I’ve experienced two great marketing campaigns in the last two days – both resulting in money for me!

First up, my favorite local lunch destination when I need fast, comfort food: eegee’s. They’re giving away coupon cards for every $5 donation customers make. The coupon card gives you half off your lunch purchase once a month for a whole year.  Not a bad exchange rate since I paid around $7 for my lunch yesterday. And in two months – my coupon card will have paid for itself.

And the icing on the cake? The $5 donation benefits the CareGiver Training Institute, a nonprofit that trains individuals to be nursing assistants and caregivers. So not only do I get a once-a-month lunch discount, I get to feel good for helping pay for someone’s education.

The second impressive marketing campaign arrived on my Blackberry via e-mail yesterday – Starbucks credited $10 to my Starbucks Gold Card for being a valued customer. Now granted, I probably spend more than that in a week at Starbucks and should really have stock given how much I’ve single-handedly held up this company.

But you can bet I felt great using my Gold Card this morning to buy a chocolate chip cookie and a venti Zen tea. I also felt, well, valued.

So how much does it cost to give something away for free? Probably nominal compared to the potential profit from a customer who will now choose to eat at eegee’s once a month and will probably upgrade that venti Zen tea to a grande iced mocha come Friday morning. And I’ll be going back as a customer because I know it’s likely if these businesses find their campaigns successful, they may repeat them. And that’s more for me, Jane Q. Customer.

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