Groupon's Other Purpose

       I have a boyfriend that would much rather buy me a trip to the mountains or to a city we have never been than get me diamonds. Gotta love him, right? 

      When trying to think up of something great to get him for Valentines day (you know women like to be artsy and crafty), I got nothing. He hates material things. When speaking with my roommates about this crisis, my roommates girlfriend said, “Why don’t you just go on Groupon, you can get him an experience for cheap! I got Warren a cabin in the mountains for like, $200 for the whole weekend”. Little did she know that she got my boyfriend and me addicted right then. 

       For those of you who may not know the glorious advantages of Groupon, Groupon is a deal-of-the-day website that markets great deals on just about anything, in your specified location. But not only does Groupon offer customers deals that you just cannot beat, they offer companies business. They help companies attract thousands of customers in one day. 

        When reading the case study of Chuck’s southern comforts cafe, you can tell how important advertising is. And more importantly, how online advertising can take you to the next level, in only one day. Chuck’s was happy with their business, but wanted to see new faces. And after trying other promotional medias such as newspaper ads and social medias, they realized they needed a more effective means. So after being a subscriber to Groupon for so long, they made the initiative to join them. They made the deal of $20 worth of barbecue fare and more for only $10- half the price! In result, Chuck’s success plummeted. They sold 3,078 Groupons and were successful in reaching their goal of gaining exposure to their restaurant outside of the Burbank Neighborhood. See their story and many others at http://www.grouponworks.com/sample-offers/all/yes 

       What Groupon offers business is the same as what online advertising offers as well. Being as Groupon is a major form of online advertising. Valuable new customers are guaranteed, publicity, efficient and measurable marketing, and an exposure that is bigger than word of mouth. 

Online Advertisements take many different forms.  The main goal of an advertiser is to have the viewer grab their mouse and click. Here are a few common ways online advertisements are promoted.

 One common way to advertise is through interstitial ads. Interstitial ads are in your face ads that can be still or animated. Interstitial ads cannot be avoided and are most commonly presented four to five seconds before you view the next page. Another way advertisers promote their product is through banners. Banners are quite resourceful; however, they do not receive many click-through rates. Like interstitial ads, banner ads can also be still or animated.

Online Advertisers are only given so many seconds to promote their product. Therefore, there is immense pressure to make the ad stand out. In an effort to make online ads more “clickable”, there is an option to add audio and video. “Several companies have used INTERVU's streaming video technology for Internet advertising. Here are a few examples: Bridgestone has a banner ad that sports a race car driving straight toward the viewer, an FAO Schwarz banner ad features a dancing dinosaur, and a Budweiser banner shows a little video of the now famous talking lizards.” (p 123)

Works cited

Eager, William, and Cathy McCall. Complete Idiot’s Guide To Online Marketing. Penguin, 1999. Ebook Collections (EBSOhost). Web. 29 Jan. 2012.