Sell the Premiums, Not the Newsletter
A Proven Formula for Crafting Winning Newsletter
Promotions That You May Want to Steal …
Dear Business-Builder,
As a copywriter, I’m on a lot of mailing lists. Much to my wife’s dismay.
I’ve purposely seeded my name on a number of lists to keep an eye on what’s working and what’s not … what’s become a “control” and what hasn’t … and where the trends are pointing in the industries in which I write.
It’s what’s commonly known as “competitive intelligence.”
Short of subscribing to a high-priced service that compiles direct mail promotions – and provides you with access to a database of key information – there’s no better way to keep an eye on the competition.
Still, there’s often no clear-cut way to determine which promotions you receive are working and which one’s are falling flat on their face. In the end, it just takes a healthy heaping of common sense.
If you receive the same promotion several times over a period of months, you can surmise it’s profitable or they wouldn’t continue to drop a small fortune on mailing it.
And that brings us to today’s Swipe of the Week …
“How to Make Your Body Heal
Itself 35 Times Faster”
I’ve received this particular piece in the mail no less than three times over the past year, and that tells me this promotion is clearly getting results.
It’s easy for me to see why.
When I get a promotion in the mail, my initial reaction is generally to throw aside for later reading. But this is one of the few promotions that instantly grabbed my attention and drew me into the package.
I don’t know if it’s the direct, straightforward style it’s written in … the fact that it reads almost like an editorial, with very little in the way of fancy graphics … or that it’s a virtual case study in how to write copy that injects a heaping helping of personality and story into the mix …
Whatever the reason, it hooked me from the very first page.
Just glance over the first few pages and tell me – as someone who’s a chronic sufferer of arthritis, insomnia or diabetes – and has been bounced from doctor to doctor over the course of many frustrating years – that you wouldn’t be just a little bit intrigued by the copy?
Tell me that – even if you were skeptical – you wouldn’t be tempted to trade such an insignificant amount of money for the hope and relief it promises to deliver to your life?
See for yourself …
First, download this week’s Swipe of the Week here: How to Make Your Body Heal Itself 35 Times Faster. Then, be sure to share a heaping helping of your own creative genius with us by letting us know what you think below.
In my mind, there are a number of valuable lessons to be gleaned from its pages for anyone crafting a new promotion.
Namely …
- “Show, don’t tell”: Never forget the power of a story to help your prospect “experience” the promises your product delivers in advance …
- Sell the premiums, NOT the newsletter: As Gary Bencivenga pioneered, focus the lion’s share of your promotion on selling your premiums, rather than the newsletter itself …
- Exploit the secret of the “achilles heal”: Inject a little humility into your copy to help increase your spokesperson’s credibility …
- Simpler is often better: Fancy graphics and a four-color spread do not necessarily make for a more successful promotion (especially when ROI is taken into consideration) …
- Push the highest-cost option: If you’re offering two-year and one-year subscriptions, for instance, push the two-year term primarily and offer the lesser term as a secondary option.
So, could you use any of these secrets right now in your own promotion?
Oh … I almost forgot – if you’ve ever wondered how an offline promotion gets repurposed into an online one, here’s your chance to find out …
I’ve included a link to this publisher’s live, online version at the end of the swipe file. So download it now by clicking here!
Until next time …
Yours for kick-butt profits!
Paul Maxey
Makepeace “Copy Cub”
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8 Comments »
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– Clayton
Comment by William — March 26, 2010 @ 12:26 pm
Paul,
I was determined to read the swipe and be underwhelmed…thinking it was sounding like that guy on TV, Trudeau, that sells all those books on “Cures they don’t want you to know about” etc. But quite the contrary, I was drawn into the copy and will be ordering the free report on allergies, which my son suffers from. The copy walked me through the “why” first…your body naturally heals itself, inflammation is the body’s way to begin the repair, the microphages ar whatever rush to the scene and oxygen accelerates the process, etc. Each of these made perfect sense, and when he combined them all into a treatment it was very convincing. I was thinking “of course this will work because each step is well-proven and the doctor is simply activating the body’s own mechanisms”.
Thanks for sharing this. I learned a few things about how to improve my copy.
Bill
Comment by William — March 26, 2010 @ 12:29 pm
Paul, I did have a question on what you mean exactly on “selling your premiums” not the newsletter. I must have missed something. By premium do you mean the free reports? or the benefits of the product/service being promoted?
Bill
Comment by Paul Maxey — March 26, 2010 @ 3:25 pm
Hi Bill,
You’re correct. By “premium” I’m referring to the free reports.
When you’re promoting a newsletter, it’s generally best to make the free reports the main focus of your sales letter, rather than the newsletter itself.
After all, you usually will not know the specific content that will be published in upcoming newsletters, so that makes it difficult to sell a prospect on the specific benefits to them. However, you do know what content is in the free reports, so you can be much more specific and compelling about the immediate benefits a prospect will receive by ordering.
Thanks for commenting - I’m glad this helped!
Paul
Comment by John B — March 26, 2010 @ 9:14 pm
Paul,
Some friendly tech advice…
When converting the next mail piece to a PDF, you may want to drop the ppi to 150 on your scanner. Doing this reduces the file size and still gives great quality.
It’s nice to reduce the file size as many of us have huge swipe files that start to really hog-up space on our hard-drive.
And when a hard drive starts feeling cramps…
well, it starts bitching.
I think you’ve got something good going on this blog.
Keep Swipin’
PS How bout addin a book of the month… recommended reading type thing?
Like this one: FASCINATE, Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation by Sally Hogshead
This book is a hands-down, slap your Momma winner. Read it now!
John B.
Comment by Quinn Stanley — March 27, 2010 @ 12:42 am
+1 book of the month
Comment by Jeff Anderson — March 27, 2010 @ 1:29 pm
MORE MORE MORE!
I’m a swipe junkie!
Keep up the great work!
Comment by Walter Daniels — March 28, 2010 @ 8:22 pm
I can see why you say, sell the premiums. it’s obvious, but the real genius is in the insides of the swipe file. He gives believable stories, about the therapies. How well they work, I don’t know. They sound good.
The headline works with the body copy, and vice versa. I’ve seen some that had only a passing resemblance. Sometimes I wonder who writes these things, when they’re that bad. Thank God, somebody teaches the fundamentals, so people can learn tp do it right.
Comment by Jodie — April 21, 2010 @ 3:53 pm
I’m with Jeff from an earlier response! More! More! More!
Toatally addicted to the the SWIPE of the week….