Direct marketing

  In any business relationship, trust is probably the most important factor. After all, if someone doesn’t trust you they’re not going to buy from you. So, when you’re creating your marketing materials, your copy has to convince your readers that you are trustworthy. Before I go on to explain how this can be achieved, I want to look at how you can build trust through blogging. The posts on your blog are very personal to you so your reader instantly connects with you because they feel they know you through your words. This is the exact type of connection your sales writing has to replicate.  The problem is ...

  Crystal Balls make life easy, especially for the marketers amongst us. But as they are total figment of our childhood imaginations, we’ll just have to make do with research and copywriting cunning. Direct mail isn’t easy to write. Oh yes it is! No, it isn’t. Because if you think all  you need is a bit of blurb about your product, a price and a way for your customer to order, you’re not going to be very successful. Basically speaking, for your direct mail campaign to work you must have a brilliant: List Offer Copy ...

Although there are many different uses for the direct mail letter, they all have common characteristics that make them successful. Of course, your list and your offer will also have a big impact on your success rate but the characteristics I will be talking about are those that make the letter powerful, engaging – a sales force to be reckoned with. So, that must mean the copy. How you write your letter will determine whether you successfully engage with your reader. A lot depends on the words you use… Be personal When you are in a face to face selling situation, the first thing the sales person will try to do is build rapport. That is exactly what your letter has to do. Use language that will engage your reader ...

    Direct mail has always been a very effective marketing tool – but only if you get it right. It won’t have a place in every business, especially with the advances in online marketing. But it is still very much alive and well. If you dabble in direct mail and want your campaigns to be successful, there are three elements you should use to maximise your chances of success:   Make sure the content of your letter appeals to your target market Make sure it is written to inspire your audience to take an action Make sure you can monitor its effectiveness ...

  OK you men out there – we know what’s on your mind. Don’t try to deny it, I read somewhere that you think about sex every six seconds so it must be true. The problem with that is, as a copywriter, it causes a bit of a problem. No matter what I write, there’s a fair chance your mind is going to be elsewhere. For example, if I write a sales letter  that takes about five minutes to read, my beautifully crafted sales pitch will be interrupted by your carnal thoughts fifty times! The point I’m trying to make is that when anyone picks up your sales letter, there’s a good chance they’ll be focusing on something ...

After months of R & D you’re ready to launch a new product. You know your target market and you think you know what they want so you’re ready to start creating your marketing materials. You are now sat in front of your PC. The screen is blank and your mind is blanker – HELP! Does that sound familiar? How do you start? The best place to start is with your readers. So ask yourself what is it that they’re interest in. If you said your product, you’d be wrong. The answer is simple – they are only interested in themselves. Get to know your reader If you are going to sell something to someone, you have to get to know them. As a copywriter I spend a lot of time ‘inside the heads’ of the ...

Every freelance copywriter will know that every new project brings with it a whole new set of challenges. Which is why it is vital that, before you start anything, you clearly understand the goals of your project. If you know where you need to end up, it will be a lot easier to get there. One of the first questions you should ask your client is what is the purpose of the project? For example, if you are writing a sales letter it is important to remember that what you are writing is going to replace a personal visit or face to face conversation. Whereas face to face a salesman can make eye contact, gain clues from the customer’s body language and counter objections as they arise, your letter can’t do that so the ...

Whether you are talking direct mail campaigns or direct response adverts – this is one form of copywriting that is set to stay. Many people think that direct response copywriting doesn’t work, but if it doesn’t, why do so many companies continue to use it? The key to ensuring your direct response campaign works, is to ensure that your copy is compelling, interesting and relevant enough to grab your readers’ attention. If your writing takes on a friendly tone, it is far more likely to be read than something that is hard sell or ‘high-brow’. As for whether your copy should be long or short – quite simply, it should be as long as it needs to be to get your message across. The magic formula This is the science bit – there are 3 ...

For many companies, sales letters (direct mail) are the main thrust of their marketing. But no matter how much you rely on them, you need to know how to write them effectively. The humble sales letter has been used for many years so I’m not going to reinvent the wheel with this post. What I will aim to do, is to go through the basics of the letter to ensure yours is as powerful as possible. The 3 main components There are a number of different components to a sales letter, but here I’m just going to concentrate on the three main elements – the headline, the offer and the call to action. Headline As with most forms of marketing, if you don’t grab your reader’s attention from the outset, they ...

Indulge me for a moment and think of yourself running a busy kitchen. Business couldn’t be better; bookings are up, in fact you now have a waiting list for tables. You have to bring in a new chef to cope with the extra workload. On Wednesday evening he arrives ready and raring to go. But, he doesn’t take the time to discuss with you how the kitchen works. Instead, he heads off and does his own thing. The result is TOTAL CHAOS! The ingredients for successful direct marketing In the world of the freelance copywriter there is a recipe that is regularly used to create great direct mail that works. A great list An amazing offer Brilliant copy As a copywriter, the first two items in the list are usually out of your control, but that ...