When it comes to creating strong marketing campaign letters, it's an art form.
Consider this:
You are walking into your office, finding a mess of papers falling out of your fax machine, scattered across your floor. You sigh and shake your head at the daily flood of ridiculous offers for time-shares and bogus promotions. Right into the recycling bin they go, without even a second glance.
"How many trees is that for this week?" you wonder.
Though you've tried contacting these companies to please stop sending this crap, you still receive them. You recognize the duplicate offers but notice that the companies are being sneaky by changing their corporate name.
"What a waste of paper and ink," you mutter to yourself.
As you sit at your desk, an email pops up from your manager, asking how the next fax marketing campaign letters is shaping up. You shake your head in disgust, with your thoughts drifting towards your overflowing recycling bin.
You think, "What in the world am I going to do?" Clearly, you don't want to waste your efforts on a campaign that immediately ends up in a bin or even worse, reincarnated into another annoying fax offer.
So, how can you change your fax marketing campaign letters so that your next campaign doesn't end up in the trash?
Change your content and look to charities for inspiration.
Borrow This Great Idea from Charities: The One Sentence Strategy
Have you ever wondered how struggling non-profits raise an incredible amount of money for their next project? They use simple, yet extremely effective tactics.
In any given letter or plea, a successful fundraiser knows how to draw the readers' eye to the point and elicit emotion.
Say your drafting a sales letter that's to be faxed out to your top customers. In that letter, the wording of your pitch really doesn't matter. But what does is the way you lay it out.
Amazing fundraisers use this timeworn trick: they cut to the quick of their push by bolding the most critical sentence. This lone sentence sums up the entire fundraising push. For example, "Donate $10 today, and you'll save one deserving family from hunger." See? Incredibly evocative and yet, it gets right to the point.
So, what does this mean for improving your content? Distilling your message down into a single sentence (no more!) is very tricky, and for those who have never done it before, it may take a couple of stabs.
Essentially, if you can't sum up your entire push in one sentence that means the rest of your content is scattered and unfocused.
Another trick to writing one of these important sentences is to write it first, even before launching into your letter. This trick will ensure that the remaining content is on point and directed.
Try this tip on your next sales letter and watch the response.
Borrow This Great Idea from Charities: Make a Connection
One of the most brilliant tactics that charities have perfected is the ability to elicit an emotional response from donors. They do this by establishing a connection.
How does this play into improving your fax marketing campaign letters?
Charities use an identical platform as you: the letter. By writing emotively, fundraisers are able to create a moral obligation to their cause and secure donations.
For marketers, use this idea to generate sales. Create a direct connection with your customers by writing content that underscores how your product will improve their business. And, always give a reason (or two!) for this justification.
How will your product enhance their business (or their lives)?
Borrow This Great Idea from Charities: Tell a Story
Several internationally recognized charities use a story to elicit donations. Instead of using a direct plea for money, they share a story about how their organization saved a life, planted a tree or built houses.
Some of the more effective stories are written from the point of view of the recipient, say a working mother of three who recently became a first-time homeowner. The beauty of this strategy is that these stories aren't perfect nor are they written professionally; these stories are written from the heart, grammatical flaws an all.
How does this play into improving your fax marketing campaign letters?
Easy!
Use customer testimonials. Often, the best tool a marketer has in their arsenal is the glowing review by a satisfied customer. These stories are from the heart and are written from your customers' point of view.
Try out these tips for your next fax marketing campaign and let us know what results you see.
