A strong sales letter can be one the best tools that you use to increase your non-dues revenue. Whenever I try to explain the value of a good sales letter, inevitably I get asked how to write one or if I can provide a sample. The sample below is a sales letter used to increase advertising in an Association Newsletter. The goal in this sales letter is to find something that most Association members (businesses) are frustrated about, make them even more frustrated, then offer a viable and valuable solution. This is just one example of a sales letter that actually “sells not tells”. This is called a “long” sales letter and designed to give the reader all of the information they need to make a good decision. Remember, not everyone will read the entire letter, but the ones that really want to increase the results from their marketing investment and are frustrated with their current results will! You only need a few responses to make sending it worthwhile. I know that your sales letter will be different than this one depending on the offer and who you are presenting it to. One of my goals in having you read this letter is to remind you just how valuable membership in your Association is. Feel free to email me your comments and suggestions.
Here is a sales letter in it’s entirety:
“I know that half of the money I spend on advertising and marketing is wasted…I just wish I knew which half!”
Attention Association Members:
Here is a Three Step Process you can use to help make Smart and Valuable Advertising and Marketing Decisions.
Ever had that thought? You aren’t alone. Read this letter if you want to have an easy three – step test for all of your advertising and marketing. It’s pretty simple but amazingly important!
Here is quite possibly one of the best ways to increase your bottom line by getting more results from your marketing and not wasting money on ineffective methods or media!
If you are tired and frustrated by trying to decide how to get your products and services in front of the right people at the right time you are not alone. Every day hundreds of local business owners try to figure out if the money they are spending on advertising is working for them. Three of the biggest challenges they face are deciding on a message, finding the right market and choosing the media to use to reach that market.
1.) First let’s talk about the message – The message you use in your marketing needs to be your USP (Unique Selling Proposition).
What is the one thing that sets your business apart from your competition? Is it your experience, special pricing, huge selection, 24 hour service…think about it.
If you and three of your competitors were sitting across the table from a potential customer or client and they asked why they should choose your company instead of your competitors how would you answer?
Your USP should be clear, easy to understand and included in every marketing or advertising tool you use. If you don’t know what your USP is and have trouble figuring it out just call a few of your best customers or clients and ask why they choose you…you’ll be surprised at their answers, but there is usually one thing that stands out…it could just be your USP!
2.) The next thing that has to be considered is who is the right market for your message. You could have the perfect message but if you get it to the wrong market you will have wasted your money, time and energy.
You can have the best, cheapest, most unique product or service but if you continually present it to the wrong market your results will be dismal.
Who is most likely to buy what you sell? Who influences other peoples buying decisions and could send potential customers to you. Most businesses spend 100’s or 1,000’s of dollars every month sending the perfect message to the wrong market or sending the completely wrong message to the perfect market. If you don’t figure this out you will waste huge amounts of money over the years and never get the results you could.
Figure out your message and identify the right market…and one more thing!
3.) If you have the right message, have identified the right market there is one more thing you need to really pay attention to…the tool (media) you use to reach them. Media could be newspaper, radio, television, direct mail, posters, billboards, fax, email or literally any of hundreds of other choices.
One of the biggest ways to waste your money is to have a great message, a perfect audience and choose completely the wrong media to get the word out.
How many times a day are you exposed to meaningless messages, clearly meant for some one else so you completely ignore them? Find out what your target market reads, where they live, who they spend time with, what they watch, what they listen to and then choose a media that reaches them…it’s not rocket science but most businesses rarely take the time to do the homework to make good, informed decisions when it comes to choosing the right media to get their message to the perfect market!
MESSAGE! MARKET! MEDIA!