EVENT COMPLETE: HOW TO GET YOUR GROUPON
By Michelle Patterson
*****
Event Complete
Michelle Patterson Owner & CEO
Published by Event Complete at Smashwords
Copyright © 2011 Event Complete
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo-copying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission of the publisher, except for inclusion of a brief quotation in a review.
Event Complete: How to get your Groupon
ISBN: 978-0-9832798-1-5
This book is available in print at http://www.EventComplete.com
Smashwords Edition License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Editor: Porter Kerckhoff & Stephanie Maurer
Layout and Design: Ann Hartman
Photographer: Val Westover & Stephanie Adriana
Cover Design: Joe Potter
To Tara our fearless leader and supporter,
To Sue our operations extraordinaire,
To Stephanie our consummate cheerleader,
To Val our visionary and inspiration,
To our friends at Groupon,
thank you for
creating an amazing company
that so many, including Event
Complete,
can be a part of and grow with!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prelude: Breaking Records with Groupon
Introduction: Who is the OZ Behind the Curtain?
Chapter 1: The Groupon Business Model
Chapter 2: Preparing for your Groupon Feature
Chapter 3: The Customer Acquisition Tool
Chapter 4: Groupon Referrals
Chapter 5: Frequently Asked Questions
Chapter 6: Success Stories
Chapter 7: Check out these fun Groupons!
Chapter 8: Avoid the Pitfalls
Chapter 9: “Is your Deal a Fit?” Checklist
Chapter 10: “Event Complete Workshop” Checklist
Chapter 11: “All the Fine Print” Example Contract
*****
PRELUDE
Breaking Records with Groupon
What an amazing year this has been for Event Complete, a full service event marketing company. With close to 200 Groupon features under their belt and climbing, Event Complete has found its niche partnering with the internet sensation to create “Groupon experiences.” Event Complete became a national account and CEO Michelle Patterson was named Event Ambassador for Groupon in 2010.
Event Complete has set the all-time Groupon ticket sales records for their hit workshop Capturing True Emotion. This photography workshop, and other specialty workshops produced by Event Complete, is now running in all major cities across the country and overseas with record breaking success. Michelle Patterson, Event Complete CEO, is also the author of Event Complete: Uncorked! and the Event Complete book series, showcasing other national workshops and a guide to creating and marketing events.
Event Complete specializes in “selling out” events, conferences, workshops, product releases and other large scale productions. Groupon has 50,000 companies clamoring to be on its roster. Only one in 10 applicants makes the cut and that gap continues to widen. The winners must already be getting kudos at online review sites like yelp, Citysearch and Trip-Advisor. The deals must offer a substantial discount from normal prices and not be similar to other promotions regularly offered by the vendor.
Event Complete works with businesses every step of the way to create, plan, market and produce “Groupon” events that maximize marketing objectives.
Groupon, a name that blends “group” and “coupon,” figured out how to inject hysteria into the process of bargain-hunting and monetizing social media. You get the deal only if others buy the same deal on the same day. The partnership between Event Complete and Groupon is a great fit, especially with both focused on the savvy consumer with eclectic interests and an adventurous spirit.
A Groupon feature puts you in front of thousands of subscribers in each Groupon city—with thousands more opting in each day. The subscribers share your offer with everyone they know via Face-book, Twitter and other social media outlets. This buzz will continue to attract new customers for months following your feature.
How to get your Groupon guides the reader step by step through the process of successfully marketing with Groupon. It shows you how to handle the volume so you get the most exposure. It shows you what to do during the event so that you can build a database and capture market share.
Event Complete has become the expert on managing and marketing the welcomed chaos that comes with a successful Groupon release. Event Complete: How to Get your Groupon gives you a step-by-step guide to the registration process, the day of the event and the critical component of sequence marketing following the event. Learn from Event Complete, a company who can share firsthand knowledge and personal experience of what worked for them to break national records with Groupon. How to get your Groupon is a must-read for anyone thinking about running a feature with Groupon and wanting results!
In an exclusive interview, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason congratulated Event Complete for breaking the all time Groupon record for their photography workshop Capturing True Emotion. Mason went on to say “Hooking up with Event Complete for the Capturing True Emotion photography workshops makes sense for all of us. We are excited to partner with you on this as well as other specialty events and workshops. Your team does an amazing job.”
Sue Shaver, Director of Operations at Event Complete, echoes the same sentiments. “This partnership is an example of success spawned from citizens and local businesses coming together to achieve amazing results. Groupon has no equal in getting the word out about securing a bargain.”
Consumers are always seeking money-saving deals in changing economic times. Groupon addressed these issues and embraces Event Complete as the logical conduit to work with companies marketing their offer before, during and after the event. Consider Event Complete the local Groupon Store—similar to the eBay store phenomenon.
With the knowledge, sophistication and expertise in our respective areas, Event Complete and Groupon move forward together to forge an innovative business model for today’s changing business climate.
Michelle Patterson, CEO
Event Complete
A Full Service Event Marketing Company
*****
INTRODUCTION
Who is the 0Z behind the curtain?
Our unprecedented success with Groupon led us to Chicago for a very special meeting with Groupon’s founder and CEO Andrew Mason and his team. We expected to see starched shirt professionals in their cubicles, eyes staring into computer screens. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
The offices of Groupon are on the sixth floor of the old Montgomery Ward building. Walking into the offices looks like you’ve stepped into a newsroom bullpen; there are no walls and row upon row of shiny white desks. A live video feed to the Palo Alto Satellite office played overhead, constantly connected with their team. The employees looked like they stepped out of a J. Crew catalog and Mason’s desk is smack in the middle of all the action.
An army of 20-somethings were working the phones along side their MacBooks, building relationships with the most desirable local businesses in 375 American cities and 35 countries. Irreverence is part of the daily fare in the Groupon workplace. Mason once hired a man to dress in a Tu-tu for a week, completely mute the entire time. Mason describes, “The way people think about jobs, the nine to five, it’s the same thing over and over.” He says, “Groupon as a company, it’s built into the business model—it’s about surprise. It’s about a new deal that surprises you every day. We’ve carried that over into our brand in the writing and the marketing that we do, and in the internal culture.” It’s no wonder so many can’t wait to open their email in the morning to find out what’s the deal of the day!
When meeting Andrew Mason in person it is hard to believe this youthful, unassuming man is the CEO of a billion dollar company. Through all of this Andrew never loses his sense of humor. The Pittsburgh native is trying to stay grounded amid new fame and wealth, which he describes as, “totally weird.” Most of all, he’s trying to maintain single-minded focus on his exploding company.
Dressed in jeans and a ‘Groupon’ T-shirt, Andrew Mason sat down for our interview. His casual and humble manner belied his quick wit and cogent manner of speaking. He was swift to downplay his accomplishments, simultaneously praising his team. “Much of what we do here is a result of collaboration and having really smart people around. Thinking about building this company not only to create a great service, but also a great environment where people have a lot of fun working.” It was then that I saw the formula which made Groupon such a successful venture: fun, creativity, great leadership and a carefree collaborative culture with a dash of healthy insanity.
Have I mentioned ‘Michael’s Room’? It’s a room in the Groupon office that features a candy-filled toilet! It’s a place where ideas are born and come to fruition. The writers wanted a room to do with as they pleased and Andrew gave them free rein. When asked if bringing investors on changed the culture of the company, Andrew stated, “not at all, they know our model works and they let us keep the creative culture.”
Since Groupon started in 2008 it has grown exponentially. It already has 40 million subscribers from all over the globe. The Chicago office maintains a 24 hour-a-day hotline, so that any customer that is confused, disgruntled or otherwise can call and speak directly to a human being. Groupon promotes some 650 deals each day and more than 95% of those reach the tipping point. Read more about hitting the tipping point in the next chapter. Upwards of 26 million Groupons have been purchased worldwide, saving customers in the U.S. $850 million.
Andrew says, “Groupon’s success is due to the fact that it is fun for the consumer. There is an element of discovery, finding new things, being surprised every morning by what the deal of the day is. Ninety-five percent of businesses that advertise through Groupon say they want to be featured again.”
Named by Forbes as one of the fastest growing web-based companies today, Groupon is an internet-based company that offers a revolutionary way of exploring your locale with coupons and deals of the day. It allows you to explore your city and discover great opportunities locally. Its success has been such that Groupon turned down Google’s $6 billion offer! So really, it was no surprise to find 29-year-old CEO Andrew Mason on CNN, NBC, Today, Time, Good Morning America, Business Week and Oprah, to name a few. Good Morning America’s Diane Sawyer characterized Groupon as the new online shopping trend.
Groupon is quickly becoming the most innovative and revolutionary marketing tool for businesses looking to reach more people and thrive in our changing economic environment.
Katie Wagner, President of Katie Wagner Social Media had this to say about Groupon:
“In the age of Facebook and Twitter, one of the reasons Groupon has done so well so quickly is that it allows people to involve their friends through social networking sites where they’re already spending time.
If you see a great deal that you want to take advantage of, you can tell your friends right away by sharing the deal over social media. It’s an e-commerce site, but one built around a social networking model.
There are other group-buying sites out there—and new ones sprouting all the time—but what sets Groupon apart is that it’s not just a coupon site. It’s a social media site that allows people to share great local businesses with their friends. Then on top of that, they offer a great deal so, rather than just reading about the business, you and your friends can go out and experience it. If you don’t get your friends involved, there’s a chance not enough people will sign up, and the deal won’t happen.
Social first. Buying second. That’s the Groupon formula for success.”
*****
Chapter 1 – the Groupon Business Model
Savvy consumers get their coupon on with Groupon. Tapping into the power of collective buying, the company helps businesses attract customers by offering them a unique way to save on things to eat, see and do in more than 150 cities across America and Europe.
Groupon advertises a daily deal in each participating city. Typically a half-off coupon can be found for anything from local restaurants or retail stores to a hotel or spa. The goal is to get enough consumers to buy the coupon online the day that it is offered. Providing the ‘tipping point’ is met by the time the clock strikes midnight, the deal is on. The ‘tipping point’ is the required minimum amount of consumers purchasing the deal of the day by midnight of the day the offer is posted.
Imagine marketing your business for free. Customers eager to reach the tipping point spread your offer virally through social networks and the like.
For the first time local businesses get performance- based marketing. Your business pays when the deal is met and the customers actually redeem the Groupon coupon. Groupon gets them in the door and it’s up to the business to give them an amazing experience.
Groupon is simple on the surface but complex underneath. Groupon has a large marketing force that will help you communicate in the most effective manner to your audience, the consumer. Groupon starts with the merchant’s goal in mind and finding the right customers to meet those goals.
One of the most important things to consider is what your business is known for and what makes it unique? Your Groupon representative will help you every step of the way or if you have partnered with Event Complete we will continue working with you before, during and long after the Groupon has dropped to ensure you have leveraged all customer acquisition opportunities.
Groupon verifies all businesses prior to creating a deal. Groupon works to select only the most reputable companies to represent. Quality to the consumer as well as the business is the goal. Groupon then begins the process of shaping the deal and matching customers to achieve your goal.
Once you have joined you want to be sure you are prepared for a high volume of customers.
The Competitive Advantage
Groupon’s competitive advantage is the ease of merchant control through online advertising. Once the ad is posted, the merchant can follow online to see who is blogging about the deal. Get real-time data by seeing how many people are viewing and buying your deal.
We have all witnessed the Oprah Effect in media and marketing. If it airs on Oprah, and she stands behind it as one of her favorites, everyone jumps on board. Groupon experienced the Oprah Effect in two ways. In August of 2010 Groupon was advertising a Nordstrom Rack deal, which offered $50 of merchandise for $25. Groupon sold 441,000 vouchers that day. In November of 2010 Oprah got behind Groupon during her “Ultimate Favorite Things” segment. Once again, Oprah fans flocked to the Groupon site.
Groupon grows oraganically through social media. Statistically Groupon subscribers spend on average 60% more at the business than what the Groupon coupon advertised. Much more than traditional advertising, Groupon is a customer-acquisition tool. Data mining allows Groupon to save account information, such as deal category, user preferences, user purchases, price point and other information enabling the site to extend beyond a business’ current demographic reach.
“In the age of Facebook and Twitter, one of the reasons Groupon has done so well so quickly is that it allows people to involve their friends through social networking sites where they’re already spending time.
If you see a great deal that you want to take advantage of, you can tell your friends right away by sharing the deal over social media. It’s an e-commerce site, but one built around a social networking model.
There are other group-buying sites out there—and new ones sprouting all the time—but what sets Groupon apart is that it’s not just a coupon site. It’s a social media site that allows people to share great local businesses with their friends. Then on top of that, they offer a great deal! So rather than just reading about the business, you and your friends can go out and experience it. If you don’t get your friends involved, there’s a chance not enough people will sign up, and the deal won’t happen.
Social first. Buying second. That’s the Groupon formula for success.”
~ Katie Wagner, President of Katie Wagner Social Media shared about Groupon.
*****
Chapter 2 – Preparing for your Groupon Feature
No one understands your business better than you. Groupon believes it’s all about the customers. Do not expect to turn a big profit on the customer’s first visit. Your job is to create a great impression and long-term relationship with the customers Groupon helps send through the door. Groupon’s job is customer acquisition!
Working with your representative and Event Complete
Discuss your overall business objectives and goals with your representative. Customers are less likely to be intrigued and buy your product if your ad is confusing and missing information. Make sure you give your representative the best selling points to help them guide your write-up. Offer your representative details and explain what the customer receives when redeeming your Groupon.
Event Complete provides a worksheet for their clients to use to collect all key information used to explain their services or product. Any testimonials, reviews and social media stats that showcase the business are key to marketing your Groupon. Contact us at www.HowtoGetYourGroupon.com or email us at groupon@eventcomplete.com for a free form.