EXAMPLES OF STEALTH AND VALID OFFERS

First, let's take a look at magazine ads for automobiles.

A full-page ad introducing the new Ford Taurus appears in the April 19, 2010 issue of BusinessWeek magazine. A huge photograph of the car dominates the page. From this we know the offer is for a new Ford Taurus.

But it's a stealth or invisible offer as the headline reads: "YOU SAY OBSESSIVE LIKE IT’S A BAD THING." This is a meaningless or throwaway headline. It has absolutely nothing to do with an offer. It provides us with no incentive to read the body copy. This is your typical big agency branding ad.

The ad is totally void of any valid offer.

A valid offer that's been enhanced and presented properly would have a headline that reads: "YOUR NEW FORD TAURUS COMES WITH FREE LIFETIME OIL CHANGES."

Or perhaps: "$2000 OF FREE GAS WHEN YOU PURCHASE A NEW FORD TAURUS."

Note how the offer has not only been enhanced by an incentive, it's been elevated front and center to a big, bold headline.

Next, let's consider a newspaper ad for free checking. 

There haven't been any free checking ads in the Sacramento-area newspaper for quite some time so this example is from the May 2, 2007 issue of The Sacramento Bee.

We know from the small banner across the top of the ad, above the bold headline, that the offer is for Free Checking.

But it's a stealth offer as the headline reads: "Kiss The Asterisk Goodbye!" This, too, is a meaningless or throwaway headline. It has absolutely nothing to do with an offer. It provides us with no incentive to read the body copy.

From our perspective, this ad is totally void of any valid offer.

A valid offer that's been enhanced and presented properly would have a headline that reads: "FREE CHECKING AND A FREE GIFT!"

Or perhaps: "FREE REWARDS CHECKING THAT PAYS 2.55% INTEREST."

Again, a valid offer is a basic product or service offer that's been enhanced in some manner and presented upfront, preferably in a big, bold headline.

Given the two examples above, the differences between a simple offer and an enhanced offer should be obvious.

As direct response copywriter Robert W. Bly states in his quote at the top of this issue, "The offer is of utmost importance to the success of any direct marketing piece or campaign."

Therefore, your basic offer must be enhanced and presented upfront to improve your chances of making the sale. Your goal is what we call a "valid offer."

WHY A VALID OFFER IS SO IMPORTANT

Differentiation!

A valid offer provides you with your USP or unique selling proposition.

Every bank and credit union in the country offers an array of checking and savings accounts and loan products. Many consumers perceive financial products as commodity products – they are the same no matter where you do your banking.

For your checking account, for example, to be more appealing and deliver more value than those offered by your competitors, you must create a valid checking account offer.

This is how you pull-in more new checking customers and gain market share at the expense of your competitors.

A superb offer is how you go about improving your response rate with newspaper ads, billboards, direct mail, and all other marketing channels and formats.

Remember the sage advice of veteran direct mail marketer, Axel Andersson, "If you want to dramatically increase your response, dramatically increase your offer."

It's that simple – the better the perceived value of your offer, the better the response you should experience.

Normally, the importance of an offer would be difficult, if not impossible, to quantify. But over the years the direct mail marketing experts have managed to do so with their familiar direct mail marketing formula:

DM Success = List (A) + Offer (B) + Creative (C) + Format (D) + Timing (E)

Here A, B, C, D, and E are weights (values) of importance that add-up to 100%. A primary issue at this point is how relevant are the correct weights assigned to each component? Do these weights vary based on some criteria? And, do the actual values really matter all that much?

Over the years, even though we've encountered slight variations in the values assigned these weights, their ranking has never changed.

Today, the accepted weighting is:

List = 40%
Offer = 40%
Everything else (creative, format, and timing) = 20%

While this formula applies to direct mail, it is just as applicable to any marketing channel or format. Simply replace the "list" with "target audience selection."

And remember, the value and quality of an offer can vary significantly. So while the offer is responsible for 40% of the success of a direct mail campaign, in reality an excellent, value-driven offer might contribute far more than 40% toward the ultimate response.

Next, we'll take a closer look at the attributes of a great offer.

VALID OFFER ATTRIBUTES

To the extent possible, every offer should have as many of the following attributes as possible:

• It is clear, concise, simple, and easy to understand.

• Speaks the language of the target audience.

• Delivers value to the consumer.

• Differentiates your offer from similar offers made by competitors.

• Is tough to replicate by your competitors.

• Provides instant gratification where possible.

One familiar offer should come to mind upon reading this list of attributes as it comes the closest to meeting all six.

Totally Free Checking and a Free Gift

We know this superb offer is very successful as it's still in use after almost 30 years.

Another successful checking account offer that has a much shorter history is this one:

Free Rewards Checking That Pays 2.50% Interest

In almost 40 years of bank marketing experience, your newsletter editor is unaware of any other offers that are as strong or enduring as the two shown above.

By now you are probably wondering where you can go to learn more about developing and writing superior, valid offers.

One place is the checkout line at your local discount store or supermarket.

STUDY THE COVERS OF WOMEN'S MAGAZINES

One of the quickest ways to become more proficient at creating offers is to study the covers of women's magazines in the racks at the entry of grocery or discount store checkout aisles.

The numerous call-outs on the front cover are basically offers. Each one is offering prospective readers something of value if they simply buy the magazine and read it.

The copywriters for these magazines are experts at crafting offers to appear on the front covers.

Some examples from May issues include:

• "Satisfied on Fewer Calories"
• "Slim Body, Fat Wallet"
• "Look 12 years younger"
• "Boost your good cholesterol 21%"
• "The 50 best shoes"
• "Problem-solving products from $5"
• "10 Ways to Live Longer – Happier"
• "Secrets to homemade pasta"

Imagine each of these call-outs as a headline above a magazine or newspaper ad…or the words on a billboard alongside your logo.

The next time you're standing in the checkout line, study the teaser copy offers appearing on the front covers of the assorted women's magazines. Note how all of them are succinct, speak to the target audience, promise something of value, grab your attention, and make you want to buy the magazine to learn more.

They obviously work extremely well for magazines or they would have disappeared a long time ago. Use their techniques to your advantage.

THE BEST OFFERS COME FROM DIRECT RESPONSE MARKETING EXPERTS

As mentioned above, the offer is a critical component of the direct mail marketing formula. In fact, direct mail marketing practitioners often spend a significant amount of time with their clients developing the best possible offer.

This is in sharp contrast to the creative folks working for general media and marketing agencies. In meetings with these folks, the offer is seldom discussed.

While arriving at the best possible mailing list is more of a quantitative effort aided by the computer and a plethora of available databases, arriving at the best possible offer is still an intuitive, creative process, aided by a dose of "what's worked in the past."

Suffice it to say, when working with an experienced direct response agency, you'll discover the creative folks are passionate about your offer. Through experience they understand that your offer can mean the difference between success and failure of your marketing campaign.

As veteran direct mail guru Claude Hopkins commented, "The right offer should be so attractive that only a lunatic would say 'no.'"

Further proof of the importance of the offer is that it is covered in length in every book ever written on direct mail marketing and direct response marketing. Many such books have an entire chapter devoted to the offer.

This is why you should never allow a general media or marketing agency to create marketing campaigns for your bank or credit union. It's just not in their experience set to sweat the offer and the call-to-action.

The end result is often a mediocre offer supporting an expensive marketing campaign.

REASONS BEHIND MEDIOCRE OFFERS

While there is absolutely no excuse for a mediocre offer, here are some of the reasons why this happens.

1. General media agency creatives like to create branding ads that do not include strong, valid offers or calls-to-action. They believe a strong offer and call-to-action detracts from the purity of a branding message.
   
   SOLUTION: Don't let the creative folks at your general media agency bully you with their branding ideas. Demand a direct response approach to your creative. Specifically, insist that any creative execution include both a valid offer and a strong call-to-action.

2. Some marketers – especially bank marketers – feel awkward believing they are hard-selling prospects and their customers. It makes them uncomfortable feeling they are pressuring people to open new accounts. This is often a branch employee issue as well.
   
   SOLUTION: Understand that the ultimate goal of marketing is to create new customer relationships and the only way to accomplish this is by selling. You must always remember that banking is a retail business and, as such, is in competition with local retailers as well as other banks. To remain competitive you must become comfortable in a selling role. And successful selling requires both a valid offer and a strong call-to-action. You MUST ask for the business.

3. Too many marketers have no working knowledge of the importance of a valid offer, what constitutes an effective offer, and how to create one. This is something that is not taught in the classroom.
   
   SOLUTION: Your marketing education should be ongoing. There are many excellent marketing books with sections on the offer and why it's important. Specifically, seek out books on direct mail marketing and direct response marketing as the offer and call-to-action are both integral components of these disciplines. Also use the Internet to seek out websites with information about offers. Finally, the absolute best way to become an expert about offers and calls-to-action is working closely with a direct response agency. Whenever possible, sit down with the agency creative team and discuss these topics in detail.

4. Marketers believe that you don’t need a valid offer – the product or service sells itself. This might be true of most new Apple products but Apple is an anomaly thanks to its constant innovations, rabid fans, and Steve Jobs' marketing savvy.
   
   SOLUTION: Realize that, unless your bank or credit union has a rabid following like Apple, you must employ both a strong offer and call-to-action to effectively market your products and services. True, by simply opening your doors every day you'll get some number of new customers and cross-sell products and services to existing customers. But this isn't sufficient to grow market share and meet your sales goals. More likely, you'll simply be replacing lost customers and closed accounts. To grow your customer base and meet revenue goals you must present your customers and prospects with strong, value-based offers and then ASK FOR THE ORDER.

THE OFFER AND REG E OVERDRAFT OPT-IN

Rarely has a strong offer and call-to-action been more important than now as your bank or credit union contacts your checking account customers about opting-in for overdraft protection.

Simply sending these customers a form letter and the model A-9 opt-in form will not suffice if you hope to achieve maximum opt-in response. You will need both a very strong, valid offer accompanied by a robust call-to-action.

In this situation, elevating your offer to a valid offer may be as simple as how you state or position your offer. For example:

Plain, vanilla offer: "Keep Your Overdraft Protection Coverage by Opting-In Now!"

Stronger, valid offer: "Opt-In Now – Your Overdraft Protection is the Only Insurance Coverage Where You Never Pay Unless You Use It!"

Or, consider providing added value by offering a fee waiver as follows:

Stronger, valid offer: "Opt-In Now and We'll Waive Your Next Two Overdraft Fees."

While the regulations do not allow you to offer a cash or merchandise incentive only to those customers responding "yes" to opting-in, you are allowed to offer an incentive for simply responding. This means you may have to provide the incentive to checking customers who take the time to return the A-9 form with the "opt-out" option selected.

Of course, this option may be used only on a smaller number of debit card customers who've not responded to earlier opt-in requests. This helps minimize the cost of providing an incentive to those few customers who actually opt-out and take the time to return their A-9 form.

Bottom line, even though the Reg E overdraft opt-in is directed at current checking customers, you still need a valid offer to enhance your chances of meeting your response goals.

ALWAYS INCLUDE A VALID OFFER

As a reminder, every marketing piece – from a simple teller handout to a page-dominant newspaper ad – must include the best possible offer you can make. And, to the extent possible, it should be your lead copy – your headline.

It's your powerful, value-driven offer that reaches out and grabs your customers' and prospects' eyes and pulls them into the rest of your sales message.

It's the hook that catches members of your target audience and helps lead them to say "yes" to whatever you are selling.

They must be persuaded that the benefits of owning what you are selling are worth more than the value of the money they'll spend getting it. Otherwise, you won't make the sale.

Your offer is the key to marketing success.

Choose it wisely.