Topic no.
Sales & Publicity
Materials
MBA in General Management
MGM Communication
What is a sales Letter?
You need to decide now what it is you are going to sell.
Is it a product, a service or a skill?
Consider how your product can meet their needs/problems/difficulties,
then you are more likely to get the sale.
When identifying your readers, you have to accept that not everyone is a
prospect.
The more attention you pay to this fact, the more likely you are to write a sales letter
that sells.
Once you have identified you target market, you need to identify their problems and
look to address them.
Problems to be solved
Do they need more money?
Do they need to save time?
Do they need better healthcare?
Do they need better quality?
Do they need to spend less?
Do they need continuity? (e.g. to speak to the same person each time)
Do they need customer service?
Do they need a safer option?
FAB Approach
The easiest way to do this is to consider the difference between features and benefits.
Often referred to as the FAB approach, (features, advantages and benefits)
insight on it will help us target our identified market.
Features are what the product has/is
Slim telephone in varied colours
Advantages are what the product does/offers.
Operates on various networks, has a camera and Bluetooth
Benefits are what the product delivers
Exclusive, female look that is small enough to fit into a pocket or purse.
The Sales Letter Structure
The acronym
AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action)
Is a good approach in handling the introduction, body and conclusion of your letter.
A – Attention
Start with a grabbing headline. No longer than ten words it must hook them. Tell
the reader why you are sending them the letter.
Your grabbing headline should stem from your strongest benefit, the unique
selling point (USP) or principle selling position, that meets the clients’ biggest
problem.
If you catch attention with it, in the body of the sell, you can use others and
even pre-empt some concerns.
Use the famous ten magic words wherever possible:
A – Attention
Unlike other forms of written communication, clichés work in sales:
Buy now, pay later! - Limited number available - 100% satisfaction guaranteed
Fits like a glove …Etc.
There are five major slogan types :
1. A feature:
A unique difference your product offers. E.g. Write an e-book in 7 days.
2. A benefit:
A result the reader receives. E.g. Saves time or money or energy
3. A question:
Thought provoking to bring reader’s needs to their attention.
E.g. How would you like to win a tax free income legally?
4. A challenge or dare: Temptation and provocation. E.g. Uncle Sam needs you.
5. A Structure : A design or collection that pulls together for a single purpose.
E.g. The hotel offers golf for dad, a library for mom and the beach with supervision for the children.
I – Interest & D – Desire
The body of your letter needs to continue the idea of selling the benefits
to solve the reader’s problems.
It must be an easy read made up of short sentences using short words
in a conversational manner.
Give them a steady flow of interesting information, written in the active voice.
You can add interest with handwritten comments circling key points
and an invaluable tip is to add a P.S. If the reader remembers nothing apart from your gabber
and your P.S you will have done well.
Keep it personal also by addressing the letter and the salutation to the target reader.
Add the testimonials where they relate to benefits or else as a selective list
at the end.
Always get permission from people before you use their comments as testimonials.
A – Action
The longer it takes for them to respond, the less likely you are to get a sale.
So you must give them a reason to act immediately. It is the purpose of your
writing.
A final sales pitch can encourage this with claims like:
A good deal: 20% off
Urgency: Only 10 left; Sale ends Thursday
Risk free: Covered by money back guarantee
All these final “pull” efforts must be legitimate. Don’t say offer ends Thursday
and then on Friday have the same advertisement running.
They feel tricked and you could do irreparable damage to your product in the long run
Be ethical in your selling …Under promise and Over deliver
Flyers
Flyers, while cheaper to produce, require just as much attention to detail but
they are a bigger challenge to write as they are not written for a specific
target market.
Flyers are usually smaller (often A5) for this reason – easy storage.
They need to be colorful and still have a grabber line as any other sales letter has.
You need to decide whether your product is a flyer you want people to keep or
use immediately
Leaflets and Brochures
Leaflets or brochures contain more technical features than sales letters or flyers.
The customer is now seeking the information to see if it meets their requirements.
Generally, leaflets and brochures are multi-pages, the simplest of which would be A4
which could be folded into A5 size, giving 4 pages.
The front cover is your grabber, often done with a question or a picture.
The inside pages should contain all the technical information, explaining all
there is to know about the product. It must be written short and to the point.
If you think of objections you have had in the past, raise them here as questions
and give convincing answers.
The back page is the page least likely to be read, so put contact detail,
that those who have read and are interested, will look for.
Try including a few testimonials.
Publicity Materials
Press Release
Definition of a Press Release:
A written or recorded communication directed at members of the media
for the purpose of announcing something claimed as having news value.
A press release is a marketing tool
It is a cross between an advertisement and an article.
It needs to be objective, factual and interesting to the readers.
Its usually about news of people
joins the company - retires - is promoted or takes on a new post - is elected to a
professional body - wins an award - makes a speech at a business conference
takes part in a charity activity - passes away - new offices are open - out-of-date
offices are closed - offices are modernized - organization is relocated .
Different Agendas
Journalist: Company:
Public interest Positive exposure
Hot off the press Free advertising
Sell papers Draw attention
Spark reaction Whet reader interest
Looks appealing Inform public
Newsworthy
A first, important or innovative
Controversial
Reflecting some conflict or disagreement
Different, unusual or novel
Showing empathy with the reader – humane, respectful and caring
Tips for Writing
Factual , Simple, understandable language
Active voice with no adjectives
Short and to the point
Headline of <10 words
Avoid sensationalism
Concise opening paragraph - who, what, where, when and why.
Use the body of the release to give more information
Provide contact details
Presentation of a Press Release
A4 size paper has become the universally accepted size for press releases.
Use of the organisation’s logo creates immediate identification.
The wording should clearly state the name, address, telephone number,
mobile number, e-mail and Web address.
The more concise the release, the more readable and acceptable it is likely to
be.
Presentation of a Press Release
Headlines: The purpose of the news release headline is to quickly identify the
story. A good test is to give someone your press release. After 5-10 seconds, take it
away and ask them what it is about. If they can answer, your headings are good.
Capital Letters: WORDS IN CAPITALS AND ANY EXCLAMATION MARK, LET ALONE
SEVERAL !!! WILL SENTENCE YOUR PRESS RELEASE STAIGHT TO THE RECYCLE BIN.
Underlines and Quotations should not appear anywhere in a news release.
Numerals : A paragraph should never begin with a numeral, and if this cannot be
avoided, the numeral should be spelt out.
More than one page this should be clearly indicated at the foot of the page, and all
succeeding pages should be numbered. The word ‘continued’ should be written in the
bottom right hand corner.
Presentation of a Press Release
Embargoes
An embargo is request to the press that the story should not be published before a
certain date and perhaps even a certain time on that date.
It must be emphasized that embargoes should be used sparingly and sensibly. Most
stories should therefore be for immediate release.
Dates
Vague reference to today, yesterday, tomorrow, or recently must be replaced by the
actual date. The month should be written first, followed by the day of the month and
then the year, e.g. March 17, 2003. Dates should not be given their ‘th’, ‘st’, ‘rd’ or ‘nd’
endings.
Spacing
Double spacing is necessary on hardcopies so that the editor can make
amendments or insert printing instructions between the lines.
Margins on both sides are also needed to allow for editorial comments.
A Newsletter
A regularly distributed publication
generally about one main topic
that is of interest to its subscribers
THANK YOU
