More from Russ Phelps on how to Create Killer Advertising

More from Russ Phelps on how to Create Killer Advertising

Your offer is simply your statement of what you propose to do for sales prospects in exchange for what you want from them — their money, says noted copywriter Russ Phelps.

Before you make your statement, he advises, answer the following two questions:

  • What is the biggest promise that you know you can fulfill?

  • What is the most you can offer without losing your shirt?

Those questions are vital, Phelps writes, because, if you do not answer them:

  • You might try to get away with making less of a promise than you could.

  • You might try to milk the buyer for as much as you can, while holding back what you could be giving in return. If you act on these natural human impulses, Phelps says, you will lose sales and profits.

Every profitable offer, Phelps states, involves certain essential components:

  • Product & Bonuses
    Benefits of Product/Service
    Gift for reply
    Bonuses for basic or larger order

  • Pricing Discounts on introductory, rapid, or high-quantity orders
    Refunds or rebates

  • Payment Terms Cash, check, credit card, or charge
    Bill-me-later
    Charge card in 30 days unless trial purchase returned
    Offer expires in 10 days

  • Guarantee
    Unlimited, unconditional
    Time limit on refunds
    Keep bonuses no matter what
    Double or triple money back
    Tap into customer motivators

Customers, Phelps writes, will buy benefits that satisfy two elementary motivators:

  • Greed — Get more of what I want

  • Fear — Avoid losing what I have.
    Phelps says that people’s behavior is motivated by emotion — but explained by logic. So, sell them the benefits of accepting your offer, and justify their purchase by detailing how your product's features will deliver the benefits they crave.



See also:

Advertising Copy Home Page

Marketing Tactics Home Page

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