Welcome to our new blog!

After many months of brainstorming, development, and testing, we’re very excited to announce the launch of our new service, GetSkoop.com  If you haven’t yet become a member, we’ll try to describe it in a few words:

GetSkoop.com is a fun and easy way for you to interact with all of your favorite local businesses and organizations.

As a GetSkoop.com member you can search for local restaurants, bars, clubs, stores, businesses, and organizations—anything really!—and subscribe to receive deals, coupons, and alerts sent straight to your mobile phone.  So, let’s say that you login to your GetSkoop.com portal and subscribe to the “campaign” of a local bar that you love in Philadelphia.  From that point on, you’ll start getting deals and updates every once in a while from the bar sent via text message to your phone. If they send out a deal (“2 for 1 appetizers, 10:00-11:30 tonight only”), just show the text message to the wait staff or bartender when you pay.

The types of messages will vary wildly depending on the type of merchant. A local club might send out a message: “Remember to come check out DJ XYZ tonight, half off admission at the door with this message.” A florist with some extra roses leftover on Valentine’s Day might send out: “All roses 60% off until closing time – first come first serve.”

We feel that you shouldn’t have to search the web for a concert date when the theater can give you a personal update.  And why look in the newspaper for a restaurant coupon when the owner can send you one straight to your phone, with no clipping involved?  Well, you shouldn’t.  And here’s the best part…GetSkoop.com is free for all members!

We’ve so far launched in the Indianapolis and Philadelphia areas, but we’re in the middle of a big operation to sign up tons of businesses in other regions, including (but not limited to) Oregon, New Hampshire, and Long Island.  Much more information on this to come.

So, why a blog?  Well, we have a few important reasons for starting a blog.  First, we hope to make it a sort of “informal mouthpiece” for the company.  Any big news or announcements will all be made here.  Press releases are great and all, but let’s face it: have you ever read a press release?  No?  Well, that’s because they tend to be boring, are loaded with bland corporate-talk, and aren’t interactive.  You can’t have a conversation with the CEO on a press release.  A blog is a much better way to reach our main audience: you.  Which brings us to the main reason.

We want this blog to become a critical component of the ongoing conversation within the Skoop! community.  Along with our Facebook Page, GetSkoop.com members and merchants (and everyone else!) will be able to use this forum to ask questions, bounce good ideas off of us, and comment on posts.  The more discussion the better.  Lively debate will only help make GetSkoop.com a better service for everyone.

Stay tuned…and sign up!