The Golden Thread – Copywriting Insider
The Week in Review
May 20–26, 2007
Welcome to Copywriting Insider – an e-letter from AWAI and the editorial team at Inside Direct Mail that brings you insider information on the hottest markets in the direct-mail industry and techniques you can use right now to improve your skills and further grow your copywriting business.
In This Issue:
- 8 Letter-Opening Enticements for the Back of Your Envelope
Will Newman shares eight secrets to getting your prospect to open your envelope. - A Fundraising Copywriter's Opportunity Goldmine
AWAI member Lisa Sargent shares a resource every fundraising copywriter should know about. - Writing a Financial Package with Robert Reger
Gain insight into the financial industry from top copywriter Robert Reger. - Attention Aspiring Financial Copywriters: Advice from Four Seasoned Financial Copywriters
Four master copywriters in the financial industry share their advice.
8 Letter-Opening Enticements for the Back of Your Envelope
Your envelope is the gateway to your promotion. But if not properly handled, it becomes a barricade instead.
Keeping that gateway open and welcoming is the job of compelling envelope teaser copy.
While there’s always the option of mailing without teaser, most clients want to use it because it’s effective.
So, if one side of the envelope is good, isn’t using both sides better? The answer is a resounding, “It depends.”
If you're trying to convey a low-key tone, front envelope copy is probably all you need. AWAI mailings are a good example of this.
Another reason to concentrate your efforts on writing perfect teaser copy for the front of the envelope is if your client wants to keep costs to a minimum.
But if your client wants a no-holds-barred approach, the back of the envelope offers valuable real estate for copy and graphics that can guarantee getting the envelope opened.
Here are 8 effective back-of-the-envelope ideas …
- What your prospect will find inside the envelope. "Inside: Your choice of three FREE bonuses!" Tell your prospect what the pay-off is. Give him a good reason to tear open the envelope and start reading.
- The offer's expiration date. Make your prospect worry that he is going to miss out on a terrific opportunity.
- A long list of satisfied customers. If your prospect would recognize the names of satisfied customers, flaunt them. If you're selling supplements, list the names of known medical experts who use the product. If you're selling software, use large companies with recognizable names. And so on.
- Customer testimonials. Find your two or three best and use the words of satisfied customers to pull your prospect into the letter. Remember: You can edit testimonials for length. But keep them in your customer's words, bad English and all. And do not use anonymous testimonials.
- A note from the president or a top executive of the company. They can talk about the guarantee, the special offer, their years in business, past successes … whatever can make a distinct impact. It's like having a personal lift note right there on the envelope.
- A restatement of the bonus offer: "Your FREE exclusive report: 'The 7 Best Vacation Escapes for Luxury and Relaxation … at Half Cost or Less!'" Never underestimate the power of a bonus offer to boost sales. If you have something great to give away, say it loud and clear!
- Rave review quotes. These can carry a lot of weight with your prospect. But don't overdo it. Three to five quotes are enough. If you include too many, they won't get read.
- Award logos. If you've got them, put them in a prominent place for your prospect to see. They build your credibility and your prospect's confidence, overcoming his natural skepticism.
There are three things to remember about using back-of-the-envelope enticements.
First of all, it's up to your client to decide whether it makes financial sense for him. But if you think it's a good idea, offer it as a suggestion at the beginning of the file you submit.
Second, when making the suggestion to the client, be very specific about what you think would work, giving as many details as possible. For example, if you're recommending using two testimonials, include the ones you'd like to use and say that you want them in two different handwritten font styles, each set at an angle, etc.
Finally … and most important … back-of-the-envelope copy does NOT replace your front teaser.
Your prospect may initially be attracted by the rear copy and graphics – but he'll quickly turn the letter over to look for the one item most prospects examine closely: the return address.
After doing that, he'll look at the front teaser copy. Only then will he pay close attention to the back.
A Fundraising Copywriter's Opportunity Goldmine
AWAI Member Lisa Sargent has a recent discovery to share with copywriters in the fundraising niche. It's the website at http://www.idealist.org/ .
This website lists jobs, many from smaller organizations, a great starting point for new copywriters. But it also lists over 67,500 organizations worldwide. These organizations may not have jobs listed, but they are potentially an even more valuable starting place for finding groups you'd like to write for.
Once you register, you can click the "Find" tab. A form comes up where you put in keywords, choose from a focus list, and input what you're interested in (including the language of the postings).
I put in "hunger, children and youth, English" and came up with 74 hits. I clicked on the top result and got the organization's mission, its website address, and – most important – the name of the contact person.
Registration is free, so sign up and explore.
Writing a Financial Package
We recently sat down with seasoned financial copywriter, Robert Reger, and asked him his approach to writing a financial package. Robert, along with fellow copywriter Bill Hedden, is credited with writing an auto-insurance package that mailed to 90 million names for 11 years straight! Here’s what he told us …
“Well, initially, I would say, it depends on the package. But over the whole of my experience, I’ve been able to come up with the key 20 questions I need to ask somebody at the start of a project to determine: a) if I’m going to accept a project; and b) if they have enough information that I can work with.
“I always ask at the beginning, ‘What is the circulation objective of the mailing?’ I do a lot of things for financial newsletters, and some companies want to convert customers who are already taking other financial services or products, and upsell them on a new financial service or product. Some people say, ‘Well, our customer file is flagging … we need to really boost it up. In order to do that, we’re going to look at trying to command our market a little bit.’ Or, ‘We’re going to try to reach a little different market this time.’
“I’ve come to firmly believe in working closely with the marketing department. Every writer is different. I’ve had a lot of success, though, in making sure that everything I do is properly aligned with all the marketing agendas and goals. Even if you don’t agree with them, they’re the ones paying you, and you are still working under their guidance. So, I think it’s important to establish a good relationship with the marketing department or the project manager you’re working with.
“I always ask what the mission statement is – whether it’s a publication, a product, a system (such as a get-rich system), or a way for them to broaden their investment base. And very often, some people don’t even have them, so you need to have them create one for you, or help them create one. Because a lot times, there are so many products in the financial services industry, and you really need to differentiate. Someone could be getting three different mailings in their mailbox that day. If two are kind of vanilla-sounding, and one sounds like it has a real unique USP, then that’s the one they are going to read through.
“Then, I always ask what distinguishes them from their competitors, and who their competitors are. I also like to know if it’s okay to mention the competitor by name in the piece. (Some people are really against that idea, while some really like it.) What’s really great about the financial services industry is that you can talk about competitors in terms of other financial vehicles. For example, if there is an approach to bond investing, you can downplay stocks or gold and precious metals or real estate. There are all kinds of financial vehicles that you position whatever you’re selling against, and everyone’s got their own story of why theirs is the best. It’s kind of fun to do that because, a lot of times, you’re really restricted from competing products in terms of non-financial services. So, you’re pretty free basically to focus on competition.
“Number four basically is that I need the demographics/psychographics of the audience we’re talking about. I always try to get as much marketing information as possible, and I would say that the one thing I do that a lot of other people don’t do is that I think it’s very important to look at the company’s white mail (the letters that people write in). Sometimes you get some great ideas out of that. Sometimes you get phrases, and sometimes you get testimonials that aren’t in the testimonial bank. So white mail is very important.
“I also always ask about what’s worked in the past, what hasn’t worked, and why they think it hasn’t worked. It’s very important to be educated not only on what packages have and haven’t worked in the past, but also what strategies have and haven’t worked. Not only for the financial services product that you’re going to sell, but for other products within the company.
“One thing that’s great about being a freelance copywriter is that, when you’re not tied into one specific company, you get to see all the other things that are working across the financial services industry. And very often, there are things that are working that some people are just really reluctant to try, because they don’t think that it will work for their product. And then you finally pass it through, and it works really well for them, and you kind of get to say ‘I told you so.’
“It’s important to get results off the actual packages themselves. If you can get those, that’s great. And sometimes you can steal smart. If there are some things that have been working over and over again, that are diehard things that have been tried, it makes sense to put those in your package if you think they’re strong.
“I always ask if the product or service is planned to change in the near future. For instance, they want to do a promotional package, and then it turns out that the actual product doesn’t live up to the promises that you made, because the product changed during the promotion’s life cycle. And then sometimes the people promoting it are the last ones to know about it. And it’s important to know. Don’t over promise on anything, because you could get a great gross response on a package that’s got a free trial. But then if nobody ends up paying for it, then you really didn’t do a good job. So, it’s important to get that information ahead of time.
“Something else that I always ask – and it’s great to hear this not just from the specific marketing person who you’re working with, but also from people who are maybe at the VP level in the marketing department – I always ask them, ‘What is the single statement that best describes the product and why the consumer will use it?’ Sometimes you get very different answers from your day-to-day contact person versus somebody who is higher up. So, this single statement very often boils it down to the nuts and bolts and can help a copywriter a lot. If the statement is different for the circulation manager than it is for the VP of the company, then you want to start asking questions as to why their answers were different, and get to the bottom of it. And you really need to, when you start a package, to get past what are the overall features, and make sure what you’re going to say is aligned with the marketing department and how they see it.
“I always ask about format, whether or not people are allowed to do certain formats. A lot of times it comes down to cost. Although nowadays … it used to be that a magalog was a lot more expensive than a direct-mail package. It still is expensive, but it’s not completely out of the ballpark the way it used to be. I like to see people who are open to a variety of formats. The best thing anybody can say is, ‘You determine the format for me.’ Because, a lot of time, people have been trying the same thing over and over again. They may have been mailing a 6 x 9 format for 15 years, and they haven’t tried something new, and very often a new format could help them achieve a little bit of a bump.
“I always ask what the standard offer is. And I always ask permission if I can present it in a different way. For example, there are a lot of free trial offers or premium offers that people have, and I think it’s important to ask them if you have the freedom to present it in a different way, because sometimes you look at an offer and you think, ‘Wow, here’s a way that this offer can be strengthened.’ As a copywriter, it’s your job to write the strongest copy possible, and I think that includes the offer. Sometimes you have marketing people who don’t want to do an A/B split test on changing the offer. But if you stay close enough to the original offer, usually they’re okay with that.
“I always ask if there’s a money-back guarantee. If not, why not? I always try to get them to do one if they don’t have one. I usually ask them if they have any reluctance to make the guarantee performance based. It’s a little more difficult in the financial services industry, but we do it all the time, where you basically guarantee somebody, if they use this product, they will increase their savings over the course of the year by x amount. (Or you could put a percentage in. Something like that.) I think it’s very important to tie the guarantee to the performance of the product, because if you just say ‘money-back guarantee,’ you’re not promising anything more than if they don’t like it, they can send it back. If you add performance onto it (if it’s a health package, for example), you can say that their health will improve and name some specifics. If it’s a stock, you can tell them that their net worth will improve by x amount over one year or x amount over five years. That sort of thing. It basically gets people confident in the credibility of the product.
“I always ask about premiums, whether or not the presentation can be modified. A lot of people are stuck with the same premiums that they’ve been using for a long period of time. I’ve had a lot of success with presenting premiums differently than they’ve been presented in the past. Sometimes someone will offer a book as a premium, and very often it’s just a little pamphlet. I’ll say, you know, ‘This pamphlet is only 20 pages long, and it doesn’t look much in appearance. So can we split it up into five different chapters and promote it as five separate booklets,’ or something like that. There are so many things that can be done to make the premium look a little bit more attractive.
“I always ask who is going to sign the letter. This is very important. I think that it’s better not to have too many voices in a package, especially with a financial services product where usually you’re trying to sell a system to somebody. You want to make sure that one person used this system, developed it, and rolled it out to a bunch of people, and back it up with a lot of testimonials. But I think it’s important to have a letter, especially if there are any well-known personalities who have helped you with the product (which is also a question I ask). It’s important to read through all the testimonials, because very often you can get some great copy and great ideas, too.
“I always ask for list information. A lot of copywriters don’t do this, I know, but I always get a book of lists from the circulation manager just to see what types of lists they’ve used in the past for these sorts of mailings. It really helps you narrow down who your audience is. Ask as many questions as you can about this.
“I always make – at the very beginning of the project – a list of the product’s benefits features, and another list of what the product will do versus what the prospect wants. And then I have a good idea of who my audience is, especially with financial services products. People want to increase their net worth; they want to make more money. Sometimes people want to do it quickly. Sometimes they don’t want to do it quickly. Sometimes people won’t believe you if you tell them how to do it quickly. These are all things you need to be very aware of, and I write these lists down and hang them up in my office while I’m writing the package, just to make sure that every time I’m putting a concept together, I have a clear picture in my mind of who the people are that I’m writing to, and then whether or not the product can deliver on the promise that I’m making.
“And also, sometimes there are things that people want. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, but writing a package is very much a psychological game, and you need to keep that in mind, and be aware, and really try to match the benefits of the product to the desires and needs of the consumer who’s going to be receiving the package.
“I always ask about the timeline at the beginning of the project. I think it’s very important, if you want to provide superior customer service, which now is basically the only thing that will differentiate you from a lot of other copywriters. You really want to make sure you do everything you can to set a timeline that is what the client wants, but is also something you can deliver. If you set that stuff at the beginning of a project, you can eliminate a lot of confusion and misunderstanding later on.
“What I do is I map out a timeline from the beginning to concept review, to first draft of the copy, to revisions, to final copy, to final art if we’re providing the artwork as well. Then they’ll know exactly what they’ll receive from me and when. Sometimes it doesn’t all go according to plan, but at least there is some kind of road map. Marketing directors sometimes complain that copywriters are slow, that they don’t deliver on time, and that all the best people are never on time. So I think it’s important to have some sort of timeline established. The way we work is to establish the structure right at the beginning of the project. More often than not we get that out of the way immediately so we don’t hit any barriers later on.”
Attention Aspiring Financial Copywriters: Advice from Four Seasoned Financial Copywriters
To give you the most insight possible, we went to four of the most successful financial copywriters in the industry and asked them for their advice on breaking into the financial market. Here’s what they told us …
George Duncan: Go to work for a financial company … any job at all, any salary. Just get in the door and work there. And once you’re inside, then worry about edging yourself over toward the copy side of things. But get in the door and learn about it. Learn the business. Learn how it works.
And if you don’t know what you’re interested in most, take whatever comes along, and then figure it out later. I didn’t know I wanted to be in the magazine business when I went to work for Esquire. I found that out later on. But get in there and figure it out later.
Clayton Makepeace: Write. You have to read a lot and you have to write a lot. I was never – in the early going – above writing an audition piece or writing something on spec.
Get on a lot of mailing lists. And that costs money … you’re going to have to subscribe to some newsletters. If you know publishers, or know somebody that works for publishers, get on their lists. Have them put you on. But start getting a lot of direct mail.
You’ll learn from what you read. But equally important, you’ll start seeing some pieces that you’ll think you can improve. I don’t know a lot of publishers that would turn down a writer who walked in the door and said, “Look, I can kick the living daylights out of what you’re mailing right now. And if I don’t do it, don’t pay me.” But if you think you can do it, get the best royalty possible. Because it costs the publisher nothing in a deal like that to have you write a package for him. And then, at that point, he has to decide if he’s going to put money behind it and mail it or not. But if you’ve done your job right, he will. And at that point, your royalty is nothing to him if your package beats the control.
Robert Reger: I’d recommend that you know the basics of personal finance. I think that’s very important. For the financial services industry, there are so many sectors that you always have something to compare to. It’s a great luxury. You can say something is better than mutual funds, or better than bonds, or better than precious metals. But if you don’t know what those things are, you need to learn them.
It’s just like the health industry. If you don’t know what the latest nutritional supplements are and how they can help people, I don’t think somebody can write a very effective package, if they have to learn the entire industry within two weeks.
Jim Rutz: Do a lot of schmoozing. People keep asking me, “How do you get into copywriting?” Well, I got into it sideways. I didn’t wake up one morning and say, “Tomorrow, I’m going to be a copywriter.” You really need to exploit your friendships, your contacts … get a little job here, a little job there … get a feel for what you’re doing, find out if you’re strong at it. And of course, for heavens sakes, if you find you’re not good at it – that you don’t have the basic talent for it – don’t drive yourself nuts. Go do something else. But get in with people who can make proper use of your talent. If that’s a financial publication, fine.
The bigger question is not how to get started, but how to move up the ladder. What I’ve found in my own experience is really kind of interesting. Publishing companies and financial investment firms have their ups and downs. They have cash flow problems like you and me. Frankly, sometimes, they are desperate for a winning package. I even had one financial client say to me one day, “Jim, I realize this is poor tactics, but frankly, price is no object here. We just need a winning package bad.” So, you can name your price on stuff like that, almost.
That’s the kind of situation to look for. You don’t come across them every day, but give your clients some choices. Try to stay in touch with them enough that they know when one of their products is in trouble. That’s when you’ll come riding up on your white charger saying, “I will do something for you.”
