A coupon business can be a lucrative money making option, which does not require big capital on your part. You will need to find businesses that are interested in offering discounts through your book of coupons (i.e. discounts or service privileges), create the coupon book and send it to a target audience that will take advantage of the offers. The agreement you make with the businesses in your book will determine how you earn; e.g. by ad spaces and/or book coupon sales.

As in any home business, a coupon business requires meticulous planning and marketing to achieve rocketing sales. Here are 5 tips to help your coupon business blossom.

1. Invest in Coupon Design

Convincing establishments to make offers in your coupon business is not an easy task. Your coupon book, however, will not be complete if there are not enough advertisers to fill up the ad spaces. Since it is easier to convince advertisers to invest if you are able to show a coupon sample, it is wise to have some sample coupons available. Thus, the first step is to research the costs of developing attractive coupons and present some samples to your potential business customers.

Just remember the basic design rules: A colored coupon book is better than a black and white one and fine paper is preferable to newsprint. You should also consider what would be appealing to the intended coupon recipients (i.e. the intended consumer).

2. Explore Untouched Businesses

Find businesses that have not experienced coupon marketing yet. These establishments are most likely to invest in your book, as compared to businesses that already support several coupon deals. There will be difficulty in finding them, and they might be apprehensive about your effort at first.

When approaching businesses:

• Lay out the advantages (e.g. visibility to potential clients and repeat clients, cost effective, alternative to an in-house direct mail program and so forth)
• Cite successful companies that have used this marketing strategy
• Distinguish yourself (i.e. provide reasons why your coupon business is a good choice - for example, you are a local business and known to the community etc.)

3. Prepare a Clear Agreement

Set out a formal agreement between you and your clients. Make sure that they understand their contribution in your coupon book. You may want the establishments to handle the desktop publishing and business costs, or you may handle this for them (either way you should have requirements and guidelines to give your coupon book a uniform and professional look).

State specifics in your agreement, such as the agreed duration of your partnership, fees owed to you deadlines and so forth. This way, both of you will know your responsibilities and limitations on the project. Always let your business clients be aware of any future offerings you may have (e.g. online coupons perhaps).

4. Convince the Target Customers

Whether you hand out coupon books for free or for a fee, it is important to let the target customers know the advantages of the coupon books. Your effort is futile if they just get the coupon books and do not make use of the offers. This is a situation that must be avoided since on your participating business partners will deem their investment as wasting company resources. Thus, it is very important to make the coupon directions and terms easy to read and understand. Creating a sense of urgency to use the coupons (e.g. a deadline) will inspire customers to use the coupons sooner rather than later. It is also important to pay attention to where your coupons have been distributed (volume and reach). This is important information to be able to give back to your participating businesses.

5. Create a Deadline

Make a schedule of all your tasks and follow it. The partner establishments will then see you as a professional who is worthy of business. All your actions must be planned from coupon designing, printing, client consultation and coupon distribution.