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Direct Response Copywriting

There was once a time when one good sales letter or print ad was all you needed. Joe Karbo's 'Lazy Man's Way To Riches!' ad was just one such an example. It made money in every newspaper it ran in, selling at just a $10 book - no back end, no monetisation of the list - so the 'seers' say.

Very lazy when you think about it.

It was that good a promotion. Direct Response Copywriting  According to those same 'seers,' Karbo could set his secretary a budget and she could purchase remnant newspaper space anywhere in the country and they would make money.

Another example of this was Gary Halbert's coat of arms letter. Selling a $2 catalogue of items the buyer could have engraved with their family coat of arms it made Gary rich once. It was so famous it got a mention on Carson. Carson was fuming about his coat of arms and called Gary all sorts of names.

Interestingly sales went up after Caron's ringing endorsement.

At least Gary had a back end - the products in the catalogue.

But is that still true today?

The landscape has changed since the heyday of direct response. Response rates are down, people are less willing to spend money these days, more so than they have been for a long time. At the same time the very best direct response purchasers are getting older which means they have this annoying habit of dying. And the younger generations are not really picking up the slack in the mail order purchasing sense.

In all my time in the world of copywriting and direct response I can say that the glory days of vast fortunes amassed on the back of one good ad selling a one off purchase are more and more a thing of myth.

There are relatively simple and effective marketing systems being used to create wealth but usually there is a degree of system and advanced monetisation strategy, not the simple let's stick a space ad in a newspaper or mail one sales letter type of business any more. (Sad really, it is one more reason for the grizzled vets to put on rose coloured glasses and talk about the good old days.)

The main change seems to me to be in product strategy and also marketing sophistication. No longer do you need one letter or ad. You need one good system. And an advanced product monetisation strategy.

Karbo sold a lot of books by mail order. Leasing those names to other marketers could have been the start of some monetisation for him - if he generated his sales at breakeven, he didn't he got them at a profit and then made $25 per name in the list rental business he would have banked an extra million dollars in cash for every 40,000 books he sold.

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Direct Response Copywriting

Hi, I am a direct marketing specialist that has helped hundreds of direct marketers grow their businesses. You do not know me, but after reading my views on direct marketing during an economic slowdown, I believe it can give you business an edge in taking market share from your competitors.

Today the consumer is being financially squeezed by many economic realities. Soaring gas prices a slowing economy, and job insecurities, just to highlight a few. All this is currently having a very negative impact of the consumer's mindset for spending. Odds are your company is also feeling the consumer's anxiety about the future. When I talk to some of the clients I do work for, they have told me that their web sales and response rates have declined, or at best are treading water. The same holds true for the traditional mailers. They are also experiencing consumer pessimism that is reflected in lower response rates.

OK, so does this mean that you have to hunker down and accept all this as the reality of the times for doing business? Absolutely not ...But most direct marketers unfortunately will. The enlightened few will view it differently and become proactive, and embrace the challenges.

"Keep on doing what your doing in direct marketing and you'll keep on getting what your getting in declining sales and profits"

Today savvy direct marketer realizes that the status quo of what worked during the good times isn't working so well anymore. Hundreds of thousand of companies are competing on the web and via traditional direct mail for the consumer's discretionary income. Many are destined to fail. Survival of the fittest is being played out, and the marketers who DO NOT make direct marketing refinements will become extinct.

So exactly what can you do to help guarantee that our company not only survives, but also takes market share from the competition?

To begin with you must make absolutely sure that your direct marketing efforts utilize all the responsive techniques that have prove to drive sales. Direct marketing is paying explicit attention to the details of the business, especially now. The day of "lets run it up the flag pole and see how it flies" is long gone. Today it is making positively sure that you have the three basic RIGHTS of direct response in place, or your company is destined to fail.

The three basic RIGHTS that must be in place are:

RIGHT #1: You must have the right copy that talks to the customer NOT at them. It must emotionally engage them and give them compelling benefits of your products and how it will help THEM. Does your copy utilize "YOU" or "YOUR" as much as is feasible? Does each product have a benefit headline? Do you utilize words (under seven letters is best) that the customer will actually understand? Do you answer all the questions in the Direct Response Copywriting customer's mind that could be a potential roadblock to a sale? It's your job to remove all the roadblocks that would deter a response.

RIGHT #2: The right creative, teamed with the right colors and graphics are essential to getting a response. Does your creative and graphics actually help to sell the product, or do they detract from it? Do the photos you use reflect you're demographic, and do they add to the enhancement of the copy in obtaining a response? Do the colors you use on your site, or in your mail pieces turn on response emotions or do they turn them off? Certain colors evoke specific feelings; this should not be left to chance. The type you use, and how it is displayed directly affects sales. Type that is NOT black, or that is reversing out of a background has statistically proven in tests to be harder to read, and slower to comprehend which is a roadblock to a sale. Are you using Sans Serif type in your electronic marketing? It is easier to read on a computer screen. The last thing you want is for a potential customer to click away because they can't read your type or it is to small in point size.