Category: eZine Publishing

Three Solid Ways to Start a Sales Letter


This post is an authorized reprint of a COPYWRITER’S ROUNDTABLE article published and sent to me on July 3, 2012. Copywriter’s Roundtable is owned and managed by John Forde. The article’s author is a colleague of John Forde and fellow copywriter, Jason Strachen who has done a masterful in job delivering such a powerful piece.

On this eve of our nation’s independence, what could be a better celebration than a discourse on honing your own entrepreneurial skills, strategies and business acumen? It is my opinion that the Sales Letter is singly THE most important tool a Web Marketing Entrepreneur can have in his/her toolkit; And a superbly composed sales letter puts you heads and shoulders above your competition. So here we go!

Introduction

Copywriters and article writers are often pre-occupied with the best ways to start an article or sales letter, so it’s not uncommon for questions lke, ‘what’s the perfect opening line?’ to recur frequently. While the answer is not “Call me Ishmael”, and the opening thought is hardly, “Was your Dad a baker? ‘Cause you’ve got a nice set of buns”, the true answer to such a question is, there isn’t one. At least not one that’s perfect for every situation.

There are some, however, that work a lot more reliably than others. And we’re fortunate to have copywriter Jason Strachan show us three of the best ways to start a sales letter. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this free lesson in sales letter writing, titled…

THREE SUREFIRE WAYS TO START ANY SALES LETTER

by Jason Strachan

So…

Why is the start of the direct mail letter so important? Here is the answer in a nutshell: Because when reading begins your target customer will be glaring point-blank into the loaded barrel of your promotion. You are NEVER going to get such a great chance to get her interest again.

So what are you waiting for? When you start your letter or email, or video, go ahead and fire the most powerful, single most seductive message you possibly can! Because the cold truth is, as corny as it may sound, if you don’t get her (or him) at hello’ you wont get her at all.

NAVAN Global, the REAL SEAL!

Now In this article I’ve selected my 3 most tried and tested letter openings that I’ve used with a lot of success in my career. You could call them my ‘old faithfuls.’ Because if my life was on the line, and I was in a position where I had to write a letter that worked, or I’d be executed by firing squad, I would use one of these three openings, every time. So here’s the first one…

First favorite

If you’re like me – i.e. If you’re like me, you spend way too much time in front of your computer…

Now there are two distinct reasons why I like this opening. First: because it is an approach that works for practically ANY market place. And second: because it establishes immediate rapport.

The whole tone of “If you’re like me” immediately conjures up the feeling of a trusted friend wrapping her arm around your shoulder to give you a bit of counsel. And it causes your prospect to just drop her guard a little, while she starts to read what you have to say.

Now even though a LOT of marketers have discovered how powerful this opening is and have started using it a lot. It’s STILL very effective in the marketplace today. Just as long as its expressed with sincerity. So in other words, don’t attempt to write an “If you’re like me” opening if you’re actually nothing like your customer.

*TIP: Remember what David Ogilvy famously said: ‘The customer is NOT a moron – she’s your wife’

Second favorite

Ask a provocative question
– Okay, here’s where we step into some dangerous territory…

You see, a lot of people who attempt to write sales copy understand how to write a question. It’s the qualifier ‘provocative’, that they do not seem to get a handle on. However if you get it right, it works like a charm!

First let me show you how most marketing agencies mess it up.

The way they get it wrong is by opening the letter with a question that has no relevance to your prospect, so they dismiss it straight away. For example: If I open a letter with, ‘Do you know the name of the ancient Greek God of sunshine?’

Your response will likely be: A) Are you nuts?’ B) ‘Who cares?” or worse C) Something’s wrong with you, and If I did know the ancient Greek God of sunshine there’d be something wrong with ME.”

A provocative question is a question that really triggers some type of dominant emotion inside your target customers. Here are some examples…

Continue reading “Three Solid Ways to Start a Sales Letter”

Home Based Web Business – A Network Marketing Affair


If you have been in the eCommerce market for at least 6 months, you are already receiving offers from many companies promoting their products/services to you, and this will continue as businesses offer you the opportunity to become a distributor of those products and/or services. While many of these businesses offer the opportunity free of charge, others may require you to pay a fee similar to that of a franchise, based on their willingness to set up a website with your name on it and provide instructions on how to make it a success.

Regardless of the motives behind their willingness to share knowledge, techniques and strategies, you’re still able to share in the wealth of their business operations. Where many people make the mistake, is in getting involved with a home-based Web business and then believing – mistakenly – that just by filling out the online forms and paying the required fees, they will immediately start on a money-making journey to riches, wealth and the realization of their dreams.

This could not be farther from the reality of what actually happens after getting involved with a home-based web business. Failure to think long enough about how you came to be involved in this type of business, and the fact that someone was marketing this plan to you, can often lead to failure to grow your new business by marketing it to others; as many “others” as you possibly can during the early years of the new venture.

So the time to relax is not in the beginning of your new business but after you put in the required time (10 to 18 hour days and 7 day weeks, for as long as it takes) to make your business a success. The major portion of your time, work and and money will be spent – or should be spent – promoting and advertising your new business.

There are numerous ways to promote your home-based Web business, such as old-fashion advertising, handing out business cards or even putting you web address on the side of your vehicle to be seen while you drive to the grocery store or around town. All that may be good to draw a half dozen people or so to your new business venture, but to help it really grow and ultimately succeed, it may be necessary to rely more on the network marketing strategy.

NAVAN Global, the REAL SEAL!

Oil millionaire J. Paul Getty is often quoted as saying, he would rather have one percent of the efforts of 100 people, than 100 percent of his own efforts; and that is the basis of network marketing. The Kirby vacuum cleaner company devised its own form of network marketing as far back as 1935 before the phrase was coined and the concept totally understood.

The KVC company knew that in order to sell their sweepers, a sit-down presentation was needed. They had a few dealers with whom they shared the profits of their sales and using their proven methods they taught others to sell the sweepers and each person who was brought in as a sales representative could also share in the profits off the efforts of others once s/he followed the proven success plan.

While a few people may make a lot of money in a short period of time with network marketing, most must grow their business slowly, because of the learning curve, as well as the marketing tests (or test marketing as the case may be) that must take place if your home-based Web business is to be a success. Test marketing is a time-consuming activity which cannot be rushed.

You owe it to your business and yourself (and family, if applicable) to devote the number of hours every day, week and month to learn all you need to know from and about the sponsoring company (if your business is network marketing or milti-level marketing in nature), and anything else you need to know about how to market the product or service you are selling.

Once you educate yourself, you can train others to be successful by teaching them to market the product or service and make money from their sales as well. The more people they have working under them, the more money they can make; And since you devoted valuable time, money and resources to train them, you will also make more money which you would deserve.