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At the moment of arrival, the envelope is 100 percent of the mailing. Once opened, it is suddenly 0 percent as the other elements take over.
About Mel Martin
In 1974, Martin Edelston founded Boardroom Reports, a little newsletter for people in business. Up his sleeve was the world’s slowest copywriter, Mel Martin. He could take six months to create a mailing package. Where many writers dash off an outside envelope as an afterthought, Mel Martin would spend a week writing, rewriting and generally agonizing over the 10- or 15-word teaser on an OSE.
Mel Martin was a genius. “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration,” said Thomas Edison.
In my opinion, Mel Martin was at least 50 percent responsible for Marty Edelston’s business growing to $125 million a year in revenue.
Mel Martin’s secret was his invention of “fascinations,” a series of irresistible one-liners that got people to open his envelopes. His greatest fascination was a seven-year control: What Never to Eat on an Airplane.
If your revenue from a mailing is $X, and you can get twice as many people to open the envelope, your revenue will be $2X.
Few marketers, writers or designers spend enough time on their OSEs—or their e-mails—even though, at one point, they are 100 percent of their success.
P.S. The lawsuit described at the start of this column was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
Denny Hatch is a freelance direct marketing consultant and copywriter. Visit him at www.dennyhatch.com, or contact him via e-mail at dennyhatch@yahoo.com.
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