Proven Persuasive Writing Techniques Create a Winning Direct Mail Sales Letter

Writing expert Michelle Howe, MBA, is the author of “Persuasive Writing Made Easy” and “Web Site Writing Made Easy.” She is president of Word Magic, a company that specializes in writing irresistible sales copy for Web sites.

On Tuesday, January 10, 2006 she will be offering a low cost teleseminar, Writing Successful Sales Letters, at 10 a.m. PST (1pm EST). Included in the cost of the class is a copy of her book, “Persuasive Writing Made Easy.” To register, go to
http://www.internetwordmagic.com/teleclasses.htm

If you’ve ever tried to write a sales letter to generate leads or promote a product, you know how difficult it can be to clearly express your ideas. Your letter needs to inform, inspire, interest and motivate. Too much or too little of any of these components and your letter gets thrown in the trash with all the other junk mail.

The key to a successful sales letter is to build a relationship and trust with your reader while motivating them to contact you to help solve their problems. Michelle Howe’s book, Persuasive Writing Made Easy, takes the reader step-by-step through the process of writing such a letter. Her teleclass coaches participants through the process of creating a winning sales letter.

Even in this age of technology and web-based businesses, direct mail is still an important component of any business. Off-line marketing can drive traffic to a Web site and generate sales. So why aren’t small business owners using direct mail to drum up some business?

Most small businesses owners say that they can’t afford to use direct mail to bring in business because of the cost. Postal rates keep going up and it gets quite expensive to use “snail mail” if you are looking at direct mail as a campaign of tens of thousands of postcards or letters.

Focused Direct Mail Marketing

A better approach might be to send out 10 sales letters each week instead of 10,000 letters. Not only will it be easier to accomplish, but it solves the biggest problem with sending out mass mailings: follow-up. There is no way you can follow-up on a mailing of 10,000, but 10 is definitely manageable.

Research Your Target

Decide what your purpose will be for sending out your mailings and then choose who should receive your letter. For instance, maybe your company is now offering a time management training program. Narrow your target down to a specific industry that you feel would most benefit from your product. Now, within that industry research the companies that you would like to do business with. Pick companies that you admire and feel compliment the goals of your company.

Carefully target just the number of prospects that you can adequately follow-up on. Be prepared to come across as a problem solver, not a product/service seller. You don’t want to sell anybody anything, you want to research each company and find the problems your company can solve for your potential customer.

Smart business owners know a well written sales letter can be the cornerstone of a successful marketing campaign both offline and online.