Advertising for Small Business Pt3: Simultaneous Offers and Delayed Offers

The Simultaneous Offers: How to make a dent in the market

The Simultaneous Offer is the most effective method to advertise, and it is the oldest trick in the book. In the context of advertising, an offer is where a product is displayed, most often with a price. This may be followed by a product statement, such as “think different”. or “open happiness”, or it may even have some statement to “get it now”.

The simultaneous offer can exist as a standalone advertisement. If you think about every advertisement you see on television, in print media, the last part of the advertisement is almost always “here is the product, you can buy it now”. The reason why it is referred to as simultaneous, is because the product may be bought simultaneously to viewing the advertisement. The importance of this distinction will be discussed when we talk about delayed offers.

If you are going to make a stand alone simultaneous offer, you have to consider putting in as much time and effort as possible to ensure it is well placed to make an impact. The process of putting an advertisement together will be discussed in Part 4 of this series.

The Delayed Offer: How to build hype

The Delayed Offer is used to build excitement in a product. Where a simultaneous offer appeals to logic, such as “check out this new feature”, “available at a great price”, a delayed offer appeals to emotion. A delayed offer, at a most basic level is simply just an advertisement for a product that is not available to the general public as yet. It is most commonly used for media products, such as books, film and video games, however it can extend to some consumer products such as toys, and even cars and computers.

The delayed offer is designed to build a sense of urgency in the purchase of a product. It appeals to emotions by building anticipation, a fear of missing out and even a feeling of achievement at being “first in/first served”. This can backfire though, as the delayed offer relies on several key factors to support it like positive reviews from critics, peer recognition, and a “wow” moment. Without these supporting elements, the delayed offer can fizzle into nothingness.

The delayed offer can also be an advertisement that advertises a separate offering, such as a website or event, that is then used to entice customers to buy the product.

Where to use them:

If your business manufactures or offers an existing product or service, the simultaneous offer can be a fantastic way to showcase it. If your business is building something new, having a delayed offer could really be a good way to increase excitement in your product, long before the product is ready to be made. Next in our series, we will be talking about how to combine the three types of advertisements to build an effective ad campaign.

Written by David Jackson, Founder and CEO of FundX