Need an offer for your landing page? It’s easier than you think.
Posted on Mon, Jul 19, 2010
By: Gayle Davies
This is a challenge that presents itself to small business website owners who are diligently navigating towards the online marketing arena. The challenge of what to offer on your landing page. The offer comes easily for some, but for others it takes nothing less than a 180 degree attitude adjustment.
Let’s face it. Not every business can use discounts, coupons or “end of season” sales. What if you sell ideas, or opinions, medical services or goods that have a high dollar value. If this is you, then you have to adjust your thinking from: “I am the holder of all things valuable and you must pay for my expertise sight unseen.” To: “Let me share some of my knowledge so that you can come to a reasoned decision on your eventual purchase.” Here are two examples of the types of businesses that have to get creative with offers.
Cosmetic Surgery Practice
Landing page offer: Sale on breast implants. Buy one get one free!
Me: Uh, no thank you. Why the quick sale? Are they like….... expiring soon or something?
That wouldn’t quite work would it. So, what do you offer if you are a cosmetic surgeon? Well, put yourself in the shoes of the website visitor. They have questions and concerns. Will I look better? Is the surgery dangerous? Is this doctor a board certified physician? They have landed on your website not necessarily ready to buy but rather they are just looking for answers to their questions.
Offer Solution
The solution is a landing page offer that invites visitors into a special “members only” area of the website after filling out the form and leaving their email address. The "before and after photo" gallery gives the visitor a realistic view of what actual patients looked like before and after surgery, thus answering one of their questions. Once the doctor has the visitor’s email, it is easy enough to send informational emails about the doctor’s qualifications (another question answered), and stats on surgical outcomes (another question answered.) Every email had a link to a landing page that offered free consultations. At some point the visitor (now a lead) will be ready to buy.
Blast Furnaces.
Ok, so you sell blast furnaces. How would this offer work for you. “Buy one, get the second one half off.” Not really. So what the heck can you offer? This is where the attitude adjustment comes in. The “I really want to share my knowledge because if I don’t then visitors can go to the other 1,000 websites that offer my product” attitude adjustment. And it helps to have a certain confidence in yourself and in the product knowledge you have acquired over the years of doing business. You have no idea how much you really know. The trick is to pull that knowledge out and create a valuable, downloadable resource for your visitor.
Offer Solution
The solution is an e-book. Think back through the years. Think about all the questions your customers have asked. Answer those questions in a downloadable e-book offered on your landing page when they fill out the form and leave their email address.
- What advances have been made in blast furnaces?
- How is the green revolution going to impact blast furnace operations?
- How do the features of your blast furnace compare to other brands?
- How can pig iron be converted to steel? (What? Never mind, skip that one.)
No. You may not get a sale right at that moment. But you will get a number of leads from people who leave their email address. And you can educate your leads with nurturing emails. Begin to form a trusted relationship. A percentage of those leads will turn into sales. Don't let the chore of producing the e-book stop you. It is a simple job for a graphic designer and is well worth the cost.
Are you really stuck on an idea? Send me your website url and I'll look at the first one that comes in. I'll send you an idea you can use for an offer.