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Answer Upon - Direct Mail Postcards: 7 Ways to Grab Attention With Your Headline
Delegating....we all know we should do it, yet many of us find myriad reasons to avoid it. I even heard someone recently state that delegating is just a traditional management tool that doesn’t apply in his fast-paced world. He told me that he just wants everyone to roll up their sleeves and pitch in where they are needed....without prompting.Now that’s an interesting idea. Evidently he wants them to know exactly what to do without explanation, without a clear g
5. Use strong action words.
Instead of telling readers how to "increase the safety of their computer systems," tell them how to "safeguard their data and shield their servers." Strong words conjure up strong emotions. Boring words yield boring results -- drop them from your direct mail vocabulary.
6. Deliver on your promise.
Using a variety of female celebrities, infomercial producers have once again created a huge market where none existed. That’s not to say that make up products didn’t exist. They did. And they were a multibillion dollar industry long before anybody ever thought of infomercials.Starting in the early twentieth century with the advent of movies and their subsequent side affect – beautiful stars! – make up companies have been designing products to make average lookin
The formula is simple:
First, pick a goal or an accomplishment (saving money, increasing performance, improving health, avoiding pain, etc.). Then tell the reader how to accomplish this goal in X number of steps. Or give them X number of ways to achieve the same goal.
Here are seven tips for using numbered headlines on your direct mail postcards:
1. Use odd numbers.
With all other things being equal, odd numbers have been shown to outperform rounded, even numbers. They appear more legitimate and scientific. That's why Listerine "kills 99% of germs" instead of 100%.
2. Write numbers as numbers.
Numbers catch the eye better in numerical form (7), as opposed to written form (seven).
3. Crank up the benefits.
To increase the motivating power of your numbered headline, simply increase the reward promised by the headline. For example, instead of "7 Ways to Decrease Your Debt," you might say "7 Ways to Eliminate Your Debt." Only one word has changed, but now the promise of value is much greater. "Decrease" is vague. "Eliminate" is absolute.
4. Write clearly.
Keep your headline simple and straightforward. The reader should understand the benefit right away. She should not have to read the headline twice or puzzle over it. Number and benefit … it doesn't need to be any more complicated than that.
5. Use strong action words.
Instead of telling readers how to "increase the safety of their computer systems," tell them how to "safeguard their data and shield their servers." Strong words conjure up strong emotions. Boring words yield boring results -- drop them from your direct mail vocabulary.
6. Deliver on your promise.
Beginning with Dible’s Up Your Own Organization several decades ago, business plans have been nearly sacred tools in communicating with potential lenders and investors.Now the electronic age has brought an avalanche of new gizmos to the equation, such as CDs, emails, and online business plans. A cell phone number has become as essential as a business land line.Just how useful are these gizmos, really? In truth, by themselves, they are just not very usef
Here are seven tips for using numbered headlines on your direct mail postcards:
1. Use odd numbers.
With all other things being equal, odd numbers have been shown to outperform rounded, even numbers. They appear more legitimate and scientific. That's why Listerine "kills 99% of germs" instead of 100%.
2. Write numbers as numbers.
Numbers catch the eye better in numerical form (7), as opposed to written form (seven).
3. Crank up the benefits.
To increase the motivating power of your numbered headline, simply increase the reward promised by the headline. For example, instead of "7 Ways to Decrease Your Debt," you might say "7 Ways to Eliminate Your Debt." Only one word has changed, but now the promise of value is much greater. "Decrease" is vague. "Eliminate" is absolute.
4. Write clearly.
Keep your headline simple and straightforward. The reader should understand the benefit right away. She should not have to read the headline twice or puzzle over it. Number and benefit … it doesn't need to be any more complicated than that.
5. Use strong action words.
Instead of telling readers how to "increase the safety of their computer systems," tell them how to "safeguard their data and shield their servers." Strong words conjure up strong emotions. Boring words yield boring results -- drop them from your direct mail vocabulary.
6. Deliver on your promise.
Best-selling author, John Grisham, was a practicing defense lawyer in 1984 when he began writing his first novel (A Time to Kill). Because his job demanded 60 to 70- hour weeks, he came to work several hours early for three years to work on the book. Some mornings it was the last thing he wanted to do, and no one was forcing him (only his wife knew about it). Still, he did it, and three years later he had a book that no one was interested in publishing. By thi
2. Write numbers as numbers.
Numbers catch the eye better in numerical form (7), as opposed to written form (seven).
3. Crank up the benefits.
To increase the motivating power of your numbered headline, simply increase the reward promised by the headline. For example, instead of "7 Ways to Decrease Your Debt," you might say "7 Ways to Eliminate Your Debt." Only one word has changed, but now the promise of value is much greater. "Decrease" is vague. "Eliminate" is absolute.
4. Write clearly.
Keep your headline simple and straightforward. The reader should understand the benefit right away. She should not have to read the headline twice or puzzle over it. Number and benefit … it doesn't need to be any more complicated than that.
5. Use strong action words.
Instead of telling readers how to "increase the safety of their computer systems," tell them how to "safeguard their data and shield their servers." Strong words conjure up strong emotions. Boring words yield boring results -- drop them from your direct mail vocabulary.
6. Deliver on your promise.
Working your way through the FA0 record when doing medical billing is like reading a copy of "War And Peace". Okay, maybe it's not that bad, but it is still the most comprehensive record in the whole NSF 3.01 specifications and without it, nobody would have a clue what was being billed. In this installment we continue our review of this record with field number 18.FA0 field 18, positions 82 - 85, is the units of service. This is probably one of the most criti
4. Write clearly.
Keep your headline simple and straightforward. The reader should understand the benefit right away. She should not have to read the headline twice or puzzle over it. Number and benefit … it doesn't need to be any more complicated than that.
5. Use strong action words.
Instead of telling readers how to "increase the safety of their computer systems," tell them how to "safeguard their data and shield their servers." Strong words conjure up strong emotions. Boring words yield boring results -- drop them from your direct mail vocabulary.
6. Deliver on your promise.
A good business card design persists because it is able to communicate an image that reflects you, your nature of business or your company.Foot-in-the-door The image that is translated on your business card automatically speaks for your and your company. Hence, a high-quality and unique business card can obtain a client’s admiration and respect at first sight of your business card. Consequently, a well designed business card can efficiently attract clients and
5. Use strong action words.
Instead of telling readers how to "increase the safety of their computer systems," tell them how to "safeguard their data and shield their servers." Strong words conjure up strong emotions. Boring words yield boring results -- drop them from your direct mail vocabulary.
6. Deliver on your promise.
If your postcard headline mentions "21 Ways to Increase Your Email Marketing Success," you better follow up with (you guessed it) 21 ways to improve the reader's email marketing. At the least, offer a summary or excerpt of those tips and then point to a full report that offers the rest.
Stay away from "bait and switch" headlines that don't deliver on the promise. Trickery and deceit will get you nowhere.
7. Follow a formula.
Develop a formula when creating your headlines. This will help you ask all the right questions and shape a headline around the answers to those questions.
Example formula:
Audience
Product
Number of parts
Benefit
Headline
Now let's imagine we're a financial services company using this headline formula for a direct mail postcard. It might go something like this:
Audience: Middle-income taxpayers
Product: Financial seminar
Number of parts: Three
Benefit: Saving money
Headline: Get More Money at Tax Time -- 3 Simple Steps
You can see how the formula builds the headline. It also helps us identify the heart of our message and the audience it's intended to reach.
Bonus Tip: Write a Dozen, Keep the Best.
Headlines can make or break a direct mail postcard. So don't settle for your first attempt. Even professional copywriters rarely hit the mark on the first try.
Personally, I'll write at least a dozen versions of a direct mail headline. Then I'll eliminate half of them (t
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