BE PERSONAL AND CREATE MYSTERY HEADLINES
It May Be Harder to Attract Clients and Get People to Buy, But With the Personal Touch and a Little Mystery, You Just Might Even the Odds.
By Kevin Nunley
Most experienced direct mail pros will tell you that business isn't as easy as it used to be. "It's harder to get people to open a sales letter and buy," one veteran told me.
You can get far better response with your sales letters if you do a few things to personalize them. This is hard to do if you're mailing thousands of letters, but well worth the extra effort if you're sending 50 or fewer letters each week.
Address your envelope by hand. Avoid using envelopes with windows or address labels. You want your envelope to look more like one your recipient would get from a friend or close business associate. In addition, you should use stamps on the envelope. A postage meter may be faster and easier to use, but stamps give your envelope the personal look.
If possible, type the recipient's name at the top of your letter. Sign the bottom in blue ink. These methods of personalizing the look of your sales letter works especially well for reaching corporate bosses.
And what about leads? You can actually get more leads by telling less. You stimulate your prospect's curiosity, making them want to know more about what you're offering. This works well for sales letters, postcards, and web sites.
For example, I have two headlines on my web site. One says I will send out your press release to 5,000 media contacts. No mystery there.
The second headline says, "This is the most effective marketing strategy on the Internet...and I bet none of your competitors are using it."
Guess which headline people click more often. The mystery strategy out draws the other headline two to one. This isn't a technique to use every time, of course, but it's a good way to add some spice and extra response to your marketing. Make sure you reward your customer with a payoff that matches the promise in your headline. You don't want people to feel that they were tricked into responding.
A trick may get people to click to the site, but it doesn't get customers to buy. Try putting a mystery headline on the address side of a postcard. You'll be surprised at the results!
Get Kevin's new book "101 Best Biz-Tips, Powerful Low-Cost Ways to Promote Your Business." $14.95 ppd. You may reach Kevin at (801) 253-4536 or by writing DrNunley@aol.com
You may also write him at:
Kevin Nunley 9699S 2810W S. Jordan, UT 84095
Check out Kevin's website: http://www.DrNunley.com
