What’s your offer? And why you should always make one in every marketing message…

Why you should always make some kind of offer in every marketing message…

 

I’m not talking about the ‘20% off, or ‘Buy-one-get-one-free’ kind of offer you see plastered around the supermarket or on TV.

 

I’m talking about something far more personalized and enticing for your prospects.

 

You see, it doesn’t matter what kind of medium you’re using; it could be a web page, an advertisement, a letter or email, a sales presentation… anything where you are communicating with a potential customer.

 

It could be that the action you want them to take is to place an order and buy your product or service. But in the big majority of cases, we simply want the prospect to put their hand up and say ‘Yes, I’m interested in what you have to say’.

 

The whole point is that you want to gently persuade them to take some kind of ACTION. Without this happening as a consequence of reading your sales message, everything else has been a complete waste of time and money.

 

This does not necessarily mean that they want to make a sales enquiry. But they are demonstrating that they are doing their research and are checking out the possible ways to solve their problem or need — i.e. they are in the market to buy your kind of product or service, sooner or later.

 

Unfortunately, the big majority of business people assume that putting their telephone number and web or email address at the end of their sales message is sufficient get people to respond. But in reality they know deep down that this is just wishful thinking.

 

Very few of your prospects will ever pick up the phone and call you. Here’s why…

 

They suspect (quite rightly) that you will be interested in moving them towards a sale, and will want to arrange an appointment, or will ask them to buy right away.

 

But they’re not ready for this, and if they call you, they will put themselves in that awkward position of having to disappoint you, or turn down your offer.

 

And your prospects will do everything in their power to avoid this… so unless they are ready to buy… they will never call you.

 

So what’s the answer?

 

You need to take your true prospects by the hand, and explain to them one step at a time, what they should do to avail themselves of the right information that will answer their questions, reassure them over concerns or worries they have, and demonstrate clearly that you have already solved similar problems for many other people.

 

SO what kind of offer can you make to your readers, that they will find useful, very low commitment, and easy to do?

 

Here are some examples:

 

• A series of informative case studies
• A personal video message from your MD regarding your money-back guarantee
• A helpful buyer’s guide or industry report… e.g. “The 5 biggest mistakes that buyers of ________ make, and how to avoid them”
• A checklist to help your prospects ask the right questions
• An online demonstration of your product
• An MP3 recording of an interview with three of your main clients explaining how they went about solving specific problems
• An illustrated guide on how to use your product or service to achieve best results
• An email autoresponder series all about how to buy your type of product or offering

 

The key point is to break your sales process down into multiple steps, so that your prospects are gently drawn closer to you, and acquire the knowledge and confidence they need to eventually speak to you.

 

Let me know below if you are having problems coming up with an engaging offer for your business, and I’ll respond with some ideas and suggestions.