“Well, what are you selling me here?” Rules for preparing the main product for a marketer or why they don’t buy?
This text will be interesting to you if…
You are a marketer or a specialist in a related profession. This is an article about the type of product “Core offer” or in Russian “core product”. The article is purely professional, detailed and with examples, but written in simple language.
Target — to provide an understanding of how to prepare the main product for sales, so that advertising pays off well and there are more sales. You will need to concentrate, so I recommend reading in your free time or bookmarking the article to return to it later.
The result of studying the article:
You will understand how to work with a core offer
You can increase profits from your projects due to better return on advertising
You will gain an advantage over competitors who do not use this tool.
IMPORTANT:
Everything that is written below is based on a good study of the target audience and understanding of the product matrix. If you don’t have in-depth knowledge on these issues, it’s better to read these articles first:
Let's get started!
Core Offer (main product)
You need to think about the core offer first. This is the basis of the product matrix. Starting your preparation with a lead magnet is a mistake. Don’t think that the line to the corffer goes through the lead magnet. It all works like this: the core offer should have such an attractive power that it sucks the client’s attention like a vacuum cleaner, and the tripwire (or sample product) and the lead magnet (bait product) are two additional “vacuum cleaners” that increase traction.
In other words, the customer should not be attracted to discounts or some trinkets. He should be attracted to the main offer. The worst thing you can do when selling is to start communication with discounts, dumping and any “squeezing in” under the conditions dictated by the client.
The emphasis should always be on the fact that the product itself is self-sufficient. It is really good, in demand and costs exactly as much as it is priced for, because it offers a solution to consumer issues. And they should also want this product, want to be involved in its history, its character and strength. And to all this is added a tripwire and a lead magnet. At the same time, a tripwire is not always needed.
To understand why people buy, you first need to understand why they don't buy.
The fourth point, “no money,” is a consequence of the fact that the consumer does not have answers to the first three questions within himself; he cannot justify purchasing the product.
What follows from all these questions is this:
Let's first understand what the client's budget is:
There is always or almost always money. Their absence is a matter of motivation. Any doubts? Just imagine that your child or other close relative is seriously ill. What, a hundred thousand is still a problem? I think that in such conditions a million is real. For some, a million is the norm in any conditions, but the essence of the example is that there is always more opportunity than it seems at first glance. Motivation increases, and we begin to take advantage of more opportunities that have always been around. That's how it works.
Target costs – this is money for specific purposes, as the name suggests. Examples of such goals: for children’s education, buy a house, upgrade a laptop, buy a car, go on a dream trip, etc. For these purposes, money is either set aside or is already ready and waiting to be used.
Impulse purchases — purchase in the moment. This happens with clothes, with small purchases such as food/drink, etc.
Money I can earn – this is the money that, if necessary, a person can quickly earn. For example, to squeeze out unclosed deals, work overtime, take on additional part-time work on the side, sell something unnecessary from your property…
Credit money no need for a long explanation. These include both bank loans and private loans.
Let me explain, the terms from the second block in the figure above:
Downsell (Downsell, something like “lowering supply”) – This is an offer of a cheaper version of a product in order to close a deal. For example, if a client does not have the money to buy the latest iPhone model, you can offer him previous models or even a cheaper device from a different brand.
Installment plan – differs from a loan in that there is no overpayment. This is an interest-free loan.
Success fee (Success fi, i.e. “payment for success”) – this is a proposal like “let me give you results, and then you will pay me.”
Profit share (Profit share or “profit sharing”) – this is profit sharing, you couldn’t say it better. A proposal like “let’s do something with you, we’ll make a profit, and I’ll take payment for my services from it.” Very similar to Success fee.
Killing offer (Killing offer or “killer offer”) – This is an offer that evokes a strong desire to purchase a product. It would be like offering a person with terminal cancer a pill that instantly cures the disease. The example is cynical, but it reflects the essence of the definition well, because the proximity of death is a powerful motivator.
Bring a friend – This is a common affiliate program scheme. For example, Tinkoff Bank constantly promises some kind of bonuses if your friend gets a bank card.
When there is “no desire,” you need to think about how to “screw” the product into the person’s current motivation. For example, we sell a course on mastering a new profession. A person has no desire to learn a new profession; a more priority task is to raise the level of income. But with the help of a new profession it is quite possible to do this. This means that our task is to show how a person can achieve their own desires with our product. The client's desire may be something different, perhaps more free time or physical freedom to work remotely. And then with our same product we will tell you how to achieve these desires.
When there is “no understanding of the product,” we need to explain why a person needs our product. A striking example is Steve Jobs with his startup Apple. The big problem he encountered early on was that people didn't understand why a personal computer was needed in the first place. A more mundane example would be the services of, say, a photographer. After all, no one needs the picture itself, but what it can create is needed: if it’s a wedding, the photo will capture moments for memories; if photographing food for a restaurant menu, the photography should evoke appetite and a desire to spend money; if it’s an investigation, the pictures will be evidence of certain facts. I hope I explained it clearly.
When there is “no trust,” you need to explain to the person why you can trust the brand and why you can trust the product. Therefore, companies invest large budgets in advertising, which does not bring direct sales, but fixes a certain trusting image in their heads. For example, what is the No. 1 anti-dandruff shampoo in Russia? What name comes to mind when you need to make a printed copy of a document? The answers that probably came to mind were Head & Shoulders and Xerox. These are examples of building trust.
That's all the theory you need to know to start developing the main product.
Practice
Filling out the questionnaire in the mental map
Two global questions that need to be answered are:
All further work with the mental map is done together with the business owner, if you work as a marketer or producer for your client. If the product is yours, do it yourself.
Next, I will show in diagrams what is hidden under each of the points on the mental map.
What pains does our target audience want to escape from?
The diagram shows that in this example I am working with three segments of the target audience: contextual advertising specialists, owners of marketing agencies and newcomers to the field of contextual advertising. I showed these audiences once so that they would understand that they need to work separately in segments. And so on for all questions. And then I’ll just show the questions without going into detail for each segment.
This is what is hidden under each of the target audiences. These are the answers to the question posed.
What pleasure does our target audience want to receive?
How was it and how did it become?
Reasons to believe
Now we are making meaningful packaging for our product
We formulate our own product
Transferring data from a mental map to a table
Now we pack everything that we have collected into a compact table something like this:
This is also done according to target audience segments. If audiences overlap, then there is no need to share work that is duplicated. What's the point if the segments have the same problems and everything else is similar? In short, use common sense.
The first row of the table contains the following questions:
For whom?
What problems does it solve?
What wishes does it fulfill?
What is my product? What makes it unique?
What should people pay special attention to?
What resonates with people most in a proposal?
Why this particular brand/person?
Why do they trust my product?
What transformation awaits me?
What does my product include?
What is it called?
At the end of the table we formulate an offer (sentence in Russian) – a short, succinct explanation and a detailed explanation of the essence. It looks something like this:
All the mountain of work that we have done turns into this elegant tablet with wording that should be used at any opportunity. This is a concentrate of the essence of the product.
Offer – one simple sentence.
Explanation at your fingertips – four sentences
Detailed answer — 8-10 sentences, no more.
That's it, the basic preparation of the main product (Core Offer) is completed. Now you understand exactly what you are selling. You can easily present, extract meaning, speak the client’s language and that’s all.
Next, we will pack a sample product and a bait product. Then we will work on packaging. All this is in the following articles.
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