Advice on advertisment mailers

[CC stole my Harte]

Just wondered if any of you had pointers on how to word an advetisment mailer. I've compiled a nice list of businesses around the country that would be interested in the listing service on my website. I have written a rough draft of what I want it to say but since I don't know the marketing end (That's next semester!) I would appreciate some pointers!

Thanks!

[versas]

Instead of telling what to write, I'll tel you how to structure your mailer.

Keep it short, but not too short.

Write in paragraphs and bullets.
- Internet browsers are impatient people, and the last thing they want to do is sit there and read long paragraphs.

- They tend to browse or skip through messages. Reading only short sentences at a time.

- Do not have one long paragraph. It makes it hard to read.

Keep it simple and don't provide too much information.

Have a small paragraph for an introduction in the begining.

Then have a few bullets.

Then the conclusion, restating in a shorter matter the purpose of the mail with different wording.

Make sure you have atleast a professional header such as your logo on the top.

Include a brief email privacy note as well as a "remove me" link.

Try out ConstantContact.com to start and build your mail.

[CC stole my Harte]

Thanks!

It's actually a physical mailer going out snail mail. Same rules apply?

[versas]

Yeah pretty much.

But now your need a professional looking letterhead.

And you should make it a presskit, or a mini one.

At the least you should include, your welcome letter, a seperate page(s) of your products / services and 2 business cards.

Make sure you get customized envelopes as well or just use a sticker with your company logo / information.

[chanson]

What you should actually do is call ahead, the day you send out the mail call them. Pitch them abit and askthem if they recieved your letter, when it gets their they will be curious to read it because it wont be junk mail any longer. If you just mail them like that it will be junk mail tothem and chances areit will get ignored.

[versas]

What you should actually do is call ahead, the day you send out the mail call them. Pitch them abit and askthem if they recieved your letter, when it gets their they will be curious to read it because it wont be junk mail any longer. If you just mail them like that it will be junk mail tothem and chances areit will get ignored.

As an ex-stock broker, the only thing worse than spam mail is unsolicited phone calls. Especially if your calling to tell them your about to receive some junk mail.

As an experienced cold caller, pitching them over the phone like that is incredibly a bad idea, even if you'r not selling anything. Trust me, it will have no value, unless they sighend up for such contact.

Not to mention the phone calls all over the country will cost you.

I used to make 600 cold calls a day and that takes 12 hours to do. And of those calls, over half won't be available, and if they are, the secratary wil screen your call, and if you do get the right person on the phone, the hang up ratio is 1/3.