Unfortunately all too many businesses send out woolly, ungrammatical and poorly composed mailing letters, which do more damage than good. On the other hand a good direct mail letter needs to be clear, punchy and persuasive.



So what tricks are used by professional copywriters to create direct mail letters that really sell? Here are some simple steps to help you get serious about your direct mail letters:

Step 1: Hook Your Reader The first line of letter is vital. Your opening gambit should be short and

precise, with a time limit to create urgency with the reader. Good headings should be short and clear, and go easy on alliteration and superlatives.

Step 2: Paint a Picture Having hooked your reader with the headline work hard on the first paragraph, as this is where you will engage your reader and make him want to read more. Use the first paragraph to paint a picture of what you can offer or what problem you can solve in the readers mind - as the old saying goes, people "buy the sizzle not the steak". Don't make it too long, short and punchy is better.

Step 3: Time to Tease Now we have hooked the reader and engaged him we need to tease him a little in the next paragraph. Write something that's going to make the reader want

to visit your shop, give you a call for a chat, or come to your website, by implying some other benefits that may be on offer - but only if they take the action you want them to.

Step 4: Bullet the Key Points At this point bullet points are good to use to reiterate the points you have made and allow the casual skim reader to pick up the points you want. Some readers may just scan the letter anyway, and pick up on the visual cues the bullet points provide, so make sure the bullets include really valid key points, and not fluff.

Step 5: Add a Call to Action OK we have hooked and engaged the reader and reiterated the relevant points, we are now ready to summarise and provide a call to action. A call to action tells the reader clearly what you want them to do or how to make a purchase. Surprisingly often this key step is overlooked.

Step 6: Don't Forget To P.S. Now you need to sign off and include a P.S in your mailing letter. The P.S. is the second most read part of the direct mail letter after the heading, so it's where you want to hammer home your message. Adding a P.S. Allows you to summarise the key points you want to make, although bear in mind that if the letter is a very formal approach it is not always appropriate.

Step 7: Flower the Text Now the main letter is finished, you can also indulge in a little decoration

of the text, just to give the eye some 'flowers' in the text to help keep the readers attention. For example - break up text with hyphens. You can also use; semi colons and colons to create a dramatic pause just before a key point. And add just the occasional keyword in bold, underline or italic- but use sparingly.