It’s in the details – How to Render Your Mailing Useless

Just received a beautiful piece of direct mail from a Manhattan residential developer. Vibrant colors on elegant cardstock, it was an invitation to, “Come See Downtown From Our Point of View.” Greenwich Club Residencies wanted me to come take a look at a new set of their 15 privately-terraced units. The space was a realtively small one-bedroom, but the photos of the 260 sq. ft. terrace were gorgeous. All in all, pretty immpressive – which it should have been as the asking price is $1 million. I showed my roommate the mailer – not that either of us are in a position to purchase a million dollar condo – and she said, “Hm. Where is it?”

Where is it?

We searched the card, front and back. No address? The card said “Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:00 – 6:00 pm, or by appointment.” Tuesdays and Thursdays, this month? Indefinately until they’re all sold?  If I want an appointement WHERE DO I CALL?

The gaff was too big to be believed. After further examination I discovered on the back flap of the heavy-stock transparent envelope, in what must be a 6 pt font – a tiny line with the address: 88 Greenwich Street. No number.

So I scoured the card again. On the back at the very bottom, in the same sized font as the envelope: “Sales Gallery” and an address and phone number. So I found it. But if I hadn’t been in marketing (and mentally forming this blog entry) I would have to have been dying to see that particular unit to have gone through all that trouble! And in this real estate market, there are plenty of similarly-featured condos to go around.

The devestaing problem with this piece, which was obviously somewhat pricey from a production standpoint, is that it leaves too many unanswered questions and makes it difficult for me to perform the desired action – to show up on a Tuesday or Thursday, or call for an appointment.

First of all – once I found the address, I still have to ask – okay, where is it? “Downtown”, I get that. I assume in the Village, but I’m not positive. East or West? Can I drop by quickly after work, or do I have to change trains and walk several blocks? The open house is scheduled, afterall, at rush hour.

If they wanted to make it easy to me to respond, they would have included an insert with all this information – including location and which buses and subways serviced the area. A map would have been helpful. Then I’d have an idea where it is – “Oh yeah, it’s right by that restaurant we went to for our anniverasry last year!” I would have a mental image of the area and could picture exactly how I would travel to it. (If you’re thinking – why don’t you just hop in a cab? you’re not from Manhattan. At rush hour a cab travelling any distance will take you three or four times as long as the subway. It’s not a money thing. It’s conveniece.)

Here’s another problem. In order to determine the exact location, I Googled the address, which normally gives me a mapquest or googlemap link at the top of the list. Instead the search revealed a pageful of condo/apartment ratings sites, all of which were full of negative and “take caution” ratings on these units! They are truly shooting themselves in the foot with this mailing! Not even a web address so potential buyers will skip the search and go straight to the company!

And of course there was no urgency in the piece. Mention that you’re showing it for the next three weeks only. Or drop some other incentive for visiting soon – something in scale with the purchase. If you were renting, something like first month free, or free cable for six months would do the trick. For a million dollar closing you’d need something more enticing. But my point is that ANY incentive for time-sensitivty is better than none!

No matter how much money or creativity you put into a marketing piece – GO BACK AND CHECK THE ESSENTIALS! Put yourself in the place of someone receiving the mailing – assume they want to respond to you. Go through the steps they would have to take based solely on the information in your mailing.

Overlook the vital details, and it doesn’t matter how great your offer, how enticing your creative, or how fabulous your product – your response rate will be disastrous.

Newsletter Mistakes Even the Pros Make – Part 3

“Is Your Baby At High Risk for Choking? Find Out Tonight At 11!”

We’ve all heard the sensationalized promo spots for the 11 o’clock news. Something terribly dangerous, incredibly pressing, and something they neglect to mention up front, choosing instead to let your family hazard several more hours of danger so that you’ll do what they want you to, which is tune in.

The newsletter mistake I want to address isn’t life or death in the literal sense, though it could easily mean the demise of your subscriber base. I subscribed to a newsletter by a fellow copywriter who has published a few books on the business. In my circles, her name is fairly well known. This wasn’t the first mailing – I don’t recall what was, I may not have read it – but it was one that stuck with me none the less.

The newsletter had one article, which should have been fine. It talked about web usibility and appeared to be fairly in-depth. Basically she pointed out that too many sites make it needlessly difficult to buy from them, and don’t even realize it. She painted a few figurative horror stories, included a real life example where she had attempted to purchase something, and came to the crescendo of Could this be happening to you?

“Are you obstructing near-sales? Probably.”

Okay great. She’s outlined the problem. It’s certainly a pervasive and relevant one. Her advice?

“Assume a cautious buyer and address every question and concern so hesitation cannot get a foothold.”

Sounds good. How?

“Here’s How:” Buy my new home study system! Or my tutorial package. Prices go up on Sept 9, order today!

I just got duped into reading a long-form sales letter! I haven’t un-subbed because I’m dying to see if she has the audacity to do this every month.

I’m not saying that you can’t use newsletter content to promote a related product. In fact, if you can make it fit, it’s ideal. But you have to give some kind of real information in your articles! Deliver thinly-veiled sales pieces and you’ve lost your subscribers for good.

This woman does this for a living! How did this happen? She very easily could have provided some advice. Ten Tips to Ensure Your Site Isn’t Blocking Sales! That would have been valuable, informative, given some integrity to the newsletter, and placed her as the expert who readers could trust with a more in-depth product (like her home study system or tutorials.)

It would have cost her nothing – not even time if there were a few paragraphs from the course she could have pasted in. Heck, she should be giving away the first chapter free! Unless the course is sub-standard, there’s nothing to lose. Then again, a money-back guarantee is mandatory (talk about a “block” to the sale), so if the course was shoddy she’d be sunk no matter what.

We all make mistakes and learn along the way. But I’ve subscribed to a handful of new marketing/copywriting newsletters and in the very first week I’ve found three instances of blatant bad form.

The concepts I’ve talked about in this series of posts aren’t new, and they’re hardly secret insider stuff. So how is it that, when it comes to internet marketing, even the pros still make mistakes?

Newsletter Mistakes Even The Pros Make – Part 2

“Nice to meet you. Buy my stuff!”

This one is a relatively minor mistake, but it’s so telling because it comes from one of the the best. In fact, really the best of the best in my business. His articles (free online) are insightful, informative and always on-target. (They make me say “Yeah! That’s what I say!” or else, “Wow. Why didn’t I think of that?”) I’ve been learning from him for years – and he does almost everything RIGHT. Almost.

Although I’ve read books, online articles, and special reports from this writer, I hadn’t signed up for the newsletter. Last week I finally did. When I got an email shortly thereafter (not the confimation, the next one) I opened it with anticipation. What did I find? A pitch to attend a seminar at which he was going to be guest speaking. An expensive one.

Now this guy has my trust, and he has my respect. In fact, he’s so respected in the field he’d have to – I don’t know – commit fraud or something to really fall out of favor. But would it have been so hard to configure his list so that the very first mailing to a new sign-up wasn’t a hard-sell self- promotion? To make sure they get at least one newsletter first?

Initial mailings to an opt-in subscriber constitute the very first step in what could be a long and special relationship, and at this stage relationships are especially fragile. Say something insensitive on a first date, and you may never get another shot.

If this was anyone else, I could have easily unsubscribed on the spot. Your very first mailing to a new member of your community is worth a welcome message along with the last newsletter that went out. It’s even worth an introductory gift. It’s not hard and it’s that impotant.

For that matter, your free newsletter needs to be as solid as if you were charging for it. There’s just too much else out there. Inboxes are overfull and people don’t have the time. Not to mention that satisifed newsletter readers make very, very warm leads…

Newsletter Mistakes Even the Pros Make – Part 1

You’re working hard to build a loyal (or at least occasionally attentive) base of customers/prospects. You’ve done the hard part – you’ve intrigued or impressed them enough to hand over that precious email address. They trust you and they’re feeling positive about hearing from you.

What happens next is up to you. Will you deliver what they’re expecting? Or will you abuse their trust?

No reputable e-marketer sets out to abusively market to folks who gave their contact information in good faith on the promise of great content. Nonetheless, it happens often. In fact, to some degree, it happens all the time.

As I began this blog I wanted to see what others in my field were writing about. What were some of the hot topics on comment boards, in blogs, in newsletters? I have my normal cache of reading material, but now it was time to expand.

I went to the pros – the really established copywriters and marketers who had been providing free content to readers for years. What did I find? That even the best could be better.

Here’s the first example (look for others to follow):

Déjà vu…

I came across a pretty decent marketing blog – the posts were interesting, up to date, and highly relevant. Based on the blog (although he’d been around for years, I hadn’t heard of this writer) I signed up for his newsletter. When it arrived I realized I’d already read its only article – it was posted on his blog a few days ago. Okay, maybe many of the recipients hadn’t seen it, but what was in the newsletter for those of us who had? A bunch of ads for the owner and his affiliates.

Remember, you’re building a community of people whose trust you’ve earned. A community that you should be attending to in multiple ways. They check out your blog, maybe they buy your book or download a free report, they read your newsletter. You can’t recycle articles verbatim – at least not in the same week, and definitely not without copping to it.

So what if some of the readers won’t know? Can you risk losing the ones that you’ve managed to confuse, disappoint, or annoy?

This doesn’t mean that you can’t revisit old concepts and ideas. You’re busy; creating all that original content is time consuming!

Here are a few ways to get the most out of existing content:

• Okay, if you absolutely have to recycle something verbatim, here’s how to do it. Preface the article with a simple note: “Back in January I got a lot of heated response to this article. In case you missed it, here it is again. What’s your take?” Link to the original comments so they can get some perspective on the debate – and you’re done. One successfully recycled article.

• Reuse ideas, not whole paragraphs. Maybe you did a piece called “How to Successfully Navigate Any Networking Event”. After some time has passed, rewrite the content and add a few tips to create “The Twelve Biggest Networking Mistakes.” Voila. A new take on mostly the same ideas gives you a brand new article.

Other time-saving ideas that don’t sacrifice the quality of your content:

• Invite guest writers to contribute. It’s free publicity for them. Free and fresh content for you.

• Consider a newsletter partnership. Choose someone that compliments, not competes with you. For example, a copywriter and graphic designer might team up. Or a writer that focuses on direct mail may partner with another specializing in web usability. A combined list means each of you reach twice as many readers (for your shared newsletter, NOT for everything else unless you have proper permission.)

• Free content. This isn’t the best choice if you want to be considered an expert in your field. For this, you really need content based on the expertise of you or your affiliates. However, if you’re just starting out – or if your newsletter is more of an anonymous sales tool (rather than a credibility-building machine) you can search through the many sites that let you reprint articles for free, providing you give full credit and contact information. Another catch is that you’re positioning someone else as the expert on the topic of the article and providing all the info necessary to contact them. If this overlaps what you’re trying to sell, you’re not doing yourself any favors.

• Hire a ghostwriter. This can actually be a great way to go. If you don’t have the time, skills, or inclination to write your own newsletter, hire someone who does. You retain total control of everything – topics, tone, structure – but your writer should come up with ideas too. You keep the right to veto, while getting added input, full credit, and all the work done for you.

Remember, your newsletter is all about your readers. Keep them happy with fresh content and they’ll keep you happy…for a long time to come!

From Adequate to Gold – What Does it Take to Make Great Copy?

Today I came across a post by David Garfinkel, over at the World Copywriting Blog,  about what he considered exemplary ad copy. But is it? My reaction was that if it had been my published copy, there would be several things I’d wish I could revise.

As listed on his blog, here’s the text for a free-standing insert ad for The 24-Hour Health Shoe:

So Comfortable… You’ll Never Want to Take Them Off

These may well be the most comfortable shoes you’ll ever slip your feet into. Not only are they totally constructed of imported plush polyester from heel to toe, they have a memory foam insole that conforms to the exact shape of your foot for the ultimate in comfort. If that’s not enough, the top has a self-closure that adjusts for an even more custom fit. Also features a flexible TPR “rubber” sole for sure footing and durability indoors or out. So comfortable you might forget you’re wearing them. Hurry, order today and get FREE SHIPPING AND HANDLING. Satisfaction Guaranteed or Return for Your Money Back.

Okay, benefits are clearly here. Comfort. Durabilty. Uniqueness. Some evocative word choice: plush, slip, ultimate in comfort. Yet benefits lag behind features, no problem is addressed (although elsewhere in the ad bullet points list “diabetes, blisters, swollen feet”), the time-sensitive incentive is weak, and what is “TPR ‘rubber’ “? Rubber? Faux rubber? Is it better than rubber? What the heck does TPR stand for? The audience is the lay consumer, not the shoe industry connosieur.

In tandem with not addressing a problem in the main copy, the target customer base is a mile wide. While that may make sense for a newspaper spot, the ad still could have benefitted from a few testimonials from varying consumer demographics illustrating how the product addresses a need. A nurse could testify that she used to have aching feet after a shift, or an older person might say that he or she used to be afraid of falling, a younger person might talk about how great the shoes look. (Stylish, by the way, is another missed opportunity here. Do they come in several handsome colors?)

Keep in mind that this is a newspaper insert asking for a mail order, not a piece of direct mail that can hit the customer in waves. One shot is all you get, so you better hit close to the bullseye.

In my opinion some more forethought and an extra round or two of revision could have done wonders for this copy.

Consider:

So Comfortable… You’ll Never Want to Take Them Off

24-Hour Health (isn’t there a better word than shoe? What are they — loafer? Moccasin? Slipper?): the most comfortable shoes you’ll ever slip onto your feet. Experience the ultimate in customized comfort with the heel-to-toe support of imported plush polyester and a memory foam insole that conforms to the exact shape of your foot. A unique self-closure at the top of the shoe further ensures a perfect fit. You might feel like you’re walking on air, but you’ll actually retain sure-footing on the ground, both indoors and out, thanks to the flexible and ultra-durable TPR “rubber” sole.

24-hour health shoes: so comfortable you might forget you’re wearing them. Try them out. If you aren’t satisfied, send them back for a full refund, no questions asked! Order before 8/31 and get 20% off your initial pair. Mention this add and we’ll even throw in FREE SHIPPING AND HANDLING. Only ten days left! Order today.

I would even consider letting customers try the shoes “free” by not charging the credit card for seven days from date of delivery. It’s not like a download – shoes take effort to return. The delay creates a feeling safety, allows for an impulsive purchase, and breaks down one more barrier to the sale. If the company has faith in its product, returns will be a trickle compared to the flood of additional sales.

Anyway, this is just an off-the-cuff effort and I know absolultely nothing about the product other than what’s in the ad. I’m not saying that my copy is fantastic, I’m just saying the initial copy could be better and I’m wondering why it was lauded by a copy guru as something for readers learn from and to “copy.”

My point is that a strong ad – or any marketing message – is as much a product of concept – thorough and well-considered analysis of consumer, company, competition, medium, and motivation, etc… – as it’s a product of features/benefits and clever words. As much as, not more than. Features, benefits, and careful language have to be top-notch for the concept to work.

In the end, sometimes an extra round of revision or a fresh pair of eyes can help a marketing piece go from adequate to gold.

Thoughts?

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Well, the business blog has begun! Everything related to marketing communications and copywriting and anything else I find relevant to making money through words and ideas both online and off.

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