by Alan Sharpe | May 18, 2016 | Advertising, Copywriting, Direct Mail
Lilly Tomlin, the American comic, once said: “When I was growing up, I wanted to be a somebody. Now I realize I should have been more specific.” In direct response advertising and direct mail selling, as in life, specifics sell. Generalities don’t. Consider, for...
by Alan Sharpe | May 18, 2016 | Direct Mail
My brother-in-law says you should be thankful for truckers because everything you buy was handled at some point by a trucker. LoWayne is a trucker, so he’s biased. But I think he’s right anyway. You depend on truckers for your life. And, if you are a...
by Alan Sharpe | May 18, 2016 | Copywriting, Direct Mail
The most powerful headline I ever read and acted upon was a negative headline. It changed my life. Yet most books on direct mail copywriting will tell you to cast your headlines, overlines and Johnson Boxes always in the positive. But sometimes being negative is...
by Alan Sharpe | May 18, 2016 | Direct Mail
The best guarantee to offer your direct mail buyer is one that hurts. You, that is. Like you, your potential buyer lives in a rip-off society where merchants sell shoddy products and vendors do not honour their promises. In this kind of selling and buying climate, the...
by Alan Sharpe | May 18, 2016 | Direct Mail
Want to improve your sales letters? Compare them with newspaper classified ads for salespeople. What employers look for in a salesperson, you should look for in a sales letter. 1. Self-starter The best salespeople require the least amount of supervision. They are...
by Alan Sharpe | May 18, 2016 | Advertising, Direct Mail
I once wrote a direct mail piece that generated a dreadful response rate. It was too high. My client was a brand new stadium in Canada’s capital city, Ottawa. The stadium featured luxury suites that businesses could rent or lease to entertain prospects and...
Recent Comments