The offer is critical to your marketing and advertising success.

Your offer isn’t what you get. It’s what the prospect gets.

It’s perception of your value proposition.

Your offer can contribute as much as 50% or more to the success or failure of your web campaign.

Many marketers are disappointed with their results simply because they often violate some of the most basic direct marketing strategies.

Here are six key strategies to help you enjoy greater success. These strategies apply to any product or service. You’ll cripple your response just by omitting one of them.

 

Offer Strategy #1: Use an introductory discount to boost your sales…

People love to look for perceived bargains. A discount can be a great motivator that causes your prospects to believe their purchasing decisions are wise…not frivolous.

Your discount can be 10%, 20% … or even half off. This discount offer can easily help you drive in many new sales! And this rule applies to high- and low-priced products.

 

Offer Strategy #2: Test to find the optimum price for greatest possible profits…

Price is a vitally important part of your offer. A higher price will lower your response. A lower price will increase your response. Every product or service has its own price point where you get maximum possible profit.

You can only find this optimum price point by testing different price variables.

 

Offer Strategy #3: You’ll get far greater response with a “soft” offer than with a “hard” offer…

A “soft” offer increases your response over a “hard” offer. However, a “soft” offer may not pay off in the long run.

A “soft” offer is an offer where buyers are given the opportunity to order without paying with cash or credit card before receiving their merchandise. They merely check a box on the order form which reads “bill me later.”

Or if you’re generating a lead, a “soft offer” is usually used for an expensive product.

A “hard” offer is an offer where payment by cash or credit card MUST be made with the order before it is shipped.

This strategy is usually used for an inexpensive product requiring a payment by credit card.

 

Offer Strategy #4: Use a STRONG guarantee to get the greatest possible response…

The higher your price, the stronger your guarantee should be for marketing. A strong guarantee helps increase your response.

 

Offer Strategy #5: Premiums help boost your response and sales tremendously…

Almost every marketer who uses powerful premiums sees an increase in responses.

Powerful premiums help increase sales and your customers’ perception of value.

For example, I created the following premiums for a one-year subscription to the Psychopharmacology Update website:

  • “Today’s Top 10 Trends in Psychopharmacology”
  • “ADHD: Subtracting the Mystery from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder”
  • “Dangerous Drug Interactions”

These offer strategies create a desire that adds to your offer. Make sure you always use powerful direct responsive sales copy to reinforce your benefits.

 

Offer Strategy #6: Increase your response with a value-added offer… 

A value-added offer boosts your response. Offer a special discount for seniors. Or for fast-acting response.

 

If you have questions about successful offers or samples of them, please email them to [email protected].

 

Here are a few words about Craig Huey’s marketing expertise and success…

Craig A. Huey, president of Creative Direct Marketing Group, Inc., a full service direct response and direct marketing advertising agency, has been one of the world’s leading marketing consultants for almost 40 years.

He has helped more direct marketing companies become extremely successful than any other marketer.

Mr. Huey has won more than 86 awards. He may be reached by phone at (310)212-5727 or by email at [email protected].

 

Here are the rest of this week’s articles: