This is about as good as it gets, folks. I've got the secret to successful marketing.

There are many components to every marketing campaign. But there's only one thing that really matters. And if you nail this one thing, a toddler could run your marketing and it would still work.

It’s not the copy.

It’s not the creative

It’s not the audience. 

It’s your offer.

Your offer is the core of any successful marketing campaign. It’s the center of the spoke. The nucleus of the cell. With it, you’re a hero. Without if, you’re lighting money on fire.

Unless you're only building brand awareness, you should have an offer. Get prospects to take action. Move them a step closer to purchasing. 

And to get them to take action, you need to offer them something of great value.

Without an offer, you're giving your prospect two options:

1. Take no action, stay anonymous, and forget about us tomorrow

2. Decide if you want to purchase (or be sold to) right now!

With an offer, you give them the opportunity to:

1. Experience your company, product, or service

2. Understand more about something they’re interested in

3. Receive something of great value that they appreciate

4. Realize what they’re missing out on

5. Understand how to solve their problems

Most people think their offer is the company’s product. It can be. But it should not be in the majority of your marketing. Because not everyone is ready to buy today. They may want to go to dinner first before hopping into bed with you.

Unless you sell water, food, or beer. Then your product can be your sole offer. People will buy that shit without much convincing. 

But you can’t just have any offer. This is where I see most businesses go wrong. They create something no one wants. Then they wonder why their marketing isn’t working at driving results. They look at the tactics used and try to figure out what went wrong instead of admitting that no one wants what they’re offering.

Your offer has to be damn good. It must be irresistible. It must be so good that someone would be willing to pay you 3x what you’re charging (if you are charging). So good that they’d go to hell and back to get it.

Here’s what makes a good offer (can be one of many of the below):

1. It clearly demonstrates your expertise in the space you operate in

2. It helps the prospect uncover a pain they’re experiencing

3. It shows the prospect the solution(s) to a pain they’re experiencing

4. It helps them actually solve a problem without you

5. It's free or heavily discounted compared to what a competitor would charge

On a podcast. I recently heard this called creating a “Godfather Offer,” referring to it being “an offer you can’t refuse.” This is a good way to think about it. 

Note: If you haven’t watched the Godfather, just watch the first one. 2 & 3 are painful to watch.

Next time you’re running a campaign, focus hard on the offer. Spend a large amount of time on it. Make sure it’s insanely good. Then watch the results come in.

Don't skip this part. Don't think that by simply getting your name out there you'll drive sales. You don't have 1 million dollars to spend on brand awareness with no expected results. And you don’t have the credibility to give them something of little or no value.

There’s the secret. You’re welcome.