Sooner or later, every copywriter gets asked to write a sales letter.
And it’s a tough gig: getting the reader to continue right to the end of a letter they never asked for, about something they perhaps never thought about before.
Bird, the grand old man of UK direct marketing, works through all the essentials of writing a sales letter, from salutation to signoff. He covers assessing the competition, developing the brief, research, taking the customer’s perspective, writing style and much more – all in his brusque, irreverent style.
An essential read if you want to write effective direct mail.
Comments
22nd June 2012
Martin Williams
Agreed Tom, essential.
Here’s another to add to the list, if only for the chapter titled ‘The Magic Word that Can Make You Rich’ 🙂
‘Direct mail copy that sells’ by Herschell Gordon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Direct-Mail-Copy-That-Sells/dp/0132147505
Old skool, but like ‘Sales Letters That Sell’ full of relevant insight.
The magic word? Maybe I shouldn’t spoil the surprise.