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From: Bob Bly
Subject: Will Uncle Sam buy your product or service?
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Bob Bly's Direct Response Letter:
Resources, ideas, and tips for improving
response to business-to-business, high-tech,
industrial, Internet, and direct marketing.
April, 2004
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You are getting this e-mail because you subscribed
to it on www.bly.com or because you are one of
Bob's clients, prospects, seminar attendees,
or book buyers. If you would prefer not to
receive further e-mails of this type, go to
www.bly.com, enter your e-mail address,
and hit Unsubscribe.
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ADD 93 OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL SALES LETTERS
OF ALL TIME TO YOUR "SWIPE FILE"
Every direct marketer should keep a "swipe file" –
a collection of successful direct mail packages
you can use for inspiration and as models
for your own efforts.
The best letters to add are "controls" – letters
that were profitable for the marketers who
mailed them.
How to spot controls: If you get a letter again
after you've already received it once, you know
it is a control; otherwise, the marketer would
not have mailed it a second time.
Now for the first time Dartnell's "Greatest Direct
Mail Sales Letters of All Time" is available
online. My colleague Ken Stacey- Odiwe has
the exclusive license to this one of a kind gem
containing 93 best-selling control sales letters.
It's a must- have resource
if you're looking for a winning swipe file.
For more information, click here now:
http://www.greatestsalesletters.com
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SECRETS OF SELLING TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT REVEALED
My colleague, Mark Amtower, is one of the top experts
in the country on marketing to the federal government.
And he's a dynamite speaker, too.
Throughout this month, Mark will be traveling
and giving his popular workshop, "Government Marketing
Best Practices," in major cities nationwide.
If you sell to the government, this is
a presentation you should not miss.
For more information and to register click
on the link below:
http://www.federaldirect.net/bestpractices2004.html
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WHAT THE WORLD'S MOST SUCCESSFUL CEOS CAN TEACH
YOU ABOUT BEING A GREAT LEADER
My new book, on which I am the uncredited (sigh)
co-author with my good friend Eric Yaverbaum,
"Leadership Secrets of the World's Most Successful CEOs,"
has just been published by Dearborn.
Eric and I interviewed 100 CEOs ranging from
entrepreneurial owners of small companies
to the chief executives at such Fortune 500
companies as Staples, Xerox, Hewlett-Packard,
and Compute Associates. Each shared with us
his or her most powerful leadership technique
or strategy – the one thing that really made
a difference in his or her company's success.
You can buy the book at a discount on amazon.com
by clicking on the link below:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0793180619/qid=1073953662/sr=1-10/ref=sr_1_10/104-7066355-6691929?v=glance&s=books
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MAY I WRITE A LETTER FOR YOU?
One of my copywriting specialties is writing
short (1 or 2-page) sales letters to generate leads.
My letters typically generate inquiry response
rates in the 1% to 5% range, though some have
pulled 10% or higher.
While I normally charge $2,500 for writing
a lead-generating sales letter, I have a special
offer that may be of interest to you.
I will write a lead-generating letter for your
business for just $1,250 – a 50% discount
of my regular rate.
In exchange for this discount (a savings of over $1,000),
you agree to share the results with me and to give me
a testimonial for my Web site when my letter succeeds
for you.
I can't take on too many letters at this bargain discount,
so I am limiting this offer to the first three people
who reply. Just e-mail me at rwbly@bly.com.
Or call Fern Dickey at 201-797-8105.
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OUT OF PRINT BOOKS
Occasionally I reference a classic marketing book
in this e-zine, and subscribers complain that
the books are out of print and they can't find them.
You can find out-of-print books online here:
http://www.alibris.com
http://www.abebooks.com
http://www.bibliofind.com
And of course:
http://www.amazon.com
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CHEAP ENTERTAINMENT: CAN THIS WORK IN YOUR BUSINESS?
To give patrons something to do aside from read the paper
or stare into space, the local coffee shop where I eat
lunch put little plastic boxes on every table.
Inside each box is a stack of question cards
from the game Trivial Pursuit. You can pass the
time reading them yourself. Or you and your
lunch companion can quiz each other.
Nifty little idea for about the cost of a single
Trivial Pursuit game plus the plastic card holders
(you can use the little plastic cases that hold
packets of sugar and artificial sweetener).
If you visit me in my Dumont, NJ office,
we can eat there and play.
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FUNDRAISING SECRET
I recently had the honor of interviewing Jerry Huntsinger,
whom many (me included) consider the world's greatest
fundraising copywriter, for a program on fundraising
one of my clients, AWAI (http://www.awaionline.com)
is developing.
Among the secrets Jerry shared: Virtually every successful
control mailing he has written these days has some sort
of freebie – address labels, for example – enclosed
with the letter.
(In subscription marketing we call this enclosed
premium a freemium, but Jerry uses the term
"up-front premium.")
Its main purpose, according to Huntsinger, is to stop
the busy reading from tossing your brilliantly
written letter into the round file.
He says that the up-front premium gives the package
a "tactile presence" – and that putting an object in
your package "keeps people from throwing it away."
For instance, one successfully package Jerry wrote
recently for Covenant House has an angel pin enclosed.
He also says that having a brochure in fundraising
packages almost never increases response – and
that plain envelopes work better than envelopes
with teaser copy.
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FREE E-ZINE OF THE MONTH
My good friend, prolific Christian author Terry Whalin,
has just launched a new e-zine, "Also Right Writing News."
Twice a month, the e-zine features a short article about
a best-selling author and how this author practices
his or her craft. Says Terry, "For the content,
I'm going to draw from my interviews over the last
15 years with more than 150 best-selling authors."
For a free subscription, click on the link below:
http://www.right-writing.com/newsletter.html
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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"You'll never make the grade at anything by playing it safe."
--The Twilight Zone
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WIN BACK LOST BUSINESS
Want to recapture lost customers? Offer to produce one job
for them at cost. A bold gesture like cutting your profits
may just turn the tide and get t hem to try your service
once again.
Source: "6 ways to recover lost revenues"
by International Paper
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60-SECOND COMMERCIAL FROM FERN DICKEY, OFFICE MANAGER:
Bob is available on a limited basis for copywriting
of direct mail packages, sales letters, brochures,
white papers, ads, e-mail marketing campaigns,
PR materials, and Web pages. We recommend you call
for a FREE copy of our updated Copywriting Information
Kit. Just let us know your industry and the type
of copy you're interested in seeing (ads, mailings, etc.),
and if Bob is available to take your assignment,
we'll tailor a package of recent samples to fit
your requirements. Call Fern Dickey at 201-797-8105
or e-mail fern1128@optonline.net.
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Bob Bly
22 E. Quackenbush Ave.
Copywriter/consultant
Dumont, NJ 07628
www.bly.com
rwbly@bly.com
phone 201-385-1220
fax 201-385-1138
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