When it comes to running a successful online business, one of the most crucial aspects is to create killer offers that can attract and convert potential customers. However, crafting offers that truly stand out in the crowded online marketplace can be challenging, especially if you’re not sure where to start.
In this post, I’ll discuss some tips and strategies for creating killer offers for your online business that can help you gain a competitive edge and boost your bottom line. Whether you’re an established entrepreneur or just starting out, these tips can help you refine your approach to offer creation and optimize your sales process.
What makes an offer a good one?
Well, it’s something that someone wants and has value to them. That could be anything from a free ebook to a high end service or product that you provide. Moreover, it has to be compelling.
Enough so that they see the unique value in your offer and are willing to give you their email address or better yet, their credit card.
What it is and isn’t is in the eye of the beholder, so you need to know first, who the hell your client is, or will be.
You have to know who they are, what motivates them and what they place value in.
Is it their time? Is it their money? Both?
If they are opting in for your free offer, like a report or ebook, it is a way to educate potential clients. The exchange in this case is their valuable email address.
Your give back on this is addressing their immediate problem or need.
Most marketers would argue that a freebie should solve one problem in about an hour.
If the goal is to lead them to a sale, you need to nurture them. This can be done with email marketing, direct conversations or sharing knowledge on social media, blogs, podcasts, etc.
This means two things:
- Creating opt in forms for lead magnets, webinars, events.
- Creating downloadable or consumable content that has value and is aligned with your business and all other offers.
Aligning the offers you use in your lead nurturing campaigns and in the CTAs on your website with a prospect’s likely position in the sales cycle will not only help to better qualify a lead, but it may also shorten the sales cycle, as a prospect will be much closer to a purchasing decision with a ton of knowledge about your business before he/she even talks to a sales person – Hubspot
To qualify the ah-mazingness of your offers, you can also create a way for people to connect with you directly. That could be asking questions on social media (and engaging in real conversations) or offering free coffee chats.
This is the fastest way for people to sample the goods. They can try before they buy.
Ultimately, the goal of any strategy is to communicate the reason(s) why someone should choose you over all other options.Your job is to provide value and earn their trust in order to help them make a decision.
The 5 Steps:
Know what your service is truly solving
The first step in creating killer offers for your online business is to understand your target audience. Who are they? What are their pain points and desires? What kind of solutions are they looking for? By answering these questions, you can create offers that speak directly to your audience’s needs and wants.
The offer cannot be what you’re doing for them.
Ex: a VA does email correspondence. Taking over a client’s email is a service that solves their problem of wasted time that is better spent on building their business or with their family.
You are solving their problem of not enough hours in the day to focus on what truly matters to them.
The reason this section is only a few sentences long is because your value proposition, your unique selling point – should be simple enough that you don’t have to go into a long-winded explanation of what you do and how you do it.
Know the specific “pain points”your ideal client has that leads them to seek you out
The scenario is the “busy” business owner who is overwhelmed by being everything in her business. She is trying to do it all and not playing to her strengths.
You take over the “weaknesses” and the shit she hates doing, so she is focused on her business instead of all up in it.
When she is allowed to truly shine in her zone of excellence (and not worrying about tasks) her business can grow and prosper.
Again…make it simple!
Understand the Buyer’s Journey
Do not think about this from your POV. Think about HER questions, obstacles or objections. What would be the tipping point to buy from you?
Answer her objections before she poses them. Nothing will kill a buyer’s journey (and eventually a sale) faster than an unanswered objection.
- What is it that she needs right now to feel she’s making the right decision to work w/you?
- Does she have any concerns about your effectiveness?
- What are the obstacles that stop her from buying?
- How confident is she that she will see success from your offer?
Empathy is key at this stage. We all have a story or reasons why, but it’s your job to root those stories out, validate a concern and guide them to the answer.
The language you use is HERS
You’re Not Starbucks. Starbucks is a world renowned brand with a language unto itself. Walk into any Starbucks and you will hear customers saying things like “tall Pike,” “venti half-caf vanilla latte,” “iced caramel macchiato,” and it goes on and on.
Starbucks is a big brand, and over the course of thirty years they have trained consumers to understand a whole new language. Developing a new language for your brand might sound like an exciting opportunity to differentiate your company.
But the downsides of using unique ways to describe your products and services are incredibly high.
When a customer doesn’t understand, they don’t buy.
It takes a long time to educate your clients on a new language. – Jeremy Miller
Google and Pinterest are awesome for typing in questions or phrases and seeing what autofill brings up. So is going straight to the source and asking questions to give you direct feedback on her likes, dislikes, learning style, problems, concerns, etc.
The added bonus by going straight to the source is that you build trust faster and overcome objections quicker, by having that trust!
These questions and feedback are also perfect content topics for your blog and social media.
Mine the shit out of them for data and use it to create posts that get you attention. It helps you to eliminate using jargon that they don’t understand or even care about.
Know what she thinks is a benefit and what she thinks is a feature too.
- A feature is more of a list of “extra” things that come with a service.
- A benefit is the reason they buy.
A feature will have them saying “so what” where as a benefit will have them saying “I have to have that”.
Real benefits speak loudly to your customer’s desires: saving money, making more money, being happier, saving time or being more productive.
When you put it all together, you will have a great framework for creating copy for any offer you come up with in the future. You can even use this for tweaking offers you already have.
