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Prospects can be a fickle bunch. While a few will respond to the same kind of mailing again and again, many others have to be targeted in new and innovative ways. When trying to come up with such ways, who better to speak to than famed copywriter Bob Bly?
Author of “The Copywriter’s Handbook, Third Edition: A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing Copy That Sells” (Henry Holt) and “The White Paper Marketing Handbook” (Thomson), and freelance copywriter for such clients as Boardroom, TCI, Agora Publishing, IBM and Lucent Technologies, Bly knows how visual language, testing the right creative and even good guessing can bring out the full potential of a package.
EB: What are some trends that you’ve noticed in direct mail recently?
BB: In your promotion, you have to speak the visual language of the prospect. I saw a promotion for a client that didn’t do well, and what I wrote to go against it did better. But I don’t think it was the headline or any brilliance on my part. It was a promotion for a trading system and their promotion was a letter in magalog form that had no diagrams or graphics. It was obviously written by a copywriter who had never marketed to traders or traded himself. Traders, what do they like to see? Charts, so you’ve got to load it with charts. That’s not a brilliant strategy, but people ignore that. They don’t use the language of their prospect, and the visual language in particular.
EB: In general, are letters getting shorter?
BB: In some cases, it’s the reverse. The B-to-B ones are getting shorter, like consumer magazines, but a lot of direct response consumer offers, which are traditionally long copy, are getting longer. For 10 years the common thing in investment newsletters was a 12- or 16-page letter; then it became a 16-page magalog, which is longer; then it became a 24-page tabloid, which is even longer.
EB: What factor makes the most difference when you’re testing creative?
BB: Besides the most obvious factor of the list, it’s not the graphics, the copy or the headlines … it’s the big idea. I’ve got a financial promotion on my desk. This guy is promoting a stock, and the cover of his magalog says, “Strategic resources can quickly triple your money if you buy the stock below one dollar.” Then he gives other stocks that he made money on and their gains: “Now I’m giving you another opportunity to make big money from a stock. Buy now up to a dollar a share.” So the idea is you’re going to buy this stock, and you’re going to make money. That’s a bad idea because it turns out the stock he’s talking about is a uranium mining company.
Author of “The Copywriter’s Handbook, Third Edition: A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing Copy That Sells” (Henry Holt) and “The White Paper Marketing Handbook” (Thomson), and freelance copywriter for such clients as Boardroom, TCI, Agora Publishing, IBM and Lucent Technologies, Bly knows how visual language, testing the right creative and even good guessing can bring out the full potential of a package.
EB: What are some trends that you’ve noticed in direct mail recently?
BB: In your promotion, you have to speak the visual language of the prospect. I saw a promotion for a client that didn’t do well, and what I wrote to go against it did better. But I don’t think it was the headline or any brilliance on my part. It was a promotion for a trading system and their promotion was a letter in magalog form that had no diagrams or graphics. It was obviously written by a copywriter who had never marketed to traders or traded himself. Traders, what do they like to see? Charts, so you’ve got to load it with charts. That’s not a brilliant strategy, but people ignore that. They don’t use the language of their prospect, and the visual language in particular.
EB: In general, are letters getting shorter?
BB: In some cases, it’s the reverse. The B-to-B ones are getting shorter, like consumer magazines, but a lot of direct response consumer offers, which are traditionally long copy, are getting longer. For 10 years the common thing in investment newsletters was a 12- or 16-page letter; then it became a 16-page magalog, which is longer; then it became a 24-page tabloid, which is even longer.
EB: What factor makes the most difference when you’re testing creative?
BB: Besides the most obvious factor of the list, it’s not the graphics, the copy or the headlines … it’s the big idea. I’ve got a financial promotion on my desk. This guy is promoting a stock, and the cover of his magalog says, “Strategic resources can quickly triple your money if you buy the stock below one dollar.” Then he gives other stocks that he made money on and their gains: “Now I’m giving you another opportunity to make big money from a stock. Buy now up to a dollar a share.” So the idea is you’re going to buy this stock, and you’re going to make money. That’s a bad idea because it turns out the stock he’s talking about is a uranium mining company.
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