Lawn Care Business Marketing - 5 Ingredients of Successful Offers

While there are several ingredients that make up a successful sales letter or marketing campaign, you can significantly improve the results of your efforts by presenting your prospects or customers with valuable offers. The whole goal of direct marketing is to get your target market off their collective couch and take action on the message you've sent. If the offer isn't valuable and appealing, the chances of that happening are severely handicapped.

Now, there are basically 5 essential ingredients to crafting successful offers. Ideally you would want to include every one of these ingredients in your message or campaign, but you should still see positive results if you can incorporate at least 2 or more of the following:

Here are the 5 essential ingredients for any successful offer:

1. Present something new.

This could be a new product, new service, new bonuses, or even new prices. In fact, it doesn't really matter what the new 'thing' is, just as long as you're putting something new in front of your prospects. Doing so gives you the opportunity to craft an exciting 'package' of products or services to incite your prospects to action.

2. Have a sale or offer specially discounted prices.

Now, I'm not normally one to recommend discounts because of all the negative implications it can have, but there's no denying the fact people respond to discounts. A decent discount on a starter package can help motivate your prospects to give you a try, while a discount for existing customers can help reactivate those that have been inactive for a period of time.

3. Provide bonuses or premiums.

When compared to offering discounts, this method is infinitely more appropriate for motivating your prospects simply because it doesn't cheapen your services. Plus, it gives them the impression they're getting significantly more value for the price they're paying.

There are many things that can be offered as a bonus or premium, such as:

- A low cost, high margin product or service

- Closeout or excess inventory items

- A free report or white paper sharing information your prospect considers valuable

Much like providing a bonus or premium, offering your prospects a gift for responding to your offer often provide enough incentive to get them to take action. Again, it doesn't need to be something expensive just as long as it has a high perceived value for your prospects.

There are many services that provide gifts with a high perceived value for a relatively low cost. Additionally, there are many wholesale sources available where you can purchase small lots of items that you could include in your offers.

5. Put a time limit on the offer.

As any smart marketer knows, you should ALWAYS include some type of mechanism for creating urgency. One of the best ways to do this is to put a deadline or time limit on the offer.

Many times, when most people receive an offer, even though it's something they'd like to take advantage of, t for one reason or another they procrastinate taking action. Limiting the amount of time your prospect has to take advantage of the offer is an excellent way to get them up on the couch and on the phone.

Again, while it's not necessary to include each of these five ingredients in all your marketing materials and campaigns, every time you're able to do so, you'll create a powerful message that motivates your prospects to take the action you want them to take.

About this Author

Chestin Salisbury is President of Lawn Care Marketing Magic, a direct response marketing company located in Charlotte, NC that focuses on the lawncare and landscaping industry. He has been helping small businesses grow for 7+ years by creating marketing systems that use time-tested direct response marketing principles. Lawn Care Marketing Magic has access to 100+ years of experience and will help you create a marketing system that grows YOUR business 100-500% within 120 days or less. Guaranteed.

Chestin is also the chief-editor of 'The Lawn Care Marketing Magic Minute', a free e-newsletter that focuses on specific strategies, tips, and tools for growing your business. To learn more about these lawn care direct marketing systems and to sign up for the weekly e-newsletter, visit http://www.LawnCareMarketingMagic.com

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