Direct mail copy that sells
Why didn’t my mailing sell?
That’s the most common wailing from a marketer
who sat all day waiting for the postman to dump a
huge bag of orders on the desk … and then, checking
the mail, found just three pieces – two bills
and somebody else’s offer.
Direct mail failure can stem from a number of sources,
ranging from a poor offer to sending the mailing to
the wrong names. But it also can result from poor
copy.
Direct mail copy that sells has to cleave to the
most important component any copywriter ever revered
… or ignored — The Clarity Commandment:
When you choose words and phrases for a message
intended to be force-communication, clarity is paramount.
Don’t let any other component of the communications
mix interfere with it.
So, clarity is in first place. What other elements
does effective direct mail copy have to include?
The Five Great Motivators
Your copy should drape itself around one of the
five Great Motivators that produce response in the
first decade of the 21st century:
- Fear
- Exclusivity
- Greed
- Guilt
- Need for approval
If you’re especially adept, you can tie one
of the two ancillary (supporting) motivators to one
of the great ones:
Describing without motivating isn’t salesmanship.
And an effective direct mail copywriter is, above
all, a salesperson. Description doesn’t require
a fraction of the talent that salesmanship requires.
That’s why, in a marketing organization, sales
copywriters earn three or four times the money a technical
writer makes.
Inject benefit.
Good copy always suggests a potent benefit for the
reader. Ask yourself, as you write: "Why should
the reader buy this?" The answer to that question
has to be paramount in your copy, second only to The
Clarity Commandment.
And don’t mistake feature for benefit. So
the automobile has overhead cams? So what? What’s
the benefit of overhead cams? So the computer software
uses only 3mb of memory? So what? What’s the
benefit of that? If you can’t think of a benefit,
for heaven’s sake choose another element that
does represent a buyer-benefit.
Use colorful words
The weaker your rhetoric, the weaker your selling
argument. If you were a major league baseball pitcher,
you wouldn’t lob the ball to the batter underhanded.
You’d smoke it in there. Do that with your copy.
So you might say acquire instead of buy
because acquire places emphasis on ownership
instead of spending money. You might use when
you… instead of if you…
because when assumes response. You’re
in command of the message. Make it seem important.
Speaking of “important”…
Don’t hit-and-run. Don’t claim something
is “important” and then not justify your
claim. Offer ostensible proof of any claim you make.
Proof can be testimonials, statistics (warning:
statistics can be boring), photographic evidence,
any number of means. Please don’t use asterisks,
ever. They may provide proof but they aren’t
good copywriting technique. Not ever.
Read your copy after you’ve written it. Better
yet, have an impartial outsider read it… and
give you an impartial opinion. If your copy is so
ego-driven that you feel any changes will be an attack
on your child, you’re in the wrong profession.
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