Media Entrepreneur Eric Straus Forms 10LocalCoupons.com, Offering Broadcasters a Slice of Local Direct Mail Ad Market

Consumers Get Local Coupons Via Email or Text Message; July 6 Launch To Include 20 Markets, including Reno, Toledo, Eugene, and Albany

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y., June 21 -- Eric Straus, the radio industry entrepreneur and founder of RegionalHelpWanted.com, has announced the formation of 10LocalCoupons.com, an online service that partners with local radio and cable stations to provide consumers with discount coupons, via email or text message, to local merchants.

Straus said 10LocalCoupons would launch its service July 6 in 20 markets, including Raleigh/Durham, Toledo, Boise, Portland (Me.), Reno, and Eugene (Ore.), as well as Rochester, Poughkeepsie, Syracuse, and Utica in New York State.

According to Straus, the new service, based a business model similar to one that built RegionalHelpWanted.com into an enterprise serving 330 markets, creates a direct marketing capability for broadcasters, enabling them to compete for ad dollars typically spent on direct mail coupons and promotions.

"Local businesses spend more on direct mail advertising than on radio, TV, and cable combined, and as direct mail moves from print to online and mobile, that's a revenue stream that broadcasters should own," said Straus, who sold RegionaHelpWanted.com to Warburg Pincus-owned OnTargetJobs.com in 2008. "Junk mail is dying. Consumers want their discounts delivered digitally." 10LocalCoupons, as a digital medium, creates exciting new promotional opportunities, especially with regard to mobile devices," he said.

According to Borrell and Associates, the national market in local direct mail advertising is $37 billion and growing.

Straus said that 10LocalCoupons will work by establishing "local" websites, such as 10SyracuseCoupons.com and 10RenoCoupons.com, that are heavily promoted to both consumers and advertisers on local radio and TV stations. Consumers register (at no cost) to receive weekly coupons via e-mail or text and advertisers pay to reach thousands of local consumers by placing their coupon in the weekly email. "It's a very simple idea, basically direct mail coupons gone digital," Straus said. The website provides simple tools for advertisers to set up a coupon program. Live phone support is also provided.

"The approach works well when you get multiple broadcasters in a market promoting the same brand," said Straus. "Also, with 10LocalCoupons handling all the online service, support, sales, billing, etc., for all the local websites, you get tremendous efficiency and economies of scale."

He said that the majority of the revenue generated from local advertisers' coupons goes to the participating broadcasters in the local market.

The company has a beta website where consumers may register now: www.10Coupons.com