STROKE OF GENIUS + CALL ME

STROKE OF GENIUS
The Heart & Stroke Foundation sent me a mailing last week that had me applauding for a minute. The teaser on the outer envelope read, “What if you lost the ability to do simple things…like open this envelope?” Cool!

Inside, a lady described the struggle her husband of 50 years has had since experiencing a stroke. And, of course, she said how thankful she is for all the help she’s received from the Heart & Stroke Foundation.

TIP: Involvement devices like pull tabs, stickers and tear-offs are often a good way increase response. But they cost money. It’s a lot more effective, financially, to come up with a clever verbal involvement device like Heart & Stroke did.


CALL ME
In the past, I’ve applauded cable provider/telecom Shaw for their excellent advertising (http://www.snailskis.com/). But their latest DM package has me scratching my head. Or, more accurately, rubbing my eyes.

Inside a #10 envelope featuring the teaser, ‘The better home phone service is waiting inside”, is a letter. At least I think it’s a letter. It’s starts with a salutation but doesn’t end with a signature or name of a signatory like real letters do.

The content of the semi-letter is actually quite compelling. The problem is, I can hardly read it. The type is smaller than a snail’s eyelash.

TIP TO SHAW: Dear Shaw. If you want to sell me on your home phone service, don’t send me any more communications like the one I just received…unless you’re willing to include a free magnifying glass.

A better bet would be to phone me. For one thing, I could then fully comprehend your sales message. For another, it only makes sense for you to call. After all, you’re a phone company!

Sincerely, your potential customer…

Dr. Bob
symbiomarketing@telus.net

SHORT & SWEET + FAMILY TIME

“KEEP IT SHORT & SWEET”
That’s become an expression. A mantra. Because when it comes to copywriting, short sentences and short paragraphs inevitably out-pull long, cumbersome copy. But at least one non-profit organization has yet to learn that lesson.

Here’s a single sentence excerpted from a fundraising letter I received last week:

“We will be directed down this path despite the fact that peer-reviewed evidence, produced in Canada by government salaried, world class researchers warns that growing the rate of incarceration is a waste of taxpayers dollars; that community-based rehabilitation programs are more cost-effective, humane and just; and that the structural causes of crime might actually get worse as prison infrastructure consumes resources for evidence-based crime prevention alternatives.”

Whew!

And believe it or not, this missive wasn’t directed towards some professorial assemblage. It was sent to Joe Public.

TIP: Find yourself with more than a dozen words in a sentence and it’s time to get out your blue pencil. Find yourself with a sentence running six lines deep and it’s time to get out your scissors. Find yourself with copy like this, and it’s time to get a new writer.

Write short sentences. Use short words. Keep your paragraphs short. That’s the long and short of how to succeed in copywriting without really trying.


FAMILY TIME
Nobody knows how to market to families better than Disney. So I wasn’t surprised at how good their most recent DM package was.

The back of the oversized envelope featured 13 full colour photos of DVD/VCR boxes, promoting their movie club. Inside was a catalogue of countless movies you could order. There was an 8-1/2 X 11 full colour promo sheet. A four-colour illustrated letter. A sheet of stickers featuring Disney characters.

But what got me was the front of the envelope.

Like the back, it was plastered with full colour movie box photos and promotional messages – everything fun and festive. However, the visual treatment wasn’t the most noteworthy aspect to my mind.

Instead of addressing the package to me or my wife, it was addressed to “The Knight Family”. A little extra touch that many organizations, feeling that they’ve already gone the distance with hype and promo, wouldn’t have bothered with.

Without putting the message into words, the addressing verbiage said, “This isn’t just for you, mother or father. Or just for your children. It’s for all of you, to bring you together for entertainment the whole family can enjoy.”

TIP: Just because you’ve used every trick and technique known to DM-kind, don’t satisfy yourself too easily. Take one more look and see if there’s something small and subtle you can add that will put your package over the top. See if there’s something that will impress even a hardened mail guy like…

Dr. Bob
symbiomarketing@telus.net

REMINDER
Last chance to subscribe to Rants ‘N Raves before the next issue comes out. Email me if you want to get on the list.

GENIUS + NEWSLETTER + SEE YOU

GENIUS
In case you missed the news, yours truly has been named a "Copywriting Genius" by the American Writers & Artists Institute.

My interview and an analysis of a control package I worked on are featured in the most recent issue of their newsletter. (A subscription costs almost $500/year but it's an excellent publication.)

If you'd like a pdf – for free – let me know. It should be available sometime this month.

NEWSLETTER
The next issue of Rants 'N Raves will be out towards the end of May. If you're not on the list and would like to receive it, drop me a line.

SEE YOU ON THE 19th
I'm going to be in Toronto on business. So my next blog will be posted on May 19th.

Thanks for dropping by today. I look forward to you seeing me in two weeks.

Dr. Bob
symbiomarketing@telus.net