Do You Need to Have a Marketing Piece Developed?

Are you confused with all the options out there?  Postcards, letters, magalogs, email, display ads, classified ads, radio commercials, television commercials, smoke signals, infomercials, websites and more?

What is copywriting and why can we help you?

Copywriting is famously defined as “salesmanship in print.”  This means that you take an idea and convey it in print.  But it doesn’t stop there, no way no how.  It now includes many other forms of media.  DVD’s, CD’s, MP3’s, and more.  Websites, brochures, the list goes on and on and on and on.

So what should you do when you are interesting in hiring a “copy writer.”

First, do not hire a copywriter unless they can answer these 3 things: (answers below)

1) What is the most important part or component of a marketing piece being successful?

2) What is the SRDS?

3) What is the difference between a 2-step campaign and a 1-step campaign?

Most people are very interested in writing a marketing piece that makes them a lot of money but are not interested in the work that goes into preparing and designing the piece ahead of time.  As a famous and controversial basketball coach said,

“ The will to succeed is important, but what’s more important is the will to prepare.” – Bobby Knight

What do I quote the above statement?

Because anyone can design a marketing piece or write copy, the difference however is the work that goes into all of it before writing even the first word.

It all comes down to:

STRATEGY, INSIGHT, and INVESTIGATION.

Let’s discuss each each one of these below.

Strategy involves the investigation of who you are mailing to, why you are mailing to them, and the goal of your mailing piece.  It involves dozens (if not hundreds) of little details and questions that go into the design of a marketing piece.  It includes demographics, psychographics, and more.  Question, question, question, question is the process.

Insight involves experience and sometimes guess-work.  It is predicting how a market will behave ahead of time, how it will react, and the best ways to attract that market and to get them to move and take action on your marketing piece.

Investigation involves the research of the market you wish to reach, the words you use with that market, and the specific nuances of that market.

And all three of these overlap.  Each of these has its own specific cases, nuances, and details that must be answered.

So before you hire a copywriter make sure that he or she understands the above information.  Grill them hard, and here are the 3 questions from above answered for you.

1) What is the most important part or component of a marketing piece being successful?

WHO you are mailing/marketing to is the most important.  Generally this is called “the list” or your target market.  Why?  Because even if you have the greatest sales pitch in the world a 3 year old cannot buy a Mercedes.  The who is more important than the message you are utilizing.  Most copywriters will not honestly admit this.

2) What is the SRDS?

SRDS stands for standard rate and data service.  This is a book of lists.  Lists you can rent, magazines, and more.  Now this is not always applicable for every marketing piece, but if a copywriter is not aware of this I would be very skeptical of his or her results.  It would be like a heart doctor not knowing how to read an EKG.

3) What is the difference between a 2-step campaign and a 1-step campaign.

The difference here is the goal of the mailing piece.  A 1-step is trying to make a sale and make money on the first mailing.  A 2 step is more “lead generation” meaning you are trying to get people to opt-in to a list of yours to further get more information.  Which one is better? The answer is:  It depends.  This is an important part of strategy, insight, and investigation.

So there you have it.  This information should give you the essentials you need on how to hire an individual who is designing a marketing piece for you.

In the meantime if you have any questions or requests, you can contact us by clicking on this link  HERE

Your friends,

Matt and Sarah Wenger

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