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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 2, 2003
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LIFT YOUR DIRECT MAIL RESPONSE WITH "LIFT LETTERS"
The lift letter, also known as a lift note, is the second,
small letter that is sometimes inserted into a direct mail
package along with the main multi-page sales letter. It
often has a headline that reads something like,
"Read this only if you are NOT interested in buying
[name of product]."
The purpose, as its name implies, is to lift response.
But what do you put in a lift note to achieve
that goal?
John Forde suggests 10 possible topics and goals
for lift letters:
1. To counter a key objection.
2. As a place to test your second-best or alternative
headlines.
3. To give readers an extra testimonial.
4. As an endorsement (approved, of course) from an authority
or a celebrity.
5. To emphasize a time deadline on the purchase.
6. To focus on the best aspect of the offer (premiums,
guarantees, discounts).
7. To emphasize long-standing credibility (a formal
letterhead might work well here).
8. To keep the message newsworthy. Let the lift note cover
events that have happened since the initial mailing was
written.
9. To underscore the ONE THING that really gives your
product an edge over everyone else.
10. To emphasize track record, unusual and impressive
credentials,
or to make the benefits of the most important package
feature especially clear.
Source: The Copywriter's Roundtable. For a free subscription
to this valuable e-zine, click on the link below:
http://www.agoramail.net/add.cfm?list=crtable
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WRITE COPY THAT BOOSTS YOUR SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS
Copywriter Heather Lloyd-Martin specializes in writing copy
for search engine optimization. She disagreed with a few of
the
tips I reprinted from http://btobonline.com in my last
issue.
The tips - and her responses -- are as follows:
1. Direct Response Letter (DRL): "Purchase the most
effective
domain name (e.g., http://www.divorceonline.com if you
are a divorce lawyer)."
Heather Lloyd-Martin (HML): "This doesn't really
work. Plus,
it encourages people to come up with those terrible domains
like
www.make-money-online-with-internet-marketing.com, which are
spammy and are usually downgraded in the engines."
2. DRL: "Make sure your site uses tags for its title
and
description. Search engines use these tags to classify
your site."
HLM: "This is terribly incorrect. The search engines
key on the content - so that's what's important.
The title is also important for positioning and
conversion off the search engine results page."
3. DRL: "Search engines cannot find flash or frame
pages.
Use HTML."
HLM: "They can, but it's harder for them. Fast has
indexed Flash for a long time now, but it can be horrid
for usability (and it won't gain the best rankings).
However, HTML is truly the best bet."
For more information click on:
http://www.SearchEngineWriting.com
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IN OUR CYBERSPACE SOCIETY, IS READING DEAD?
"For every reader who dies today, a viewer is born,
and we seem to be witnessing the final tipping of a balance.
For critics inclined to alarmism, the shift from a culture
based on the printed word to a culture based on virtual
images -
a shift that began with television and is now being
completed
with computers - feels apocalyptic. I rue the onset of an
age so anxious that the pleasure of a text becomes
difficult to sustain."
--Jonathan Franzen, "How to Be Alone"
(Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2002)
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"SELLING YOUR SOFTWARE WITH DIRECT MAIL" - YOURS
FREE!
Direct mail is an incredibly effective method of generating
leads and orders for software products. Recently, I gave
a well-received talk for the Software and Information
Industry
Association (SIIA) outlining the steps required to plan
and implement a successful software direct marketing
promotion.
For your FREE copy of "Selling Your Software with
Direct Mail"
on audiocassette, call Fern Dickey at (201) 797-8105
or e-mail dickeybf@aol.com and ask for tape #833.
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RADIO INTERVIEW: "BECOME AN INSTANT GURU"
Last month I was the featured guest on "The Inside
Success Show."
The show is hosted by
Randy Gilbert, a coach and speaker on the
topic of "proactive success." Smart guy. Nice,
too.
A skilled interviewer, Randy got me to reveal my inside
success secrets for becoming a guru in your field quickly
and easily. You can hear the interview by going to:
http://TheInsideSuccessShow.com/Guests/Bob_Bly.htm
Make sure you bookmark their Web site and sign up for their
newsletter so you can hear the rest of their shows.
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NEW AUDIO CONFERENCE: "GENERATING MORE LEADS IN A TIGHT
ECONOMY"
If business is slow, and the weak economy has you worried,
sign up for my April 8 teleseminar, "Generating More
Leads in
a Tight Economy." You'll get practical,
easy-to-implement strategies
that can help you generate more leads and close more sales,
even in today's marketplace. To register for this
live, hour-long session, click on the link below:
https://www.pbconferences.com/service3?ID=-1989440792
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MAKE $100,000 A YEAR AS A FREELANCE COPYWRITER
For years now, freelance copywriters have been asking me --
at writer's conferences, over the phone, and via e-mail --
questions about how (and whether) they can make
a good living as a full-time freelancer. And you
can get the answers in a new program I'm offering.
In it, I teach you what it takes to succeed as a
freelance copywriter in today's market.
This goes WAY beyond my book "Secrets of a Freelance
Writer."
This is stuff I've never taught or written about before!
For more information, call the American Writers and Artists
Institute (AWAI) at 561-278-5557 or click
on http://www.awaionline.com/jumpstartbb
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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,
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 dickeybf@aol.com.
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Bob Bly
Copywriter/Consultant
22 E. Quackenbush Ave.
Dumont, NJ 07628
phone 201-385-1220
fax 201-385-1138
rwbly@bly.com
www.bly.com
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