Welcome to the Talon Mailing & Marketing March
Newsletter:
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THE AMAZING POWER OF THE SALES LETTER
by Susanna K. Hutcheson
The
sales letter is the most important part of any direct mail package. It is
estimated that in most cases 65% of your response comes because of the copy in
the sales letter.
Yet, it is the most frequently blown part of the
mail package. Why? Most people simply don't know how to write a sales letter.
And, if they do, they don't know how to write it for their target market.
For that reason, I've compiled some information
to help you when writing your sales letters.
The first thing you need to know is to use a
name whenever possible. Now, I know you can't always. So when you can't, at
least relate your salutation to the audience for whom your letter is intended:
Dear Computer User
Dear Executive
Dear Real Estate Agent
Next, take care in how the letter looks. Make
your letter look personal. It shouldn't look starched like a white shirt from
the fifties.
Be sure your letter has an exact date and a
salutation. Remember to indent paragraphs. Keep your paragraphs short and don't
worry if your sentences are incomplete. You're not writing to win an award for
grammar. This is not literature you're creating. This is a selling tool. Plain
and simple. So use sentences like those last two I just used.
Write like you talk. (Unless you say things
like, "I seen". In that case, please don't write any letters at all.)
Don't worry too much about the appearance. Some
of the wildest looking letters get my clients the highest responses.
Use simple words. Don't try to impress the
reader with your vocabulary. If you do, you'll probably make him or her mad
instead.
The best way to write a letter is to act as if
you're one of the people to whom you're writing. Write to yourself. What would
you react to if you were getting the letter rather than sending it?
Break up the copy with ever-so-short one or two
sentence paragraphs . . . like this.
Use bold, caps and italics sparingly . . . BUT .
. . do use them where and when you should. Remember, the eye of the reader goes
from the bottom to the top at an angle. So learn where to use special effects
and when to use them.
When you can, use a PS. That's what people read
first. So, if you can, handwrite the PS and make what you say in it very
important.
Always use type that looks like the old
typewriter type. Use type with feet. It's easier on the eyes. It's warmer.
People like it.
MAKE AN OFFER.
Give the reader a reason to reply. Give the
reader a free brochure, manual or gift. Some readers will respond because of
the "real" offer. But there is a percentage who will respond ONLY if
you give them a premium. Then, use your second-stage mailing to reel 'em in.
ASK FOR THE ORDER.
Oh yes, this is important. I see many letters
that simply end. They don't tell the reader what to do. Tell the reader what
you want him or her to do next. Do you want him to call you on a toll-free
number? Do you want her to fill out a reply card and send it back to you? Tell
them. Ask for the order. Or ask them to send back the card. And TELL THEM TO DO
IT NOW.
Your copy should look interesting, readable.
Make people want to read on. Break up your copy with subheads, CAPPED words, a
slash, color, parenthesis, underlining, asterisks and bullets. But, use them
sparingly.
Make your copy active and dramatic, exciting,
inviting. Keep them reading all the way and going back for more until they post
the reply card or phone in the order.
Use the reel 'em in words like:
- Free
- Save
- Today
- Revolutionary
- Breakthrough
- Introducing
- Easy
- Now
- How
to . . .
- Announcing
- It's
here!
- Amazing
- Improved
- Last
chance
- Hurry
Length is not important. I have clients ask me
how long the letter should be. My answer: as long as it needs to be.
If you're using a one-stage mailing, I suggest
you tease with the first letter. Don't tell too much. Don't give too much away.
What you want them to do is to mail back a card or other reply device to
request more information.
So please, do not tell too much. Do not give away
the store. Simply entice the reader. Make readers want the information. That's
all.
If, on the other hand, you want an order from a
one-stage mailing, by all means, tell it all. Tell it well. And make it sell.
Whenever possible, make a money-back or
satisfaction guarantee. People respond well to that. It gives them a sense of
security.
Remember, clutter sells. People like to scratch
and peel and play with their mail. Look at the ever-famous Publishers
Clearinghouse mail. Clip out the car you want. Peel off the gold star and paste
it on the envelope. What a lot of work to win $10 million! But all that
scratching and peeling works. People like to do it. And the more educated the
person is, the more he or she likes to peel and scratch and punch. Hey, I'm no
psychologist. Don't ask me why. Just know that that's the way it is and work
with it.
Make the reader active. Get them into the act.
Get them involved with the mailing. The more you do, the greater your response
will be.
Susanna K. Hutcheson is a professional
advertising and direct mail copywriter. She was the first copywriter to utilize
the Internet as a place to market this type of service. Susanna has clients all
over the world. She writes everything from Web site content to direct mail and
radio spots. Visit her Web site at http://www.powerwriting.com. Her email
address is powerwriter@powerwriting.com. Telephone: (316) 684-0457.
Direct Mailers - Changing The Shape Of Things
To Come.
New Rule
At The Post Office - Mailers are now allowed to mail irregular-shaped pieces without
envelopes. It could be coming soon to a
mailbox near you: direct-mail pieces designed in clever shapes ranging from an
open box of doughnuts to a Zamboni machine.
Nashville Predators season-ticket holders are
getting an oversized pitch from First Tennessee Bank through this new opportuity
in direct marketing. It's made possible by the U.S. Postal Service now allowing
irregular-shaped mailings without envelopes.
The piece was sent to 3,300 Predators season-ticket holders and offered
$100 and a die-cast Zamboni piggy bank for opening a ''Predators'' checking account
with at least $100.
First Tennessee Bank has been mailing out plastic ads
in the shape of a Zamboni or ice-resurfacing machine.
The irregularly shaped format is catching on, in
part because direct mail has become a more important marketing medium as new
do-not-call laws restrict telemarketers and consumers see more spam in their electronic
mailbox. Advertisers are searching for eye-catching ways to make their
direct-mail pieces stand out in consumers' cluttered mailboxes.
Great Circle Family Foods, a Los Angeles-based
Krispy Kreme franchiser, reported top-notch results from an oversized mail
piece sent to 10,000 homes within three miles of its doughnut shops. The piece
dropped in mid-August, just two days after postal officials had announced new
rules allowing bigger, customized, nonrectangular mail.
The campaign netted an 8.5% response rate from
area consumers, a 400% rise in response rate, the company told
insidedirectmail.com, an e-newsletter.
Another mailer to take advantage of the new
regulations was a Memphis-based Internet company, Aristotle. It used an image of two overlapping 25-cent
pieces as a pitch for low-cost Internet access. ShipShapes, an Illinois direct
mail company, designed the Aristotle ad as well as Krispy Kreme's.
Shawn Morris, president of marketing consultant
SDM Associates said higher costs for producing and mailing custom-designed
pieces could affect how fast the trend catches on.
The pieces typically cost users such as First
Tennessee $1 to $3 apiece, including printing costs and 57.4 cents for postage.
The postage cost alone is nearly three times the
20 cents it costs to mail a traditional direct-mail piece.
So are the irregular-shaped pieces a wave of the
future? Direct-mail experts said that
remains to be seen, though some companies have seen remarkable results already.
Talon
would like to welcome the following new clients this month to our growing
roster of clients:
Mailing Clients
New
Mailing Lists Housed at Talon (we house over 600 mailing lists)
___________
___
·
Expo
·
Religious Institutions With
Broadband
·
Real Estate Agents With
Broadband
Mike's
Favorite Links:
Here are
some links you probably are not aware of:
- Feedster.com - This search engine does
for blogs what google did for web pages.
- Govexec.com - News on our government
(especially helpful if you do or want to do business with government)
- Petitiononline.com - Free hosting
of petitions. Thousands of active petitions
& more than 15 million signatures collected.
- Star child
- A learning center for young children interested in space
Did you
know Talon offers the following services?
Click on the links below to see samples.
·
HP High
Quality Inkjet (near laser quality)
·
Data Entry
(from 100 to 100,000 names and addresses)
·
Polybag
and shrinkwrap services
·
Merge/Purge
services with comprehensive reports that can instantly be retrieved from the
internet
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Do you know
of anyone else who would be interested in receiving our newsletter? Please let us know
by email:
mb@talon.com
To learn
more about our company, please visit our web site: www.talon.com or contact
Michael Borkan at (631) 667-5500 x 303.