Welcome to Compositions, James DeKoven's column about brand communications. This time around:
-- Your Own Liner Notes
-- The Most Important Questions
-- Informative Offers vs. Pushy Offers
-- Easy Sales Leads
-- Album of the Month

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Your Own Liner Notes
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Other than the actual music, the best thing about old jazz records were the liner notes on the back cover. With their eloquent narratives, music critics precisely conveyed not only how an album would sound, but also how it would make you feel.

Those notes were marketing writing at its best. Record company executives knew that persuasive copy on the back cover could directly increase album sales.

Your marketing materials should produce the same effect. Trouble is, instead of specifics, some writers rely on general statements and puffy words. Please tell me, what does "Great" really mean? What about "Superior", or the three-headed "Flexible/Scalable/Paradigm Shift" monster made infamous during the dot com boom?

Adjective-heavy copy occurs when you have a vague strategy. And when you don't know your true intention, neither will your prospects.

Drill down and find the root benefit of your offering. For example:

Wrong: "We have an exciting offer for you."
Better: "Save up to 30% on your annual office supply expenses."
Wrong: "We improve team performance by getting people more engaged in their work."
Better: "Our process allows teams to accomplish twice as much in half the time."

Tell prospects exactly what they'll get. After the purchase, how will they feel? What are the tangible and emotional benefits of your product or service? And so on.

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The Most Important Questions
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Persuasive copy sprouts from probing questions. And over the past 15 years, I've found the questions below to be the most helpful of my arsenal.

1.What are your product's/service's key benefits?
2.What is the most important benefit?
3.What problem(s) do you solve?
4.What qualities do people typically seek from your industry category?
5.What is the key decision maker's criterion?
6.What objections/fears do potential customers have about your company/ product/service?
7.How can you overcome those objections?
8.How can you establish credibility?
9.What is your objective: to generate sales leads, produce orders, build branding, enhance company image, reposition the company?
10.How can people identify themselves with needing your product/service?
11.What is the end-result of your product/service?
12.Where is the reader in the sales cycle?
13.What does your audience know about you?
14.What does your audience know about your industry?
15.How can they believe your message?
16.What is the call to action?

The consulting portion of my service can include over 50 questions. I'd be happy to share all of them with you. Call me at 415.885.1805 to request a copy.

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Informative vs. Pushy Offers
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Direct mail success is all about the offer. But what type of offer should you choose? Before you answer that question, you need to understand your prospects, which can be broken down into four categories:

Highly Qualified Leads: they're ready to write a check.
Interested: interested but don't have the budget.
Not Aware: they don't know a solution to their problem exists.
Blind: they don't even recognize they have a problem.

Obviously, everyone wants the qualified leads, but generating them takes considerable time and money, which brings us back to the initial question: what type of offer should you choose?

Use an Educational Offer instead of a Pushy Offer.

An Educational Offer might be a report, a white paper, an article, or even a one-hour consultation. These offers give qualified leads valuable advice toward solving their problem. They also subtly imply, "By the way, we can do the solving for you."

Pushy Offers are pushy. They push prospects to order a demo or product trial. They push to "take advantage" of a really big discount. These offers aren't bad in themselves; actually, they can produce a high response rate when paired with the right product.

But since Pushy Offers don't appeal to prospects that aren't aware of the problem, you miss out on a good chunk of future customers.

Educational Offers appeal most to the qualified leads, but they also appeal to other prospects (everyone appreciates valuable information). You increase overall response rates, lower the cost per sale, and add more prospects to the sales pipeline.

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Easy Sales Leads
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Inc. Magazine recently ran an online poll where they asked, "What has been your best source for sales leads?" 41%, by far the biggest slice of the pie, answered "family and friends."

Hey, I'm the first one to preach about the importance of persuasive written materials, but don't overlook your built-in, volunteer marketing team. A lot of qualified leads are there just for the asking.

Funny. We have close relationships with cousins, uncles, and friends. We discuss our dreams and goals, but sometimes they don't even know how we spend our days. Kind of pathetic, huh? Don't be afraid to tell them what you do - and how they can help you do it more profitably.

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Album of the Month
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Beata, a friend and fellow music junkie, gave me this one for the holidays. It's "Peace: Live at the Blue Note", by the Kenny Werner Trio. It's a contemplative yet energizing set from one of today's most accomplished pianists. Did you make a resolution to invigorate your workspace? Start by getting this album and a few plants.


Until next time,

James