Writing a Message That Sells
You have a great story to tell. Now all you need are the right words. While you don't have to be a professional writer to develop your message, there's a subtle art to fine-tuning what you say in order to make it sell.
When crafting your message, keep these tips in mind:
- Visualize your audience, who they are, and how your product or service appeals to their needs.
- Write to this individual in a conversational tone; your message should sound as if it's coming from a friend.
- Make the message about the recipient; use 'you' more than 'I' or 'we'.
- Focus on benefits: What will this person or business get from using your product and service? How will it make them feel?
- Stimulate the reader's senses and emotions.
- Highlight your offer.
- Include a clear and compelling Call-to-Action: What you want your audience to do when they read your offer.
- Use proper grammar and avoid jargon.
- Compose clear and concise sentences and paragraphs.
- Proofread.
What is a Call-to-Action?
The call-to-action tells your audience how they can respond to your offer. Once a customer is interested, you want to make it as easy as possible for them to request your product or service. The components of your call-to-action are the what, where, how, and when of your offer:
- Relate to the audience.
- What are you offering or selling?
- Where is it available?
- How can a customer acquire it?
- When does the offer expire?
Designing Your Piece
No design school required. You can make your whole campaign with a basic desktop publishing program. These programs offer a variety of typestyles, clip art images, design tools, and colors. There are plenty of easy-to-use Web sites that you can use to format, design, print, and even send your mailing.
The design of your Direct Mail piece draws attention to your offer and helps the reader grasp the information presented. Keep these elements in mind:
- Visualize your audience, who they are, and how your product or service appeals to their needs.
- Give your layout a clean and simple design.
- Allow only one element (headline or visual) to dominate the page.
- If you have a logo, give it prominence so people know the message is from you.
- Limit yourself to one or two typestyles.
- Use large, bold type for headlines and smaller, easy-to-read type for text.
- Don't fear open space - an airy design is more inviting.
- Use relevant images.
- Break up your message with bold statements or bullet points. These call attention to benefits or important information.
- Make sure the call-to-action is easy to locate and read.