Tips for writing great copy in your marketing sales letters and email campaigns.

Have you ever got to the point where you experience such a bad response to your sales copy, that you decide to send your latest sales letter to your mailing list already crumpled, that way they can slam it straight in the bin?

I haven’t figured out how to send out pre-deleted emails yet but it could be a niche piece of software!

Well, if you’ve experienced a dud email campaign or poor sales letter response, you’re not alone, we’ve all been there. So what to do…?

What about knowing, absolutely knowing your latest letter or email will be the “one”. One that makes everything else you have written to appear truly pathetic. You send it out, and you wait, get up early check your mail or inbox and…. wait… have lunch and… anticipate…. after about a week of “well the mails slow” or “some people are sluggish to respond” it dawns on you that the certain killer sales email or direct letter jackpot was a definite failure, in fact, it bombed.

It hurts, it really hurts.

So with the premise that we prefer joy and happiness to despair and hunger,  it pays to work at a system then test and measure (see previous article on Tested Advertising).  Here’s a simple yet effective formula…

So here’s a simple yet effective formula you can Test and Measure for your emails and letters. Mind you, the only guarantee in life is high taxes followed by death, so please avoid sending 10,000 hard copy letters or a bulk email blast. No, don’t do that, TEST in small numbers then adjust. This applies to email marketing for online sales or offline. Only adjust one thing at a time in your email campaign or direct mail letter. If you change more than one thing (say the headline and the offer) you won’t have a clue which one worked (or failed!).

So here goes, grab a pen and paper and write these tips down, avoid being bone idle and using copy paste, make notes with a real pen so the following tips on writing great copy sink into the gray matter.

• Get the reader’s attention with a bold headline, be brave but not stupid or silly, and remember your BRAND values.

• Talk about and identify to them that you understand their problems or want. Work on WANTS. Let’s face it, we all need to pay our bills, but we WANT new TV and end up watching one at the expense of a bill or two. Wants often outstrip needs.

• Show them how you can help them solve their problem or get their wants. Use bullet points.
• Introduce yourself and tell them about your relevant exerience. Build credibility and demonstrate experience or expertise. It’s best not to start a letter or email buy introducing yourself because frankly – they don’t care about you or your business at this stage.
  
• Show the clients the benefits of your product or service and avoid a list of FEATURES. People buy mostly for benefits.

• Provide some evidence of happy clients, or social proof. Remember there is something called “herd mentality” and many of your prospects follow the crowd so if you can demonstrate the crowd are buying your product you are increasing the “want” in others. Think about the launch of the Ipad.

• Offer your prospect your product and service.

• Now you could use a “limited number” or “scarcity” tactic in your marketing BUT think about it carefully and only use it if its genuine. How often have you seen limited numbers, and though it was just a silly overused ploy. Well, it has a place but be careful as you can lose credibility at a stroke with this one.

• Reverse the RISK. Offer the prospects a money back guarantee. I am amazed how many companies are afraid of using a risk reversal guarantee, yet it’s a great way to demonstrate your belief in your offering and reduces buyer resistance.

• Use a deadline, BUT the same rule applies to this as (8). Only ever use a deadline if its genuine. if you use one stick to it and only use one if it fits your product.

• Use a call to action and explain it in simple terms. I.E. Do this, and then do this.

• Use a P.S. and even a P.P.S. to entice the reader to take the call to action. These should include extra bonuses or incentives.

So there you have a simple twelve step process you can practice and use to good effect in both internet and offline marketing for sales and lead generation activities. Good luck.

Leads are the life blood of your business and we have a complete Marketing system to help.  Crack the “lead getting code” here with our FREE Training and its here.

To your success

Courtney Wilding

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