Creative coupon ideas? I landed a spot on the back of 5000 ticket stubs.

[archibot]

Hi folks, I am going to be promoting our shop on the back of 5000 tickets to a popular local haunted house. Rather than just doing a standard 15% off coupon, I thought that I should throw it out to you and see if you have had any success with more creative coupons.

A little background: We've been open for a about 16 months and it has been a very busy and exciting ride with every month's sales beating the last. We have with a strong following in the college and and young professional demographic. We have a very active social media presence, especially Instagram, @humblecoffee, so if we could tie in with that, this could make sense.

So obviously we could do a coupon tied to an Instagram post or use of a hashtag or something along those lines. We could give a discount, or free syrup, or some kind of contest where some winners win a t-shirt or gift card or something like this. Basically, I'd like to leverage this opportunity so that we get as many new customers as possible.

Let me know what you got!
Thanks so much,
Mark

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

I think you're smart to look for an alternative to the overused percent off coupon, that generates very little interest. If the tickets are numbered, you could hold a drawing for prizes, where the ticket holder must visit the store in order to find out if they've won anything. Every ticket can be good for a buy one get one free promotion, but a dozen or so really cool prizes could also be given out...whole bean coffee, a t-shirt, a trip to Costa Rica or Guatemala...lol!! Heck, how can I get one of these tickets???

 

[archibot]

Thanks for the help. Here's the art for what I ended up going with. It's basically a teaser to get people talking about the ad. I heard that people wait in line a long time for the haunted house, so the idea is to get them to look us up while in line.

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

That's as good as anything I've ever seen. Not complex...thought provoking...and offers a freebie with any qualified purchase ("any coffee" in this instance). PLUS, you've added urgency by putting an expiration date! Good move...if a customer comes in with an "expired" coupon...you have the opportunity to be Mr. Nice Guy and honor the offer for new customers!! Great job in my opinion...let us know how it works!