We have done posts in the past listing traditional marketing methods that still get great results. Direct mail is one of those things, and it’s a surprisingly effective way to reach customers. Today, we’re going to talk about a few tricks of the trade that you can use when writing your copy that will make for an effective piece that gets attention. Let’s make it rain all day!

 Make it easy for the reader

Think of what you do when you get a postcard or flyer in the mail. Do you sit down and read the entire thing thoroughly?  If you’re like most people, you skim it to see if it’s something you care about. If you don’t see anything of interest, into the recycling bin it goes!  You don’t want that to happen to the pieces you send out, so you’ve got to produce something that’s easy to skim. You can do that in several ways:

• Keep paragraphs very short
• Use simple sentences
• Choose to use bullet points whenever possible
• Put key words, phrases and subheads in bold to help guide the reader through the piece.

Visuals are your friend

Folks today are very visually oriented. They like to see what you’re talking about as well as read about it. Include graphics or images that help people understand and visualize what you’re offering.

You can also create a visual with words as well. When writing, think from the customer’s perspective. Talk about how what you’re offering will improve their lives and help them visualize being happier because you helped them solve a problem.

Tell your story

Storytelling is a fantastic tool to use, but your story has to be great to keep people interested. One way to do that is to tell a story about someone you’ve helped. We recently created an ad that told a success story in just a few words: “Thanks to this loan program, we were able to expand our business and keep our bottom line healthy!”  In just a few words, we were able to fit in testimony from a happy customer that got the point across and gave the reader someone to identify with. The next logical step is that the reader will consider using your product or service too.

Mark a trail

People need to be compelled to keep going through your piece, so you need to find a way to keep them interested in what’s coming next. We like to use subheads to help us do that. They act like trail markers that lead the reader through your piece. Even if they’re just skimming, they’ll have an idea what it’s about and will either go back and read it all or, at the very least, know a little about what you’re saying.

By keeping a piece easy to read, using visuals, telling stories and marking a trail you can make sure you’re sending out a well organized, engaging and high quality piece of direct mail that will motivate your customers to buy.