Last week I mentioned a little copywriting gem called The Offer but I didn’t go into detail.
I was all about the Call to Action last week but The Offer can really boost your sales. A good marketing offer can move someone from being interested to saying “I want that now” and opening their wallet to get it. Discounting can work really well but they aren’t always the way to go.
In fact, a tweet from Me Marketing Agency reminded me that discounting your products and services can sometimes do your brand more harm than good. So what other offers can you use?
Well, this post will give you 15, that’s right, 15 awesome offers to get you thinking.
You see offers every time you go shopping: 40% off TODAY ONLY, Buy 1 Get 1 Free, FREE Trial , Money Back Guarantee.
If you really want to drive some action with your marketing, you have to give people a reason and it’s these triggers that that accelerate us from being interested, to taking action.
When you’re putting together a marketing offer, make sure that it’s:
- Relevant to your target market, your product and even the season.
- High value to your target market but relatively low expense to you
- Irresistible. The best offers make it impossible to say no
- Easy to respond to, because no one like to jump through hoops
- Maintains your brand image
15 different offers you can start using today
Unconditional offers have (almost) no strings attached and are fantastic for building a mailing list and lead generation. But don’t get too excited as these kinds of offers generally bring in unqualified leads.
1. Free Report
2. Free Consultation
3. Free Trial (or Free Sample)
With Conditional offers a person has to do something before they receive the offer.
4. Discount Offer: End of year sales, Closing down sale, Introductory specials.
5. Bundle Offer: Buy 2 Get 1 Free
6. Referral Offer: Refer a friend and receive a ….
7. Deferred Offer: Buy now pay later
8. Games Offer: Get your scratch card and WIN
9. Free Gift Offer: Every purchase receives a …. Valued at $ ….
10. Piggy Backing: Buy our product and get product from another business
11. Contest Offer: Tell us in 25 words or less and WIN
12. Rewards Offer: Earn loyalty points on every purchase
13. Membership Offer: Join our members club for special offers, competitions
14. Low Cost Event: Get your ticket to an exclusive event/seminar
15. No Risk Offer: Money back guarantee or a ‘no questions’ exchange
Make sure your marketing offer doesn’t take a chunk out of your credibility or jilt your market position. And don’t let it leave you out of pocket!
What are your thoughts on discounting? Do you do it or leave it alone? What other offers do you use instead? Come on now, leave a comment and share it with us.
Belinda (AKA The Copy Detective)
6 Responses
Hey Belinda
For me I leave straight out discounting alone. In a seminar once I heard Mal Emery say that most people buy on price alone, because there is nothing else to use as a comparison.
By that he meant that if you have a higher priced item that is of far better quality, and is going to last 3 times as long as a cheaper item.
Then you need to point this out, so that people are aware of the difference in your product. Which is actually better value.
The two offers that really stand out in your list for me, and that I am going to implement this week because of this post are…
Referral offer & No Risk Offer.
Cheers for the great post. Every time I read your blog or one of your tips, I come away with something of value that I can implement immediately.
Beanie
I agree Beanie and you make a great point about marketing your points of different/added value so that price isn’t the key influencer. Discounting isn’t something I do as I feel it will lower the perceived value of my service however some businesses can pull it off and still maintain their value. I think the regularity of the discount is the difference. I thought this post might be useful to remind businesses that “an offer” doesn’t have to be a price based one and I’m glad you got some ideas!
Great to have insight on how to promote our business i.e various offers for promotion wins! It’s really wow to learn some marketing strategies and also to know about some common myths! Simply giving discount will not suffice to promote business. Great learning of different offers to attract more and more customers but yet not to degrade your brand value. Such offers will keep customers happy and so us. Great learning for the survival of the fittest in the competition era.
Great post. Lots of really useful tips. I’ve bookmarked your page to use as my “cheat sheet”! Thanks for sharing.