Every day brings endless sales letters and postcards to your mailbox.

Companies selling everything from windows to internet service to septic cleaning to lawn services.

How many of them do you open and read? Oh… I get it, you just throw ‘em away, like most other people that get them.

Have you ever thought about the reason for not reading them?

I have, and so it doesn’t happen to you, I’m going to give you 3 solid, actionable tips you can immediately use in your own advertising and marketing materials. (and all 3 work with postcards or letters)

1. There’s no headline that gets there attention by communicating a big benefit of your product or service to your customer. (Think about this… How many pieces of mail do you get where the company name is dominantly displayed in the biggest font?) Give your customers a reason to open the mail and read further. Use incentives such as free information to get new leads.
2. Quit talking all about you, instead, talk about how your product or service can help solve their problems. No one really cares about your company name and how big your building is…They only care about one thing. Themselves. We call it WIIFM, meaning “What’s in it for me”.
3. Don’t let your copy be boring. Most sales copy sounds like it was written by a legal department in a bog corporation, and to be honest with you, after a few seconds of blah, blah, blah, you’re bored to death! Be interesting, so the copy sounds like it was written by a real person with a real personality. People will read it if it sounds personal.

So go ahead and start writing better copy. Your response rates will surely surpass anything you’ve done, even if all you do is use these 3 guidelines in your copy.

To get more information about this post, marketing advice, or about my sales copywriting services, e-mail me or call me at 603-686-5140.

Merrill Clark
Website and Marketing Copywriter
Crestview Marketing Services

If you’ve stopped advertising and marketing, waiting for the government to give you a bailout package, well… let’s just say you’re out of luck.

I shake my head at the “big businesses” as they ask to be bailed out with billions of dollars.  And it’s not the government’s money.  It’s our money!  You know, we the taxpayers.

I’ve talked to a number of business owners, and often hear… “Maybe Washington will bail us out, too.  After all, it’s my money.”  Granted, it’s mostly in fun… but during these rough times, it’s a serious situation for many.

Business owners and sales professionals alike need to belly up to the bar, and make some smart marketing moves now instead of waiting for the “bailout” that will never come or just as bad, waiting for the economy to turn around, which could be many months, or even years.

Not to be a doom and gloom type of guy, but this is the best time for you to continue implementing a sound marketing strategy, while your competitors are shriveling up in their turtle shells, trying to wait this whole ordeal out.

I know you want to spend your hard-earned money wisely, so do I.  But spend it on marketing activities you can directly track ROI, not on “branding” or your “image”.  Then, when this craziness is over, you’ll have some new customers to thank, while your competitors go by-by.

Keep in mind, some of the most successful companies were born in the Great Depression and other “bad” economic times. Hewlett Packard and Sony are just two that come to mind.

So, write the right sales messages to the right people, using the right media at the right time and you will be far more profitable than anyone else in your industry.

If you want to improve repsonse to your marketing materials or website today, shoot me an email or call me at 603-686-5140.

Visit Crestview Marketing Services website to get more information about this post, on website or print copywriting, or marketing consulting services.

Sign up for my free Marketing Tips 101 Newsletter on my website today!

Merrill Clark
Crestview Marketing Services 

Do you use headlines in everything you write to anyone in the outside world?

I’m talking about letters, emails, business cards, brochures, website copy, and much more… In short, any written materials that anyone else can see, online or in print.

If you do, go ahead and give yourself a big pat on the back.

If not, why aren’t you?

I’m sure you want to take advantage of every possible way to get noticed, generate more leads, and make the dough you’ve been dreaming about.

And one simple way is to make sure that every piece of marketing material (and even some non-marketing materials) that the public sees, includes a compelling subject line or headline to grab the eyeballs of the reader and force them to read further.

Frankly, if there is no immediate benefit to the reader to read your website or sales letter or whatever, then you just lost a lead or a sale. Your cost to produce or display that material is a complete waste, and I’m sure you are carefully watching every penny spent.

You see, the only purpose of a headline is to get your attention enough to entice the reader to take some sort of action, whether it is to just read the next paragraph of a letter or email, or to call for an appointment or for more information about your company.

It still amazes me that most companies don’t include a headline at all in their ads. Then they think the particular media doesn’t work, or the economy is the reason.

The truth is, (and statistics show it over and over), a great headline can improve the response you get from an ad, an email, or a website by as much as 300%.

So what are you waiting for? Watch your response rates soar when you start using headlines on EVERYTHING you write.

Writing good headlines takes a lot of time and practice. (I write 20-30 possible headlines before I write any website copy, ad, or sales copy) and it’s worth it.

If you want to improve repsonse to your marketing materials or website today, shoot me an email or call me at 603-686-5140.

Visit Crestview Marketing Services website to get more information about this post, on website or print copywriting, or marketing consulting services.

Sign up for my free Marketing Tips 101 Newsletter on my website today!

Merrill Clark
Crestview Marketing Services

Huh? Of course writing means writing… or does it?

Well, the simple answer is yes. When someone puts a pen to paper or starts pecking away on their keyboard, then yes – it’s writing. In those cases, it’s pretty cut and dry.

But, on the other hand… depending on the reason that person is writing to begin with…it may involve much more than simply writing or typing some words on a page.

And most people don’t think much about it – but what really happens before that person starts to write?

Let’s take Bob the Copywriter, for example:

XYZ Corp wants to promote their new high-tech printing services to businesses in the area. So they decide to hire Bob the Copywriter to write a really compelling sales letter they will mail out to all of these business with the hope that they will generate a bunch of new leads.

They agree on a fee of $1000. Bob simply gathers some product information on XYZs new services and whips up a quick sales letter. In 3 or 4 hours, he’s done and gives it to the company to mail out to 1000 businesses.

After waiting 2 weeks from the mailing date, they have received a grand total of ZERO new leads.

Unfortunately for XYZ, the promotion failed miserably!

This time is different.

Bob gathers the same product information as before, but instead of just writing up a down and dirty sales letter again, he decides to spend the necessary time to do some deeper research. He wants this letter to be as successful as much as his client does. (and the fee is the same $1000)

So here’s what Bob does:

• He gathers the service information, studies it, weeds out the biggest customer benefits
• He researches and studies information about the company itself
• He researches and studies the “target market” that will get the letter and tries to figure out their “hot buttons”
• He researches and compares XYZ’s biggest competitors and what they offer
• He researches and studies different alternatives to the “service” itself
• He  reads trade magazines and online forums that the “target market” uses
• He may survey others in the business about their thoughts on the service
• And, at each step, he takes lots of notes

Then…

• He compiles and sifts through his notes, finally coming up with a “main idea” for a letter
• He writes 10-20 possible headlines
• He writes a first rough draft, including everything he has learned that could possibly be important to the final  reader of his letter
• He re-writes and revises the letter, maybe 5-10 times, removing unnecessary words or ideas, adding ideas, and tweaking words or paragraphs so they will be more compelling
• He puts it aside for a day or two, then reads it aloud and maybe even has others read it
• He makes the final version of the letter, and finally submits it to XYZ for the okay and mailing.

XYZ generates 16 new leads.

This time, Bob is a hero (well, maybe not), but… hecause he put in the time and effort to make this mailing as successful as it could be, and the results proved it.

What was the difference?

As you can see, instead of Bob spending 3-4 hours total to just write a simple “letter”, if you tallied up all the time he spent, it was over 15 hours.

But 10 of those hours were spent before he wrote a single word.

That, my friend is why.The hours of thorough research and time spent studying all the different aspects of this service, the company, and the target market was the difference.

This is when writing (or I should say effective and compelling writing) isn’t just writing. It’s actually spending all the time researching and studying BEFORE the actual writing begins.Someone who writes without that preparation just isn’t looking out for your best interest and success.

The bottom line is this, when you are quoted a price to write any sales materials, whether it is a postcard, a sales letter, an e-mail, a website, or whatever…

Keep in mind that the lowest estimate you get will probably get you the lowest response, just like the Scenario #1.You almost always get what you pay for.

And specific results are not ever guaranteed either.  What I can promise you though, is that any writer who spends the time to do the necessary homework before writing will have a much higher chance of success than a writer who simply writes the quick letter.

For more details or information on my copywriting or marketing services, go to my website at www.crestviewmarketing.com, e-mail me at mclark@crestviewmarketing.com or call me at 603-686-5140.

Merrill Clark
Crestview Marketing Services

Have you looked in your daily newspaper lately? Or in the Yellow Pages, or in your mailbox?

I’m sure you’ve noticed, as I have, how many ads and direct mail pieces that all basically look alike.  I mean really!  Take a look at them again.

For example, look in the Yellow Pages (I know, I’m talking about the real off-line book) and pick a section, computers for instance.

Take a gander at some of the ads.  Probably 95% of them say and do the same exact thing.  The copy (what there is of it), the bullets, they are all the same!  Their business names are big, bold at the top of the ad.  No recognizeable customer benefits, cuz there ain’t no headline!

Wasted advertising space and money down the drain

They all talk about themselves and what they do. Take away the company names, and voila; which one do you call?  I don’t ever who to call because none of them stand out from the crowd.  Even the much bigger ads (that cost a small fortune) say the same things as the small ones, just in bigger type.

There are rarely any customer benefits in the ads.  What I mean is ad copy that gives you a specific reason to respond to one ad over the other bazillion ones that look alike.

Write for your prospective customers  

When you have to write any kind of sales materials or ad copy, make sure the copy transmits to them immediate benefits that they will get by dealing with you as opposed to anyone else.  That will get their attention.

You’ve heard the term, WIIFM?  It means “what’s in it for me”.  That’s what people really care about, they couldn’ care less what you think or what you think they should care about.

Increase response rates and ROI

So, speak and convey important customer benefits quickly to them in any sales and marketing materials you write and you certainly will get a much greater response rate and ROI than ever before.

If you are interested in my sales copywriting or marketing consulting services, please visit my website at www.crestviewmarketing.com.