Business to Business Direct Mail Sales Letters Need an Offer (and Heres Why)

In direct mail, the offer is the incentive or reward that you dangle in front of your prospects to motivate them to respond to your mailing. In business-to-consumer direct mail, for example, a magazine publisher will offer a yearly subscription to its magazine at 60% off the newsstand price. The discount is the offer. It motivates prospects to subscribe now and save 60%.

Offers are vital to the success of your business-to-business (B2B) direct mail campaigns as well. You need to motivate action. Without a clear, compelling offer, your response rates will be low and your mailing unprofitable. Here's why you need an offer.

1. Your prospects are preoccupied
The people you are trying to reach are just as busy as you are. They avoid salespeople. They avoid things that waste their time. They use call display. You need a compelling offer because you only have a second or two to grab your prospect's attention at work. Don't expect that your company name, or your product name, or your top product feature, will grab their attention. Use a compelling offer instead.

2. Your prospects don't care about you
That sounds kind of harsh, stated like that. But your prospects don't care about your company, your extensive client list, your qualifications or your product features. That means your direct mail package has to meet your prospects where they are, not where you are. You have to start by saying "you" rather than saying "we." Your offer, clearly communicated, shows prospects that you care about them.

3. Your prospects are skeptical
Tired of advertising hype? Your prospects are, too. They read all sales messages with their built-in hype detector in full operation. Your offer helps to overcome this skepticism by showing your prospects that you will reward them for taking action. You are not asking them to believe your sales pitch, just to respond to your offer, and to take the sales process to the next step.

4. Your prospects are self-interested
Your prospects are interested in themselves. They don't want to hear about what your product or service does as much as what it will do for them. When you offer a free report that promises to save your prospects time, money or effort, or promises to make them more efficient and look good in front of their managers, you answer the "what's in it for me?" question in a satisfactory way.

Alan is a business-to-business direct mail copywriter and lead generation consultant. As President of Sharpe Copy Inc. (http://www.sharpecopy.com), Alan specializes in helping businesses generate leads, close sales and retain customers, using cost-effective, compelling direct mail and email marketing. Alan also uses his direct mail advertising services to help charities raise funds and raise awareness of their causes, using fundraising letters.

---

How to Avoid the Line Extension Trap

If you follow the prevailing logic of most modern companies,... Read More

Renting Your Mailing Lists to Others

RESOLVING THE "PROPRIETARY" DILEMMA... SHOULD YOU RENT YOUR OWN MAILING... Read More

First to Market Theory

AGE OLD QUESTIONBusiness scholars throughout the planet keep asking the... Read More

Top 5 Tips For Media Selection

Marketers have a wide variety of media at their disposal.... Read More

Lead Generation: What Is It worth?

Our business environment has changed dramatically. Companies must now be... Read More

Make Your E-Mail Signature File WORK for You!

You're probably familiar with e-mail signature (or "sig") files -... Read More

Where Should I Network?

Building business relationships through networking is a great way to... Read More

The Lone Wolf is Blind

When Advertising, it's not always better to be the lone... Read More

Ten Tips for Creating a Winning Proposal ? Part 2

Part 1 of this series described five critical components for... Read More

Marketers VS Consumers Predators VS Prey

The distance between marketing consultants and the real world can... Read More

Making Your Mark With The Millennials

Generation Y--The second-largest crop of young people in America's history,... Read More

Michael Jackson, Classic Marketing Blunders And Your Wallet!

You couldn't help but be captivated by the unbelievably cute... Read More

Marketing Operations Elevates Public Relations and Communications Professionals

Is your marketing department taking advantage of MOM and MRM?... Read More

Five Steps to Partnering with Companies to Build Your Client Base

Wouldn't you love a simple formula for easily growing your... Read More

Marketing Tips- Who Are You Competing With?

Before you can market, you need to know who you... Read More

Big Ticket Marketing in 28 Minutes

I read an article recently about how many mainstream retail... Read More

The Role of Marketing for Boards of Directors

Small and emerging companies often do not put together a... Read More

Dramatically Improve Your Marketing Results With These 6 Simple Steps

What if there were things you could start doing now... Read More

Five Tips for Trade Show Success on a Small Budget

No matter how small your marketing budget, your business can... Read More

Telemarketers Dont Like Them? Heres An Idea For Ya!

Telemarketers... ooohhh... I'll bet we've all got a nice story... Read More

The Mighty Marketing Brochure

"Brochure" is French, and it comes from brocher, meaning to... Read More

4 Ways to Get a Prospects Attention Fast

Can you remember the last dozen advertising messages beamed at... Read More

Direct Mail

Do you have a website? A Web Newsletter? A mailing... Read More

Niches - The Path to More Profits

Hey, as business owners we CAN'T be all things for... Read More

Top 5 Ways to Generate Qualified Leads for Your Small Business

Do you ever wonder if you could be doing a... Read More

Write Articles WITHOUT Writing!

Face it, writing any article can be a tedious and... Read More

How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth? Powerful Lessons In Marketing & The Psychology Of Selling - Part 4

Let's continue to discuss the various marketing principles that are... Read More

Five Tips to Make Your Marketing More Creative

Same old same old just doesn't sell anymore. To... Read More

Integrity and Marketing - Finding the Right Balance

When marketing themselves to leads and prospects there are five... Read More

Two of the Biggest Hurdles

As I was preparing for a presentation recently, I was... Read More

What Are People Buying Online?

Benefits, that's what!Whether you're selling in print or in person,... Read More

Do You Really Know Your Prospect?

I'd like to introduce you to someone. I don't actually... Read More

The Power Of A Story

If you want your marketing to be effective, you absolutely... Read More