List, Offer, Copy

Posted on January 27th, 2009 by Larry Chase

When doing a mailing online or offline, the most important decision you will make is the selection of which list you will mail to. This is because you’re selecting the audience to which you’ll be making your offer, which is the next most important decision you’ll make.
Your offer must be clear and show obvious value, way beyond the money you are asking for. You can be in front of the right audience and lose them if you don’t fashion your offer in such a way as to immediately cause the reader to act. Make the offer so good that it hurts more not to act than to act by accepting that offer.
Your copy must “talk” to the reader, not at her. If the offer is great, but the copy sucks, you may be OK, but you could do so much better if the copy addresses the reader directly and succinctly. Test your sales letter copy by having a colleague read it. If they praise your prose, it’s a bad thing. If they must have what you’re selling, that’s a good thing. Copy should sell the product, not itself. LC

The Internet Marketing Tip above originally appeared in Larry Chase's Web Digest For Marketers which you can subscribe to at no charge at www.wdfm.com.