Ten Ways To Get More Out Of Your Copy

There have to be at least a gazillion "rules" for writing effective direct response ad copy. And, unlike other forms of advertising, these rules are proven to be effective through measured response.

There's nothing new here. These rules have been around since Mr. Sears first gave a postal carrier a hernia by sending nine pound catalogs through the mail.

Here are ten ways to get more out of your copy:

1. Sell Benefits Not Features

Your reader doesn't care how many teeth are on your machine's gears. He only cares that your machine will grind his rocks into cement cost effectively. Show him how your machine can do that.

2. Sell Him, Don't Tell Him

Your reader doesn't have the time to peruse the family history of your company's founding fathers. Sure, you can tell the company story. But you should try to phrase it in the form of a reader benefit.

Example: Don't say "we've been in business for fifty years." Say, "our customers have been profiting from our grommet's superior performance since World War II."

3. Be Conversational

One of my early mentors said it this way. "Write it like you'd say it, then go back and take out all of the cuss words." Damned good advice, if you ask me.

4. Get To The Point

If you dilly-dally around about telling your reader what you have to offer, you'll lose him for sure. It's best to get to the point at the very beginning of the letter. Preferably in the first five lines.

5. Always Include A Postscript

Research shows that the letter is the first thing the reader looks at in the package, after the outside envelope. And, a majority of people will read the PS before they read anything else.

So, always include a PS. In addition, it's best to state your proposition in the PS, just as you do at the beginning of the letter (see #4, above).

6. Long Copy Sells Better Than Short Copy

I'm not talking about lead generation here. I'm talking about selling. I'm talking about picking your prospect up by the ankles and shaking him until all of the money falls out of his pockets. That takes a few words.

And testing has shown that a four page letter...or even longer...will almost always out-pull a two page letter when going for the sale. This is a fact. It's not just my opinion.

By the way, this is also true on the Internet simply because people want all the info and facts about whatever they are buying before they spend their hard earned cash.

When they've got ALL the facts and benefits, they'll feel comfortable and will be very willing to hand over their credit card to you!

7. Forget Grammar

Please don't interpret this to mean that it's alright to sound stupid. It's not. But, it is better to write like the reader reads than to write like Mrs. Fletcher taught you to in her eighth grade English class.

Research shows that most people read at about the eighth grade level, anyway. That includes college graduates. So, if you're thinking you should try to correct the way people read, forget it.

This is advertising. We're not pursuing a social agenda.

8. Use Words That Are "Active" Rather Than "Passive"

You can increase response simply by using action oriented copy. It's better to say "get your new whatchamacallit!" than it is to say "send for your new whatchamacallit."

Say "dial this toll-free number" instead of "call this toll-free number." Get it?

9. Always Follow AIDA

Do this every time on every direct mail component and you will surely succeed.

10. Copy Is Never Finished

I think it was Stephen King who said, "There is no such thing as writing. There is only rewriting."

Type your project into the word processor. Edit it at least once on screen. Then, print it out. Edit it at least once on paper. Then, set it aside for a day or two and go through the whole process all over again.

I've been writing direct response copy for a long while and this is the only way I know of to turn words into power communication that sells!