Today, I want to focus on a marketing strategy few business owners take advantage of, but one that is inexpensive and easy to implement-and one everybody is reading this can use.

Amongst “old-time” marketers, it’s known as “bounce-back marketing.” A bounce-back is a follow up offer that’s sent to a customer along with a product that has already been ordered. You’ve seen these before when a product you ordered is delivered with an insert, coupon or even a catalog.

The goal is to have the customer “bounce back” and order additional products and become a more valuable ( and consistent ) customer. It’s a smart strategy because the cost is minimal to present the new offer (s) because you are already shipping the product and the offer is being made to a qualified, current customer.

That second point should not be quickly dismissed, since the best customer to sell something new to is an existing happy customer.
But it doesn’t have to stop with a physical product…recently I was at a Famous Dave’s BBQ Restaurant. While eating our meal the manager came over, asked us how our meal was and then offered us a substantial, “limited time” coupon to “bounce back” sometime in the future. Very Smart.

Bounce-back marketing is by no means a new, shiny object strategy, but it is a time-tested way to add incremental sales quickly and relatively easily and inexpensively. The internet marketing folks know this strategy and have tweaked it by offering instant up sells after purchasing a product online.

While the concept is similar, creating up sells is not what I’m going to focus on in this article and instead I want to shine the light of opportunity on areas that are typically overlooked by traditional business owners.

The idea is to look for existing opportunities to insert a ride-along offer, whether it’s handing it to a person face to face, including it with a product shipment or even including it with an invoice.

I used bounce back marketing in the retail golf equipment business. Every dozen or 15 pack of golf balls had a coupon for $2 off on a golf glove. Every pair of golf shoes had a coupon for a discount on a golf shirt. You get the idea.

The key is to keep it simple and something you can do consistently and systematically given your overall business process.

Several years ago our member Blaine Oelkers presented bounce back marketing at an AZ Marketing Summit. When Blaine owned a pizza store, he created a very successful joint venture bounce back offer with a video store.

As you search for these opportunities in your own business remember what Wayne Gretzky once said “You miss 100% of the shots you never take”

Bounce Back marketing should be a No-Brainer for every business owner. I challenge you to take some time to consider how, where and what you can do and then implement as soon as possible. Keep me posted on your results and let me know how it works out for you!