|
| |
Marketing Tips to help you increase your business. Check back often
for new tips!!
Tip 7
Direct Response Mailers
Taken from AWAI Copywriting Insider (www.awaionline.com)
According to copywriting legend Herschell Gordon Lewis.
Every copy decision you make, from how to ask for a
response to whether or not to spell out numbers, will have an effect on how your
audience interprets your message – and how it responds.
Even though they may seem trivial, "every word should be
gold," Lewis told a standing-room-only crowd during his "Creative Master Class"
session at the Direct Marketing Association's 87th Annual Conference &
Exhibition. "Your words generate the reaction, and you are in command of that
reaction."
Lewis went on to share some of his insights into
creating copy that resonates with any audience:
 | Write like people talk.
The Internet has made us all more casual in our language, so your
direct-response copy should follow suit. Avoid the trickiness, overly formal
language and pomposity that will turn prospects off. "We are not being graded
on an academic basis," asserts Lewis. "We deal in response." |
| Avoid generic words (such
as quality, value and service) and cliches (such as paradigm, win-win, 24/7,
outside the box and fast track) that add nothing to your message. Some other
words and phrases on Lewis's don't list: "remember," "what is more," "means
business," "when it comes to," "proactive," "due to the fact that," "game
plan," "customer-centric," "at the end of the day," "core competency," and
"knowledge-based." |
| Spelling out numbers adds
dignity, formality and importance, but it also adds distance between the
reader and the writer, so this should be used with caution. |
| Pay attention to and test
the nuances, because they really do make a difference. For example, Lewis's
tests have shown that "reply" out-pulls "response" because it implies less
commitment and "free shipping" out-pulls "we'll pay the shipping costs." |
| First person is more
effective at establishing rapport with the reader, while third person is
better for being official. |
| An emotion-based message
will outsell an intellect-based one, so make sure your message reaches your
audience on an emotional level. |
| Benefits out-pull
features, so place them first for more sales power. |
| Present tense is more
effective than future tense because the present is now and today's customer
wants immediate satisfaction. |
| Always keep in mind the
three basics of success in direct-response copywriting: verisimilitude,
clarity, and benefit. |
| |
|
