Popular Advertiser's Business Model Backfires; Small Businesses Held Hostage

    PHOENIX, AZ, December 10, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- If you Google "problems with Yelp" or "Yelp holding businesses hostage", pages upon pages of websites pop up bashing the once-popular mobile app which publishes crowd-sourced reviews about local businesses. From sites like yelp-sucks.com and articles on CNN.com questioning "Is Yelp On Its Death Bed" to complaints listed on the Yelp.com website itself, many business owners are now searching for something better, more cost-effective and trustworthy.

For years businesses owners have been prey to their shady business tactics, such as fake reviews and biased business practices. Many have turned to the Better Business Bureau to report their complaints with advertising and sales, as well as problems with Yelp's products and services. Over the past three years the BBB.com servicing the greater San Francisco area alone has received over 1600 Yelp complaints, with 514 being closed just in the last 12 months.

For savvy business owners looking to control their own destiny and attract valuable prospects to their business, Mad Deals may be the best solution on the market. Below are the top 5 reasons advertising with Mad Deals is better than Yelp any day of the week:

#5 - You don't have to pay to cancel. With Yelp, businesses cite having to pay upwards of $750 just to cancel the service if they are not satisfied. We don't think you will ever want to cancel your Mad Deals service, but should you need to for any reason, there is no cost to do so. We want people to be 100% satisfied with Mad Deals and we will work tirelessly to help you find success. However, we realize it's not a one-size-fits-all product and we won't charge you to discontinue using the Mad Deals mobile advertising platform.

#4 - You aren't limited to the number of messages and ads you can push out to the marketplace. With Mad Deals you are buying the radius size in which you want to push ads out to the consumer to draw them into your business. You can change your messages/advertisements as often as you want to test messages, promote day-part specific offers, push extra inventory, maximize traffic from sporting events, etc. It's just as easy as posting a social media message. You are not locked into an agreement for a specific number of ads and if you go over you need to pay more.

#3 - You aren't reliant on positive customer reviews to gain new business. While customer reviews can be helpful if they are positive, negative reviews can make a business shudder their doors. With Yelp there's a good chance that negative reviews will be visible on the first page of search results, especially if a reviewer mentions the company by name. With Mad Deals people come to your business because you offer a compelling deal while they are in close proximity to your business when they want to make that purchase. If you want to direct them to a reviews page on your website with quality, positive reviews, you can do that. You are in control of the messages and the image you put out into the marketplace.

#2 - You control what is communicated about your business. Mad Deals doesn't manipulate your content. We simply drive more hits to your website with unique content that will also encourage sharing your content and deals via social media and drive more qualified business through the door. With Yelp, your bad reviews may show up on the three major search engines (and beyond) because Yelp feeds reviews to Apple Maps, Bing Places and Yahoo Local. With Yelp you are not in control of your content. With Mad Deals you have 100% control.

#1 - Mad Deals is affordable and we won't pressure you to increase your advertising budget in exchange for "hiding" bad reviews. As soon as your business gets even one review on Yelp, you'll start getting sales calls pressuring you to pay for ads. In an article which appeared in the LA Times last year, businesses called Yelp the mafia of the Internet saying that "You're basically a hostage: pay up or die." And the Internet is littered with similar complaints from big and small businesses alike. Mad Deals wants to provide business with an affordable, manageable, effective alternative to expensive, ineffective and cumbersome advertising, like Yelp.

"Our mobile marketing and advertising solution gives businesses who may not have the budget to create their own mobile app, invest in geo-fence technology and develop the backend platform needed to manage it all seamlessly," explains Steve Lippert, CEO and founder of Mad Deals, LLC.

Designed to improve how businesses distribute deals and market to target consumers, Mad Deals brings the two together using geo-fencing technologies for static small businesses and beacon technology for businesses with service and/or delivery vehicles.

Using the Mad Deals platform the business broadcasts messages to people in a predetermined geo-fence range of a 1/4-mile, 1/2-mile or 1-mile radius and who have downloaded the Mad Deals app on their Apple or Android device. Mad Deals attracts and communicates to consumers, who have opted-in to receive promotional messages, coupons and deals, while they are near a specific physical location. This makes it a perfect solution for businesses wanting to expand their advertising reach and frequency to prospective new business without breaking the bank.

"Honestly, when I started Mad Deals I thought I would have more resistance in getting businesses to switch from advertising on Yelp to using our solution," said Lippert. "I've been pleasantly surprised how eager businesses are to switch from Yelp to Mad Deals. I'm so happy to provide hardworking entrepreneurs an option for advertising their business that's more affordable, trustworthy and 100% in their control."

For an investment lower than the typical monthly cable bill, business owners can subscribe to Mad Deals. This subscription includes complete data analytics, marketing solutions and the use unlimited "deals" to help them grow their business and increase profitability by attracting new and repeat customers.

The Mad Deals app is currently available as a free download on Apple IOS and Android-based mobile devices.

For more information, visit us online at www.GoMadDeals.com.

Mad Deals is a mobile marketing app designed for all types of businesses to share coupons, discounts, deals of the day and other special offers with their potential customers within a targeted geographic radius of their business. These deals and offers are directly delivered to potential consumers on their smart device through the app which is free to download on the Apple and Android app stores. For more information, please visit www.gomaddeals.com.

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