| |
| |
|
Marketing Information |
|
|
|
Writing Sales Letters That Sell
The most important part of any marketing you do is direct marketing. This includes letters, postcards, brochures, newspaper or magazine coupons, telemarketing, TV or radio direct response commercials, e-mails, and the copy on your web site. For any direct marketing campaign to be successful, you need to have a combination of marketing tools in order to make your offer repeatedly. One of the most potent tools you can use in your direct makreting is the direct mail letter. The letter, whether you're using it through the mail or the internet, is the actual sales pitch. It relays what your product or service is, and how much it can benefit the prospect. In short, the letter should do everything that a traditional person-to-person sales pitch does. Here are ten things that will make your letters more effective: 1. It must have a headline. The headline is the ad for the letter. It flags down the reader to read more. 2. Present the facts. Begin with a statement of basic truth, known and accepted by the reader. By introducing known facts, your create believability for later statements in the letter. 3. Do as much personalizing as possible. Personalize name, address, special interests, and anything else you can. 4. State your offer in the beginning, again in the middle, and again at the end. 5. Create a sense of urgency by giving prospects a cut-off date by which time your readers must respond to your offer. 6. Always include a P.S. The P.S. is the second thing readers read, following the headline. 7. Stress your main points with underlines, bold type, all caps, or a yellow highlighter effect. But don't stress too much. 8. Use short paragraphs, sentences, and words. In lettes of two or more pages use subheads. 9. Use black ink, plus blue to underline more important points. Print your signiture and make notes in the margins or hand-write a P.S. 10. Tell the reader exactly what to do upon completing the letter, along with how to do it, and when to do it. A succesful direct marketing campaign might consist of four pieces sent at two-week intervals: a two page letter, then a one page letter, then a postcard, then a telephone follow-up. It is important to remember that even the best letters don't get read if the envelope doesn't get opened. So make the envelope enticing to get your recipients to open it. You can do this by putting a "teaser" line on the outside, motivating the person to open it. You could use a window envelope with a photo of free gift, resemblance of a check, or some other unique design. This increases curiosity and gives the recipient a reason to open the envelope. The same is true for your e-mails. Make sure you put something recognizable in the subject line so that the recipient will recognize that is from you and will peak their curiosity, otherwise, they'll likely delete it without opening it. You should have an entire file of letters for different occasions: promotions, offers, thank-you, follow-up, referral seekers, and more. Always test you letters until you have a file of proven winners. All contents Copyright(c)2004 Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. A former ad agency executive and marketing consultant, Joe's work in personal development focuses on helping his clients identify hidden marketable assets that create windfall opportunities and profits, as well as sound personal happiness and peace. Joe can be reached at: joe@jlmandassociates.com Read more articles and newsletters at: http://www.jlmandassociates.com/
MORE RESOURCES:
Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Top 5 Design Tips to Create Eye-Catching Marketing Materials Great graphic design looks effortless, but it requires lots of attention to details. Think back to an eye-catching advertisement, publication, or flyer you saw recently. Unique Selling Proposition - Your Competitive Advantage! To capture a larger market share and be viable, sustainable and profitable, you absolutely need to differentiate or distinguish your business, products and/or services from your competitors.In other words, you need to make your business special in the eyes of your customers and/or prospects. The Apprentice: 5 Lessons in Marketing Donald Trump's hit reality show, The Apprentice is a godsend for marketers around the world.Why?Because all of the tasks that the prospective apprentice's go through each week and each season involves some sort of marketing skills. Multicultural Marketing - Taking Care of Business At Hand Multicultural marketing mirrors the changed face of America and is getting the attention of small-business and other organizations looking for an edge in diverse ethnic markets. "Gone are the days when businesses succeed with a 'one size fits all' approach to marketing. Mortgage Originator Marketing - Differentiate or Die One of the best ways to attract more clients is to quit marketing the same way your competitors do. Because when all mortgage originator marketing is essentially the same, it becomes nearly impossible to distinguish one loan officer from another. Eliminate Your Competitors With 2 Simple Steps In business, having competitors goes with the territory. There's almost always someone selling the same product or service you are selling, or at least trying to solve the same customer problem you solve. The Truth About The Fallacy Of 7 Ted Nicholas is a marketer with a proven track record. He has started, operated and sold 21 profitable businesses, and is responsible for the direct or indirect publishing of hundreds of books and publications. Direct Mail Response Rates Low? Eliminate These Mistakes Are your direct mail response rates lower than you expect? Check your sales letter or direct mail package against this checklist to uncover the reasons for your poor response.LIST You are mailing to people who are never likely to buy You are not mailing to others in the same business who influence the buying decision Your list is out of date Your names and addresses are not formatted correctly for proper delivery Your list has job titles only, not namesFORMAT You are using the wrong format for your audience (self-mailers to professionals, for example) Your letter and brochure are not complete sales pitches in themselves Your liftnote or buckslip confuses your offer or main selling promiseENVELOPE Your envelope gives too much away, so your prospects throw it away unopened Your mailing envelope looks like junk mail Your package is addressed to "Occupant" and not to a person by nameMESSAGE Your letter lacks a strong, customer-focussed headline The opening line in your letter is not compelling You spell your prospective customer's name incorrectly Your letter lacks specifics about product size, weight, color and other vital details You discuss product features but not customer benefits You talk too much about your company and not enough about your reader You do not create enough desire Your letter lacks urgency You do not offer a guaranteeOFFER You are offering the same thing that your competitors are offering Your offer is not specific Your offer is not exclusive Your offer is not relevant Your offer is not valuable Your offer is not unique Your offer is not usefulCALL TO ACTION You do not ask for the order You ask for the order, but too late in your letter You conclude by saying, "If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me" You give too many ways to respond-or not enoughREPLY DEVICE Your reply device is too cluttered You do not tell prospects what to do to buy your product or service Your reply device is not postage-paidTIMING You are mailing at the wrong time of the year Your letter is arriving on the wrong day of the week You are mailing too often, so prospects ignore you You are not mailing often enough, so prospects do not remember youAbout the author Alan Sharpe is a business-to-business direct mail copywriter who helps business owners and marketing managers generate leads, close sales and retain customers using creative direct mail. How to Win a Price War Any economics student can tell you that price is a matter of supply and demand. The market will bear a certain price point and settle into equilibrium. Secret Marketing Plan Many people have asked me what was the secret to our market domination? Hello, my name is Lance Winslow and I am the founder of The Car Wash Guys. Before now I have not disclosed my secrets of grass roots market; a strategic plan we used city after city to market our franchised outlets in 23 states. Increase New Customer Traffic to Your Business One person tells another, who tells another, who tells another and so on. You get the idea. Top Five Tips for Marketing that Gets Results When marketing your practice, as well as designing your brochure, website, business card, flier, advertisement, or other marketing effort, I recommend investing the time and effort needed to effectively address the following:Tip #1: MARKET FOR YOUR DESIRED PROSPECTS, NOT YOURSELFWhat looks good to you is not necessarily effective for your desired audience. Do your market research and test your strategies on your target market. Packaging Made Frozen TV Dinners Possible I was saddened to hear of the passing of one of the food industry pioneers Gerry Thomas, One of our unsung heroes credited with invented a "package" the frozen TV dinner that literally changed the way we eat. Never mind that it was considered by nutritionists as a step backwards, his invention still made a major shift in the food and food services industries. Mortgage Marketing to Realtors - Creating a Memorable Positioning Statement Mortgage marketing to Realtors involves having a crystal clear position that establishes credibility, so that you can develop a consistent dialogue with prospects and guide them at every stage of the relationship building process.Declaring your position begins with creating a Positioning Statement. Top 5 Kick Butt Marketing Requirements Cinch your success with 8-second leaders! Step into the saddle and ride to the buzzer - but first, get outfitted for success. Some things are necessary to have on hand in order to be prepared for coming out of the chute. Who are Those People Youre Selling To? If you're in the IT business, that's an important question.Most marketers are keen to profile their prospects. Getting Personal - Innovative Marketing for Small Business Owners The small business marketing strategy you can't afford to miss Everyone loves a story. Even if you don't particularly like reading them chances are you love watching them, either on TV or at the movies. Create Your Own Rumors A consultant new in the city asked me how I managed to get business so fast. Working for that marketing company definitely gave me a jump start. 51 Ways to Say Thank-you in a Fundraising Letter for a Non-for-Profit (Includes Examples & Samples) One of the hardest jobs in fundraising is crafting original thank-you letters. You want to be thankful. Do You Really Need a Brochure? The phone rings. Good news.
|
| Good Credit Loans | home | site map | School Bus Clothing | Florida Pool Heating |
| © 2006 |
