Longer Copy Written Material
It seems as though industy is moving to longer copy for marketing pieces. I have been using a very basic short paragraph hand written letter. Does anyone use a longer 2 or 3 page "I Buy Houses" letter? And have you tracked the results?
nope, definetly a short and to the point letter. I feel that if someones not interested then they are going to toss it in the trash as soon as they read the first part that hints to buying there house. if someone is motivated they will call weather its 1 paragraph or 3 pages.
i keep my letter simple but i dont mention anything about buying there house, just that i can hellp and have helped others that are in there shoes. this leaves them curious and i feel gives them a better chance of calling me over the guy who says he wants there house outright.
just my .02
currently using a two page letter. Having some success and people seem to like it. I think that anything works, the key is to be in a lot of places a lot of the time.....
Hi stockpro99,
Have you tried using a legal size paper rather than using two pages? Not sure if there is advantage of capturing all the information on one long page.
regards,
WorkNoMore
I employ Brian Voiles to do my add copy and I really enjoy the way he writes. He likes the longer pieces and has done alot of DM for companies mailing millions of letters a year.
[addsig]
Stockpro99,
How much does Brian charge for the letter writing. Have you noticed significant increase in response rate using his letters?
I have read Direct Marketing for Dummies twice - guess the dummy label fits. If people are interested in your product, they will read the longer copy. In most instances, longer copy is better.
Brenda
When you guys say longer copies are u refering to a full page or more?
We have written an eight page copy.
My general letter to homeowners is one page in length. But my one page has lots of white space, large font, short paragraphs, etc. One page is not long.
Because I own rentals and work with preforclosures, i have received lots of letters in the mail from real estate investors. One preforeclosure letter was 5 pages long. But it was a really good letter. By far the best letter that I have received. It told a story and told how he was a solution provider. Think about it. If someone is in foreclosure, and the copy is easy to read, who would not read a 5 page letter. My God, they are in foreclosure.
Start reading all the fund raising mail that you receive. You will see that almost none of them are 1 page in length. They have very short paragraphs. Use very simple words. Make it compelling reason why you should give them money. Underline their main points. Always have a PS. And many more of the secrets to good copy.
Brenda
IBuyHousesInc
8 pages, what can u say in 8 pages thats new and keeps the reader interested. I understand longer copy can pull better, but Im at a lost to produce a copy that long. Do you have any hints or ideas I could use or an old copy?
This is a very interesting thread and a great topic. It’s also one of the most long-debated issues among some of the most renowned copywriters and creative directors of the advertising world.
For example, longtime ad guru Bill Bernbach is credited with the legendary VW campaign that used little more copy than… “Think Small” or “It’s ugly, but it gets you there” or “It will make your house look bigger” – a campaign that worked brilliantly.
Then there are others like David Ogilvy (no less of a legend) who is arguably the one who coined the phrase, “The more you tell, the more you sell.” I’ve also seen that phrase credited to John Caples, another advertising great
Regardless, they are two opposing viewpoints from renowned advertising leaders – with multiple campaign successes to back them up. Which probably means it’s not a question that has an emphatic answer one way or the other.
As has been pointed out, a lot of Direct Mail experts lean toward using long-copy. But before I can jump to the same conclusion, there are a few questions to ask. What are their objectives? Is this going to a targeting list, or the general public? Are they trying to get me to fill out an order form and send it in? Are they trying to get me to send a check? In short, are they trying to sell me something?
The same questions need to be asked of any marketing piece – be it a print ad, direct mailer, TV spot, or whatever.
Oftentimes, the objective might NOT be to sell them something, but rather to get them to pick up the phone and call for more information. In that case, the marketing piece may need to stimulate questions -- not answer them. That’s what takes place when they call.
So, you may really only need enough copy to create the intrigue or curiosity for them to pick up the phone. Or, maybe you prefer to add more detailed copy to pre-screen the callers. In which case, you may end up with less calls, but far more qualified.
So my vote is -- you need enough copy to accomplish the specific objectives of that particular marketing piece – no more, no less.
I also don’t believe you can accurately measure results by the number of calls or leads that come in. But that’s another topic all together.
Just my 2 cents.
[ Edited by IBuyHousesInc on Date 03/27/2006 ]
IBuyHousesInc
Is your company just into cash purchasing or you do the subject -to purchases also?
what the post doesnt show is all of the underlines, highlighted lines, italic fonts, spacing ,and visual flow.
We have just begun to send it to people in foreclosure in our tubes with the pencil, the pencil has our name and number on it.
My thought is if they dont want to read the letter who is going to throw away a pencil.
And no there isnt enough sent to track a response yet.[ Edited by IBuyHousesInc on Date 09/30/2005 ]
That was an outstanding post "IBuyHouses"
Thank You !!!