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Direct Mail
Direct Mail The web is a most versatile and often misused medium for direct marketing. In this email, I will share tips and techniques to make the web a major advertising tool for your sales and marketing efforts. Do you have a website? A Web...
Direct Mail and The Real Estate Agent
For many agents, the most utilized forms of advertising and lead generation are former client contact, which may or may not lead to referrals for new business, and the old standby, the local real estate magazine. All are great ways to generate...
Direct Mail Envelope Tips For Successful B2B Lead Generation
In business-to-business direct mail lead generation, more prospects see your mailing envelope than will ever see what is inside. That's because prospects spend only a few seconds examining your envelope before deciding whether to peruse it or pitch...
Direct Mail Sales Letters Flow Better With Subheads
A subscriber to my newsletter asks: "Got any good pointers on writing great sub-heads?" Yes, I do. Here they are. Use subheads to draw attention to your copy Why do we use subheads anyway? Because you can’t just cover the important points in...
How To Get Past C-Level Gatekeepers With Your B2B Direct Mail Lead Generation Sales Letters
If your business uses direct mail to reach C-level
prospects, you face a unique challenge: getting past
the gatekeeper.
Gatekeepers are usually found in Fortune 1000 firms,
where the CEO, CFO, CIO and other chief executive
officers are...
How to get prospects to open your direct mail envelopes.
In direct mail, you have a formidable enemy—the wastepaper basket. Your prospects take one look at your mailing envelope and decide if they will open it or fling it into the trash can (or recycling box). One way to persuade them to open your...
How to Write a Direct Mail Fundraising Letter (Four Tips)
1. Address your reader as a friend, not as “Friend.” When was the last time you received a letter from someone dear to you, addressing you as “Dear Friend?” Never, right? The days of the Dear Friend letter are dead. I heard recently of a...
In Business-to-Business Direct Mail Sales Letters, Make It Easy To Respond
I have a client who wanted to drive prospective
customers to his online store using a
business-to-business postcard. Great idea, I
thought, and cost
effective.
He had a terrific product, a compelling offer, and a
sound business model....
RAISE FUNDS FOR YOUR NONPROFIT USING AN ANUUAL DIRECT MAIL PROGRAM
A good annual direct mail solicitation program can produce unrestrictive operating funds for your nonprofit organization year after year. And such an annual direct mail program, if done right, should produce more funding for your organization each...
Using Direct Mail Promotion to Build On-Line Traffic
There are many effective on-line promotion techniques. Everyone¹s using them. In fact, they are being used so much some are becoming less effective. It¹s getting more difficult to break through all the on-line advertising clutter and build your...
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Your Direct Mail Sales Letters Must Differentiate You
For two winters I heated my house with an old fashioned woodstove. I learned the art of reviving a bed of dying coals each chilly winter morning, adjusting the kindling, firewood and dampers just right so that the stove would heat my turn-of-the- century farmhouse for the longest period possible.
I had the choice of four vendors to buy my hardwood from. All were local, all sold at the same price, and all had the same quality of hardwood.
But only one supplier, a character called Joe Meiser, advertised same-day delivery at no extra charge. Joe got my business.
Joe got my business because he differentiated himself from his competitors in a way that appealed to me. You need to do the same to remain competitive.
You need to decide what makes you different from your competitors, and you need to promote that uniqueness in your sales letters. Just make sure your differentiator is compelling and actually differentiates you.
"Quality Service" is not a differentiator. It's a given. So is on-time delivery and the ability to meet budgets.
Instead, differentiate your firm based on your competence in your industry or market
category. Or be first at something. Or invent something. Just make sure that your differentiator is relevant and attractive to your prospects.
Joe Meiser also had a great guarantee. If you know anything about heating your home with a woodstove, you know that Joe sold and delivered his wood by the bush cord. One bush cord measures 4ft wide x 4ft high x 8ft long. He dumped it in a big pile on my front lawn, and I then had to stack it in neat rows around my property, by hand. Here was Joe's guarantee, always delivered with a straight face but a twinkle in his blue eyes:
"I dump your eight bush cords in your yard with my truck," he'd say. "You try da wood. If you don't like it, you bring it back and I give you new stuff."
About the Author
Alan Sharpe is a business-to-business direct mail copywriter. Sign up for free weekly tips like this at www.sharpecopy.com.
© 2005 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the author" message).
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