Last Thursday evening, 451 Marketing hosted the first in their series of “Ask the Experts” panels at Umbria Prime in downtown Boston.  Panelists included Damien Smith, Boston Community Manager for Yelp.com, Justin Schaeffer from LevelUp/SCVNGR, and Tom O’Keefe of BostonTweet/Groupon.  The panel was moderated by Francis Skipper, Director of Search Marketing at 451 Marketing.  Discussion was focused on how businesses can leverage deal and location-based sites to increase foot traffic.

 

In case you missed it, here is an overview of the companies represented and some of the best pointers and facts they mentioned at the event.

 

Yelp is a local search and online review service founded in 2004 in San Francisco (Boston was the second market they entered!). You can read more about Yelp in a previous post.

  • How should businesses approach deal sites?  “Don’t think of these deals as a discount, think of them as an important place where you are spending your advertising dollars.”
  • A lot of businesses are wary of Yelp, what would you tell them?  “There is a misconception about Yelp reviews – 85% of them are positive.”
  • What local businesses should a new user emulate?  “Boloco and Charles Hotel in Cambridge are doing it right. They interact with their reviewers.”
  • Any other thoughts?  “Be conscious of your capacity, don’t get very emotionally involved, and you don’t always have to reply to negative reviews.”

 

LevelUp is a deal site that builds brand loyalty and repeat customers by offering increasing levels of deals to consumers.  LevelUp is a SCVNGR product that was released earlier this year at SXSW.

  • How are LevelUp deals different from competitor deal sites?  “LevelUp creates a story and an experience with our deals.”  Their tiered deals encourage repeat patronage.
  • What do you see in the near future as a game-changer to deal sites?  “Smartphones are changing the way we buy deals.  Deals are accessible to consumers anytime, anywhere, and will be incredibly specific to the individual and the business.”
  • What is an obstacle you face when trying to convince a company to use your service? “I usually have to figure out how to break through the gatekeeper to get to the decision-makers.  For restaurants, that gatekeeper is usually the hostess.”

 

BostonTweet is a service run by Tom O’Keefe that creates awareness around Boston businesses.  In 2009, BostonTweet partnered with Groupon to help the Chicago-based deal site foster relationships with Boston businesses.

  • What pointers would you give to a company who is new to deal sites?  Make sure the deal makes sense for your business – “think of the culture of your business before you chose a deal.”
  • “Groupon is the fastest growing company, ever (this is actually a fact)” but “without social media (in addition to a down economy) deal sites never would have done as well as they have.”  Social media is where deals are proliferated.
  • It seems like there is a lot of competition in the deal market – how is this affecting how businesses view these services? “Bombardment is hurting the industry right now.” Businesses are being approached by multiple deal sites every week – especially those that have already run deals – and it can be a bit overwhelming.

 

After the panel portion of the event, attendees spent time networking with panelists.  Here are a few pictures from the networking portion of the event:

 

What questions or experiences do you have with deal or location-based services?  Have you seen negative effects of companies using these types of services, or do you have pointers for businesses that are new to these services?  Let us know in the comments section below.