Direct marketing is one of the most lucrative copywriting opportunities around. And it’s well worth the hype. Unlike other forms of advertising, direct marketing gets immediate, measurable and plain-as-day results: a campaign is either successful (lots of conversions) or not (low conversions). There are no intangibles — like mindshare and awareness — to measure. Instead, it’s all quantifiable numbers that give you immediate feedback as to your results.

Sales Letters

Arguably the oldest form of direct marketing copy, sales letters have been around for at least a couple centuries. And, yes, it’s been selling products successfully since then, too.

These days, despite the proliferation of electronic media, sales letters remain one of the most viable forms of direct selling available. While you probably receive less of them in the mail these days, we bet you get a ton of the same thing on email. Same with many landing pages on the web, a lot of which use the sales letter format as their text body.

Sales letters work because they feel personal and intimate. Instead of being sold a product by a graphic and some text, you get a long and earnest (at least, the good ones feel that way) discussion of the benefits that using that product can give you. The length is also a great way to filter the buyers from the browsers — those who are in a position to take action on the spot are able to get all the information they need.

Other Direct Marketing Copy

While sales letters are the predominant example of direct marketing copy, writers do a similar style of marketing copy for other medium, including flyers (with a call to action at the end), print ads (e.g. “call 1-800-XXXX for more information”), magazine inserts, brochures, and sales landing pages (regardless of whether the user comes from search, Facebook, Adwords or some other place). Any copy that seeks to produce an action that’s measurable and quantifiable usually falls under this category.

Tips For Writing Direct Marketing Copy

Most experienced direct marketers will have dozens of tips for producing effective sales copy. If you compile them all together, in fact, you’ll likely end up with a list numbering in the hundreds. And that will likely be more confusing to newer copywriters than helpful. Here are some of what I’ve found to be most valuable:

• Sell one product at a time. Don’t undermine your own efforts by combining multiple sales pitches in a single copy. You want a clear and unified message, not a convoluted one. Anything more can end up confusing the reader, rather than selling them.
• Write to one person, rather than a group. Picture a single prospect in your mind (the ideal prospect), rather than writing to a group of people. Doing so compels you to write in a more personal and intimate manner. As a result, the text feels more like a real conversation than a sales pitch.
• Write in the second person, addressing the prospect as “you.” Again, this creates the impression of being more intimate — like a friend talking to a friend, rather than a chunk of text produced by some obscure copywriter trying to get you to buy stuff.
• Put your biggest selling point on the headline. If you’re using a headline, might as well make it pay off by putting your biggest selling point on it. This could be your most compelling benefit, your most attractive offer or the most interesting feature of your product. Either way, it’s what you believe will appeal to most of your prospects, so showcase it.
• Focus on the benefits. You can write about any product or service in one of two ways: by discussing its features or by discussing its benefits. The former is great for detailing information, but it does nothing to convince people to buy. The latter, on the other hand, shows how a product or service can enhance your life, making it a better fit for any type of marketing material. If you want to talk about your product’s features, use them in support of the benefits, not the main thread of the conversation.
• Get to the key points right away. Sales copy doesn’t require any warm-ups. Unlike short stories or some types of features, marketing text doesn’t require an elaborate set-up. So get to the key points right away, saving the reader from the hassle of wading through piles of material before figuring out what you really want to say.
• Don’t tease the reader. You may think teasing the reader with a suspenseful cliffhanger is cute for drama, but those techniques tend to backfire more often than help the sale. Even with longer copy (as is the case with sales letters), it’s best to steer clear of them.
• Don’t assume a hostile reader. If you’re selling a pair of Nike shoes, don’t go in writing a pitch for people who don’t like Nike. Chances are, those people will never even look at a Nike ad. Use your time wisely and write for folks who will be into your product, instead. Leave the whole “converting the non-believers” to the mindshare advertisers. Focus on those that you have a good chance of selling to.
• Write like a newspaper reporter. That is, use simple words (choose common over esoteric), short paragraphs (even one-sentence paragraphs are acceptable for effect), and a straightforward message. No need to dress up your message with creative instruments. It can help, but it’s not necessary.
• Always close with a call to action. Make it a strong command using active language that suggests urgency (“call,” “buy”, “now,” “immediately”), one that motivates and drives readers to take the next step. An effective call to action outlines the exact steps the reader has to do. The more hoops they have to go through, the less effective your call to action is going to be.
• For sales letters, use a postscript (P.S.) always. It almost always gets read because it literally draws attention. You can use it to highlight a benefit, add a special offer, or just offer a quick summary for the reader’s benefit.

Simply put, writing better when communicating both internally within a company and to outside parties creates a stronger, more professional image, both for you and the organization you represent. As such, it’s something you should always look towards improving at. Here are a few things you can keep doing to facilitate better writing in your organization.

• Give the reader a reason to read. If you’re emailing subordinates, they’ll almost always check your email. Other people, however, may not be as welcoming. When emailing people who don’t really need to read your emails to keep their job, give them a reason to click and read through by using a descriptive title and labeling your email appropriately (e.g. “Important”).
• Focus on benefits. Harping on the benefits isn’t just a tactic for copywriters. It’s something all professionals should incorporate in their business writing efforts. Writing from the point of view of how you can help the reader is always good practice, especially in business, where most communication is intended to facilitate some form of transaction.
• Match your audience. Tailor your writing style and presentation format to match what your target readers prefer. Doing so will increase the chances of your writing being read and understood. Even if you think you have a better approach, communication will be best served when you match the reader — and that’s the whole point of improving your writing, after all.
• Be specific. Too many business writing is done with a deliberately opaque message. Don’t add to the mess. Write in a specific manner, addressing tangible concerns and proposing detailed solutions.
• Follow the news story structure. That is, put all the important information as early as you can. For emails, this will be the first paragraph. That way, readers who may be in a hurry can get a quick gist while staying completely above the fold.
• List key points. For longer pieces of writing, such as reports, consider listing key points in the beginning of the document. Start off each list item with an action verb to make the thought clearer.
• Use scan-friendly layouts. Like web content, email will be read off a computer screen, so follow web-friendly structures with your formatting. That includes: using short paragraphs, writing lists as bullet points, using headers and adding summaries whenever appropriate.
• Use a respectful but self-assured tone. The one thing that’s never missing from a professional document is a respectful tone — one that neither condescends, brags nor berates. Don’t go overboard, though. You want to project confidence while remaining respectful.

Writing a business case study? Here are a few things to do to help ensure you make genuinely helpful ones that can really show prospects how their issues can be addressed.

1. Identify all issues clearly. You want to go over the issues that the case subject is having. More importantly, though, you want to treat the issues in relation to the problems your readers face. Write in a way that empathizes with their situations and sound sincere in your desire to present a solution.

2. Share your organization’s values. Prospects like to know about the companies they’re going into business with. And with case studies, the most important to readers will your organization’s values — that is, the values that underpin what you do. Ditch the corporate double talk and share a tangible experience, if you can.

3. Write in plain English. Technical business documents can degenerate into unintelligible showcases of buzzwords and jargon very fast. The best way to avoid that is to resolve to write in plain language from the onset.

4. Provide examples. Show real-world examples and instances of the solutions you are proposing. Prospects don’t just want to know what results they will get from your product or service — they often want as much detail about how you will do the job of helping them.

5. Use references that the reader can relate to. When doing examples, analogies and similar referential writing, use ones that the target reader can identify with and understand. Anything that requires them to do their own research isn’t helping turn prospects into customers.

6. Even if your case study is intended for the web, avoid tweaking too much for SEO. There’s a right way to do SEO-friendly web content. Often, though, they’ll get in the way of producing a genuinely helpful document. Make SEO a secondary priority to actually producing a good case study.

7. Insert quotes from key individuals. Quotes are wisely used in case studies as a form of testimonial from past clients, especially if they’re from people that matter in those organizations. Try to blend them into the narrative, so they feel more like a part of the actual study, rather than some random praise you’ve picked out from a scratch file.

8. Show continuity. Novices end their case studies with the implementation and the immediate results it brings. Most prospects, though, would like to know well beyond that. Talk about the long-term effects of the solution, your current relationship with that client and other post-implementation factors that show your commitment and reliability down the line.

When writing in behalf of a company, whether you’re doing a sales letter, a promotional email or a newsletter article, you want to consider how to

properly incorporate the brand into the piece. We don’t mean spamming your own text by repeatedly inserting the name of the company or product you’re writing for. Instead, we’re talking about ensuring that the writing reflects the personality and image that the brand is pushing.

The brand identity is something companies invest heavily on. Everything from their logo to their advertising to their public relations are geared towards building up that identity. Truth be told, companies spend a huge lot of money establishing a certain image, so the least you can do is work to maintain it when you write anything in the company’s behalf.

For instance, you’re writing a promotional feature for a software company whose brand is marketed as fun, creative and playful. As such, you want to reflect the same in the voice, tone and overall style of your piece. You can’t write something that’s more somber than fun, as it will go against what fans of the brand have been familiar with. Similarly, it’s not a good idea to write in the tone of an older person advising someone younger. Even if the approach is valid for the subject matter, it’s likely to come across as condescending to a customer base who’s expecting “playful and fun.”

Pick a famous brand and you’ll see their image reflected in almost everything they do. While I’m not privy to Google’s internal marketing machinations, they’ve always struck me as a brand that’s smart and progressive. Everything they do seems to reflect the same, even the writing on their product blogs and releases. Look at a luxury brand, like one of those high-end watchmakers from Sweden, and you will see how their press releases and advertising are carefully crafted to suggest wealth and means, rather than practicality or comfort.

As a writer, it’s your job to conform to whatever needs the brand requires. If you’re working for a law firm who presents themselves as stern and no-nonsense, your copy must reflect that. Same when you find yourself working for a toymaker who thrives on curiosity and wonder. Before even planning what to do with your copy, you need to sort the brand out, as it will dictate a lot of what you can and cannot do in your writing.

At almost every workplace I’ve been in, verbosity is always one of the most prevalent problems among internally circulated documents.   For some reason, there’s a propensity for people to use too many words when writing at work, as if their work performance depended on how many words they can cram into each paragraph.

The good news is, it isn’t that hard to improve conciseness in your workplace documents.  Here are a few things you should look into implementing to make it happen:

1. Start from the top.  Organizations tend to be run like a “follow the leader” type deal.  If the bosses write a certain way, those under them will usually write the same way, mimicking how they form their sentences and paragraphs in order to foster rapport.  The only way to make an office-wide reform work is if it starts at the top.
2. Avoid trying to sound authoritative. There’s too much of that going around in offices, it’s like a flu.  Instead of actually being authoritative, the text end up sounding stiff and, often, filled with too much fluff designed to establish the writer’s authority.
3. Avoid chatty language.  Get to the point. Keep the gossip and personal talk for the water cooler.  Stay on business matters when writing business emails.
4. Use a grammar software.  Modern writing software come with plenty of features that allow you to really trim down writing into a tight bundle.   Take advantage of it.
5. Review your documents. Any time you write something, review it and assess whether it’s possible to word it in a shorter and more concise manner.    Too many times, office documents gets passed around in its first draft form.  Taking an extra couple of minutes to go over them can make a huge difference.

Just as you’re told to know your audience when you write, you need to get to know your customer when you’re doing copywriting work.   In fact, it’s probably even more important, since you’re trying to do something other types of writing aren’t doing: trying to part your reader with their money.

Before you even begin planning about what to write, make sure to create a profile of your prospects.

• Describe them in seven words or less  (e.g. working moms with kids under 5; twenty-something bachelors with office jobs)
• What is their income range?
• What kinds of sales materials are they more likely to care about?  (long-format, short-format, humorous bent)

From there, write your copy keeping in mind the things that those customers will best respond to.   Tailor everything for that audience — your choice of words, the kinds of benefits you promote, the kinds of incentives you offer and your call to action, among other things.

Once you’ve written your copy, test.  You can do a local test among people you know who fit the demographic or spend a few dollars testing on Adwords targeting the same demographic.   After that, tweak depending on the feedback you gather from the test before rolling out a final version.

You don’t have to work in a cubicle to perform business writing duties.  Freelancers engage in commissioned business writing all the time.  In fact, the more business-oriented the writing job, the bigger the money you can usually make.

What kinds of business writing opportunities can a freelancer expect?

Company web sites.  Those web sites need content and they usually look to outside help for that.  If you can supplement your writing with basic web skills (e.g. using WordPress or Joomla, some PHP), you might find even more opportunities.

Newsletters.  Almost every business of a moderate size will have an internal newsletter.   Those who deal directly with end-consumers might even have subscription newsletters for their customers.    While some companies will employ a full-time writer for that, many do rely on freelancers for the job.

Marketing materials. Brochures, flyers and other marketing materials need to be written by someone.  Oftentimes, it’s done by someone outside the organization, unless the business revolves around writing those marketing materials themselves.

Internal documents.  Many companies are in need of people who can sort out, update and otherwise improve their internal documents, such as employee manuals and training guides.   Whenever you meet with any business for potential opportunities, always bring this up — these documents often get put in the backburner until somebody reminds them.

Over the years, I’ve heard many people confuse copywriting with business writing.  While copywriting may be considered as one of the many types of writing they do in business, they’re not the same.

Throw Out The Rules

In many ways, copywriting throws out the rules for business writing out the window.  Sometimes, it even spits on the rule book on the way out.  While copywriting output still needs to adhere to some basic grammar principles, it’s not the priority: the focus is always on producing inviting copy that sells.

Sell, Sell, Sell

Business writing can be about many things.  Everything that’s done in copywriting often boils down to one thing: making the sale.  Whether that’s getting a prospect to turn in a coupon or sticking a catchphrase in a reader’s mind, copywriting concerns itself with selling, regardless of whether it’s a product or an idea about that product.

Copywriting Skills

The skills required in copywriting are more specialized than in business writing.  You can’t just write clearly and concisely.  Instead, your writing has to catch attention, establish credibility and distinguish a product, instead of merely conveying information.  Copywriting is about marketing and advertising — hence, the writer’s need to be attuned to the finer points that make words effective in both.

Press releases are great marketing instruments for a lot of products, including books and informational material.  If you’re writing a press release for those, here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Write an attention-grabbing headline.  Editors and journalists get too many press releases.  The more arresting your headline, the better the chances that you’ll get their attention.
2. Answer all the journalistic questions within the first two paragraphs.  Make sure to introduce all the pertinent facts (5Ws and 1H) in the first two paragraphs.  That way, editors who want to write about or reprint the release need not dig deeper to find the quick answers.
3. Use tight, snappy copy.  Think of a press release as a news story.  You want it short, tight and concise.
4. Talk about a need, problem or issue that the book can help solve.  Press releases are intended for promotion, so don’t forget to discuss how the book can potentially benefit its readers.
5. Include the author’s credentials.  Don’t go over one paragraph, but include enough so that editors can have sufficient background information about the author.
6. Include purchase information.   You want people to know how they can buy the book, right?
7. List book information in a block.  Put this either in the beginning or the end.  Include the title, subtitles, ISBN, LCCN, number of pages, publication date and any other pertinent detail.

If you’re going to apply for a job via email, you want to include a cover letter with your application.  Unless the job is something you were specifically recruited or recommended for, this could be your best chance at making an impressions apart from your actual resume.

Here are some tips to help you do it right:

1. Give yourself time.  Allot some amount of time to writing the cover letter.  Too many people treat their cover letters with little importance.  Not you, though.  Instead, you’ll allow yourself room to create a first draft, review, revise, and polish.
2. Demonstrate your knowledge of the company.  Show them you’ve done your homework by giving the reasons why you’re interested in working for this particular company.
3. Demonstrate your knowledge of the available position.  Serious applicants will actually research what the position they’re applying for is about.  Show them you’ve done this in your cover letter.
4. Sell yourself.  The cover letter is a persuasive piece of writing.  Instead of selling them on a product or a point of view, though, you’re convincing the reader that you’re the person for the job.   Approach it like so.
5. Proofread.  At the very least, use a grammar checker.   Poor writing mechanics just send a negative message to people you’re trying to win over.