|
|
|
---------------------------------------------- Bob Bly's Direct Response Letter: Resources, ideas, and tips for improving response to business-to-business, high-tech, industrial, Internet, and direct marketing. July, 2003 ---------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------- DON'T TOUCH THAT "FROM" LINE! Subscriber John Dunbar says that when sending out a regular e-zine (like this one) to your list, you should never vary the "from" line. He writes: "I recommend that you use the same ‘From' in your periodic e-mails. When you change them, however slightly, e-mail spam-filters will set them aside. Many computer users set up automatic spam filters. Those e-mails that are approved, like 'bob_bly@ureach.com,' are initially approved. Then along comes 'Bob_Bly@ureach.com' followed by 'Bob-Bly@ureach.com.' These second two are then set aside by the filter, marked as spam, and await your later approval. This advice can help make sure your e-zines get to their intended recipients." ---------------------------------------------- 8 RULES FOR WRITING ONLINE 1. Write for surfers and scanners. 2. Provide information quickly and easily. 3. Think both verbally and visually. 4. Cut copy in half. 5. Use lots of lists and bullets. 6. Write in chunks. 7. Use hyperlinks. 8. Give readers a chance to talk back (feedback). Source: Don Ranly, www.ranly.com, presented at NEPA, 3/3/03 ---------------------------------------------- USE A "JOHNSON BOX" FOR DIRECT MAIL IMPACT Sixty years ago, Frank H. Johnson was looking for a way to increase the impact of his sales letters. He decided that instead of forcing readers to wade through a mass of copy before making the offer, he would highlight the offer in a centered rectangular box placed at the very top of the letter above the salutation. The results were terrific, and the "Johnson Box" has been going strong ever since. Copywriter Ivan Levison shares some tips you can use for putting a Johnson Box to work the RIGHT way: 1. Put the right content in the box. What should you include there? The offer. The main product benefit. 2. Use it in the right kind of letter. If you're writing a non-personalized letter that's going out bulk rate in a window envelope using teaser copy, a Johnson Box will fit right in. 3. Make it the right size. If you're mailing an 8 1/2" x 11" letter (folded twice down to 3 5/8") you want the Johnson Box and AT LEAST the salutation line to appear above the fold. 4. Use an appropriate box shape. You can make the box out of asterisks or use a fine-ruled line. For added impact, throw a screened-back second color inside the box. 5. Use a box in the body of the letter. There's no law that says you can't throw your guarantee into a small box somewhere within the letter. Or a few testimonials. Or a short excerpt from a glowing product review. 6. Show your fulfillment piece in a box or at the top of your letter. If you're offering a report, guide, White Paper, Executive Summary, whatever, use a picture of it. Source: "The Levison Letter." For a free subscription to this valuable e-zine, click on the link below: http://www.levison.com/subscribe/ ---------------------------------------------- MAKE SURE YOUR GUARANTEE MAKES SENSE (MANY DON'T) A number of publishers offer lifetime guarantees. They permit the subscriber to cancel at any time and receive a prorated refund on "unmailed issues." But if you offer both a bill-me option as well as payment with order, such a lifetime guarantee actually gives the customer an incentive NOT to pay up front. Say the customer checks the "bill-me" option for a monthly magazine, gets his first issue, and then writes "cancel" on his invoice. The publisher doesn't send him a bill for one issue, nor does the publisher ask for the magazine back. So the customer gets a free issue. But if the customer pays in advance, then cancels after the first issue, he gets a refund for 11/12th of the subscription price (the 11 unmailed issues) and therefore ends up paying for the issue received. Why should the bill-me customer get a free issue, but not the payment-with-order customer? It doesn't make sense, considering a cash-with-order customer is more desirable than a bill-me order. Solution: Offer a money-back guarantee within the first 30 days, then prorated refund thereafter. ---------------------------------------------- THE ROYAL ROAD TO RICHES What do Tom Peters, Michael Hammer, and Peter Drucker have in common? They're all rich – and they're all consultants. Now you can earn $50,000 to $250,000 a year or more as an independent consultant, full or part-time. For details, click below: http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/ACL/WACLD609/ ---------------------------------------------- A $1,970 FREE GIFT FOR YOU! Help my good friend Joe Vitale make his latest book a best-seller and he'll give you $1,970.39 in freebies. One look at the title of his new book and you'll leap to get it. One look at the 19-some freebies he'll give you and you'll drool to get it. Get details by sending e-mail to amazing@superfastprofit.com ---------------------------------------------- UPCOMING SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT My next speaking engagement is at the Merit Direct Co-op, July 10, where I will be giving two talks: "World's Best-Kept Copywriting Secrets" and "What's Working in E-Mail Marketing Today." For more information call Merit Direct at 914-368-1000. ---------------------------------------------- BOB'S NEW COLUMN IN WRITER'S DIGEST MAGAZINE Starting in the Fall I'll be writing a column every other month (six times a year) for Writer's Digest magazine. The topic: "The Six-Figure Writer" -- how to make $100,000 a year or more as a freelance writer. To subscribe, call Writer's Digest at (513) 531-2690. If you are a freelance writer, you can also have me coach you personally through AWAI's Selling Yourself program. For more information, go to: http://www.selling-yourself.com ---------------------------------------------- STUCK ON A CREATIVE WRITING PROJECT? Award-winning playwright Doug Motel coaches writers and creative people through the process of completing their projects. You can find out more at his Web site. Tell Doug I sent you and your first coaching session is free! http://www.CreativeProjectCoaching.com ----------------------------------------------- RECENT COPYWRITING AND CONSULTING PROJECTS (JUST A SAMPLING) Direct mail for Agora Publishing ... The Closeout Club ... Forbes ... KCI ... Kiplinger ... Harvard Business School Publishing ... Nightingale-Conant ... NIBM ... Studebaker-Worthington ... BMA ... Modern Cleaning Systems ... Pacific Coast Funding ... ---------------------------------------------- 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 dickeybf@aol.com. ---------------------------------------------- Bob Bly Copywriter/Consultant 22 E. Quackenbush Ave. Dumont, NJ 07628 www.bly.com rwbly@bly.com phone 201-385-1220 fax 201-385-1138 ---------------------------------------------- |
