 Pub View
Improving Our Recipe with Barry Callen
Here's some free advice if you're
considering a post card for your next direct mail appeal to customers.
The exceptional postcard designs that manage to get around the "throw it away without reading it" trap are the ones that are handwritten, hand-signed, use a first-class stamp, or make a personal reference (the mailing list is computer personalized to say "Hi, Susan", etc.).
A postcard may seem simple, but it has 13 components:
Front side:
1. Main visual
2. Headline
3. Subhead
4. Logo
5. Slogan
Back Side:
6. Mailing indicia or stamp
7 Mailing address label
8. Headline
9. Subhead
10. Body copy
11. Call to action
12. Logo or name
13. Slogan
Three things determine the effectiveness of your mailing. They are, in order of importance:
1. The quality of your mailing list — are the names of previous buyers or total strangers? Is the information up to date or stale?
2. The quality and timing of your offer. Is it new and exciting? Different from the expected? Are customers ready to buy?
3. The quality of the creative execution — is it clear and well written? Does the design get attention? Is it easy to read?
For the do's and don'ts, the 9 steps of creating a postcard, time-saving tips, and everything you need to know to maximize your results, read Perfect Phrases for Sales and Marketing Copy, a book by Barry Callen, our new columnist, which was recently published by McGraw-Hill. He wrote the advice I just gave you, and will give you so much more in that book.
Every page of Perfect Phrases has no-nonsense, practical advice that Barry learned and/or gave over a long career as a marketing strategist and "creative" for the large agency, Hiebing.
Barry said he put "almost" everything he knew into outline form and then into a book, and having read it, I thought it was the easiest, most practical advice book ever written for this audience. It covers diverse topics such as how to name a business, product or service; 9 steps to creating a print ad; do's and don'ts for Yellow Pages ads; how to write effective radio commercials, etc.
The thing missing in a book like this, of course, is the author's personality. So I'm taking credit for the bright idea of stirring that back into the recipe to give you a column you'll want to clip every month and pass along. A column by Barry Callen.
It has long been a practice at In business magazine NOT to use outside columnists, and we broke that mold with the addition of Terrence Wall's informative "Up Against the Wall" entry last year. Now we're adding "The B.S.-Free Marketing Zone" to that. Excellent writing for sophisticated readers who want answers.
Enjoy!
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