Comments on: The Illustrated Sales Letter

By: Pete Godfrey

Pete Godfrey — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 03:47:13 +0000

Chris even though I wasn’t there to hear Mal, I know him well, and can probably guess what he was meaning. What Mal meant was most business owners do not do direct response and most of their ads are boring brand ads with no headlines, no offers, no urgency.

As for sales letters, test everything. Pictures can BOOST response in ads and letters. The thing is to test.

The important thing is to put Direct Response Marketing into your business. Trust this clears it up.

By: Chris Wilkinson

Chris Wilkinson — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 07:50:22 +0000

Hi I recently went to Mal Emery’s seminar and he said to do the opposite of what your competitor was doing. If people are sending illustrated letters, should I not put pictures in my letters, or should I not send letters, trying hard but really confused..

By: Chantelle Mader

Chantelle Mader — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:39:20 +0000

Of course, the best pictures are those showing the benefits the product brings or, at the very least, the product in use…

Happy people in the photos are critical… this also has the added benefit of giving buyers a better idea of the physical size of your product too.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:56:21 +0000

Any hints where to find Ted Thomas’ sales letters for my swipe file? Thanks

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:38:13 +0000

Being new – totally to copy writing, only having been the customer till now, this resonates with me. I would always scan the pictures and illustrations first to see if the text was worth reading! Shallow but true. Am really enjoying your information, please keep it coming.

many thanks

By: Tom Caraccio

Tom Caraccio — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:53:41 +0000

Too right Pete they make the letter exciting also when used right, it adds to the stimulation you’re trying to create in your reader… and Dean and Brets work is great they really know how to take the sales letter to a whole new level.

Cant wait for Inner Sanctum in Sydney next week… Another shock to system of marketing gold nuggets that I’m sure we will get and it will be great to catch up for a drink also.

Take care mate

By: Lisa Wood

Lisa Wood — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:24:36 +0000

Great blog…will be bookmarking this one so I can keep updated with a great copywriter.
Cheers
Lisa

By: Pete Godfrey

Pete Godfrey — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:56:43 +0000

Judd, that’s right. Break the report up with pictures… if including pictures of cars make sure you include people in the photos as well.

Now, we’ve all heard of Kennedy’s “message to market match” right? That is, match your message and language to the market. Some copywriters say “write like you speak”… however, I prefer “write as your market speaks.” Much better.

But you’ve also got to match the packaging to the market as well. An 8 page sales letter stapled in the top left hand corner, mailed in a DL envelope so it’s folded in three, may work to the Business Opportunity crowd but not to a corporate prospect.

A website with multiple red headlines, multiple exclamation marks, and so much yellow highlighter that you think you’re stuck in Big Bird’s Playpen, may work for the “money while you sleep” crowd but won’t cut it to a more intelligent, sophisticated buyer.

The lesson

: It’s important we all keep in mind who is reading our letters, who our market really is… and then you match your message and the look of the message to the market.
That’s where the money is

By: Judd Leverton

Judd Leverton — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:41:54 +0000

Thanks for the tip Pete. When I sit down to write the Free Report for my mechanic (changing focus of his core business after 15 years twirling spanners to fix cars) I’ll ensure I include the above advice. The targeted reader is use to reading magazines with lots of pictures (being performance car related), so utilizing an illustrated sales letter will create a sense of familiarity, and the more of that we can create the less they are guarded and more open to what you have to say.