Finding The Audience Nobody Else Was Buying
Koupon verifies retail discount codes and makes money when a shopper uses one. Every competitor bids on the same English-language keywords against the same shoppers. The creators who worked here were Spanish-language savings creators, and the account found them by hiring wide enough for the pattern to show up in the results.
Barriers
- A bootstrapped budget, so every dollar had to be defensible before the next one went in.
- Affiliate economics leave no room for an expensive first click.
- The highest-intent audience was not the one paid search was reaching.
Approach
- Start small and prove it: a modest first month, held for three months before scaling.
- Let the roster surface the segment rather than assuming it up front.
- Step the budget up once the segment showed, then hold the new level.
- Keep the roster tight: 71 creators doing high volume, not hundreds doing one each.
Results
- 129M views
- 10,692 videos
- 71 creators hired
- $2.60 CPM
- Five month campaign, still running
Conclusion
A deals business cannot outbid anyone. What it can do is get in front of an audience the bidding never reached. Koupon found that audience by hiring enough creators that the segment showed up in the numbers, then putting the budget behind it.
