SuddenDeals.com Minneapolis and Saint Paul Entertainment/Discount SMS Message Network.

Fox 9 Morning Buzz Minnesota

2009-11-14T09:55:00.003-06:00

A few days ago, I was sitting in front of my computer with the television in the background set to Fox 9 News. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the television showing our URL: SuddenDeals.com. It's a great feeling to be getting publicity when you don't plan for it. I guess we're now at a new level-- a level I like. :) Special thanks to the Cheap Chick Erin Schnider (http://www.thecheapchick.com) and the Fox 9 Morning Buzz Team Alex and Jason!

See the report by going to:
http://www.suddendeals.com/press

New Pricing On SuddenDeals.com Merchant Accounts

2009-09-11T23:32:00.003-05:00

SuddenDeals.com announces new prices for merchant accounts. We now feature a flat $0.05* per SMS message rate for any level of account.

*Prices subject to change.

If you are a Bar, Restaurant, Nightclub or Live Music Venue in Twin Cities, sign up today!
https://www.suddendeals.com/main/merchantSetup/merchantInfo.php

New Merchant Account Prices Coming Soon

2009-09-04T09:17:00.003-05:00

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! SuddenDeals.com will soon be announcing new prices for merchant accounts.

Please stay tuned to our blog or send us an email if you want to be notified of the new rates by going to:
http://www.suddendeals.com/feedback.php

SuddenDeals.com Team

Jiffy Lube has Sudden Deals-- In a way...

2009-07-21T14:51:00.005-05:00

Recently, I read an article in the Twin Cities Business Magazine talking about Jiffy Lube and how they offer discounts on oil changes to the passing motorists:

http://tcbmag.blogs.com/stateofthebrand/2009/07/jiffylube.html

Essentially, when business is slow, Jiffy Lube sends their employees to stand by a busy street holding a sign offering a discount if the passers by get their oil changed right away. In a sense, Jiffy Lube is offering passing motorists a Sudden Deal-- though limiting themselves to a small area and making the employee really work for his $x/hr!

SuddenDeals.com has been and remains a leader and what we do is starting to be understood and is catching on.

SuddenDeals.com is now on Twitter

2009-07-14T16:39:00.001-05:00

SuddenDeals.com recently joined Twitter.

Follow us at http://www.Twitter.com/suddendeals_com

SuddenDeals.com now has shopper demographic reporting-- does your advertiser do that?

2009-07-03T10:41:00.003-05:00

We have recently implemented an ability for merchants to view general non-identifiable demographic reporting on the shoppers who receive their Sudden Deals. Merchants are now able to see and sort by Age, Gender, Education, Income and Occupation. That's the power of SuddenDeals.com!

Kip's Authentic Irish Pub Joins The SuddenDeals.com Network.

2009-05-11T13:36:00.004-05:00

If you like Irish food, you'll love Kip's Authentic Irish Pub and Restaurant. They feature great food, live music and special game nights.

Get on their FavoritesList and receive exclusive Sudden Deals!

Kip's Authentic Irish Pub and Restaurant
Phone: 952-367-5070
9970 Wayzata Blvd

St. Louis Park, MN 55426
Driving Directions

Get On Their FavoritesList (text message list):

NON-Members Use These Links:

Kip's Loyal Customer List: Sign Up!

Kip's Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner List: Sign Up!

Kip's Live Music List: Sign Up!

Kip's Game Night List: Sign Up!

Kip's Happy Hour List: Sign Up!

SuddenDeals.com Members Use These Favorites Codes:
Kip's Loyal Customer Code: KIPSLOYALTY
Kip's Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner Code: KIPSFOOD
Kip's Live Music Code: KIPSMUSIC
Kip's Game Night Code: KIPSGAMES
Kip's Happy Hour Code: KIPSHAPPY

Help on FavoritesList

Our Latest Shopper Demographic Statistics

2009-04-13T15:41:00.002-05:00

As SuddenDeals.com grows, it becomes more and more interesting to see how the shopper demographic pans out. SuddenDeals.com is so easy to use, that the stigma of SMS text messaging only being useful by18-24 year-old's is simply no longer true.

Take a look at the numbers by clicking on this link:

http://www.suddendeals.com/merchant_lounge.php?faqId=9

SuddenDeals.com on Fox 9 Twin Cities

2009-04-01T00:42:00.002-05:00

SuddenDeals.com on Fox 9 Twin Cities March 31, 2009 5pm

See the video segment on the Fox 9 Website:

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/Cheap_Chick_Does_Entertainment_March_31_2009

Erin Schneider of CheapButNotEasy.net Thinks We're Genius!!! :)

2009-03-31T14:58:00.002-05:00

Erin from Fox 9 Twin Cities runs a great blog at CheapButNotEasy.net that helps Minnesotans save money all around. You should check it out! We did and were floored when we saw that she called us "Genius"! I mean no one has ever called us that!

Thanks Erin! The whole team is blushing :)

Best of the Twin Cities 2009: VOTE FOR US!!!

2009-03-07T18:53:00.002-06:00

City Pages is holding it's annual Best of the Twin Cities 2009 contest. Submissions are taken until March 30, 2009. One of the categories is Best Local Website. Please go out and vote for SuddenDeals.com and tell your friends to do so as well. All fields on the City Pages form are optional, so if you want to only submit your vote for the website, that's allowed.

Add SuddenDeals.com to item 6: "Best Local Website"

http://polls.citypages.com/polls/min/bestof09/

Please vote only once and vote today.

SuddenDeals.com was chosen as FM 107.1's Jason Mattheson Fab Pick

2009-03-03T22:19:00.003-06:00

On February 10th, 2009, SuddenDeals.com was chosen as FM 107.1's Jason Mattheson Fab Pick. Jason Mattheson and Alexis Thompson spent a while discussing how cool SuddenDeals.com is and why everyone should use it. Here is a link to the MP3 recording of that conversation from FM107.1- Living life out loud!

http://www.suddendeals.com/siteIncludes/sounds/FM107_1_2_10_2009.mp3

Bhangra Chills Party at The Lounge in Minneapolis Friday Dec 19!

2008-12-18T23:02:00.008-06:00

The Lounge nightclub in minneapolis is hosting the Bhangra Chills Party featuring Bolly Remix, Bhangra and Hip Hop. All are welcome.

Log in to SuddenDeals.com to be first to know of this and other parties in the future.

To get on the Lounge nightclub's SMS message list and receive information of events on certain nights, use the following FavoritesCodes when you log in to your SuddenDeals.com account:

For Thursday nights events, use code: loungethr
For Friday nights events, use code: loungefri
For Saturday nights events, use code: loungesat
For Sunday nights events, use code: loungesun

A list of Bars, Restaurants and Live Music Venues in Twin Cities

2008-12-16T22:00:00.003-06:00

For our users of SuddenDeals.com, we have added a page of the Twin Cities' Restaurants, Bars and Live Music venues. We hope this new guide page helps everyone find new venues in the Twin Cities. Check back often as we will be adding new bars, restaurants and music venues as well as nightclubs on monthly basis.

http://www.suddendeals.com/twin_cities_restaurants_bars_nightclubs.php

A Cell Phone or a Sudden Deal?

2008-04-03T03:54:00.000-05:00

Today's readily available mobile phone technology gives more advertising opportunities to restaurant owners. With more than 530% growth of cell phone users in the United States in the last 10 years, having one is no longer a luxury. Everyone from children to the elderly are carrying a cell phone wherever they go. As of December 2006, more than 18.5 billion text messages are sent every month - and that number has grown by 250% each year for the last two years. Every cell phone is equipped with this cheap and easy to use technology.

Until now, the most popular way to attract customers was publishing a coupon in a direct mailer or newspaper, and hoping that of the thousands that potentially see it, some will actually use it. With the help of text messaging, restaurants can send sudden and unexpected deals to shoppers who have specified that they are in the area right now and are ready to spend. In order to receive these deals, shoppers only need to provide basic anonymous demographic information to create a free account. Once an account is created, shoppers can log in anytime to begin receiving deals from restaurants in a particular geographic location throughout the day.

Once a match is made in the system, the information gets sent to shoppers' cell phones as text messages and are received in less then a minute. The best feature about this new service is that shoppers are in control of how many deals they receive and the company guarantees not to sell or spam shoppers' cell phones numbers.

"Unlike paper coupons, these messages are guaranteed to be read by a shopper that is ready to dine right now," says Julian Reytel, founder of Sudden Deals, one such text messaging company. Having chosen the best deal, the shopper visits the restaurant and shows their phone screen to the server to receive the discount.

In the days of environmental awareness, eliminating paper coupons and direct mailings is a great way to help save trees and lower pollution. Also, unlike the traditional coupons or event listings printed on paper, the merchants can create deals that are valid for only an hour to really rally-up the shoppers.

Unlike any other means of advertising, the cell phone advertising is a new, more intimate way to communicate with customers, and if used appropriately, will benefit both shoppers and merchants.

"I don't use calls on my phone," Ortega said. "I just text."

2008-07-26T11:46:00.000-05:00

In the very near future, the number of used cell minutes is likely to decline substantially in relation to the number of text messages sent. This is already the case but we see an enormous shift ahead.

Trends: Teens and text messaging
Cell phone users ages 13-17 our using text messaging instead of cell minutes. Cell phone providers know this. Hence, providers are raising text message prices in order to capture as much revenue as possible right now. Why? We have a theory...

Psychology 101 for Teens.

1. Independence is the ultimate goal of adolescence. One of the simplest ways to achieve a sense of independence is to maintain one's privacy.

Text messaging and the "language" of texting allows teens to maintain a sense of individualiity and cohesion. The entire "group" that is the teen population can communicate in one language that parents simply do not understand. Similarly, teens can congregate at online social networks and communicate en masse using their MySpace, Facebook or Friendster pages and bulletins.

The choice to text message their friends rather than call, meets a number of needs but most importantly, texting keeps things "private" and reinforces feelings of independence.

What does this mean for text messaging trends in the future?

This generation of teens will grow into a robust consumer base of text message users (not email users like those before them) and they will replace email with text messaging as their primary point of contact.

This chart below reflects this trend. The users are 18-20, college educated and use social networks and text messaging more than any other medium.

One can see the generational trends at the far right showing Freshman primarily utilizing social networks and text messaging over other forms of communication.

There are no signs of this trend reversing.

SuddenDeals.com in Twin Cities Business Magazine

2008-11-27T16:53:00.002-06:00

Denise Logeland of the Twin Cities Business magazine was kind enough to include SuddenDeals.com in to her Tip Sheet Great Finds column, November 2008 edition.

Thanks!

SuddenDeals.com

Sudden Deals @ MinneDemo and in Finance and Commerce Newspaper

2008-11-17T18:35:00.005-06:00

On Wednesday, November 12, 2008, Sudden Deals, LLC was very excited to have the opportunity to present our application in front of a sold-out audience of the MinneDemo.org. We were given 7 minutes and a projector-connected laptop to go though SuddenDeals.com and show the audience how it works. There was a lot of positive head nodding and interested looks in the seats. Overall, the presentation went great. The local newspaper, Finance and Commerce chose Sudden Deals, LLC as a company for their piece called: Land of 10,000 ideas: Innovations presented at high tech Minne Demo event

In the case the article is no longer available on the Finance and Commerce web site, here it is:

November 17, 2008 4:58 PM CST
Land of 10,000 ideas: Innovations presented at high tech Minne Demo event
by Arundhati Parmar Staff Writer

Sudden Deals: Local restaurants, bars, nightclubs and light music venues can post messages about current deals on the website that are sent via text messages to users. Users sign up for free and exert full control by deciding in what frequency they want to receive promotions on their cell phones from local merchants.

In the summer of 2002, when Julian Reytel was working on a project in Manhattan, he was struck by how sales associates from little boutiques in the Soho district would step out into the street and holler, “Sale!” Stores that were empty a minute before would suddenly fill up with people. “Everybody just plowed in,” he recalled. That was the germ of Reytel’s new Mendota Heights company, Sudden Deals, LLC. The philosophy is simple – instead of sales staff coming out and announcing a sale, local merchants can send text messages promoting their latest deals to customers’ cell phones. Users can sign up for free on SuddenDeals.com, and can control when and how many messages they get. Sudden Deals was one of 10 innovations featured last week at Minne Demo, a Twin Cities technology demo and networking event. Co-organizers Ben Edwards and Luke Francl hold similar events two or three times a year along with a larger event in the spring. Reytel and others provided seven-minute demonstrations in front of an audience comprised largely of their technology peers. Sudden Deals officially launched in June 2007, although Reytel started three years ago. Reytel continues to work on his company while working full time as a programmer for a national bank that he declined to name.

Initially, he wasn’t sure how many people would be willing to part with their cell phone numbers. “Any time you talk about text messaging or giving up your cell phone number, the first thing that everyone worries about is that will this turn into spam like it does in e-mail.” he said. But he has been pleasantly surprised to see people sign up with their cell phone numbers “left and right.” (He assures customers that their numbers are never sold to third parties.) Nine local merchants have signed up to use the service, including Envy Nightclub, Big Ten Pizza and Saffron Restaurant. Merchants pay a monthly fee and get a number of credits to post messages and can buy more if they use it up. There are four monthly plans that merchants – for now Reytel is focusing on restaurants, bars, light music venues and nightclubs – can choose from. With the current 50 percent off promotion being offered, the fee ranges from $15 a month to $30 a month. The merchants are based in downtown Minneapolis, near the U, Dinkytown, Highland Park and downtown St. Paul. Sudden Deals is not profitable yet, but Reytel hopes to reach that milestone by mid 2009. More than 350 users have signed up to get merchant promotions. “I would say success is when we are going to many different (merchants), not just restaurants, and when people are signing up daily and coming back daily and when you hear people mention SuddenDeals.com when they are thinking of going out,” Reytel said.

Look Mom, We're On TV!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-05T14:05:00.003-06:00

On Tuesday, November 4, 2008, on Election Day, KSTP's Twin Cities Live show selected SuddenDeals.com as John & Rebekah's Web Picks of the week.

http://www.twincitieslive.com/article/10895/

Thank you John & Rebekah!!!

SuddenDeals.com to Present at MinneDemo Event November 12, 2008

2008-10-20T18:45:00.001-05:00

Date: Wednesday, November 12th
Time: Demos start at 7pm.
Location: Intermedia Arts 2822 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55408 (map)
Attendees: All are welcome! Please RSVP.

Come see us and what SuddenDeals.com can do!

Benefits of being a SuddenDeals.com Member

2008-10-14T23:11:00.002-05:00

"Featuring DJ Richie Rivera along with gorgeous Brazilian Models and unique Brazilian entertainment, for ONE NIGHT ONLY, the club will be transformed into the hottest Brazilian discotech imaginable! Receive FREE COVER and OPEN BAR ALL NIGHT!"

To gain access to this awesome event, go to SuddenDeals.com and create a FREE account. Once you log in, add the Merchant Code ExtremeDeals to your FavoritesList on the bottom left of your account. When completed, you will receive an SMS Sudden Deal on your cell phone that grants you access to this one of a kind event!

Tell your friends to create their own FREE account on SuddenDeals.com to have access to this event as well.
https://www.suddendeals.com/main/shopperSetup/shopperInfo.php

Sudden Deals are getting noticed.

2008-09-04T22:43:00.009-05:00

We are in the spotlight once again! In the August 2008 issue of the Twin Cities Metro Magazine (www.metromag.com), SuddenDeals.com was rated as #1 in the TheMetro5- a monthly section of the magazine called City Bites- Reports and Reconnaissance From The Street (What we love, where to find it and sometimes why).

SuddenDeals.com: We're Growing!

2008-07-29T11:20:00.000-05:00

Here's a quick snapshot of where things are at SuddenDeals.com...

Over the last month we've experienced a 50% increase in site conversions (visitors/signups). This was ahcieved largely to a local ad we placed inviting public beta testers.

Additionally, the number of deal requests has increased by roughly 30-35%.

Our user demographics, to date and,as provided by new SuddenDeals users when creating their account look like this:

Sex
M - 55.98%
F - 44.02%

Age
14-19 - 2.87%
20-25 - 17.70%
26-31 - 18.18%
32-37 - 16.27%
38-43 - 16.75%
44-49 - 11.00%
50-55 - 11.00%
56-61 - 4.31%
62-67 - 0.48%
68-73 - 0.48%
74+ - 0.96% (really?! :-)

Ethnicity
African - 0.48%
African American - 3.35%
Asian - 2.39%
Caucasian - 54.55%
Hispanic - 1.44%
Indian - 1.44%
Mediterranean - 0.48%
Middle Eastern - 1.44%

Nielsen says mobile ads growing, consumers respond

2008-07-28T08:08:00.000-05:00

A few excerpts....

"About 23 percent of U.S. mobile phone users have seen advertising on their cell phones in the last 30 days and about half of them responded to the ads..."

"The number of phone users who recalled seeing mobile ads rose by 38 percent to 58 million in the fourth quarter compared with 42 million in the second quarter"

"14 percent said they were open to ads as long as they were relevant to their interests,"

Read the rest at Reuters

Mobile Ads: Not So Fast

2008-07-26T08:03:00.000-05:00

Mobile advertising revenues aren't growing as fast as expected, and that could spell trouble for a bunch of venture-funded startups.

Realistically, no matter how often you see people checking e-mail on a BlackBerry or surfing the Web on an iPhone, the vast majority of consumers are just beginning to use their phones for functions, other than calling, that are conducive to ads. Today, only some 16% of U.S. wireless users access the Web on those devices at least once a month, according to JupiterResearch.

Read the rest at Businessweek.