in the last few months, we have seen a huge rise in popularity in crowdsourcing discount services such as groupon, livingsocial, townhog etc. through the power of mass group buying, customers can enjoy great discounts, while the businesses can pack the house. these platforms are doing a great job or maximizing their announcements through social media channels, (facebook connect, twitter) as well as their ever expanding email lists. groupon, being the largest of these has a national mailing list of $2m and just in SF, their daily promo updates reach 60k people. they started in chicago and grew to 30 more cities in 2009. they are predicting $100 million in gross merchandise sales in 2010 and became profitable 6 months after launch. businesses agree to list their products or services on these sites at huge discounts in exchange for a spike in sales. while this sounds line a no brainer for new and small businesses, there are some things that you need to consider before jumping on the bandwagon.

1. margin, margin, margin
these sites take a HUGE percentage of the sales price, groupon for instance, expects that 50% of each product sold goes to them. that means you have to consider discounting 50% to customers and giving up another 50% just to list it. so for example, a $60 meal can be discounted to $30 and then $15 will be paid to the discount service. in the end you are only taking home $15 minus the admin fees. yes don’t forget the 1.7% for credit card processing that will come out of your total. can all your costs be covered in the take home amount? that is a huge hit to your margin and in some cases, businesses are losing money on each groupon sold.

2. upsells and repeat business
why would anyone in their right mind sign up to lose money on each deal? well the hope is that each paying customer will buy above and beyond the product or service. in restaurants, it is customary to upsell cocktails, desserts and make a great impression for that repeat visit. of course, there are those folks that are just chasing the cheap deals and will not be interested in spending anymore cash or ever coming back. be honest with yourself, if you have products with limited upsell potential or offer the type of activity that people rarely repeat..say hot air ballooning, then be cautious about breaking even.

3. this is not real time baby, plan ahead
last time i spoke to the folks over at groupon, the average wait for a business to be featured on the homepage was about 60 days. this could be longer now, as their visibility continues to grow. don’t start planning your valentine’s promo on feb. 10th! the smaller places like livingsocial will likely have more flexibility, but less eyeballs, so do your research. think ahead and give yourself a lot of time to prepare and get in their calendar. start talking to them at least 3 months before you need the promo to be live.

4. capacity and opportunity costs
ask yourself, can you handle the volume that these services can deliver. many daily deals end up selling hundreds if not thousands or more of the product. are you already at 50% capacity, 75% capacity? do you have a shop where you take appointments or is it a walk in business you are at the mercy of? don’t get greedy and cap the amount you want to sell to a reasonable number you can service well. prepare to have the promo eat into your revenue for about 2 or 3 months after it launches. you don’t want to turn away your existing and loyal clients who pay in full and aren’t expecting a deal. please consider the opportunity costs of serving the new masses redeeming heavily discounted coupons.

5. expiration date
while you may sell a large number of deals, note that not everyone will redeem. the redemption rate will vary across industries, but most deals posted expire at 6 months. it would make sense that the shorter the expiration period, the lower the redemption rate. this can be great because it is money in your pocket, without any work, however you also lose that exposure to the customer you were hoping for. plan for a 3 month, 6 month or 1 year expiration according to your business objectives.

for any of you that have used these services for your business or for your personal consumption, please share your feedback with us!

today i ran across Inc Magazine’s slideshow, How To Run a Business from Home. it was fun and insightful from some of the peeps doing it right; and it made me think of another recent article i read, “The Way I Work”. both of these pieces talk about different habits and methods for entrepreneurs working at home, and how to do so successfully. well this got me started thinking about the blupint team and some of my own personal work at home habits… and of course, i then wanted to share.

ladies and gents, without further adieu, i present just a few of blupint’s work-at-home secrets to success for entrepreneurs…. (all rights reserved)…

(fyi, this is not our home office… wishful thinking)

1. it’s okay to be late. this might seem like an odd way to start a “secrets to success” article, but take a moment and stick with me. if you work from an office, when you arrive at 8:30, do you immediately snap into efficiency mode and start cranking through your to-do list? if you said yes, you are a liar. when you walk through the doors at the j-o-b you get some coffee, talk fantasy sports or what you did for dinner, post a tweet, read a funny forward, etc.. in fact, if you are reading this at work right now, then you know exactly what i’m talking about it doesn’t mean you are a bad employee, it means you are human and for whatever reasons we all have days where it just takes us an extra minute. well we’re the same way. working at home doesn’t mean you MUST be working bank hours, and it certainly doesn’t mean you should beat yourself up if you don’t. everyone’s got a life to balance, and everyone’s got a to-do list. our people know that if you sleep in an extra 20 minutes, or it takes a second cup of coffee to get going.. you don’t need to punish yourself with guilt. you just might be working a bit longer, or a bit harder in the near future. there’s nothing wrong with that.

2. eating lunch at home sucks. at least eating lunch at home every single day does. yes, it’s great to save money, you eat healthier blah blah blah. but eating a home made turkey sandwich and a banana, with a glass of ice water on the side every single day gets old… in fact, it gets old really really quick. go out to lunch at least once a week. meet a client, meet a friend, eat alone. regardless of who or where, just get out. it’s too easy to get started on your day, eat your sandwich at your computer, then look at the clock and realize its 7 at night and you completely missed the sun outside. it gets really bad, when you haven’t just missed one day of sun, you’ve missed five!

(if you make sandwiches that look like this, you actually should eat at home everyday.. then call me and invite me over)

3. set office habits… maybe even write them down as “rules” (i hate using that word bc everyone should strive to break rules, not set them). limit yourself to checking email a few times a day, try to limit your personal catch-up calls (“hhheeeeyyy, man! how are you, haven’t talked to you in months.. yea, i’ve got some time”.. prob not good on a tuesday afternoon), limit your itunes time… whatever it is, put a system in place so you don’t do it. i find it easier to avoid certain distractions if i’ve made it a “rule” or a habit of nature. if you ever think something might be a distraction, then i guarantee at some point it IS. so set habits, and stick to them.

4. know your available resources. quiet coffee shops ARE the new meeting rooms. and when the internet craps out at home, head to a local co-working space. we’re into sandbox suites, sf cube and numerous local cafe’s… but know what’s around you, what they can provide, and take advantage.

(we’d love to hear some of your personal habits or thoughts? what works, what doesn’t… )

i often forget that the teams i’m watching duke it out on the court, are actual brands, but a look around the stadium will reveal logo hats, jerseys, blankets, and even cell phone covers. i just read an article about the way teams are branding themselves, without selling merchandise and tickets, and still improving their loyal relationship with their fans — they’re going social. with news coming out every week about the power of social influence marketing and web 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 (insert number here) features that have allowed brands to turn potential customers into die hard fans, it’s been no surprise to see some of blupint’s favorite teams and athletes turning to social media channels to better connect with fans, engage communities, and increase brand interaction. our research has yielded some interesting insight as to who is leveraging their communities well, and what opportunities exist.

one of the most active teams in the digital sphere, are the boston celtics. using celtics.com as their main portal they have launched a GameTimeLive application that aggregates tweets, blogs, posts, and videos for their digital fan. their youtube channel has locker room videos uploaded minutes before they are taking to the hardwood. they tweet about sick players and at-practice antics and their facebook is full of things happening in and around boston that the team is involved in. however, while the celtics are far ahead of most NBA teams in social media engagement, they are still lagging behind the los angeles lakers who have over a million twitter followers. why are the lakers more successful in the social media sphere? after all, the lakers don’t have a facebook page directly dedicated to their dancers or a 3 point app like the celtics do. well, a quick scan of each team’s twitter accounts illustrate that the lakers connect with individuals through more direct conversations, another illustration that personal engagement is the key to social media success.

while we’re on the subject, we should mention that twitter’s top trending topics of 2009 sports list shows that the lakers were the 2nd top trending team while the cleveland cavaliers were the 4th top trending team, pointing to the NBA’s ability to create social dialogue. interestingly, only kobe bryant crossed over as one of the top ten most tweeted about people, clearly too many ashton kutchers, tila tequilas and kim kardashians to compete with.

college athletics are following in the footsteps of some major sports teams and going social. NotreDameFalcons.com, for example, has encouraged both coach, fan, and player participation on the web. the pints know this to a be a needed move because falcon fans are online already, checking up on stats, scores, and information. their website includes many of the coaches twitter feeds and also includes several student-athlete and coach blogs to keep the fans updated. calbears.com, the official athletics website for uc berkeley, has dedicated a whole section to cal on social media, which has helped boost twitter followers to over 1,500 and facebook followers to over 7,200. some universities and sports teams have more followers than others, but keep in mind that social media pages aren’t there to simply create more fans, they’re also there to foster already formed relationships — and the falcons and bears are taking a step in the right direction by connecting with current students, alums, and fans with a click of a button.

we see a great many number of opportunities to connect digitally with fans for other major league sports by replying to fans directly on twitter, having contests via facebook, posting fun content on youtube, and coming up with some great smartphone apps. the pints are eager to see major league baseball and soccer teams getting more digital and more social! 2010 is a great year to start, get to it.

perhaps we should try it?

universities are increasingly realizing that social media can do much more than create an online community for prospective, current, and alumni students…and they’re jumping at the opportunity. at first glance, it seems obvious that facebook and twitter are great platforms from which universities can market their schools and activities, but some schools have gotten much more creative than that. stanford has used facebook to showcase projects and some professors have implemented facebook office hours (that means not having to brave the cold to go ask your professor one or two questions anymore), stockholm university is streaming seminars, and both duke university and georgia tech are making it easier to check school e-mail and perform certain university related internet tasks via mobile phone.

social media networks give colleges the ability to broadcast news to and connect with millions of people in a matter of seconds (making it a great emergency contact tool), all while decreasing other media and marketing related costs. the pints know the future already: schools will transition from posters and brochures to flickr and youtube to inform and engage. newsletters and flyers are turning into #events on twitter, and networks like facebook will replace off-campus housing websites sponsored by universities. and why not? with the majority of students spending copious amounts of time on social networking sites anyway, it makes sense that universities are reaching out through these outlets.

universities have even gone as far as to integrate social media into their course offerings and staff meetings, simultaneously educating students and teachers about social media as a form of digital marketing and teaching aid, respectively. and while the pints aren’t surprised, these types of decisions are changing the way some view social media. no longer a hobby for procrastinating teens or a way to get ‘back in touch’, social media technologies are being studied as communication and marketing tools.

but beware, universities aren’t just using social media to reach out to students some admission officers have used social media networks to research potential scholarship candidates. social media has become a two-way research tool, with students getting to know universities on a more intimiate level using their websites and social media outlets, and admissions officers getting to know their students on a more personal level by researching their social media presence.

here are some cool examples that show how different universities have been using social media:

harvard on youtube

biola university bogs

stanford on itunes u

however, while some institutions are embracing social technologies as a crucial tool, there are still thousands of universities that have little to no presence on these networks. the blupint team shares some insight below on the relationship between universities and social networks including some findings and personal experience.

also, meet our great intern team if you haven’t already!

some good insight that seems so easy, yet so many companies forget. the end goal: keep your customer thrilled. surely worked for zappos.

well, not exactly.

however, companies like petco understand that owners only want the best food, clothes, toys, treats, even snuggies for their animal friends – and since our pets can’t tell us (not in a spoken language, anyway), they turned to the owners for answers.

petco needed to learn valuable information for its products without having to spend thousands on surveys or focus groups. instead, they implemented an online customer ratings system and hosted “digital conversations”.  quickly, the pet goods retailer noticed that they were losing money on product returns that continued to increases as a result of very low ratings.

the solution? the company decided to use the information they obtained to improve their product and get even more feedback using digital strategies. the results? according to a wammo case study, “petco integrated ratings and reviews into email campaigns and realized a 5x increase in email click-through rates. petco [also] integrated Bazaarvoice with its site search and navigation solution to create top-rated products paths that highlighted four- and five-start products in each category. these ‘top-rated product’ paths delivered 40% higher conversion and 60% higher average order value than their traditional shopping paths”.

petco effectively turned decreasing returns for their low rated products into increasing returns for high rated products while simultaneously giving pets a ‘voice’. so maybe cats and dogs aren’t running petco.com (some very smart people are), but this is an important way for pet owners to exchange advice without investing in poor quality products and losing faith in the store brand

petco also took a more social approach to creating an online community. one example of this is their howl-o-ween pet costume contest, where owners uploaded pictures with stories (and recommended products) of their pets dressed up on the website. it’s a facebook for pets/pet owners, if you will. and who doesn’t love to share pictures of their pet and have others marvel at the cuties?  here is an example of one account:

source: bazaarvoice.com

and we’re guessing that the more time people spent on their website, the more they explored products, the more petco.com benefitted from howl-o-ween. gotta run, the pints are busy perusing petco.com to purchase holiday gifts for their four-legged best friends!

nowadays, a typical research mission starts at a search engine. thanksgiving recipes? google. can’t find what i need on google? switch to yahoo. need more specific information about something i found on yahoo? wikipedia. it’s great, as a consumer, to have millions of results show up every time we search for something on the internet. but this isn’t great news for businesses whose sites aren’t optimized for organic search. this means that your website, even if it has the best thanksgiving recipes known to man, will never be seen by a potential customer.

the days when businesses had to focus only on their brand and services are long gone. now businesses have to focus on how consumers will find their company on the internet as well as building their brand. in the world of search engines, seo (short for search engine optimization) is king. seo is the process of improving your site’s ranking on the major search properties. in other words does a relevant keyword bring up your website and on what page? why is good seo important? put simply, because 62% of search users only click a link on the first page of search results.

here are some quick tips to improve your seo:

1. keywords, keywords, keywords
choosing the right words is crucial to getting noticed on large search engines. please describe your business and services or products in a concise sentence or two, and use those keywords. you will also need to refine your html or css tags and make sure that your web content is contains frequent keywords. go here to learn more about keyword selection.

2. a high performance loading time improves your ranking
the faster your website loads, the better. for some businesses, that might mean ditching HTML code for a more efficient CSS code. go check your website’s loading time here.

3. linkbaiting
this is one of the most interesting techniques for improving rankings on large search engines, and also the most controversial. there are different ways to ‘linkbait’. a website could include some interesting content which may generate enough interest for others to link back to, thus boosting traffic. you can also link to articles, applications, content, or use websites such as digg.com to generate interest.  for information on linkbaiting “rules”  go here.

let us know what other quick seo tips you have.

the pints really love two things: our fans and holiday starbucks lattes. so, we are excited to announce our “share the love” giveaway in november, where one lucky blupint facebook fan will win a $20 starbucks card and OD on peppermint mochas and gingerbread lattes. the winner will be drawn and contacted on november 19th! remember, you must be a fan to win.

become a fan HERE!