This week’s Top Tip Tuesday is about a powerful marketing weapon that is all too often forgotten about.

I’m talking about guarantees!

We love seeing and using guarantees in marketing. 

Our preference is for using multiple, strong, creative guarantees;

When done and used properly, they can really help you stand out from everyone else because your trust and credibility rises massively. This leads to more calls, more conversations and more sales.

We love using these guarantees not because they’re fun to think up and write (although they are) but because they work...

When you have a strong guarantee, profit from increased sales should far exceed the cost of honouring the guarantee.

Let me give you an example, read these guarantees and think which would have more of an impact on you as a buyer:

#1           “If you’re not happy with your Brand X Jeans, we’ll give you a full refund.”

#2           “If, at any time in the next 12 months, you don’t think that these are the smartest, sexiest and most exquisite jeans you’ve ever worn... if people don’t stop you in the street and ask for your number... if your friends don’t start calling more often... just send them back and we’ll refund every penny of your money. No hard feelings and no questions asked.

Spot the difference!? The first guarantee is just ‘there’ – it’s better than not having a guarantee at all, but it’s all too easy to gloss over.  It’s just like ‘10% Off’. No-one pays attention anymore.

The second guarantee is impossible to miss; it’s over the top and fun.  It instils promise, emotion and drama into an otherwise everyday guarantee.

The Guarantee Myth 

“I’m worried that everyone will claim under my new guarantee!!”

Many small businesses don’t use strong guarantees in their marketing because they think that too many of their customers will take advantage of it.  

Now, if you’ve got a rubbish product or you give rubbish service then that might not be the case. So make sure you’ve ‘got the beef’.

You probably will see an increase in refunds and returns BUT it will be tiny compared to the increase in sales.

In the new economy, super-strong, innovative guarantees can make a real difference. What’s yours?