One tricky thing about business is how to get customers in and out of your store and keep them coming back for more. A large base of return customers are a sign of your business serving your clients well.

While low-cost advertising (flyers and streamers) can help publicize your establishment, these offer no real motivation to people unless of course you carry a well-known name. A better alternative to flyers would be coupons. If you’re the stingy business owner, you may be wondering what’s in giving away free stuff.

First of all a coupon, serves as a handed-out printed material that carries your name and a few other information about your place. If you think it will cost you your profit, then just think of coupons and the discounts you offer as marketing expense - something businesses are supposed to fund. Second, the freebie/discount offers motivation to compel your clients to actually go and visit your place. A free up-size option for a drink or a few cents to a buck shaved off the price wouldn’t cost you much but it would translate to people flocking to your stores. It’s a great way to make your business known.

And you don’t even have to spend a lot for coupons. Just fire up your computer and do make some coupons. You can even resort to just photocopying them. Stick them on car windshields, slip them in mailboxes, ask other business to hand them out for you, or you can also have it printed on your local newspaper.

Another way to keep a loyal base of customers is to offer them value cards (or membership cards). You can simply set a minimum number of purchases for them to avail value card with which they can use for discounts on future purchases. Why buy from another establishment when you’re a “valued member” in one, right? Makes sense. And for you, it translates to more sales.

Costs in giving out discounts in freebies are totally minimal compared to the benefit of having people walk in and out of your store with purchases over and over again. Why trade sales by skimping on discounts?