Localgreatdeals in 75 cities by year's end

Scott Bailey, CEO of Loveland-based localgreatdeals.com, says the web company will reach 75 cities by December. The company has a network of city-based websites that offers free coupons and deals from small and medium businesses, primarily those that are not chains. Coupons and deals include discounts on auto, entertainment and pet services; in Cincinnati, dining is the largest category, with more than 200 coupons available.

"I saw an opportunity for three clusters of the market: Online consumers looking to save, businesses looking to promote themselves and uniquely advertise themselves; and media companies that could present an offering that will drive traffic to their website," Bailey says.

The Indian Hill resident launched the Cincinnati installation of localgreatdeals.com in March 2010. To date, the company has installations in 40 cities, including Cleveland and Columbus. It partners with radio stations and affiliates of NBC and Fox. Its Cincinnati partner is WLWT-TV (Channel 5).

"In terms of metrics, we have served over 7,000 businesses, and created over half a million leads for businesses," he says.

Bailey recently launched dealsthatgiveback.com, an offshoot of localgreatdeals.com. When a consumer purchases a deal, 10 percent of the sale goes to a local charity. Cincinnati Public Radio and Drake Planetarium are among the 80 participating charities in Cincinnati.

"We're very focused on local businesses and local charities," Bailey says. "They are places that need the help most."

Localgreatdeals.com and dealsthatgiveback.com are relatively new faces in the world of Groupon, LivingSocial and Half Price Fun. Allison Kulage of Cincinnati's Bare Knuckle Marketing says businesses are advertising on these high-traffic sites "to create recognition, drive traffic to a storefront or move a large quantity of a specific product."

But there are risks for some businesses, she says. "If the lawn care guy that has one guy, one truck and one mower gets 500 calls, he's not going to look very good to the majority of those people because he can't service all of them."

By Rich Shivener