Entries Tagged 'Digital marketing' ↓

Is there a definitive template that will guarantee a successful sales letter?

No.

The only reason I say “no” is because there are far more factors that have to be taken into consideration when it comes to successful sales letters.

Yes, you can include all the elements that draw your reader in (I’ll talk more about that in a minute), but you must remember that there are external factors that could scupper your chances of a sale, including:

• Your audience
• How they’re feeling when they get your letter
• What you’re offering them
• When you send your letter

Now I’ve got that out the way, let’s take a look at the humble sales letter.

Once the bread and butter of your marketing department, they have been usurped by email marketing because it’s faster and cheaper. The problem is that now so many companies are doing email marketing, its effectiveness is being watered down. So, a well crafted letter could be more effective.

Earlier I mentioned there are certain elements in a sales letter that will draw your reader in. So, without further ado, here they are.

1. Powerful start

If you want someone to read your letter it has to grab them from the start.

Think carefully about your headline (if you’re using one), or first sentence. Either must tell the reader instantly why they should continue reading – that means outlining the main benefit you are offering.

Some companies will try to be clever and write something that’s so creative it completely misses the point. The best advice I can give is always go for clarity over creativity.

2. Problem/solution

There are lots of different ways to structure a sales letter, but the problem-solution approach is the most powerful.

Empathise with the reader and then show them how your product or service will get rid of their pain and enhance their life.

There’s no need for paragraphs of elaborate prose. Just get straight to the point.

3. Benefits

Always, always focus on the benefits not the features. The number of colours or sizes your widget comes in isn’t going to sell. The fact that it will make the reader the envy of their friends will.

4. Offer

Your audience would much rather accept your offer than buy from you any day.

Eh?

When you go to the opticians you don’t buy a pair of glasses, you go for the buy one get one free offer.

It’s the deal people want more than the price.

5. Guarantee

If someone is thinking about buying from you for the first time they will want to know that they can get their money back if they want to.

Providing a no quibble guarantee not only puts their mind at rest it also shows your confidence in your product or service.

6. What’s next?

Once your reader has stuck with you and got to the end of your letter they’ll want to know what to do next. That’s where your call to action comes in to play.

Make it as simple as possible to buy from you. Let them do it through email, over the phone, even snail mail (always include a stamped addressed envelope) and give clear instructions.

That’s as close to a sales letter template as you’ll get. Just remember by making sure you include each of these you’ll give your sales letter the best possible chance of success. Even though there are several factors you can’t anticipate, if the content of your letter is focused on the needs and wants of your audience you won’t go too far wrong.

It’s been a long hard slog, but finally it’s finished.

You’ve shown it to the Board and they love it, but will your audience?

Now the hard work begins. Now you have to make sure your investment brings in a healthy return.

Maximising your investment

It’s time to unleash your baby and send it out into the big bad world.

Your initial thoughts are probably to get it loaded up to YouTube, get it on your website and optimise it for SEO (search engine optimisation) to grab a bit of traffic.

That’s a good start, but there’s so much more you could be doing to get a better return on your investment.

Website

 Of course you’re going to use it on your website, but why only use it once?

Let’s say it’s a video demonstrating your new product. Don’t just hide it away on your product pages, put it on your home page too to highlight your latest offering.

It goes without saying you have a blog (how else will you build your brand identity?), so write an article about it and embed the video.

Here’s a thought, how about creating a resource section on your website? Over time it will become a useful resource where your customers can view all your videos to learn about your products and how they will help them.

Using the video widely across your website will generate traffic and boost your customer service levels because you’re taking the time to educate your customers.

Social media

Never underestimate the power of social media.

All the channels you use, such as YouTube, Vimeo Facebook and Twitter will push your video out to a wider audience. Create a number of tweets that focus on different aspects of the video and post them at different times of day. You could do the same on Facebook and, assuming you do your job well, your viewers will help you get your message out by sharing and re-tweeting.

When you’re posting your video its well worth taking the time to post different thumbnails and headlines to draw in different audiences.

Shows

Do you exhibit at a lot of trade shows and exhibitions?

They are so crowded it’s important to make your company stand out.

Showing your videos is a great way to draw people to you and creates a talking point. Whether they show your latest product, or an overview that explains what your company is about and what it does for its customers, a video will make an impact.

Of course, it’s worth remembering that it’s likely to be noisy so adding sub titles is a great idea.

Summary

Repurposing content in this way will extend its longevity and help get the information out to a range of audiences.

There’s a lot of potential in a corporate video if you use it wisely. Using it in multiple formats, using social media to spread the news and repurposing its content will make your investment go a long way.

Do you have any other ideas about how a corporate video can be used? I’d love to hear your ideas – the more inventive the better. Leave a comment below.

I don’t know about you, but I find digital marketing stats fascinating. They give a bird’s eye view on what’s happening in the digital arena, which can often prove enlightening offering inspiration to try new strategies in your own marketing.

This little round up come courtesy of a recent article I read in Econsultancy:

Tablets encourage older generations to go online

• The number of people aged 65 and over accessing the internet has risen by more than a quarter in the past year, according to the latest Ofcom Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes Report 2014.
• The proportion of people aged over 65 that are accessing the internet reached 42% in 2013, a 9% rise from 33% in 2012.
• One major reason for this is an increase in the use of tablet computers by older people aged 65-74. In just one year, the number of older people using tablets has increased from 5% in 2012 to 17% in 2013.
• These findings come from a survey of 2,674 adults aged 16+.

Uncluttered sites aid ad recall

• An eye-tracking study by Adblock Plus has found that ads on clean, uncluttered sites are far more likely to be effective.
• Similarly, static ads are much easier to understand and far more positively received than flashy animated ones.
• Participants spent 30% more time looking at ads on the ‘clean’ test sites, and were able to recall ads on these straightforward sites 64% of the time, a 36% improvement compared to the cluttered sites.

Twitter use varies for SMEs vs. big business

• A survey of just over 100 marketers by SocialBro found that 57% of respondents are spending at least 50% more on Twitter marketing compared with two years ago, with 15% of respondents stating that their spending has tripled.
• While the majority of SMEs (up to 200 employees) rated brand building as their key reason for using Twitter with lead generation in second place, bigger companies with 500+ employees were much more likely to list acquiring new customers as a top priority along with building relationships with influencers.

UK adspend predicted to hit £20bn by 2015

• According to the latest quarterly Expenditure Report from the Advertising Association and Warc, UK adspend reached £17.88bn in 2013, up 3.9% year-on-year. It is predicted to rise by 5.5% in 2014 and by a further 6.5% in 2015.
• Mobile adspend is predicted to continue to grow rapidly after increasing by 95.2% to just over £1bn in 2013 (within total internet adspend of £6.3bn) and is expected to rise by 73% in 2014 and by 45.5% in 2015.

4G drives higher mobile shopping?

• More than two thirds (68%) of 4G users feel that faster access to the internet encourages them to make more purchases from their smartphone, according to a survey by eDigitalResearch and IMRG.
• Similarly, more than half (54%) of 4G users surveyed have shopped online from their mobile compared to just under a third (32%) of non-4G smartphone owners.
• And 70% of 4G users have browsed retail websites from their mobile, compared to under half (48%) of non-4G users who have done the same.

• However it’s important to note that there is no evidence of a causality between 4G access and higher use of m-commerce.

Facebook comes top for mobile referrals

• Data from Quantcast shows that Facebook accounts for a quarter (24%) of mobile referrals to top news and entertainment publishers.
• In contrast Twitter accounts for 7% and Pinterest just 2%.
• Quantcast looked at referral traffic for the top 250 publishers over the past year.

Author – Sally Ormond, Briar Copywriting Ltd