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Home::Copywriting
The Magic Free Offer
Author : Charles Brown
I'm always amazed at how little original thought many
advertisers put into their ads. And how they consequently throw
away money. Right now I am looking at several full-page Yellow
Page ads for local law firms. These are mostly general practice
firms who handle the usual plaintiff's cases: personal injury,
personal bankruptcy, family law and criminal defense.
They aren't blue chip firms on Wall Street, their business is on
Main Street. There is a need for these types of firms and they
don't appear to be ambulance chasers. But there really is
nothing about their ads that set them apart from their
competitors. In fact, each ad says essentially the same thing as
the next ad: 1) a laundry list of the cases they handle, 2) how
much experience they have, and 3) grim, no nonsense photographs
of lawyers who mean business and are ready to go to war on your
behalf.
One thing is for certain; all of these full-page ads cost these
firms a lot of money. But what if they could greatly increase
their response rates from these ads, and make their ads
outperform all of their competitors' ads, without spending an
extra dollar?
Here's how: By offering free information. Free information
lowers the bar for a person to respond to your ad. Instead of
having to call, set an appointment and meet with a
lawyer, the person can just call or send an email for a free
booklet (or you can send a free white paper, a free ebook, a
free audio CD, a free DVD, a free tip sheet, a free interactive
software program or anything you like as long as it is genuinely
informative).
What kind of free booklet? Let's just focus on criminal cases
for now. What if your ad offered the following free booklets:
· 10 Things You Must Do If You Are Accused of A Crime;
· Know Your Rights! What You Must Know If the Police Want to
Search Your Home or Your Car; or · What To Do If Your
Son or Daughter is Arrested?
Before people make a serious decision they want to gather
information. They may ask their friends or coworkers, they may
do a Google search or they go to the library. If they see your
ad offering free information, along the lines of the booklets
listed above, while they are in the information-seeking mode,
they will respond.
But guess what? Not only does offering information lower the
response bar, it also generates a lead. Now you have captured an
interested person's name, telephone number, address and email
address. You also know something about this person's need, which
enables you to recontact this person in the future. This means
that you can turn that single exposure of the person skimming
through the Yellow Pages into multiple exposures through your
free booklet and your follow up letters or email messages. Your
competitors won't have a chance.
But most of all, the information you provide in you booklet (or
article or white paper or ebook or whatever) enhances your
perceived level of expertise in that person's eyes. You have
transformed yourself from an advertiser to an expert. And
nothing could be better than that.
COPYRIGHT (C) 2005, Charles Brown
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