The Fundamentals of Coupon Design

You can create your own coupons for use in the newspaper, direct mail, flyers, email, and digital media like your website and Facebook. This chart identifies the fundamentals of basic coupon design. If you're a member of the Service Roundtable and want a specific coupon, contact Bob Viering with your request.

The chart is found on the Free Stuff section of the Service Roundtable. Click HERE to download the chart.

Tips to Improve Your Direct Mail Results

My January Column in Contractor Magazine...

With a gazillion cable channels and the ability to record and fast forward through the ads, satellite radio and personal music players, the increasing replacement of the Yellow Pages by the Internet, and the decline of newspapers, many traditional marketing methods are falling by the wayside. One, however, remains. It's direct mail. Plumbers often complain about direct mail. It's no wonder — most plumber direct mail stinks. Here are 10 tips to improve your direct mail results.

Read The Rest In Contractor Magazine

The Continuing Relevance of Direct Mail

I ran across a good article by Herb Torgersen, president of Direct Innovations, about direct mail in the magazine, Direct. For small business, direct mail remains a great way to market, even as other forms of traditional marketing are losing their punch. Here's part of what Torgersen had to say...

It's an understatement to say the ability to reach consumers with a targeted message through mass media has become fragmented. Audience share on the big three networks has diminished considerably, cable options are endless, magazine and newspaper circ is down, and audience shares for radio have also taken a dip.

Through it all direct mail—if done properly—has continued to consistently produce return on investment on a consistent basis. The sheer amount of databases available enables any marketer to precisely pinpoint their audience. If marketers continue to apply the tried and true "principle of affinity"—a common denominator between product, offer and audience—they will no doubt be able to acquire new customers.

Read the rest of Torgersen's article.

Write Your Copy to These Human Emotions that Never Change.

Photo: Arwen Abendstern

This is another great piece from John Schulte, posted here with his permission...

Write Your Copy to These Human Emotions that Never Change.
By John Schulte

• To make money
  
• To be praised
  
• To avoid criticism
  
• To save time
  
• To be clean
  
• To keep possessions
  
• To avoid effort
  
• To be in style
  
• To be interesting
  
• To avoid loss of reputation
  
• To have health
  
• To have beautiful possessions
  
• To avoid trouble
  
• To enjoy pleasure
  
• To be an individual
  
• To attract the opposite sex
  
• To take advantage of opportunities
  
• The desire to avoid loss
  
• To avoid physical pain
  
• To satisfy an appetite
  
• To avoid loss of money
  
• To be popular
  
• The desire to gain
  
• To achieve comfort
  
• To gratify curiosity
  
• To emulate others

John Schulte is a Small Business Consultant and Direct Marketing Strategist. He is a 30-year veteran of advertising, marketing, publicity, promotions and sales. He is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of mail order, direct mail, cataloging and overall direct marketing. He is one of the few people in the United States that has been certified by a United States Federal Court as a Direct Marketing and Catalog expert, able to act as an expert witness in federally related corporate disputes. John is also president of the National Mail Order Association and author of Direct Marketing Toolkit for Small and Home based Business. http://www.nmoa.org/directmarketingtoolkit

Powerful Headlines…Powerful Copy…Powerful Sales

Photo: viZZZual.com
NOTE: I ran across the following article by John Schulte, president of the National Mail Order Association and author of Direct Marketing Toolkit for Small and Home based Business. It's really good. I asked John's permission to repost it on Comanche and he graciously gave me permission and sent along a complementary piece that will be posted later.

Bookmark this page and/or buy John's book because you will want to reference John's checklists again and again. If someone else creates your marketing, send a link to this page. I wish I'd written it. It's good stuff.

Matt


Powerful Headlines…Powerful Copy…Powerful Sales
By John Schulte

What words you use in your advertising and how you put them together can mean the success or failure of an advertisement. That’s why copywriters are called “wordsmiths” and the good ones get paid very well.

I have assembled this collection for you to have by your side when writing copy…so when you need an idea as you work you can refer to it as needed. Copywriting takes practice, to get good takes time. If you can’t afford to practice while you are selling, hire a pro. In the long run it will be better for you. Onward.

This is not a large-scale study, but the chief findings are significant; namely, the words you, new and how are outstanding.

Every copywriter should remember the value of hammering away at you, you, you, both in headlines and in copy.

Regarding new, David Ogilvy said: If you try hard enough, you can almost always use new in your copy.

Then there is the word how, which is in third place on the list. People want to know how to solve problems, how to get ahead, how to be attractive, how to win friends and how to end money worries.

So, the next time you write an ad or a direct-mail letter or a TV commercial, try to give your copy the benefit of these three important words: you . . . new . . . how.


WHAT ARE THE MOST PERSUASIVE WORDS IN ADVERTISING?

• suddenly
  
• miracle
  
• now
  
• magic
  
• announcing
  
• offer
  
• introducing
  
• quick
  
• improvement
  
• easy
  
• amazing
  
• wanted
  
• sensational
  
• challenge
  
• remarkable
  
• compare
  
• revolutionary
  
• bargain
  
• startling
  
• hurry

Ogilvy also said: Don't turn up your nose at these cliché’s. They may be shopworn, but they work. That is why you see them turn up so often in the headlines of mail-order advertisers and others who can measure the results of their advertisements."

Max Sackheim seconded this advice by reprinting Ogilvy's list of words in his book My First Sixty Years in Advertising.


AN ENLARGED LIST

I would like to enlarge on Ogilvy's list and give the aspiring copywriter an even greater range of words to choose from. In order to do this, I turned to the following:

• Successful direct marketing ads
  
• Successful direct-mail letters
  
• Mail order catalogs
  
• Textbooks on advertising
  
• Direct response classified advertising

I reviewed these and other sources, and tabulated the persuasive words that occurred most often. Listed below are the results of this analysis. For easy reference, the words are grouped under ten headings.


1. Words That Denote News
If you have news to tell, here are a number of ways to present it:

• announcing
  
• novel
  
• introducing
  
• modern
  
• presenting
  
• recent
  
• today
  
• latest
  
• new
  
• suddenly
  
• now
  
• revolutionary

2. Approval
People are more apt to buy if you can furnish evidence of the value of your product or service.

• recognized
  
• sanctioned
  
• authorized
  
• approved
  
• commended
  
• proven
  
• recommended
  
• accepted
  
• honored
  
• guaranteed
  
• acclaimed
  
• endorsed
  
• complimented
  
• certified
  
• popular
  
• tested
  
• lauded
  
• praised
  
• admired

3. Large Size
Here are words you can use if large size is a feature of your product:

• big
  
• tremendous
  
• large
  
• massive
  
• sizable
  
• gigantic
  
• huge
  
• voluminous
  
• vast
  
• mammoth
  
• enormous
  
• great
  
• spacious
  
• colossal

4. Surprising
The element of surprise or unusualness is an attractive fea¬ture in some cases.

• amazing
  
• fantastic
  
• astonishing
  
• extraordinary
  
• astounding
  
• exceptional
  
• startling
  
• notable
  
• surprising
  
• noteworthy
  
• singular
  
• striking
  
• sensational
  
• strange
  
• uncommon
  
• stunning
  
• unusual
  
• magic
  
• remarkable
  
• miracle

5. Quality
Every reader or listener is concerned with the quality of your product.

• good
  
• first-rate
  
• better
  
• choice
  
• fine
  
• unparalleled
  
• valuable
  
• unsurpassed
  
• remarkable
  
• unique
  
• exclusive
  
• terrific
  
• imported
  
• selected
  
• rugged
  
• special
  
• durable
  
• personalized
  
• improved
  
• limited
  
• excellent
  
• rare
  
• top
  
• genuine
  
• superior
  
• authentic
  
• greatest
  
• outstanding
  
• famous
  
• wonderful
  
• noted
  
• surpassing

6. Interest
The following words denote interest and apply mostly to books, booklets, pamphlets, etc.:

• absorbing
  
• stirring
  
• instructive
  
• entertaining
  
• informative
  
• enlightening
  
• interesting
  
• fascinating
  
• revealing
  
• exciting
  
• secrets
  
• profusely illustrated

7. Appearance
Sometimes the appearance of a product is its most important feature.

• beautiful
  
• classic
  
• elegant
  
• distinctive
  
• attractive
  
• fashionable
  
• flattering
  
• appealing
  
• handsome
  
• fascinating
  
• glamorous
  
• exquisite
  
• dramatic
  
• scenic
  
• captivating
  
• colorful
  
• charming
  
• lavish
  
• spectacular
  
• magnificent

SUMMING UP

In writing your copy, do not neglect the tested words and phrases that are used in direct marketing advertising. Keep the lists in this chapter handy. Look them over before you write. Refer to them often. Put some you, new and how to into your ad, letter or commercial. And before you write your Act now paragraph, review the action phrases that experienced ad writers have found helpful in promoting the thing that every advertiser wants . action.


8. Utility
There are times when the utility of a product is the important consideration.

• handy
  
• reversible
  
• helpful
  
• serviceable
  
• useful
  
• workable
  
• usable
  
• versatile
  
• practical
  
• powerful
  
• washable
  
• reliable

9. Money
Making money and saving money are topics of universal concern.

• wealth
  
• liberal
  
• fortune
  
• reduced (price)
  
• profitable
  
• lowest (price)
  
• bargain
  
• discount (price)

10. Miscellaneous
Here are useful words that apply in a variety of categories:

• quick
  
• successful
  
• quickly
  
• gift
  
• easy
  
• complete
  
• easily
  
• lifetime
  
• immediately
  
• absolutely
  
• hurry
  
• only (price)

The next time you write an ad, you may find it helpful to review these word lists. For example, if you have news to tell, take a look at the list of words that denote news. Do the same with the other lists.

Your copy will be improved if you include some of the persuasive words that have sold millions of dollars' worth of goods and services.


WHAT ARE THE MOST PERSUASIVE PHRASES IN ADVERTISING?
What are the persuasive phrases that are used again and again by direct marketing advertisers? Here are examples:


1. Free Offers
A review of direct marketing ads, letters, catalogs, etc., reveals that the most frequently used phrases are free offers.

• Yours free
  
• Free gift
  
• Booklet free
  
• Ask for free folder
  
• Free guide book
  
• Literature free
  
• Moneymaking facts free
  
• Free trial lesson
  
• Free to new members
  
• Free examination
  
• Free demonstration
  
• Free cost estimate
  
• Free consultation
  
• Try it ten days free
  
• Thirty-two-page catalog free
  
• Free plans for_________________
  
• Free sample
  
• Yours for the asking
  
• Test lesson free
  
• Free gift if you act at once

2. Charge Offers
Some advertisers charge a fee or require a postage stamp.

• Moneymaking facts free
  
• Free lesson, $.50
  
• $.25 brings details
  
• Stamp brings details
  
• $1.00 brings complete______________
  
• Free gift if you act at once
  
• Stamped envelope brings_______________
  
• Send $.25 to help cover postage and handling

3. News
If you have news to tell, it should be given prominence. It will increase response.

• Just arrived
  
• New here
  
• It's here
  
• New discovery
  
• New, improved
  
• New invention
  
• Important development
  
• The world's first ___________
  
• Just off the press
  
• Hot off the press
  
• Just published
  
• Just out
  
• Beginning (date)
  
• At last
  
• New method of ________
  
• New modernized__________
  
• Latest findings

4. How-To
People want to know how to do things-how to get ahead-how to solve problems-how to make money-how to enjoy life. In each of the following how phrases, you can com¬plete the phrase with your own solution to the prospect's problem.

• How to ________
  
• How to get __________
  
• How to have _________
  
• How to keep _________
  
• How to start ____________
  
• How to begin ___________
  
• How to become __________
  
• How to improve your _________
  
• How to develop __________
  
• How to get the most out of ________
  
• How to avoid ________
  
• How to end ________
  
• How to get rid of ________
  
• How to conquer How I ______
  
• How I improved my ___________
  
• How to enjoy How you can ________

5. Information
People buy magazines and newspapers and listen to broadcasts to get information. You can successfully compete for attention by telling your prospects the things they want to know.

• Seven ways to _________
  
• The truth about _________
  
• The one sensible way to _________
  
• Plain talks with _________
  
• Profitable tips for _________
  
• Confidential chats with ________
  
• Twenty tips for _________
  
• The common sense of ________
  
• Your one sure way to ________
  
• Guide to ________
  
• Helpful hints on ________
  
• Practical hints on __________
  
• Advice to _________
  
• What you should know about _________
  
• Facts you should know
  
• Mistakes you can avoid

6. Confidence Building
No matter how attractive your offer is, you must build believability into your ad. Here are phrases that will help.

• Award winning Seal of approval
  
• Founded (year)
  
• Established ________ years
  
• You risk nothing
  
• Make this test
  
• Over _________ thousands sold
  
• What others say (include testimonials)
  
• See before you buy
  
• Money back if not delighted
  
• Proved in laboratory tests
  
• If not delighted, just write Cancel on the bill.

7. Price
People are always looking for bargains. Here are some phrases that deal with price:

• Sale priced
  
• Only ten percent above wholesale/dealers cost
  
• Save up to $ ____________
  
• Less than half price
  
• Fantastic saving
  
• Price going up
  
• Price goes up (date)
  
• Order before the price goes up
  
• Never again at this price

8. Miscellaneous Phrases
Here are frequently used phrases that can work in a number of situations:

• Send no money
  
• No obligation
  
• No salesperson will call
  
• Special offer
  
• The key to ________
  
• Only $.25 a day
  
• Now you can ___________
  
• You don't have to be rich to _____________
  
• Money-saving offer
  
• The secret of __________
  
• Yours if you can qualify
  
• Do you have these symptoms of ________?
  
• Who else wants _________?
  
• From manufacturer to you
  
• Buy direct and save
  
• For quick information, call _________
  
• Orders shipped within 24 hours
  
• Easy payment plan

9. Immediate Action
Most folks tend to delay action. Urge them to act quickly. Or better still, give them a valid reason for quick action.

• Act now
  
• Don't delay
  
• Order now
  
• Order today
  
• Order now, pay later
  
• Delay may be serious
  
• Don't put it off
  
• Send today
  
• Send post card today
  
• Get started today
  
• Investigate today
  
• Act fast
  
• Be the first
  
• Rush name for details
  
• For a short time only
  
• While the supply lasts
  
• Price going up
  
• Supply limited
  
• Last chance

John Schulte is a Small Business Consultant and Direct Marketing Strategist. He is a 30-year veteran of advertising, marketing, publicity, promotions and sales. He is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of mail order, direct mail, cataloging and overall direct marketing. He is one of the few people in the United States that has been certified by a United States Federal Court as a Direct Marketing and Catalog expert, able to act as an expert witness in federally related corporate disputes. John is also president of the National Mail Order Association and author of Direct Marketing Toolkit for Small and Home based Business. http://www.nmoa.org/directmarketingtoolkit

Tales from the Little Red Truck: Our Worst Letter Ever

So yesterday I talked about A-abc's most successful sales letter--the free Infiltrometer analysis. Today I'll talk about our worst--the video duct cleaning letter.

When we first saw the video duct cleaning machine, it seemed like a great idea. We loved the fact that we could prove the results of our cleaning. Our clients loved it too. We sold a bunch of jobs, but not because of this letter.

Before sending out this piece, everyone who read it thought it was a winner. Not just based on that reading, but based on a comparison to other successful letters we had written, and other offers we ran for video duct cleaning. It incorporated a lot of the things we had done before, so there was good reason to think it would be successful.

We sent out a test mailing (which we always did, even if we thought it was perfect) and when the results came in, we were once again astounded.

It had a 0% response. That's right, nobody called.

You would think we would have destroyed every copy of this letter as quickly as possible. We may have tried, but at least one survived, and it's included below. Luckily, we had only sent it to a test of 1,000, so our loss wasn't great. Although testing was sometimes frustrating and time-consuming, it proved prudent on more than one occasion.

If there's one thing I know about advertising, it's that NOBODY knows what will work. You have to take the time to test your ads.

Normally we would change up the letter and send it again. I don't think we ever sent another letter for video duct cleaning though. Not because of the lack of success we had with our test, but because the video duct cleaning machine kept breaking down. We had to abandon that technology.

Tales from the Little Red Truck: The Amazing Infiltrometer Letter

In the late 80's and all through the 90's, I was working with Ahron Katz at A-abc Appliance & AC in Dallas. Ahron was one of the pioneers of the service industry, and one of the first in our area to offer flat rate pricing, same day service and a 100% satisfaction guarantee -- as well as host of other unique and innovative marketing ideas. Our tagline, "The Company with the Little Red Trucks" was so effective at helping build our brand that marketing experts like Matt Michel started watching us very closely. Oh yeah, and it made us lots of money.

The best response we ever had to a sales letter was a 1994 promotion for the amazing new Infiltrometer. It was sent out to our HVAC Maintenance clients (Preferred Client Club Diamond Card holders).

The letter drew an amazing 36% response!

Of course, we were offering a very valuable, FREE service to a very hot, relatively small and trusting list, but it certainly raised the bar for all our future mailers, and led to my life-long frustration with never coming close to that number again!

The letter got us in the door and our salesmen/techs did the rest. We averaged over $1,000 for every FREE call we ran (we didn't run every call we set up, for various reasons). If only our list had been bigger! We only had about 400 Diamond members at the time.

The letter is included here and, as you can see, we didn't concern ourselves with keeping it short or "easy to read." In fact it broke a lot of other design "rules" too; it had an extremely long headline in sentence-case, it used a sans-serif font for the body of the letter, it made extensive use of underlining, bold and exclamation points and it was kind of cramped, especially on page 1.

Despite all that, the letter worked. It worked because the reader believed what we wrote and trusted us to deliver. A lot of that was due to the ongoing effort we made throughout all our marketing to promote Ahron as THE expert in the field. It was an extremely effective strategy and I'll write more about it in future posts.

Free Marketing Ideas - Part III

Originally Published 1.07.09

6. Develop An Electronic Sales Presentation

In many ways selling is teaching. Part of the sales professional’s role is to help prospects understand the different options available to them and how these might meet their needs.

Good salespeople try to uncover the needs and desires of a prospect. But sometimes this can prove difficult since prospects may not be able to articulate what they want or even know what they want. When you teach a prospect about a product or service, you open up new possibilities for consideration.

For example, you probably have a number of products you cannot live without today, but that you could not envision yesterday. Could you survive without an MP3 player or iPod? No? How about your LCD or plasma TV? Your Wii? GPS? Your mobile phone? Bluetooth? Broadband Internet access?

It doesn’t have to be high tech. My wife bought me a handheld lime juicer. Before I saw it I never knew I needed one and now I can’t live without it.

You might be wondering what the heck a handheld lime juicer is. It consists of a pair of hinged cups with handles. One cup fits inside the other to squeeze half of a lemon or lime. I can see it clearly in my mind, but I bet you can’t.

This is the problem. Some concepts are simply hard to convey with words. I could probably give a detailed explanation of the juicer that would give you a better idea what I’m talking about, but you would tune out long before I could do it. It’s far better, clearer, and faster to show you a picture.

Click here to see a picture of a juicer.

If it’s difficult to grasp the concept of a juicer without the picture, imagine how difficult it is for your prospects to understand what you are describing.

According to Prentice Hall eTeach, 65% of the population consists of visual learners. Two out of three people need to see things. If it’s an unfamiliar concept, it’s worse.

What do you think happens when your verbal description is inadequate? Some prospects will ask for clarification. Most will politely nod and wait for you to finish, but won’t buy.

It’s hard for consumers to envision an air conditioning zoning system, a tankless water heater, a solar pool heater, and any one of a million mundane products if they’ve never seen one. Pictures are worth a thousand words and showing prospects pictures of before and after kitchen remodels, installed power vents, pool fountains, the effectiveness of air cleaners on microscopic particles and dust, and so on helps them consider possibilities they had not imagined. And once imagined, some prospects will decide they must have them. Your sales increase.

It should seem obvious that you can increase your effectiveness by incorporating visual aids into your sales presentations. Use literature, photographs, and samples (the easiest way). Or, use electronic presentation software (the most flexible).

Despite their flexibility, a lot of sales managers and sales trainers frown on electronic presentations. They are afraid that the salesperson will use the presentation like a crutch, that it will take away from the sale, and that it will turn off and bore customers.

Frankly, that’s old school thinking. A good salesperson uses technology as a tool. As a tool, it doesn’t turn off customers or get in the way of the dialogue. It enhances the presentation. Proficiency comes with practice and once someone is proficient with a laptop, its use is no more awkward than a tape rule.

A laptop offers a wealth of visual aids. With sound it can also be an auditory aid. For example, sound is logarithmic like an earthquake Richter Scale. An increase of 0.3 bels doubles the sound level. It’s one thing to say it. It’s quite another to play the sound of one fan, followed by the sound of another 0.3 bels higher. Don’t you think a prospect is more likely to pay a premium for a quieter product after the sound difference has been demonstrated?

If you already have a laptop, it costs nothing to build an electronic sales presentation. If you need a laptop, I’ve got good news. Asus has an ultra portable laptop for less than $400. It’s limited in its memory, hard drive capacity, and display size, but good enough to help convey basic ideas. It comes with Open Office, which is a free open source counter to Microsoft Office.

Read Cnet’s review of the Asus.

I think the best solution for salespeople is one of the tablet laptops. Unfortunately, these are among the most expensive laptops. I had one of the early ones for a few weeks. The functionality was great, but the laptop left something to be desired. I bet the bugs have been worked out now.

For field service personnel who find themselves in sales situations or simply must give explanations to customers, a laptop may not be practical. Yet, the need for visual aids remains. In fact, it may be more important since service personnel are not usually as glib as salespeople.

The answer for service personnel is to use literature and pictures. Rather than ask a homeowner to climb into an attic to look at a rusted drain pan or try to explain it, take a digital picture and show it to the homeowner. Pocket digital cameras are priced so that anyone can own one. A camera should be an essential part of a plumber or technician’s toolbox. Like other personal tools, the employee should be obligated to supply a digital camera.

If your personnel lack a camera, buy cameras for them. Let them pay for the cameras over time through a payroll deduction.

Remember, without visual aids, two thirds of your prospects and customers have trouble following your explanation.


7. Enter Every Contest

Hobaica Refrigeration is the Air Conditioning Contractors of America’s National Residential Contractor of the Year. I asked Paul Hobaica how they won it.

“We entered,” he said.

Now, there was a lot more to it than that. First, Hobaica is an outstanding company. It took years of sweat and toil to build up the company.

Still there’s a lot of truth to Paul’s statement. Before a contest can be won, it must be entered.

While some contests and awards have lots of entrants, I wonder about others. I suspect that few companies enter many competitions, though no one on the outside knows and people are still impressed when you win.

Win an award and stand out for life. In 9th grade I won a Columbia Journalism Award. I don’t know what the award was and didn’t know I entered it (a teacher entered me), but from that day forward, for the rest of my life I will legitimately be “an award winning writer.” Cool, huh?

Once you win an award, your company is hereafter and forever more, “an award winning company.” It becomes part of your marketing. It’s a point of differentiation. It represents third party reassurance to prospects. It makes you a more attractive employer.

Of course, it all starts with the entry form. Well, it all starts with the search for entry forms. Talk to the people with your local Chamber of Commerce. Call the business editor of your local paper. Contact trade press editors. Search the Internet to find possible contests. Then enter them.

What do you have to lose? Who knows? You might find yourself an award winner!


8. Get Newcomers Lists From Town Hall

Did you ever wonder how the Welcome Wagon finds new homeowners to welcome? I discovered that the list is provided by the city, for free!

Newcomers lists are typically available each month. Some towns will mail them. Others require you to stop by city hall.

I’ve had contractors tell me they’re too busy to pick up newcomers lists and have too many communities in their service territory. Good for them.

I hope you’re too busy too. If you’re not, and if you’re looking for business, newcomers lists represent lists of new homeowners who typically lack loyalty or allegiance to any of your competitors. They’re good prospects.

If you have too many communities in your service territory, it’s probably an indication that your territory is too large. But you say you can’t afford to turn away any calls.

Okay, don’t. But don’t market to the entire world. Focus your marketing to the immediate vicinity of your shop, starting with newcomers.

What do you market to newcomers? Send them a gift certificate with your company. Add them to your newsletter mailing list. Offer a free inspection. Start the dialogue so that the new homeowners start to think of you as “their” plumber/air conditioning company/pool company/carpet cleaner/fill-in-the-blank service and repair company.

That’s it for now. More next time.

© 2009 Matt Michel