Try It Local
We can’t deny we were similar to Groupon, but our focus on boosting local businesses made us very different. We have always paid more than the other daily deal sites, but since our goal is to help grow local businesses, we have taken a different approach.
Try It Local actually shared office space with a nationally-ranked chamber of commerce. Our CEO and Founder, Todd Earwood, was a technology consultant for Greater Louisville Inc. (the Louisville, Kentucky chamber) when the Groupon tidal wave began to sweep the country. Seeing local businesses run deals with Groupon to bring in new customers, but give up so much of the money, led Todd to create a deal site to favor the businesses. Try It Local always paid more than Groupon (70% > 50%), paid them faster than Groupon (7 days > 90 days) and tried to keep the money in local communities by partnering with chambers of commerce.
The idea of more money, faster money and local money really did work! It worked so well, we expanded to over 100 cities and paid out over $600,000 to local businesses. Then the word started to spread… we were featured in USA Today, MSNBC, Washington Post, ABC News and over 100 other media outlets. While we were reaching many of our goals, we wanted to further challenge ourselves to find even better ways to REALLY help local businesses utilize daily deal marketing. Then, an absolutely CRAZY question came to the table… How could we pay 100% of each deal to the business AND stay in business ourselves?
The answer was simple: let businesses use our deal software for a small monthly fee. But it had to be the full version of our high-powered software, not just a couple features. And that is how Try It Local was made available to the public. Some call us crazy for releasing Try It Local for individual business use, but we know it’s fine because we’re pursuing different goals than those of Groupon and daily deal sites.
We were never and still are not in the daily deal business. The further we develop the tool for our clients, the clearer it’s differences from daily deals become. We keep businesses at customer capacity, fill schedules and write checks. By focusing on helping businesses grow, we create positive, win-win relationships. But always be prepared… Our idea creation never ceases and crazy ideas, as you now know, are never ignored. We’re committed to keep asking the question, “How can Try It Local better benefit local businesses?”