Baskin Robbins does it. Pizza Hut does it. Even my interior decorator does it.
My favorite retailers have sent coupons to my email inbox for as long as I can remember. It’s perfect e-Marketing: valuable, direct-to-consumer offers targeted to my spending habits. And unlike printed coupons, there’s no risk that I miss the coupons if I forget to grab the newspaper.
But now there’s a new guy on the block: Twitter.
Twitter, an uber-short messaging service (all Tweets are 140 characters or less), is still in its infancy. Early adopters are still finding new uses for the tool. Coupon alerts may be the ultimate Twitter application.
Think about it: Starbucks posts a coupon for $1 off a lattè on the company Web site. They send a Tweet to followers of @Starbucks on Twitter, many of whom receive the Tweet via text message. Those people then ReTweet the message to their followers, who do the same. Within an hour, the line at Starbucks is out the door.
Rainy day slowing down traffic at your restaurant? Send out a Tweet. Need an end-of-month boost for sales at Jiffy Lube? Post a one-day special via Twitter. New shipment just came in?
You get the idea…