Monday, 23 May 2011
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What the Heck Is a Sales Letter? Old School Direct Marketing Techniques
I was doing a little research on copywriting blogs recently, and noticed that many of the renowned veteran copywriters who got their start in direct (i.e., offline) marketing would often make reference to “sales letters.” I wasn’t born in the ‘90s or anything (I know who Osama bin Laden is), but my response to this was, What the H is a sales letter?A sales letter, of course, is the “letter” you receive in direct marketing mailings, which begins “Dear ________” and informs you of all the reasons you should give the sender your money. Believe it or not, young ones, direct marketing still exists – and even works. According to a recent Marketing Sherpa survey of B2B marketers, 79% of respondents found direct mailing “somewhat” or “very” effective.
This is top of mind because yesterday – after wondering who was still using this marketing method and where these letters were going – I received a sales letter of my very own. It came from the Poetry Foundation, asking me to subscribe to Poetry (“the most widely respected magazine devoted to poetry in the English-speaking world”).
A sales letter is really a fundamentally different beast from any kind of online marketing document, even an email newsletter, its closest analog. I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the ways a sales letter differs from online marketing methods like emails, blog posts and landing pages, and consider if these features can be used to good effect in the online marketing world:
- Length: A sales letter is usually much longer than an email newsletter in terms of sheer word count. Blog posts are often this long, but blog posts aren’t usually direct sales plays. What about landing pages or product pages? Have you tested short and long versions against each other to see which performs best with your audience?
- It’s a direct address: Even if it doesn’t begin with your name, a sales letter generally begins with a salutation like “Dear Reader” or “Dear Homeowner.” (I noticed that some copywriters coming from a direct marketing background have extended this practice to their blogs.) Do you directly address your reader in your online marketing?
- Storytelling: Whereas blog posts are often structured as lists, sales letters are often structured as stories. This is one technique I think could easily translate to an online format and is probably underused.
- The P.S.: Sales letters always seem to have a P.S. I’ve even heard that for some people, the P.S. is all they read. You can definitely experiment with this in email marketing, but what about in a blog post?
- Formatting differences: I’ve noticed sales letters make use of underlining in a way that we shy away from online, favoring boldface or italics, since underlining generally indicates a hyperlink. But this should be a reminder that links are a kind of emphasis, and should be used that way. When I'm in skimming mode, I often just scan the links on a web page. Are the links where you want readers' eyes to go?
Do you incorporate direct marketing techniques into your online marketing? Do you still use direct mail as part of your sales and marketing strategy? Is it still an effective and relevant channel?
Web Marketing Highlights This Week
For the first time in 20 years, the NYT reports, the number of households with televisions dropped. (This is probably because more people are watching television online, not because we're all too busy reading books.)
Aaron Wall shares 12 tips and tools for organizing your keywords. (Our favorite? Our own Keyword Grouper of course!)
SEOmoz's Cyrus Shepard shares 10 SEO copywriting tips for improved link building. Basically, more readable and quotable copy will get more links.
Do you know your ABC's of link building? Here's DIYSEO with 26 tips on creating a link building strategy.
Debbie Williams at the Content Marketing Institute offers up a content questionnaire that copywriters can use to get key information from clients for content development strategies. These are also good questions to ask yourself when thinking about your own content development.
What are the biggest mistakes that advertisers make when testing PPC ads? Click Equations asked almost 20 experts to answer this question, including WordStream regulars Tom Demers and Chad Summerhill.
Brian Carter thinks giving away iPads is iDumb. Find out why you should stop doing these giveaways on Twitter and Facebook.
Henry Blodget at Business Insider asks, "Can we please stop pretending that Microsoft's Bing is doing well?" He argues that " Bing is paying about 3X as much for every incremental search query as it generates in revenue from that query." Doesn't look so good!
Have a great weekend all, and Happy Mother's Day to the moms out there.
Photo credit: David Wright
This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.
Source: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2011/05/06/sales-letter-direct-marketing
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What's On BBC Red Button 25th April - 9th May 2011
Royal Wedding Live & Highlights
As well as extra live coverage on our ‘Royal Multiscreen’ throughout the day, Red Button viewers can watch highlights of the Royal Wedding after the event. If you missed any of the action from the big day, or simply want to watch it again - you can catch up on the high points for up to a week after the event.
Find out more at bbc.co.uk/royalwedding
Additional live coverage will be available throughout the 29th April on the normal News Multiscreen for Sky and Virgin Media viewers.
Highlights from the day will be available on all platforms at the following times:
Sky/Virgin/Freesat:
Fri 29th April, 10:00pm-4:00am Fri 6th May (continuous coverage)Freeview:
Fri 29th April, 11:10pm-6:00am
Sat 30th April, 6:00am-9:50am
Sun 1st May, 4:10pm-6:00am
Mon 2nd May, 6:00am-6:00am (all day)
Tue 3rd May, 6:00am-7:20pm & 10:10pm-6:00am
Wed 4th May, 6:00am-8:15pm
Thu 5th May, 4:10am-9:45pm
Fri 6th May, 4:10am-7:45am & 1:45pm-4:50pm & 9:10pm-4:00amRadio 1 Big Weekend
BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend on 14th 15th May is the first major British music festival of the year and always attracts big UK and worldwide artists. So if you want to see the new names who'll dominate the summer's festivals, this is the place.
There will be live music across four stages, and you will be able to keep up to date with all the weekend's festivities on: Radio 1, BBC Three on TV, and live on BBC Red Button and the Radio 1 Big Weekend website.Chris Moyles
Join Chris and the team for breakfast as they bring the breakfast show live from Carlisle, home of this years Radio 1 Big Weekend, available from 9th – 13th May.
Sky/Virgin/Freesat/Freeview:
Mon 9th May, 6:30am-10:30am
*Times for other days TBCGreg James
Put your feet up and join Greg James as he brings his afternoon show live from Carlisle, home of this years Radio 1 Big Weekend, available from 9th – 13th May.
Sky/Virgin/Freesat:
Mon 9th May, 1:00pm-4:30pm
*Times for other days TBCFreeview:
Mon 9th May, 1:00pm-4:00pmInside the Human Body
Produced as an accompaniment to the linear "Inside the Human Body" programme, this is the fascinating story of how the production team behind the 4-part series brought together the latest scientific research and the most innovative computer technology to create never-before-seen worlds for this BBC One landmark series.
In the first episode 'Creation', the team reveal how they brought to life some extraordinary scientific revelations, including the spectacular ‘firework display’ that was set off at the moment of your conception, and how they used scans of a developing foetus to produce a unique animation which shows how your face self-assembled in the womb.
The second episode 'First to Last', shows how the team set about illustrating the magic moment when your heart first began to beat, just 3 weeks after conception, and how they had to apply some artistic licence so they could take the viewer on a journey inside the miniature world of your blood vessels.
In the next instalment 'Building Your Brain', it took months of scientific research to gather the information they needed to bring to life two of the most complex systems in the body: the workings of your middle ear and the complex and wondrous world of your retina.
And in the last of the series 'Hostile World', we discover how the recurring hero of the series, the phagocyte, was transformed from medical images into a realistic 3D character – culminating in a giant battle as it defends your body from invaders. Also, how the music for series brought drama and spectacle to events taking place on a microscopic level.Find out more at bbc.co.uk/human
Episode 1:
Sky/Virgin/Freesat/Freeview:
Thu 5th May, 9:55pm-4:00am*Times of other episodes TBC
Stewart Lee Presents....
Behind the Red Button after every episode of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle you will find some of Stewart's favourite comedians and musical performers in conversation with Stewart, and performing sets on stage at the Mildmay Club.
Watch more funny stuff at bbc.co.uk/comedy
Sky/Virgin/Freesat:
Wed 4th May, 11:45pm-4:00am
Thu 5th- Mon 9th May, 9:00pm-4:00am (daily)Freeview:
Wed 4th May, 11:45pm-4:00am
Mon 9th May, 9:00pm-4:00amWaterloo Road Reunited
Press red to catch up with the lives and loves of favourite Waterloo Road ex-pupils including Bolton, Michaela, Janeece, Philip, Aleesha and Paul, as they make their way in the world away from the classroom with mixed results.
Using a combination of scripted episodes (shown online and on red button), fictional social media networks, audio and interactive fan sites, Waterloo Road Reunited allows the audience to extend their relationship with their favourite characters from the screen to online.
Find out more at bbc.co.uk/waterloordroadeunited
Sky/Virgin/Freesat:
Wed 4th May, 8:25pm-4:00amFreeview:
Wed 4th May, 8:25pm-11:35pmQuestion Time
Take part in the studio debate by sending a text message to the Question Time team.
Each week a selection of viewers' comments will appear during the programme on BBC Red Button page 155 along with details of the panel and the topics under discussion.
Available during the show (BBC One).Sky/Virgin/Freeview & Freesat
Thurs 5th MayNews Multiscreen: Video Choice
Each weekday BBC News' On Demand team will be rounding-up the day's strongest news pictures to bring viewers a two-minute package of highlights. On weekends the tone becomes more conversational when Red Button viewers can watch a topical interview in 'Five Minutes with...' or a round-up of the week's weird and wonderful videos in OddBox.
Video Choice: Weekdays (available around the clock)
Five Minutes With... / OddBox: Weekends (around the clock)
Sky & Virgin:
(Not available on Freeview or Freesat)CBeebies Red Button
BBC Red Button welcomes younger viewers and grown-ups with a sense of adventure to the big, bright and fun world of CBeebies interactive!Now your children's favourite characters are at the heart of the interactive TV experience. Satellite and digital terrestrial viewers will have slightly different offerings from one another. This has enabled us to offer the best games tailored to each system.CBeebies Red Button is available now on the CBeebies channel, and via page 5900 on other channels. Sky & Freeview.
BBC Sport Multiscreen*
Catch up on all the latest Sport via the BBC Sport multiscreen. Headlines are available around the clock with up to five additional streams available to cover the best that BBC Sport has to offer.Please note that Red Button sport timings are subject to change at short notice.For the latest times and information refer to the BBC Sport website.Coming up...
- MotoGP: Live coverage from Estoril, Portugal
Formula 1: Live coverage of the Turkish Grand Prix
Rugby: Scrum V Scarlets v Blues; Newport v Ulster
Snooker: World Championship coverage
Equestrian: Badminton Horse Trials
World Athletics: Opening meeting at Diamond League, Doha
Football: Match Of The Day, Friday Focus, Final Score, Football League Show
*Note all Red Button times are subject to change at short notice
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2011/04/whats_on_bbc_red_button_25th_a.html
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What the Heck Is a Sales Letter? Old School Direct Marketing Techniques
I was doing a little research on copywriting blogs recently, and noticed that many of the renowned veteran copywriters who got their start in direct (i.e., offline) marketing would often make reference to “sales letters.” I wasn’t born in the ‘90s or anything (I know who Osama bin Laden is), but my response to this was, What the H is a sales letter?A sales letter, of course, is the “letter” you receive in direct marketing mailings, which begins “Dear ________” and informs you of all the reasons you should give the sender your money. Believe it or not, young ones, direct marketing still exists – and even works. According to a recent Marketing Sherpa survey of B2B marketers, 79% of respondents found direct mailing “somewhat” or “very” effective.
This is top of mind because yesterday – after wondering who was still using this marketing method and where these letters were going – I received a sales letter of my very own. It came from the Poetry Foundation, asking me to subscribe to Poetry (“the most widely respected magazine devoted to poetry in the English-speaking world”).
A sales letter is really a fundamentally different beast from any kind of online marketing document, even an email newsletter, its closest analog. I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the ways a sales letter differs from online marketing methods like emails, blog posts and landing pages, and consider if these features can be used to good effect in the online marketing world:
- Length: A sales letter is usually much longer than an email newsletter in terms of sheer word count. Blog posts are often this long, but blog posts aren’t usually direct sales plays. What about landing pages or product pages? Have you tested short and long versions against each other to see which performs best with your audience?
- It’s a direct address: Even if it doesn’t begin with your name, a sales letter generally begins with a salutation like “Dear Reader” or “Dear Homeowner.” (I noticed that some copywriters coming from a direct marketing background have extended this practice to their blogs.) Do you directly address your reader in your online marketing?
- Storytelling: Whereas blog posts are often structured as lists, sales letters are often structured as stories. This is one technique I think could easily translate to an online format and is probably underused.
- The P.S.: Sales letters always seem to have a P.S. I’ve even heard that for some people, the P.S. is all they read. You can definitely experiment with this in email marketing, but what about in a blog post?
- Formatting differences: I’ve noticed sales letters make use of underlining in a way that we shy away from online, favoring boldface or italics, since underlining generally indicates a hyperlink. But this should be a reminder that links are a kind of emphasis, and should be used that way. When I'm in skimming mode, I often just scan the links on a web page. Are the links where you want readers' eyes to go?
Do you incorporate direct marketing techniques into your online marketing? Do you still use direct mail as part of your sales and marketing strategy? Is it still an effective and relevant channel?
Web Marketing Highlights This Week
For the first time in 20 years, the NYT reports, the number of households with televisions dropped. (This is probably because more people are watching television online, not because we're all too busy reading books.)
Aaron Wall shares 12 tips and tools for organizing your keywords. (Our favorite? Our own Keyword Grouper of course!)
SEOmoz's Cyrus Shepard shares 10 SEO copywriting tips for improved link building. Basically, more readable and quotable copy will get more links.
Do you know your ABC's of link building? Here's DIYSEO with 26 tips on creating a link building strategy.
Debbie Williams at the Content Marketing Institute offers up a content questionnaire that copywriters can use to get key information from clients for content development strategies. These are also good questions to ask yourself when thinking about your own content development.
What are the biggest mistakes that advertisers make when testing PPC ads? Click Equations asked almost 20 experts to answer this question, including WordStream regulars Tom Demers and Chad Summerhill.
Brian Carter thinks giving away iPads is iDumb. Find out why you should stop doing these giveaways on Twitter and Facebook.
Henry Blodget at Business Insider asks, "Can we please stop pretending that Microsoft's Bing is doing well?" He argues that " Bing is paying about 3X as much for every incremental search query as it generates in revenue from that query." Doesn't look so good!
Have a great weekend all, and Happy Mother's Day to the moms out there.
Photo credit: David Wright
This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.
Source: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2011/05/06/sales-letter-direct-marketing
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New and Noticeably Worse! The Downgrade in Upgrade's Clothing
On Wednesday, Google rolled out a new Analytics upgrade. Here’s Mashable’s report on the upgrade:
Google rolled out a new and improved version of Google Analytics to all current Analytics users on Wednesday.
The upgraded product comes with a bevy of new features. In addition to faster performance and a streamlined UI, the new Analytics also packs quite a lot of improved and entirely new functionality.
Users can create multiple dashboards, up to 20 per user; and each dashboard can contain up to 12 widgets. Users can also set interaction goals (for example, you might use Google Analytics to track and optimize file downloads or video views), graph and compare certain metrics over time, and toggle between multiple profiles and sites while focusing on one report.
He went on to elaborate on some of his complaints:
- You can no longer click on referring URLs (I agree this is annoying, I used that feature all the time)
- “No proper parameter handling in ref URLs”
- It’s not real-time
Here’s another complaint from the comments on the Mashable post:
Keywords is the first thing I look at in GA, and it now feels harder to get to. On the Traffic Sources Overview page there is a link to Keywords way down the page, but in the left hand menu it is called Traffic Sources > Incoming Sources > Search > Overview
A lot of big sites and web apps – Digg, Twitter, Gawker, and Facebook come to mind, as well as the more niche-y Poetry Foundation site – have undergone major redesigns in the past year or two, and in each case, it always seems that the people who hate the changes are much louder than those who are happy or indifferent. I hear lots of complaining and plenty of resigned sighs, and very few votes of confidence. There are always a few who rabidly hate the new version, and either refuse to upgrade or, in the case of sites like Gawker, stop reading altogether.
I wonder, is there a perceived need among Web 2.0 companies to be constantly changing that doesn’t actually serve the needs or desires of your user base? I wonder if brands like the idea of a big unveiling when it comes to redesigns, when most users would prefer gradual small tweaks. The problem with many site overhauls is that features get lost in the transition. Sometimes a site looks slicker but it’s missing functionality, or that functionality gets hidden or more difficult to use. Does “moving forward” always have to involve leaving behind?
On the other hand, there's the "New Coke" effect. Coca-Cola did tons of focus group testing and blind taste tests when they launched New Coke in 1985; all signs pointed to yes, which is to say everyone seemed to love the new version. But then the actual launch triggered outrage and a huge backlash that has gone down in marketing history. No matter how much usability testing you do, and how positive you are that the changes you're making are genuine improvements, it's difficult to predict how users will react in the real world.
Sometimes, it's unfortunately inevitable to disappoint some portion of your existing user base if you want to expand in a new direction. For example, a company might decide it wants to target a younger audience. In changing their messaging, they might alienate some of their older customers, but the move might ultimately be good for business nonetheless. It's a tricky balance.
What do you think? When a site or application you use frequently suddenly undergoes a redesign, do you usually feel like it’s an improvement, or do you wish things had stayed the same?
Internet Marketing Highlights of the Week
Ready for some data porn? The Hunch blog published a funny infographic about the differences between people who identify as "Mac people" and PC users; basically Mac people are snobs all around, preferring San Pelligrino to Orange Crush, Bahn Mi to patty melts and "bistro-type fries" to McDonald's. (I prefer the snobby option in all these cases too, but this still makes me laugh. And "I'm a PC"!)
More data porn! The OK Cupid blog has 10 charts about sex. Learn how sex drive correlates to self-described body type among other wacky facts.
Back to serious search stuff! SEO Book has a handy guide to SEO strategy for web managers.
The Content Marketing Institute explains how to turn your analytics into actionable tasks for content marketing.
DIYSEO published a huge group interview with 45 experts (including, ahem, me and WordStream alumni like Tom Demers and Ken Lyons), answering the question, What's the biggest mistake SMBs make with SEO?
What's the ultimate link building tool? According to Jennifer Van Iderstyne, you are! She says tools are great but, sorry, you still have to do the work. Catch more of her link-building wisdom on Search News Central, where she explains how to "future-proof" your links.
Jay Baer of Convince & Convert asks if Twitter is massively overrated, citing reach data. Hint: we spend more time using MySpace.
SEOmoz notes that, post-Panda, lots of sites' original content is now ranking below versions put out by scrapers and syndication partners. Yikes! Has this happened to you?
Have a good weekend, all.
This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.
Source: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2011/04/22/downgrade-in-upgrade-clothing
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How to Apply the Scientific Method to Web Analytics
Continuing his “science of” webinar series, HubSpot Social Media
Marketing Scientist Dan Zarrella spills the details of how to apply the scientific method to web analytics. The Science of Analytics covers the process of catering to a given market via conducting research, determining which metrics to track, how to track ROI dollars and cents, and conducting tests for website improvement.The takeaways? It’s essential to view the entire webinar in order to effectively implement them, but a few tips to absorb:
- Learn to measure the ROI of everything.
- Identify what leads to dollars and cents.
- After ROI, measure engagement.
- Test form field quantities.
This serious subject generates questions like:
How do you create tracking tokens?
The system begins and ends with the analytics system you’re using. Whether it’s HubSpot’s software, Google Analytics or something else, each is different. However, any analytics system will allow you to simply set up tracking tokens.
Can visitors become customers without being a lead?
Yes. For example, the comparison of a lead in e-commerce is filling an online shopping cart but not completing a checkout. Lead is shorthand for almost-customer; it is a step closer to being a customer. A customer goes through with the purchase.
How do I find participants for focus groups?
Outreach may include, but is not limited to: Facebook ads, Twitter inquiries, emails, survey participants, and Craigslist ads.
What do I want to improve now? What can I implement right away?
The first thing is to understand conversion rates- what makes your money? The more you can do to increase visitor lead percentage, the more you can do to generate leads. Find the thing closest to dollars and cents, and improve that conversion rate from lead to customer.
Get in the know- view the recording and slides for data and details.
Oh, and whether you missed or demanded an encore of Dan’s electro, house-y hold music, check it.
Free On-Demand Webinar: The Science of Analytics
Learn serious analytical reporting to demonstrate the ROI of online marketing.
Sign up for this free webinar today!Connect with HubSpot:
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