Marketing Mistake Number 5:
Not Having an OFFER
Once you have the RIGHT MESSAGE to the RIGHT MARKET using the RIGHT MEDIA at the RIGHT TIME combination, it’s time to create an offer for your prospects.
In Dan Kennedy’s No B.S. Direct Marketing book (You can get the book by Clicking Here, Just pay $4.95 for shipping… You can’t get this book anywhere else for this low of a price. You’ll also get an added bonus, if you choose at no added cost, for a two month free test drive of the No B.S. Marketing Letter!), he says his number 1 rule for direct marketing is:
“There Will ALWAYS Be an Offer or Offers.”
Look at all the advertising around you. Check out billboards, your mail, TV commercials, Facebook ads, flyers, etc. What’s one thing you see most of the lacking?
That’s right… an OFFER!
There are two types of offers:
- Direct Purchase Offer
- Lead Generation Offer
Let’s review both offers, shall we…
Direct Purchase Offer
This is when a company is requesting a purchase from you. You’ve seen these types of offers before. Open up your local newspaper and you’ll see ads in there from restaurants that offer “Free Side w/ Purchase” or “Buy 2 Pizzas Get 1 FREE.”
These are Direct Purchase Offers. They’re looking for people who are ready to buy now!
One disadvantage to Direct Purchase Offers is people will start to look for your discounted coupons before making a purchase. Thus, you’re training them to only do business with you when you have a deal for them. You do not want your customers to rely on this.
In turn, this brings us to the:
Lead Generation Offer
This is when a company is only asking for a prospect to raise their hand to show interest in their products or services.
Example: When I was selling real estate with a top producing agent, we put an offer on all of our marketing. This offer was for a free Home Seller’s Guide.
We would get prospects raising their hands for the free Home Seller’s Guide. This would lead us to getting their contact info so we could follow up with them in the future (Marketing Mistake Number 7: Not Having a Follow Up System).
Another example is offering a free information kit plus a DVD or CD. This invites people to raise their hands without having a high-threshold resistance (Direct Purchase Offer has a high-threshold resistance).
One big advantage to Lead Generation Offers is it’s a low-threshold resistance. Which means, you can request free information without having to speak with someone, meet someone at their office, and the prospect doesn’t have to make a purchase something to get the offer.
Also, this 7 Marketing Mistakes course you’re reading is a Lead Generation Offer with a low-threshold resistance. You signed up for the course in turn, giving me your contact info (see what I did there?!). You now have firsthand experience with a lead generation offer!
Be sure to always include an offer with all of your marketing.
So, what are you currently offering your prospects? If nothing, it’s time to get crackin’!
Your Plan of Action:
- Take out the good ‘ole Yellow Pages and start going through the ads (especially the section of your niche). Clip out the ones that have Direct Purchase Offers and Lead Generation Offers. Study them to see what they’re doing.
- Look around at your business and see what you can offer your prospects. Start coming up with Direct Purchase Offers and Lead Generation Offers and write them down. Pick out the best ones and start using them!
Tomorrow, you’ll receive Marketing Mistake Number 6: Not Having a Clear CALL-TO-ACTION (CTA).
So be on the lookout and be sure David@DukeOfMarketing.com is in your “safe senders” list. You don’t want to miss out on the next lesson!
Click the links below to go to the previous lessons:
Marketing Mistake Number 1: Not Sending the RIGHT MESSAGE
Marketing Mistake Number 2: Not Targeting the RIGHT MARKET