Let’s face it – one of the easiest ways to get consumers to pay attention to you is to offer your initial services at a discount. The vehicle of this discount is usually the coupon. Coupons are awesome: they have your company name, the service you provide, and a discount. Not only can you build your brand advertising base, you can build an association between your company and the service you will bring to the customer. That’s why they’ll keep coming back to you – you took good care of them, and in their minds there is the connection.

Big time retail stores use these all the time. Best Buy, just for example, will actually keep track of customer purchases through their Reward Zone Program. After the customer purchases X amount, Best Buy actually sends them a coupon for $5 off of, say, a DVD or a game.

It’s not just limited to Best Buy, though. Newspapers are simply littered with the things, for all kinds of stores and businesses. And stepping into that kind of arena can be a little intimidating. After all, the goal is to make yourself stand out from the other businesses out there. How do you do it?

Well, current research says you may not have to. The direct marketing company Epsilon, via its ICOM division, reported that the majority of coupon users actually get their deals online. 78% of those polled admitted to having printed out an online coupon at least once in their lives. Furthermore, these tough economic times are causing the online coupon to shine:

Especially in challenging economic times, consumers are budget-minded and coupons can drive purchases and create brand loyalty. (Brian Rainey, President, Epsilon Targeting).

Now this is where the numbers get a little tricky. Coupon use is up four percent from a year ago. And, despite the majority of coupons being online, 80% reported that they got their coupons from the newspaper. 69% reported that they preferred it that way.

Just so we’re clear: the majority is apparently getting most of their deals from online sources. The majority also apparently doesn’t want to get their deals from online sources. And here we said just a second ago that online coupons represented a new arena you could use for your business, right?

Well, they do. The study recommends a “multichannel strategy that incorporates preferences and behavior.” Which is fine for the sake of the study, and for your brand marketing efforts. But this study ignores certain social shifts. More people are going online for everything, including their news. Social media is the new marketplace. Google ads and iAds are the new classifieds. Consider that alongside the fact that newspapers face declining sales and may one day fade out entirely.

What this finding represents, in short, is a new idea. It’s a new idea you can use for yourself and your business to get ahead of the rest. Instead of putting ads in the newspapers that the people are less likely, give them a coupon they can pull up on their smartphones at a suitable time.