang on your every word, or even read every post. They're likely following hundreds of other people as well. Don't use your online networks to replace your face to face contacts. They can compliment your other forms of communication, but a handshake is still worth a thousand "tweets".
If you have a business based Facebook or Twitter account, keep it focused on the business. If I'm "following" Bob's Hardware store, I'm looking for updates regarding Bob's Hardware store. I'm not interested in how Bob's cat is doing. Save that for your personal page.
Value quality contacts over quantity of contacts. Networking as a science is still in its infancy. There is a popular formula that puts the value of a network at the square of it's number of members. This is not accurate. Bill Gates recently quit Facebook because he was overwhelmed with "friend" requests and updates. You can only process so much information in a given period of time. Do your best to ensure you're getting valuable input. Connect with people who are really interested in what you're trying to communicate.
Don't "over-tweet". I have dropped several people that I had been following on Twitter because they felt compelled to send an update 5, 6, 10 times a day, or more. When I check my Twitter or Facebook page, I want to be able to scroll down a page or so and see messages from a variety of people. If you're taking up half my page, you've gotta go. If you really have that much critical information to put out every day, perhaps you should hold a press conference. Limiting yourself to 1 or 2 short messages a day will also help ensure that you're making quality, meaningful posts, and your "followers" will be more likely to continue to read them.
Don't fall for services that claim to "get you lots of followers". First of all, randomly collecting meaningless followers will only fill your network with clutter and actually reduce its value. Second, these services require you to follow others who have also signed up for their scam and they broadcast spam through your account, further diminishing its value.
Promote your network partners. I've never been a fan of networks that require you to promote your fellow members. I have no desire to be a 24/7 salesman, but when the opportunity presents itself, I try to recognize it and get in a plug for friend when I can. Making quality referrals as opposed to large quantities of referrals maintains your credibility and makes your referrals more effective. If you're trying to think of a good "tweet" for today, consider simply mentioning that you worked on a project with "Gino's Jewelry Repair" today. Gino gets a little exposure and your followers get a little insight into what you do and the type and variety of businesses you work with.
While others may disagree, I don't see online social networking accounts as a great mass marketing tool (although paid ads on the site can be a great value, but that's another story.) I see them as a great tool for expanding and maintaining a personal, wide-spread and powerful network of contacts. It allows you to communicate directly and regularly with individuals from across the street and across the planet. It's a better tool for sharing ideas than for making sales.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Blirp-vertising?
A Breckenridge, Colorado Company has come up with a kind of co-op, opt-in email service for local markets.
Blirp allows local businesses to register for a free basic package that enables them to send "unadvertised" special offers to their local subscribers. Blirp sends an email message to the subscriber with some random offers from local businesses, along with a link to the complete list of local offers.
Subscribers can choose to receive emails daily or weekly.
How is this different from Twitter? It's zip code targeted and subscribed to by people looking specifically for offers from local businesses.
The model has potential. I could see the host company (in this case Blirp), offering premium services, covering multiple and more targeted lists, as well as things like tracking services and access to data they develop as a consequence of offering the service.
The tricky part is creating demand on the part of the consumer. If someone is going to use something on a regular basis, they have to derive real value from it. A big part of the success of this experiment will be the quality of the offers and the merchants making them.
Blirp allows local businesses to register for a free basic package that enables them to send "unadvertised" special offers to their local subscribers. Blirp sends an email message to the subscriber with some random offers from local businesses, along with a link to the complete list of local offers.
Subscribers can choose to receive emails daily or weekly.
How is this different from Twitter? It's zip code targeted and subscribed to by people looking specifically for offers from local businesses.
The model has potential. I could see the host company (in this case Blirp), offering premium services, covering multiple and more targeted lists, as well as things like tracking services and access to data they develop as a consequence of offering the service.
The tricky part is creating demand on the part of the consumer. If someone is going to use something on a regular basis, they have to derive real value from it. A big part of the success of this experiment will be the quality of the offers and the merchants making them.
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