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9 Best Offers of all Time!

When writing powerful copy, in newsletters, direct email, brochures, ads, or any kind of marketing, it is important to keep in mind a compelling offer! Offers make copy and sales script work. Copy writers and direct marketers have known for years what offers work. You will see “similar” offers in all direct mail, newspaper ads, emails, because they work. If they work use them.

OFFER#1: Cash.

Any time you can tie a campaign to cash back or cash now you pull a great percentage of the general population. Soup companies do it. Grocery companies do it. Car companies do it. You must do it too! Give a rebate. Give cash back. A coupon for money.

Give a check back to people at the end of the year.

OFFER#2: Free trials.

Free trials work. A free trial of a newsletter. 30 days of free service. The cable company knows this don’t they? Showtime, HBO FREE this weekend or for the next 30 days. They know that about 50% of us will keep the free service. We get use to it. We begin to the value. We begin to feel it is part of our normal routine. Find ways to give individuals a sample of your product. A free trial of your service. A sample of the way you do business.

OFFER#3: Discounts.

They cause clients to want to take advantage of the deal to day. Make sure the discount has a timed element. A dead line. People hate to miss out on a good deal. Give them a break for being a first time client. Give people a break if they respond in 72 hours. Give people a break if they do now while they are on line or receive you newsletter. Make it special. Do it only once in a while. If you give discounts on a regular bases, customer start wait for the discount days (usually at Christmas, or other holiday).

OFFER #4: Penny More.

This kind of like a 2 for 1 deal. For one cent more you get another product. Individuals respond to this offer in droves. For some reason we “psychologically” we think we are getting a great deal. Buy one and for one cent more you can have two. We believe we are getting products at a 50% rate. Even if the cost of the second product has been “priced” in to the original price (so they can afford to give you the second one). Try it you will be pleasantly surprised.

OFFER#5: Two for the price of one.

Kind of like a penny more. We get two for the price of one. Therefore we got the for half price.

OFFER#6. Add on Product (BONUS)

We all like something for nothing. An add on product or bonus is any thing we give a way for free if they act right now. Always make it an incentive to buy now. Take it a way if they do not buy. The best bonus is one that is in limited supply. “Only the first 10 people will get this bonus”. Only those that do it today will be entitled to this rare gift from our company.

By the way, the bonus does not have to relate to the original product. For example, Sports Illustrated had ads for years where if you bought a subscription to their magazine you received a FREE bonus of a clock. What does a clock have to do with a Sports Illustrated magazine? It was just a good reason to do now. Get the bonus. Our gift to you.

OFFER#7: Related Product (BONUS)

Very similar to a bonus. The only real difference is that the bonus is directly related to the to the product being sold. If you buy the toothbrush you get free toothpaste. If you buy the razor you get the shaving cream for free. Nice complimentary product to the one being sold.

OFFER#8: Perceived Value.

Unique. Creative. A great campaign. And in expensive if you do it right. Perceived value is something the public believes is of great value but in fact does not cost you a dime to add to the product or offer.

Here is an example. I am in the tax preparation business. I make the claim, statement, and guarantee “If you are audited for any reason, when I do your taxes, I will represent you in the audit for FREE”. The perception is that this certificate or guarantee is worth Hundreds of dollars. Because if in fact we were audited we would have to pay a professional to represent us. The cost Hundreds of dollars. Yet the Tax Pro knows less than 1% of the population is audited.

Therefore, the actual cost is minor. Great value no cost.

Another example. I have a web site that sells vitamins, herb products and health products. On average I sell about $35 per sale to my customers. I want a campaign to drive up my average sale from $35 to $50 per sale. So, I go to a national gym (something like Ballys). Most gyms have a free 2-week membership. So I ask them for 1000 of these 2-week free memberships, because I am going to help them get clients in to their gyms. On my site I do a special limited time offer, while supplies last. If you buy $50 worth of stuff from my site, I will give you a 2-week free membership to a health club in your area (remember I said a national gym). End result my sales go up by 37%. The gym is happy because they received good traffic during my promotion. The customer is happy cause they got a good deal. And it did not cost me a dime!

Look for other companies that are giving stuff away. Cut a deal. Tie your product

to their stuff. Look inside your own company. What could you give away for free, that really does not cost you much, but has a huge perceived value?

OFFER#9: Contests.

We all like to win. We all like something for nothing. We all think we could be the lucky one. Buy toothpaste fill out the form and win a vacation to Hawaii. Buy from my site to day you are put in the lucky monthly drawing to win $10,000 worth of FREE products. Scratch and win a trip. Scratch and win cash. Scratch and get a discount from 5% to 50%.

That is all for now. If you want more, join my newsletter service. I often talk about:

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  • Sales techniques.
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  • Small business.
  • Tax strategies.