How to Draft Dollar Sign Sales Letters

The quality of your sales letter can positively impact your response by ten to fifty percent. Every direct mail package should bear an appealing letter written in a personal tone. In fact, this document is the most important creative element in the envelope. The late Joan Throckmorton, a former direct marketing specialist, developed a series of dynamic approaches for direct mail letters. Following is a brief review of several of her style patterns.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Word Processing Software

1. Get ahead with generic. The generic approach is basic and simple. Your letter opens right up with the major benefit and offer. This marketing style works best for business-to-business mail, launching a new product line or offering a pleasing premium.
2. Ask with the invitational approach. Invite prospects to an exciting event or announce brand new products with the special Invitational letter. This approach is ideal for promoting attendance at seminars, trade show events or Internet conferences. Invitations can be formal or casual to suit your audience and your offer.
3. Try the testimonial. Start your letter with a winning strategy–-the Testimonial approach. Supportive quotations from positive product users lend credibility to your message. Prospects find first-hand customer experience more believable and enjoyable. People love to benefit from the work of others.
4. Interact with identification. The identification letter style speaks directly to your readers and summons them into your story. You can touch people powerfully by calling their individual names. The same effect holds for signaling out their profession or occupation. Highlighting a particular category of professionals increases readership of a letter addressed to them. For example: Marketing Managers: Benefit now from a free report on the advantages of Web 2.0.
5. Pursue the problem/solution style. This creative writing approach sets the stage through a character called “trouble”. Then with finessed strategy, the copywriter offers your own service tailored as a perfect solution. This approach is unstoppable when market research identifies a problem on the business horizon and your product is uniquely qualified to address and solve that issue.

Tips & Warnings

• Questions involve and engage your reader. Raising questions to specific professionals is another effective strategy for calling out to your target audience.