Mastering the Art of the Offer

No matter what business you’re in, whether travel, property management, real estate sales, SaaS software, financial services, or retail sales, the selling offer you present to prospects communicates everything about your brand.

And as we’ll discuss here, if you build your brand magic into your sales promos, then even the weakest offer becomes powerful.  Offers are complex communications, so why don’t we explore what might make them really effective?

What is Your Offer?

Your sales offer isn’t the PPC ad or email message, but instead, is the emotional experience you’re delivering. In the travel sector, the offer, what’s being sold is the unique experience of “the joy of travel”  It’s not a plane ticket, hotel room, or tour. They can get that via Trip-arc, Expedia or Tour Radar.

Customers buy what they’re feeling, often based on the content experience you immersed them in.

Winning offers have to be more than sales pitches, and should be something more valuable and enduring — like your value proposition.  They connect the prospect directly to the value, warmth and significance of your brand which launch a booking or sale.

What is a Great Travel Offer?

Well, given each traveler type has unique demands, the offer would be customized.  But let’s try a general description first:

A great travel package offer provides a seamless, well-curated experience that balances adventure, relaxation, and cultural immersion, all at a competitive price. It includes convenient travel arrangements, personalized itineraries, and exclusive access to unique destinations or experiences. 

And that’s the point, is that it’s describing a thing, not the human emotional experience which is what travelers actually want, even though price is important.

This vacation package offer from a travel agency has some nice benefits of personalized journeys, planning and 24×7 support. But does it cover the gap between the brand promise and an actual vacation package?

A Real, Practical Travel Offer

And here, the offer link is to a page that describes the offer in detail along with a separate link to purchase.

A poor offer is just fantasy. And worse, might tell the customer that you don’t understand them or care about them. It could suggest you don’t have the power/resources/talent/experience to fulfill them. It might backfire and make them ignore you or focus more on one of your competitors (who resonate better with the weak standard offer) and power up their sales. The failing, weak offer actually backfires, although the major travel marketplace sites such as hotels.com, Expedia, Viator, and TourRadar appreciate being the benefactors.

Selling the Warm, Satisfying Relationship

Travel agencies for instance, resell tour marketplace products, so they’re selling the tour provider’s brands, not really their own. And often, they use the tour company’s own marketing materials to sell the trip or tour package. Too often they put lipstick on their travel deals. If they don’t sell, it might be because there’s no authentic connection with the customer on a personal level. Why would they suffer the friction of booking through a travel agency when they can just go direct?

Wearing a Lot of Lipstick

A recent colorful Linkedin post from Fotis Chatzinicolaou spoke about weak offers, and how putting lipstick on a pig doesn’t work. He says offers have to be sexy, a word that’s hard to describe or fulfill. He makes the point well, that we may need to throw the lipstick in the trash can, and focus on developing an authentic offer aligned with the target’s genuine search for a trusted, caring provider (your brand).

Offers tend to be desperate and not a sincere, composed effort to build a relationship. The lipstick represents false value so it seems, the less lipstick used, the more authenticity?

2 Goals Built into the Offer

There are two goals in the ideal offer:
(1) craft a personalized proposal that communicates the right kind of value the customer wants, and
(2) a clear connection to your brand as the “only provider they will ever want.” Once that “only one for me” image sticks in their head, your offers start to look so good, they insist on buying from you.

Just winning the moment to get a sale is “lipstick marketing.” Instead, within a travel agency offer as an example, you’re really selling trust, confidence, esteem and an ability to fulfill them always. It’s wise to build your brand and UVP into your customized, personalized offer.

7 Keys to a Great Offer

  1. make it the extension of your personalized, unique value proposition
  2. make it simple, clear and laser-clear to avoid confusion and increase confidence in the purchase
  3. avoid discounts or incentives which suggests the travelers interest is weak
  4. fills in any gaps and takes the consumer from the brand to the specific satisfaction sought
  5. speaks in the customer’s own language and values
  6. customized to their current specific situation, circumstance and pain points
  7. doesn’t overwhelm — focuses on the most essential and relevant emotional benefits

Of course, the offer is the prelude to immersion in your content and brand. The sale never happens in the moment, which is why openings, click-throughs and conversions are so frustratingly low.

Your Real Offer: The Only Travel Company for Me

Whether you’re a hotel, resort, luggage brand, airline, tour company or DMO, you’re selling this “only one for me” appeal.

For instance, I have my travel favorites. I prefer Air Canada (caring and high-quality service) or Southwest Airlines (best destinations), Best Western Hotels (fun, clean, well priced), hotels.com (fast, convenient, reliable), Heys luggage (protects, takes a beating), and Fox Rent a Car (Low price, fair value). I’ve had bad experiences with United Airlines (stuffed in like sardines, broke my luggage and no apology) and American Airlines (low class) so it doesn’t matter what their offer is — I don’t like them! They need an offer that apologizes and takes the risk away — showing they respect me and my previous experiences.

Master the Art of the Offer

To master the “art of the offer” and create a product package that makes clients see you as “the only service provider for them,” you’ll need to focus on several core concepts that go beyond mere price and features.

These concepts revolve around deeply understanding the customer’s needs, creating unique personalized value, and developing an emotional connection that fosters loyalty. Consider these offer fundamentals:

1. Personalized Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

The significant, personalized unique value proposition (UVP) which is my creation, is the foundation of your offer and deserves all your attention. It does more than differentiate, it makes your offer momentous and emotional, seemingly unsurpassable.

But let’s not forget that “only one for me” charm that brings them face-to-face with your wonderful brand. Air Canada does that so well, such that they can charge a lot more and focus on direct flights.

Emotional Resonance is the deciding factor, to make them feel good (confident, empowered, secure). Use original photos, and specific town and venue names that they’re excited about.

2. The Irresistible Offer

An irresistible offer satisfies the customer’s most urgent, immediate problems or desires dominating their mind. But this delightful “deal” on their key pain points, still has to be tied back to their love of your brand. Experts say to focus on communicating: High Perceived Value (peace of mind, joy, growth, transformation), Limited Availability or Urgency to force them to be serious, Risk Reversal (offering guarantees or money-back assurances reduces perceived risk), and Overall Value (to extend the purchase beyond the obvious benefits, to move them out of an analytical mindset to remind them of your amazing trustworthy brand)

3. Emotional Selling

Using psychology to tap into their motivations, desires, and fears via through your engaging storytelling, branding, and service experience. It’s exclusively about their travel dream as an example. Add in testimonials, customer experiences via images/video which makes it more about show not tell.

4. Perceived Expertise and Authority

What It Is:  Travel tour companies as an example will only see you as the “only one for me” option if your company is great and focused specifically on them. The offer could allude to how caring, experienced, connected, and knowledgeable you are about the destinations/attractions/packages.

5. Storytelling and Narrative Building

Storytelling techniques such as the Hero’s Journey where they overcome doubt and obstacles to fulfill their dream, demonstrate the rich, transformative benefits of the experience.  Work with your staff to craft stories that resonate with your target audience’s experiences, values, and aspirations. The narrative is the big-picture message that your company is the only one for them. Fuse in commentaries or photos of you enjoying the benefits with customers if possible. Whether you’re selling a destination, hotel stay, or tour in, it’s better if you’re in the story with the customer.

6. Pricing Strategy and Perceived Value

Communicate your offer around exceptional value from services, features, add-ons, reliability and convenience based on the value you provide rather than discounts or add-ons for buying more. Use price anchoring to position a higher-priced option alongside a more affordable one to make your desired price point seem more attractive, or offer multiple packages at different price points, but ensure your higher-priced option is the one that represents your brand and their needs.

7. The Awe, Promise and Allure of your Brand Image

Distill your offer’s promise and you’ll realize you’re really selling your company/brand. For instance, a travel agency’s cruise vacation details are much the same as any other.  It’s the brand that tells customers they’re getting the most sensational cruise line experience. Define your brand’s specific strengths and then build them into the offer and message. Align your brand voice and messaging with your brand’s values and style using the very best, stimulating images, words, fonts, and colors.  It’s all about alignment.

8. Client Retention and Loyalty

Show confidence in your brand and guarantee your offer.  Allude to post-sales activity to ease their purchase anxiety and help them visualize a long-term relationship, thus leading them to a view of your personalized, full customer experience and the exclusive membership in your special club that celebrates the specific benefits they yearn for.

Selling You and Your Amazing Brand

As I mentioned previously, hiring a brand consultant to get your brand positioning well understood and articulated is wise. Who appreciates the crafting of a beautiful brand better than they do? Clarity is beautiful for everyone. From content strategy to email offers, your brand speaks louder than anything you can say in an offer. Because customers have seen and heard it all before. They’re buying your brand.

When you think deeply on this, you’ll see that you’re selling emotions, which is so important in a sector such as travel marketing. To sell them on your offer, you have to make them feel it first within your online content. Travelers might take two months to decide to book, so your offer needs to synchronize with your product pages, About us page, and blog posts.

Well-constructed offers seem to make customers feel good so they appreciate what you’re extending to them.  It’s a big challenge to craft a winning offer, and I wish you good luck in developing yours.

📞 Contact me about travel content strategy at 416 998 6246.

 

(Title graphic courtesy of Wannapik).

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.