The Marketing Sleuth

Sunday, 8 May 2011

Once And For All: How Long Should Copy Be

Pretty provcative title, huh?

It’s also the title of Richard Armstrong’s report on the same subject.

Never heard of him?

Not surprising. He doesn’t advertise himself much.

Can’t blame him really. As one of America’s top copywriters, he’s too busy quietly making millions for his clients.

Anyway, I’ve got an excerpt from that report of his for you here.

Enjoy…

Someone once tried to tease the tall and lanky Abraham Lincoln by asking him how long a man’s legs should be. With scarcely a moment’s thought, Lincoln fired back with a reply that probably answered the question for all time:

“Long enough to reach the ground.”

Perhaps the most commonly asked question in the world of direct marketing is how long a direct-mail letter should be. And the typical response to this question is some variation on Lincoln’s tautology: “Long enough to do the job” … “Long enough to tell the story” …
“Long enough to sell the product.” Or my personal favorite: “Long enough to reach the customer’s wallet.”

Amusing, yes. But not much help if you’re really looking for an answer.

Implicit in this question – especially when it’s asked by people outside of or new to the business – is a certain skepticism about whether long letters really work. “Why do direct-mail letters have to be so darn long?” is what I’m often asked at cocktail parties when I’ve told someone what I do for a living. Clients who are new to direct marketing usually don’t pose it in terms of a question. They tend to make flat-out pronouncements: “People don’t read long letters,” they insist, or, “Long letters don’t work.”

Well, maybe people don’t read them. But they definitely do work.

When I first started in this business in the mid-1970s, the vast majority of direct-mail letters were one or two pages long. Back in those days, when I got about halfway down the second page of a letter in my typewriter, I’d hit something equivalent to what marathon runners call “The Wall.”

I couldn’t write a three-page letter if my life depended on it. But nowadays, I can’t even say hello in less than three pages. The notes I leave to my wife about being out of cornflakes can run to eight pages or more. Based on casual observation, I would say that the average length of a direct-mail letter these days is six pages, with many going to eight, ten, or even twelve pages in length. (I’m not even talking about magalogs, which can run into dozens of pages long.)

What caused the change?…

Want the rest?

Go to Richard’s site – www.goddoesntshootcraps.com (not an affiliate link) – and click on the button marked “Free Gift for Copywriters” to get a full copy of the report.

There are others there you may find interesting. I did. That’s why I’ve got them all.

Best,
Rezbi
The Copy System
www.directmarketingcourse.com
www.hotbuttoncopywriting.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com

Thursday, 5 May 2011

How To Handle Rush Copywriting Job Requests

How do you handle requests from potential clients to write sales copy asap?

Here’s how I handled one a few months ago.

A client approached me and asked me to write some copy in two weeks.

Now, for some people that might be enough time. The problem is, I’m slow.

I take my time. My research can take a long time. And that includes reading. A lot of reading.

I’ll read their material. I’ll scour the internet. Anything I can find to make the final copy the best I can.

If at the beginning I had no idea about the subject, by the end of the job I’d be close to an expert. If not an expert.

So I told him it would take a minimum of six weeks.

However, I also said that by the end of those six weeks he would have world class copy. Which would he prefer – world class, or mediocre?

All of a sudden he was happy to have it later. Two weeks was no longer a priority.

You see, he was an intelligent guy. He knew he could get his job done in two weeks by someone else, but it may not convert very well.

With a little patience, he could have much better copy and make more money with it.

It was common sense.

I made sure to keep him updated. I kept in contact with him via email and skype.

I sent him the first draught and we went over it together. And we did the same with subsequent revisions.

At every step of the way I kept him in the loop. And he felt he was getting an education in copywriting.

When it was all done, he was happy and I didn’t have to run around like a blue-arsed fly trying to get it finished.

To see how another freelance copywriter handles these types of situations, check out this post: How to handle those pesky ASAP copywriting requests

How do you handle rush job requests. let me know in the comments.

Best,
Rezbi
The Copy System
www.directmarketingcourse.com
www.hotbuttoncopywriting.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com

What Jay Abraham Said About Scientific Advertising

Here’s a story that neatly complements a post I made two days ago: The Only Reason For Advertising

It was in an email Scott Haines sent. It’s so good, and apt, that I emailed Scott and asked permission to reproduce it on my blog.

Scott, in case you don’t know him, is one of the top copywriters in the world.

He is the author of Shortcut Copywriting Secrets(tm), which was a was a very popular course.

But it’s no longer available. Not the first edition, anway. More on that later

On top of that, he’s a Gary Halbert protege. Nuff said.

Here’s the story:

Back in 1999, I went to meet Jay Abraham at his office in Rolling Hills Estates, California. I went there to talk about some copywriting work. I was living in Los Angeles at the time and trying to break into the freelance scene out there.

Anyway, I went to his office and talked with him for a couple of hours. Actually, I sat there while he grilled me about my life, my plans, working with Halbert, et cetera. I really didn’t say too much. To be honest, I was kind of “star-struck”.

However, out of that two hour “conversation” one thing he asked/said to me really stood out. He asked me how many times I had read Claude Hopkins’ Scientific Advertising.

Proud of myself, I said “Seven times”… thinking he’d be impressed. After all, David Ogilvy said, “Nobody should be be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he has read this book (Scientific Advertising) seven times. It changed the course of my life.”

I had and I was proud of myself. But you know what Jay immediately shot back with? He instantly said, “Not enough. I’ve read it over 50 times.”

That really shocked me. I mean if a guy as smart and talented as Jay read something that many times, I better start studying harder.

Well, I haven’t read it over 50 times yet, but, I try an re-read it (along with My Life in Advertising) AT LEAST once every year. That way, I stay grounded in the true principles of direct marketing.

That, and what’s neat about those books is they increase in value over time. That is, the more you bring to the table, the more they unfold their wisdom to you. I can’t say that about many other books.

Best,
Rezbi
The Copy System
www.directmarketingcourse.com
www.hotbuttoncopywriting.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com

P.S. From what I understand the 2nd Edition of Shortcut Copywriting Secrets(tm) should be available as soon Scott’s finished it.

If you want to know when it is available, go to http://www.shortcutcopywritingsecrets.com/, stick your details
in and Scott will let you know when it’s done.

Why Sales Aren’t Important, And Other Rubbish

Why is it that huge multinational companies – ones you’d assume should never make any mistakes – come out with atrocious adverts?

You’d think, after all the time they’ve been in business they’d know better, wouldn’t you?

But the fact is, it does happen. And it happens a lot.

Usually it comes down to who they hire to do their advertising. And there’s a big difference between the Madison Avenue type advertising agencies and a direct response agency.

Madison Avenue is all about how to get your cash and win awards for themselves. They don’t care about your sales. That’s not important… to them.

Like Clayton Makepeace says, to the Madison Avenue ad. man, the only thing that matters is “Fat, ugly frogs on lily pads in the middle of a mosquito-infested swamp, all croaking your product’s name.”

Not making sense? Go and check out Clayton’s original article here.

Talking about agencies…

Drayton Bird has written a great post on his blog – How NOT to choose an agency: a beginner’s guide – where he goes into a few reason why he refuses to pitch to businesses.

He talks about why pitching for business in the marketing industry is “one of the most pointless activities in our business”…

… and why the big agencies end up with the accounts, anyway.

He goes on to explain why, in five clear points. And, if you picture each point in your head as you go through them, you’ll see it all begins to make sense.

You’ll understand why so many adverts look great, but probably never make any sales.

With direct response, it’s not about looks: It’s about what gets the best results.

Best,
Rezbi
The Copy System
www.directmarketingcourse.com
www.hotbuttoncopywriting.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com

Wednesday, 4 May 2011

Writing Copy? Keep It Simple, Stupid

When it comes to writing copy it can be so easy to over-complicate things.

Yesterday I saw a sales letter written for a big up-coming seminar. What struck me was how so many words were used to say so little.

It reminded me of a leaflet I saw last week: It was similar to yesterday’s sales page.

It also had the added handicap of having big words where smaller ones will do.

I say big and small in both senses. They literally had more letters in them, and they were more complicated.

Let’s just say a ten year old child wouldn’t understand it.

And if a ten year old child doesn’t understand your copy, chances are a lot of adults won’t, either. The average reading age of most native English speaking countries is probably around that age.

So if you want to ensure everyone understands your writing, without having to go over the same sentence umpteen times, keep it simple.

No one’s got the time to take out a dictionary to check what you mean.

And the moment your reader has to think about what you’re trying to say, you’ve lost him.

Whatever you write copy, keep the message simple. If you’re telling a story, keep that simple.

I know, you might be thinking, “Well, what about our more sophisticated readers?”

What about them?

You’re not giving English lessons. You’re trying to make a sale.

You wouldn’t expect a salesman to watch his grammar in front of a prospect. Why should your sales copy?

After all, copywriting is just multiplied salesmanship, isn’t it?

Best,
Rezbi
The Copy System
www.directmarketingcourse.com
www.hotbuttoncopywriting.com

The Only Reason For Advertising

There’s a bit of a discussion going on at linkedin. It’s about a post I made a few days ago: Is the Pen Mightier Than The Sword?

The first thing I noticed is that, at least with this ad., people don’t always pay attention to the message.

That could be for various reasons. But in this case it could be because:

They’re not the market
As one commenter put it, “…the video is so powerful, it tends to suck the blood out of the sales message.”

I guess either, or both, of those points could be valid. And they both probably are.

What really strikes me is that people still think there may be some other reason to write an advert than making sales.

Too many people seem to believe this. Even people who should know better. People who are in the advertising industry: Marketers and copywriters and big companies.

Claude Hopkins said this in his book, Scientific Advertising, “The only purpose of advertising is to make sales. It is profitable or unprofitable according to its actual sales.”

Think about it. Why on earth would you spend all that time and money just to let people know you’re there?

If you want to be famous, do something else. You don’t need to be in business to do that. Just ask actors and musicians.

(You may say they’re also in business, but that’s another discussion.)

The only reason for advertising is to make sales.

Imagine this scenario:

Your salesman goes out every day. Every evening he comes back and says, “I haven’t made any sales, but everyone knows we exist and they think we do a grand job,” and he flashes you a colgate smile.

You hand him his cash and say, “Well done.”

Doesn’t that sound ridiculous?

Why would you send out a salesman to go door to door just to say, “Hi, I’m just going around to let everyone know we exist.”?

If your salesman came back every day without making sales you’d sack him.

Why would you treat your sales copy any other way?

Best,
Rezbi
The Copy System
www.directmarketingcourse.com
www.hotbuttoncopywriting.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com

More Copywriting Lessons

More Copywriting Lessons

Given that we’ve been commenting on copywriting lately, I’ll continue down that path with these two observations from How the Web Makes Direct Mail Better by Douglas Broward of Grizzard Communications, writing originally in Convio’s Connection Cafe.
First, on direct mail copywriters learning from the web world …
” … reading — still the most effective means of absorbing complex information — has been profoundly altered by the web’s use of hyperlinked, encapsulated summary exposition.
Several years ago, my agency began testing direct response letters that included more white space, more “chunked” copy as well as incorporating graphic side bars to call out important parts of the letter text. In every case, we beat existing controls and soon replaced them.”
His point, our massive exposure to online writing/design styles has shifted the way we now like to see things in print … and this is true across the age spectrum. So don’t be surprised that the old-timers who still love to hold and read your mail might be looking at it differently.
Second, on web designers/writers learning from direct mail copywriters …
“Well-designed direct mail, although deprived of clickable links and dazzling multimedia, retains its own unique advantage in delivering a warm, tactile reality. For now, it still expresses authenticity and tangible intimacy better than the cool surface of a screen.
So it shouldn’t be unexpected that web designers have been using the Internet’s improving speed and stability to incorporate what they can of print’s qualities. Expect subtlety. There will be increasing emphasis on legibility, reassuring textures and the printed quirks of a writer’s individuality — none of which are necessary, unless you realize that donors want not just information, but a person’s voice, telling a story meant wholly for them.”
I really resonate with this last point. Too much online writing (especially website copy, as opposed to email copy) completely lacks personality … it lacks a sense of “warm reality” and “intimacy”. Copy in print surely can suffer from being institutional; but I do think this is even more of a problem with web copy, most of which reads like brochure copy, when a ‘voice’ would be more compelling.

Best,
Rezbi
The Copy System
www.directmarketingcourse.com
www.hotbuttoncopywriting.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com