The Art of $uccessful Direct Mail
As you know by now, direct mail is quickly becoming a major
weapon in an offline marketers war-chest.
Unfortunately many offliners screw up how to use it
When I write a mail piece I start first with who I am sending it
to. Is it a small business owner, head honcho at a corporate
powerhouse... or am I sending a paper airplane to a hobo
under a bridge.
Know the 'who' or the letter will be poo
I often get to see letters that some offliners on here send out, and
to say they are mind-numbingly bad is an understatement.
There are several key components to successful mail and here
they are:
Word-up
Let's take SEO services. I do not like to use that wording when
I try to sell that service. Too many don't really understand it, or
they have been burned by another guy promising the moon, just
like you are. I like to sell 'systems'. Name your system and then
explain what it will do for them.
Holy sh-t, you want me to read that?
I have seen letters that are literally a full page of text with no
breaks. No paragraph spacing leads to the trash can. It is
very hard to read large groupings of text.
The chance of the recipient reading your word assault are about
as good as him manscaping with a lighter.
Don't be afraid to add some graphic elements, as long as it is
relative and/or keeps it interesting.
"Wife beats husband to death with cat"
That is an attention grabber, eh? Use caution on what you put
at the top of your piece. Whether it be a headline or the first
sentence, don't sell them on reading with something abstract.
Create a headline/first sentence that will grab their hand and
go tumbling down the hill, like Jack and Jill. Bring them into
it as much as possible by adding 'you', 'your', 'you're' through
the whole piece.
You're trying to make there life easier, healthier, more successful
or whatever. What you sell is not what's important, what it does for
them is everything.
Death of a salesman
Here is the kicker, even if you do all the above right you can still
not get one word read.
Let's say you are selling your services door to door. You walk
into a business with a big sign around your neck that says-
"I want your money"
Your envelope is vital to your success. You do not want to announce
who you are. A return address is fine, but no name. Use off-white
or colored envelopes. Use stamps other than generic postage (I like
to put the stamps on a tad crooked).
You can hand write the address, but it is not as important as many
tend to believe.
Just these simple factors alone can fatten your wallet. Using the
exact same formula as above we sold $98,000 in services and
we mailed 80 letters.
Keep your letter easy to read, simple, involving (by using 'you'),
reveal how you can make their life better and you will have more
success.
Go get some
Paul
weapon in an offline marketers war-chest.
Unfortunately many offliners screw up how to use it
When I write a mail piece I start first with who I am sending it
to. Is it a small business owner, head honcho at a corporate
powerhouse... or am I sending a paper airplane to a hobo
under a bridge.
Know the 'who' or the letter will be poo
I often get to see letters that some offliners on here send out, and
to say they are mind-numbingly bad is an understatement.
There are several key components to successful mail and here
they are:
- Written to the right prospect using the right wording
- Not written in big-ass blocks of text
- A great opening paragraph
- what it is mailed in
Word-up
Let's take SEO services. I do not like to use that wording when
I try to sell that service. Too many don't really understand it, or
they have been burned by another guy promising the moon, just
like you are. I like to sell 'systems'. Name your system and then
explain what it will do for them.
Holy sh-t, you want me to read that?
I have seen letters that are literally a full page of text with no
breaks. No paragraph spacing leads to the trash can. It is
very hard to read large groupings of text.
The chance of the recipient reading your word assault are about
as good as him manscaping with a lighter.
Don't be afraid to add some graphic elements, as long as it is
relative and/or keeps it interesting.
"Wife beats husband to death with cat"
That is an attention grabber, eh? Use caution on what you put
at the top of your piece. Whether it be a headline or the first
sentence, don't sell them on reading with something abstract.
Create a headline/first sentence that will grab their hand and
go tumbling down the hill, like Jack and Jill. Bring them into
it as much as possible by adding 'you', 'your', 'you're' through
the whole piece.
You're trying to make there life easier, healthier, more successful
or whatever. What you sell is not what's important, what it does for
them is everything.
Death of a salesman
Here is the kicker, even if you do all the above right you can still
not get one word read.
Let's say you are selling your services door to door. You walk
into a business with a big sign around your neck that says-
"I want your money"
Your envelope is vital to your success. You do not want to announce
who you are. A return address is fine, but no name. Use off-white
or colored envelopes. Use stamps other than generic postage (I like
to put the stamps on a tad crooked).
You can hand write the address, but it is not as important as many
tend to believe.
Just these simple factors alone can fatten your wallet. Using the
exact same formula as above we sold $98,000 in services and
we mailed 80 letters.
Keep your letter easy to read, simple, involving (by using 'you'),
reveal how you can make their life better and you will have more
success.
Go get some
Paul
http://BrandWhisperer.net
http://BrandWhisperer.net