HOW TO WIN CUSTOMERS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE Issue 2

Welcome back to HOW TO WIN CUSTOMERS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE: An occasional grab bag of marketing tips, ideas, insights, reviews and rants. As always, the focus is on winning new customers--and bringing back old ones--through persuasion.

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BRANDING WITH YOUR CATALOG:
What does your catalog say about you and your business? If you’re selling upscale merchandise, it shouldn’t shout “Tell you what I’m gonna do!” It should whisper a song of romance.

You have to move up from SALES to MARKETING. It’s all about branding--impressing your name and image into the minds of your customers. Your brand is your promise to your customers. And your brand image is the sum total of everything your customers associate with you.

“What Does Your Catalog Say About You?” is a new handbook I wrote on branding. It was produced by The Goldmark Group, a studio specializing in quality print work. The handbook is designed to look like an elegant catalog. But it doesn't sell products. It shows by example how to produce catalogs that build clientele. To get a free copy and a free consultation, send your old catalog to Joe Goldbrenner, The Goldmark Group, 1155 Bloomfield Avenue, Clifton, NJ 07012. Or call (800) 632-9632 and ask for Joe.

PROOFREAD EVERYTHING!
Don’t EVER let a printed or online promotion out of your hands until you’ve proofread it three times, given it to someone else to read, then proofread it again the next day. The mistakes can sometimes be embarrassing, sometimes devastating. And sometimes hilarious. As in this old item from the photo archive of the Apalachicola Times:

“NOBODY'S PERFCET!”

During the repaving of the Apalachicola downtown area, road workers left this small traffic instruction (5 feet tall!) (See http://tinyurl.com/4stuhw) at the main intersection on Highway 98. It remained for several days before being corrected.


ARISTOTLE ON DIRECT MARKETING
Aristotle was one of the great minds of all time. He is best known for his works on philosophy and science. But he also wrote a small book (“The Poetics”) that is still the prime manual on story writing. In it, he outlines the six elements of drama:

spectacle
song
diction
thought
character
and plot.

The most important element, Aristotle says, is plot. This is true of a play, a novel... and a direct mail letter. What does “plot” have to do with a letter? I’m glad you asked that question.

Simply put, plot is the pattern or structure of the story, without the trappings of style (song), design (spectacle), etc. And a plot has to build. Just a series of “this happened, then that happened....” isn’t a plot. Each step of a plot must be “caused” by the step before it. And each step has to be more and more intense and exciting. That’s what keeps the reader involved... right up to the end.

Aristotle would tell you it’s smart to make sure your next letter grabs the reader from the first sentence, then keeps on building... right to the order!


AND MUCH, MUCH MORE
Want to know more? Want to profit from my copywriting? Then call today: 718-252-1043 or click here: mailto:morty@mortyschiller.com. Or check out www.mortyschiller.com. I promise you no dancing bears or tinny music. Just a way to sell more--with words.

All the best,
Morty