Most of the time when we read about daily dealers in the news it is primarily about the large players like Groupon and Living Social. What we don’t often hear or read as much about is the fact that there are thousands of smaller, more geographic and niche specific daily deal sites sprouting up in all corners of the globe (and many who have been established for quite some time).
A lot of these smaller daily deal sites are run by solo entrepreneurs or very small teams. Although there are many disadvantages to running a smaller team and not having any capital investments backing you up, there are also a great deal of things that are in favor of the smaller players.
Many times, the smaller deal sites have the ability to put more focus into helping the merchant see the best possible deal; commission structures are more flexible, and operations in general are much more flexible.
White label daily deal companies, such as Daily Deal Builder, enable folks to launch a daily deal site without the need for venture capital money behind them and so it’s no surprise that we have been watching the demand rise.
Many folks see the fast growth of Groupon and want a piece of the action. Others have run a daily deal offering and saw success, but don’t want to cut in the daily deal site so they look to implement their own deal offerings.
Whatever the geographic or niche specific market, you are sure to find a daily dealer who has either recently launched their site or one who is planning on launching soon.
We have noticed that our smaller clients who see success have a few primary things in common:
- They leverage others. Running a small business means you are surely wearing multiple hats… You are the marketing department, sales department, finance, amongst many other activities far less glamorous. Competing against a company with a much larger sales-force means that you must effectively manage your time and delegate certain tasks. Clients who properly leverage other people for certain tasks and activities have the greatest chance of succeeding. Whether or not you delegate through in-sourcing, outsourcing, crowd-sourcing, internships, virtual assistants, or you just have a dedicated street team – the fact is that you should be delegating. The internet has connected the globe and it is easier than ever to find competent, cost-effective help.
- They are flexible. Staying flexible and on your toes is a serious virtue of successful small businesses. Oftentimes, this is one of the greatest benefits of running a small business versus a large one. When your company has 10,000 employees, implementing even a very small company wide policy can take an enormous amount of man hours and costs.
- They are unique. Is it your brand, voice, character, humor, technology, the quality of your deals, your services, your customer experience, redemption process, or your merchant experience? Is it your subscriber acquisition and retention rates? Your email open rates? Your dominating presence on the social media sites? Maybe you stand apart by being connected with a charity or non-profit? Whatever it may be, the small daily dealers who find their strategic advantage have a better chance of survival and growth.
Small businesses are the backbone of innovation. What is your business doing to stay ahead the game?
Marc D. Horne
I originally posted this article on Daily Deal Media
