Writing Tips for Marketing Letters - New Article

Marketing letters have long been an effective tool for increasing sales and overall business success. They are easy to produce, easy to deliver, and they are virtually guaranteed to be read most of the time.

But success with marketing letters often comes down to the writing ability of the person who creates the letter. Sure, it all starts with a great product or service. But in order to convey the selling points of your products or services, you need to understand some fundamentals of direct mail copywriting.

You find plenty of articles on this subject all over the website, and we've just added a new article that outlines the process of writing a strong marketing letter. Specifically, this articles explains the five steps to success a writer must go through when planning and developing a sales letter.

Here's an excerpt:

If you have kept up with the prescribed letter-writing steps up until now, you should have a clear idea who you are speaking to with your letters. The next logical question deals with the reader's action. What do you want your readers to do when they read your message? This needs to be a specific goal, because you will write your entire message around it.

Read the rest here:
How to Write a Marketing Letter

Copywriting Tips for Postcard Marketing Success

by Brandon Cornett

Everything I'm about to say assumes that you already have a product or service worth selling. If you feel that you do, and you're researching direct mail postcards as a promotional channel for that product or service, then these copywriting tips are for you!

Many first-time postcard marketers make the mistake of starting with the copywriting process before anything else. "What should I write on this postcard?" they will ask. "What should my headline say? What points do I need to make within the body?"

Here's a copywriting tip that will make the process easier for you, while also making the direct mail piece more effective in the end. Start with the response you are trying to evoke, and then work backward from there. Before you write a single word of your postcard message, you should clearly identify what it is you want people to do when they receive it.

Copywriting Tip - Don't Overburden Your Postcards

Here's the key to this process. The desired response for your direct mail campaign must be something that a postcard is able to deliver. Think about the space and time constraints here. You don't have a lot of space for your marketing message, and you don't have a lot of time to convince the reader. They'll give you a quick glance at first, and if you don't grab them based on that glance you're done. So keep your response simple.

For example, let's say I am sending some postcards to business people in a certain industry to tell them about my new software program. My product is designed to make their life easier by streamlining some of the daily tasks they go through. But how much of this do I write into my direct mail message? Well, that depends on the desired response I am seeking from readers.

Copywriting Tip - Work Backward from the Response

In this scenario, I need to start with the objective of my marketing campaign. There is not enough space on a postcard for me to explain all the details of my software program. Nor will most people give it that much time at first glance. So I come up with a simpler response -- all I want people to do is download a free-trial version of my product. Now that's something my direct mail piece can accomplish, and it will make my coypwriting process a lot easier as well.

So from here, I simply work backward. I need a good landing page on my website that I can tie into the postcard campaign. I need to set up the free trial process and make sure everything is working. I need to ensure that names and email addresses are being captured for follow-up purposes.

The Message Writes Itself

Already, we can see how much easier the copywriting process is going to be. I have removed a big burden from my shoulders by determining a realistic response, something that is easy and risk-free for the respondents. I no longer have to tell them everything that makes my program great -- I only have to tell them enough to draw their initial interest, and to motivate them toward the free trial.

At this point, the message practically writes itself. And it's all because I started with a realistic objective and worked backward from there.

Good luck and good marketing!

-Brandon