subject: Coupons For Charity: Improve Your Sales And Your Community Outreach [print this page] Not all coupons have to simply be for a given dollar or percentage off a sale (not that there's anything wrong with those!). There are plenty of innovative, creative ideas that you can use when creating a coupon campaign.
For example, are you looking for a way to demonstrate your commitment to your community? How about partnering with a charity -- preferably a locally based one -- for a coupon campaign? Instead of $5 dollars off an oil change, how about, "Present this certificate when you purchase an oil change, and we'll donate $5.00 to the local elementary school's PTA fund." The emotional resonance of a promotion is arguably more powerful than a simple $5 off. Many people may not go out of their way to save $5, but will in order to boost the resources of a charity.
Certainly, some people won't particularly care about the local PTA. You'll need to have a good idea of your target market, and what's likely to move them, when creating a charity campaign. This also isn't an idea that you want to over-use, but there's nothing stopping you from arranging a couple of different partnerships per year, or even running a couple of ideas simultaneously and provide the customers with the option of which they'd like to support.
Another idea is to announce that x% of your gross receipts for a given day or week will be donated the charity of your choice. This can work great for restaurants in particular, especially if employees planning lunches in nearby office buildings hear the word.
Administering the donation adds some labor to process, but ultimately, this is an opportunity. It's a chance to meet people involved in the community and get the word out about your business. The group may even send you a letter of appreciation for your lobby (if your business has a lobby), and there may be additional ways to publicize the total amount of contributions raised.
A final bit of polish on the idea of charity coupons is that they don't actually cost the full amount, when you consider the tax write-off implication.
Be careful to receive the approval of the charity before running the promotion, though. Sometimes, charities will reject partnerships that don't provide them with a certain threshold of donations. On the surface, that may seem downright ridiculous, but it makes business sense: If a large corporate sponsor needs to donate $50k for a sponsorship, and they offer your organization a partnership that generates only $100 in donations, they can risk antagonizing the donor that had to donate far more for the same partnership. Keeping the charities local helps avoid that brand-name issue, and the local relevance can go a long way in generating public loyalty and improving your sales.
