Maine Creative Services

In the latest issue of his Direct Response Newsletter, copywriter Bob Bly quotes the late Ray Jutkins, a great marketing teacher, as saying one of the best ways to convert a lead into a client is with a personal letter. Write it in a warm and friendly manner, be thorough in your reply, and get it back to them quickly.

Here are Jutkins’ five rules for more effective follow-up:

1. Answer every inquiry, no matter how “bad” it may
seem. You never know who may buy from you tomorrow,
even though today they may not.

2. When you answer, make it with a personal letter. A
letter will improve your response.

3. No matter what you send in response — do it
quickly. Take no longer than 48 hours … sooner if
possible.

4. Be warm and friendly. Write your answer and present
your message as if you care. You do, so express that
caring.

5. Reply completely and fully. Do not tease. Give your
prospect what you promised you would. Give them what
they expect.

Once again, the experts agree: good commiunications skills are the key to $ucce$$.

Subscribe to Bob’s newsletter here.

Writing good copy is tough. So when the words finally start flowing, you don’t want to blow it by having to stop and look up last year’s 3rd quarter sales revenues, or to look up another word for “appealing.”

Instead, just keep writing, but leave yourself a signal. A marker. A reminder that you need to go back and fill in that information later.

What kind of signal or marker? You pick it. It can be anything — except a word, of course. I often use a string of asterisks, like this: *****

Then later, when the fever of composing has cooled, I can mop my brow, go back, hit the old Ctrl+F (the keyboard shortcut for “Find”) and quickly locate every instance of *** Voila! Editing made simple. OK, simpler.

Try it next time you’re on a roll. You’ll be editing like the pros when you do.

A great tug of war is going on. On the one end of the rope is website content that’s written specifically to attract search engines. At the other end is the kind of writing that just might tickle the human eye, ear and mind.

Too many times, so-called search engine optimization (SEO) copy ends up sounding like it was spewed from a whirring Cuisinart and read by a synthesized robotic voice. Word “processing,” so to speak. Most humans prefer… well, a more human touch.

The best solution, as in most things, is somewhere in the middle. Write the absolute best copy you can. Paint a picture for the reader. Show him how his (or her) life is going to be better by buying what you’re selling. Describe and distinguish your product or service from the competition.

But… at the same time, be aware of what Google and the other search engines are looking for when their spiders come trolling your Web site. In your copy, throw them a few crumbs. No, more than a few crumbs. Dish them up a nice hot plate of tasty keywords. Ahh, now that’s good eating.

I agree with Dan Skeen who says, “There is a middle ground where you can produce good copy that is a pleasure to read (and prompts the desired response at a high rate) and also indexes well with the search engines.”

To steal — er, I mean, paraphrase a few of Dan’s fine suggestions:

• Target one or two keyword phrases per page
• Join multiple keywords into phrases, if appropriate
  
• For links, try to use text that integrates your chosen keywords. At the very least, for God’s sake, stop using “Click here” as your link text.

If you’re writing copy for your company’s Web site — or working with a copywriter who is — you should (both) check out Dan’s article at Marketing Profs. It’s definitely worth your time.

“I try to tell the news in the language the people in this country speak.” (Imus in the Morning, 4/4/06)

First, notice he said tell, not read, announce or pronounce. And he does it, he says, in the common language of the average person.

That’s what I always encourage clients to do. Your ads and marketing communications materials should be written using what I call “shirtsleeve English.” That’s the kind of language that flows easily out of our mouths and into the brains of potential clients and customers. They don’t have to stop and puzzle out the big fancy words, and translate them in their heads, to understand what we mean.

Take it from Bob Schieffer: a class act, a superb communicator and a helluva nice guy. (No, I don’t know him. But you can tell.)

Seth pretty much nails it again:

The first goal of copy is to get you to read more copy.
The second goal is to tell a story that spreads.
And then, finally, to have that story get people to take action.

Of course, if we could somehow skip directly to step 3, it would save copywriters like me a lot of work.

That’s good insight, but it’s not what I wanted to focus on. This is:

The worst thing you can do is be boring and vague.
The second worst thing you can do is be boring and verbose and obvious.

Amen! In other words, give your readers a little credit. They’re not complete idiots. They get it. They can fill in the blanks. Thanks, Seth.

Yeah — YOURS is irritating, but MINE is invaluable, according to a new poll.

Almost nine out ten people polled complain that others are sometimes annoying when they’re gabbing on their mobiles. But fewer than one in ten (about 8 percent) admit they’re ever rude themselves.

Mobile phones are invaluable communications tools. One day, hopefully, we’ll all learn how to be cool when using them. After all, your freedom to swing your fist ends about an inch away from my nose.

Why is your inbox still flooded with spam? There can only be one reason: Because enough people still respond and buy what they’re selling to make it financially worthwhile.

Want to end spam permanently? It’s simple. Don’t EVER buy ANYTHING from ANYONE who sends you a spam e-mail. And tell everyone you know — especially the newbies who don’t always “get it” — to do the same. ‘Nuff said.

Just say no. If we all did, spam would quickly dry up and blow away. End of problem.

Responsible companies don’t spam. If you’re tempted to, think of the wrath that will rain down on you like a shitstorm. It just ain’t worth it, friend.