The PB & J of Marketing

My son played in a soccer tournament this weekend. To get him ready for all those hard fought battles and wind sprints, I had to make sure he was hydrated and fueled. The hydration was simple, but the fuel presented some dilemmas. Should I prepare grilled salmon, wild rice and roasted vegetables or the classic, yet stellar PB&J?

I opted for the PB&J. Here’s why: In life and in marketing, what matters is what works. And, I know from experience that you can grill a boy a salmon but that doesn’t mean he will eat. The same is true of your clients. You can spend a whole lot of budget with very little result. In many cases, the classic, yet stellar tools fuel the most growth.

One of those classic yet stellar tools is the promotional sales letter. It doesn’t require any fancy design, programming or printing. In fact, you can mail merge and print from it from the comfort of your home office if you’d like. That’s what I did five years ago when I launched my insurance copywriting business.

I mailed my letter out to 200 insurance industry prospects, and I probably spent a total of $200 including postage, envelopes and paper – maybe even less. That simple, inexpensive effort generated an 8 percent response within the first month, and years later, the replies continue to trickle in. In fact, just six months ago, (4.5 years after I sent the mailer) a prospect called me and said that he’d saved my letter all this time.

If you’d like to send your own promotional letter, here are 10 rules of thumb to follow:

1. Spend a lot of time on your list. Purchasing a list isn’t good enough. You need to call every number on your list and ask the receptionist to verify the name, title and mailing address of the individual you’re targeting. This is a big pain but it will greatly improve your odds.
2. Pay attention to your headline. It’s the very first thing your reader sees so it must reach out, grab her and lead her into the copy.
3. Include a Johnson box. A Johnson Box is commonly placed at the top of direct mail letters, containing the key message of the letter. The purpose of a Johnson Box is to the draw the reader’s attention to this key message first.
4. Create targeted audience appeal. Keep her interests in mind at all times. Your letter should make your prospect feel like it was mailed only to her.
5. Transform your features into benefits. Features are the basic facts. Benefits are the specific advantages your prospect will receive. The easiest way to transform a feature into a benefit is to ask, “What’s in it for me?” If you pose that question to each feature, the benefit will jump out at you! Benefits stir emotions and emotion helps you make the sale.
6. Present a desirable offer. It’s more important to have a fantastic offer than fantastic copy. So think through the offer carefully.
7. Avoid exclamation points. Use the exclamation point for those rare occasions when you need to express surprise or excitement.
8. Make sure to include several different response mechanisms– e-mail, web, phone, fax and reply card. People respond in different ways so give several options.
9. Remember the P.S. Studies have shown that many people read the P.S. before they read anything else. So, take advantage of this pattern and write a behavior-changing P.S.
10. Check spelling and grammar. Simple mistakes can undermine the results of even the most persuasive letters.

Special offers just for you …

1. If you’d like assistance writing your own promotional letter, I’ll offer PB&J pricing of $500 for a two-page letter – up to 600 words. Not a bad investment for a classic, yet stellar lead generation vehicle.
2. If you’d like to see my original letter from five years ago, click through to the Insurance Marketers’ Blog and I’ll post it there. Also, make sure to share your PB&J marketing experiences.

Wishing you phenomenal marketing success!
Heather

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