A short break before we get back to textbooks - coupons, coupons, coupons

read @ FT.com

Coupon clipping makes a comeback
"As US consumer demand falters, the humble money-off coupon – rather than the high-profile advertising campaign – is emerging as a new battleground for some of America’s biggest packaged goods brands.

Procter & Gamble, the largest US advertiser, said recently that it was “shifting funds, where effective, to coupons and consumer promotions that deliver better value”. The group has been battling to stop customers shifting to lower-cost private label rivals.

Bob Recchia, chief financial officer of Valassis, a third-party distributor of coupons, said last week that the company had had a “good” fourth quarter in its newspaper insert business, and expressed cautious optimism about demand in 2009. “Historically, when you get into this type of an economy, consumer packaged goods companies do put out more coupons."

Local advertising. Local retail. Local Service. The problem is it's hard to focus on the bottom of the pyramid when you're used to focusing at the top. But that's where the growing Print market lives. The top is in "deer in the headlights" mode. Down at the bottom payrolls have to be met every week.

Step one: Check out the stores in your area that have names and addresses as part of their point of sale system. Dry cleaners, definitely. Liquor stores, usually. Keep your eye out. When you see one:

Here's the pitch:
( Walk into the store about 3:00 or 4:00, it will be slow, NOTE: buy something):
She: How's business?
He: I'm getting by.
She: You know I specialize in marketing using print newsletters and coupons. Alot of our retail customers are sending out coupons to get more people in the door.
He: Oh really.
She: Let me ask you a question. Do you have a list of your best customers?
He: I don't have a list. But I do have all their names in the computer.
She: If your computer does get them out, we have a service where we'll send over one of our technicians to get the list. Then we can send a couple of hundred coupon newsletters so that you can see how it goes.
He: How much is that going to cost me and how long will it take?

(This is the most important part)
She: It will cost $x and take about Y days.. Do you have a business card? Great. Give me a 15% deposit and I'll be back in a couple of days with the proof. And I'll give you a call tomorrow morning to make an appointment for our tech to get those names in a list for you.