A Key to Email Marketing Success: Stressing the Role of the Offer

Posted February 8, 2004

A Key to Email Marketing Success: Stressing the Role of the Offer

ATLANTA —

Editor's note: Daryl Toor, who has worked in marketing and public relations for more than 20 years, is founder of Atlanta-based "Attention." He writes a regular column for Local Tech Wire about trends in marketing and communication.Before we go into the specifics of developing an offer, let's review why an offer is needed in email communications in the first place.

Essentially, as we've stressed in past columns, email marketing is direct marketing. It's important to keep that in mind when you put campaigns together.

What is an offer?

An offer is the carrot, or incentive, you give your target audience to incite them to action. The offer can include price but encompasses more than that. Compelling offers make your email message stand apart from the clutter.

The best email promotions usually contain primary and secondary offers.

The primary offer is created to appeal specifically to your defined target audience. The secondary offer comprises your brand, your services or products, and everything else that is your business.

Motivating your target audience through assumptions

To understand what motivates your target audience, it's important to make some assumptions about their pain points.

What's a pain point? Something that weighs heavily on your target audience's mind. Are they worried about saving money? Time? Do they need to win admiration from others? Affection? There are so many angles - the only limit is your imagination.

You may have heard of Victor Schwab, the famous direct marketer. He came up with a list of strong emotional appeals for an intended audience. This list is timeless and should be reviewed when making your assumptions:

People want to gain health, popularity, praise from others, pride of accomplishment, self-confidence, time, improved appearance, comfort, social and business advancement, money, security in old age, leisure, increased enjoyment, and personal prestige.

They want to save time, money, and work.

They want to avoid discomfort, risks, worry, embarrassment, and doubts.

They want to express their personalities, satisfy their curiosities, appreciate beauty, win others' affections, resist domination by others, emulate the admirable, acquire or collect things, and generally improve themselves.

They want to be good parents, creative, efficient, recognized authorities, up to date, gregarious, leaders, sociable, hospitable, proud of their possessions, and influential over others.

Once you review this list, you'll probably have some good ideas about what assumptions you can make. Don't forget to bear your competitors in mind.

Put your thoughts on paper. Write a comprehensive communications brief on the subject. There are many different opinions about what should be incorporated into a brief, but important elements include:

A summary of the project, including background information and goals of the communication

A summary of the target audience: who they are, what they do, age, gender, and so on

An overview of the target audience's key state of mind

How you want your target audience to respond to your communication

Communication strategy: how you convince your target audience

Competitive positioning and general information

Targeted message you want to convey, with offer details described above

Mandatory inclusions, such as the logo and toll-free number

This overview should give you the basics of an offer's role of in email marketing and how to make it motivating to your target audience.

Attention: www.attentiongroup.com

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