The power and magic of a sales letter that really sells.

by: ScottNelson
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Word Count: 747

A business owner who lives by conventional wisdom in the area of advertising and marketing, stands a high likelihood of getting lousy results. Conventional wisdom says to advertise and market by using big ticket media like radio and tv and to keep your written advertisements short and clever. In other words, entertain and they'll remember you. So why is this all wrong? Because it doesn't have work in most cases. Dan Kennedy, an internationally sought after business consultant calls good sales copy writing; "writing your own check". Yet most entrepreneurs are clueless about sales letters and definitely have no clue about what makes a good one.

Basically it is a salesman on paper that keeps working and working without the need for profit sharing or vacation days. There is nothing particularly special or unique about good advertising copy, except that it works. The fact is that most businesses never make use of the power of good advertising copy in any form.

Failure to make use of the power of good advertising copy and it is noticeable in lost profits. Just so it is clear, there is no set "format" for a sales letter to work to create customers. No reason to worry. Take the attitude that even bad copy is close to your goal because there are very specific things you can do to make it good, fast.

First: Hit the library and go to the magazine area. You want magazines from the categories of sports, fitness, health, fashion and entertainment. From each category, pick a specific title and a more general title. For example, in beauty pick up Cosmopolitan and one of the magazines on hairstyles or something. Browse through them lightly and make note of the ads.

You'll know the sales letters because they are usually full or half page, but not always. They frequently offer a free report if you contact them. Very often the focus is on the product or service and there is almost no mention of a company name. Trutfhfully, the big corporation advertisers you see during the final episode of Seinfeld or whatever, don't have a clue about sales letters or how to use them.

When you find really good sales copy you'll know it. You'll know it because it is interesting in that it makes you interested in the thing they are selling. Mark it with page tag and go get two or three of the previous issues of that magazine. If the ad is in there again, it is safe to say that it likely has been a success.

The strategy of the big boys who throw their money around on the expensive ads is mass marketing to a mass market based on branding using singing polar bears and football playing frogs or whatever. It is highly likely that they have no idea of the ultimate effect of the millions spent. That's fine, they have that luxury in many cases. For the purposes of bringing your product or service to everyday people with choices, you need to bring them benefit and make it real clear up front what that benefit is.

So strategy #2 is have a way of conveying a benefit to your customer that is unique in your market. Right up front you want to answer the question: "Why should I be doing business with you v. my other choices for the same product or service?" Bluntly, what can you do for me , and it better be unique and more beneficial than the what the other guy can do for me.

It is likely that you have heard about the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and the power of a good one. Billionaire philanthropist Tom Monaghan turned Domino's Pizza into the goliath we see today with this USP: "Fresh Hot Pizza delivered in 30 minutes or Less, Guaranteed."

By conveying a unique benefit, unlike any other in the marketplace, Dominos moved to the head of the pack.

But you might have noticed that having a powerful USP is strategy # 2. Where is strategy 1?

Well, the order is backwards in the article because rule #1 is to have a good headline. But learning how to do a sales letter means understanding what one is and that means a commitment to learn. Headlines are a topic for a future article.

About the Author

Scott Nelson is an entrepreneur with "Texas" style. Starting over 20 new Businesses in his lifetime, he has had quite a few Top Successes with just as many hard "Life Lessons". With some ingenuity and good copywriting training he will help you avoid some hard lessons.  

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