Last week, I asked are your ads in the right place? But before you do place an ad, you need to know what you’re going to offer the people who see it.
Is an offer a discount?
Nope, not necessarily. It just means whatever people get when they respond. It could be 2 for 1, or it could be an extra gift, or it could be your regular price. For instance, 5 lemons for $1 is one offer, 20c per lemon is a different offer.
A good offer
A continuity Hispanic music club was advertising its CDs on a popular Spanish language variety show. They had the right “list” for their ads (Spanish-speaking people who enjoyed popular music). The offer was appealing: buy 10 for $1, then get 5 more at regular price for the next year. Viewers got a good deal on the CDs, and had a large selection to choose from.
A bad offer
The same company decided to change the offer. They switched to offering only 5 specific CDs for $5. Still a good deal, but it didn’t work. Why? Because the choices were now drastically limited. If you already had one of the CDs why buy it again? Or, why buy a Celia Cruz album when you really wanted Tito Puente?
Bonus tip:
$5 off a $25 purchase seems like a better deal than $10 off a $50 purchase (even though it isn’t).