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When working with businesses on letters they send to potential clients trying to get an appointment with them, we often see the same mistakes being made over and over when we look at their existing letters.

To help you not make the same mistakes, here are our top 10 tips for effective appointment letters.

1. Be realistic in the response you are looking for. People are not sitting by the post-box waiting for your letter. For most people you have to prove to them first why they should read (and not bin) your letter and second why they should give up some of their precious time to see you. Industry statistics talk about a 2% – 5% OPEN rate. That means only 2-5% of all of your letters actually get read.

Out of those figures, industry statistics vary between a 1%-20% actual response to your offer. There are things you can do to improve these rates, but at least you now know what you are up against. Up to 98% of all people won’t read your letter, let alone action it.

2. What list are you using? A good list will make your mailing. If you are mailing to people who you already have a great relationship with, you can expect your response rates to increase. If you are mailing to a cold list of names you have gathered from the Yellow Pages, or just delivered to PO Boxes, your response rates will be much less.

3. Headlines and subheads. People scan letters before reading them. Make sure you have clear and enticing headlines and sub-headlines to make them want to read more.

4. Spelling, grammar and layout count. If you send out a letter full of typos, poorly laid out and looking unprofessional – you can count on getting a very poor response. Good layout, with clever use of bold, colour, underlining, larger fonts and copy doodles all boost your response rate.

5. Go with the flow. Your letter must flow logically and consistently. You want them to understand the features and benefits of what you are offering and how these will make their lives easier. You want to take your audience through a gradual development of ideas, building them to a point where they know clearly whether or not what you are suggesting will meet their needs and wants.

6. How credible are you? People want to know you have background, knowledge, experience and expertise in the area. They want to know that other people have used your services and are fully satisfied with the results. Demonstrating your credibility through including testimonials or case studies will help potential customers feel comfortable with you – enough to want to take the next step.

7. Strong call to action. Many people send out a letter seeking an appointment and do not make it clear what they want the person to do. Are they to wait for your call to make an appointment, call you to make an appointment or contact you for more information? Tell people clearly what you want them to do and they will do it.

8. PS. If there is a PS on a letter people will read it. Use your PS to reinforce a key point or your call to action. PS’s increase your response rate.

9. Follow up. A single mail shot with no follow up rarely works well. All letters should be either followed up with a phone call to the person, or a second mail shot a few weeks later. Many people intend to take action but simply forget. Following up significantly boosts your response rates.

10. Test & measure. Businesses need to test and measure the responses to all marketing. How many responses did you get to the one letter? Now try sending out the same letter to a different sample with just different headlines and sub-headlines to check the response rates. Try changing the call to action with a third sample.

The top direct mail companies all tweak their mailings until they get a control piece – one that consistently performs well. Once they have a control piece they keep using it, every now and again testing a sample with a new piece to see if it beats the control.

Small business can do the same thing. Use sample sizes of about 100 minimum as this will give you some indication of trends (Big business uses about 10,000 as their minimum but few small businesses have the budgets to work with those numbers).

Ingrid Cliff is a Freelance Copywriter with her Brisbane Copywriting Business (Heart Harmony). Ingrid writes a free weekly small business newsletter packed full of articles and tips and Small Business Ideas blog for small businesses. http://www.heartharmony.com.au

The number one secret to the 7 secrets of advertising success is to get more prospects to take notice of your advertising. After all, if they don’t even notice you, that’s a done deal and you’ve totally wasted your money.

There’s a whole bunch of ideas you could use, and here’s 5 top ways to get you started.

1. Captivating Headlines

Advertising guru, David Ogilvy says that four out of five people only read headlines – nothing more! Think about that. If you don’t grab your reader’s attention in the headline they’ll click off or turn the page and you’ve lost them. More to the point – they’re not coming back.

You’ve got about 3 seconds so make every word count. And remember your reader will only be thinking about “what’s in it for me”. You are guaranteed to get your prospects attention if you write your headline focused on their wants and needs and offer a solution.

2. Editorial Advertising

When placing a print ad in a newspaper or magazine a great strategy is to model your ad to look and feel like the editorial copy in the publication your prospect is reading. They will pay more attention to it.

Even though they’re aware it’s an ad, people are still going to read it because it’s in that style of the editorial that they are familiar with. Subconsciously they know and trust the publication so you have an added level of endorsement you just don’t get in a straight ad.

3. Lumpy mail or grabber

This direct mail technique is bound to get your prospects attention and get the envelope opened. People are curious so put something lumpy inside the envelope or pin a “grabber” to the right-hand corner of your letter. Like a fake cheque or fake money. Even real money. Clip on a dollar note or stick a coin on.

Just make sure you use something relevant and refer to it in your headline or opening paragraph so it’s not seen as just a gimmick.

4. Audio and video

Whether adding audio or video to your website or mailing a CD or DVD to your prospects the technologies are available right now to do that easily and inexpensively. You must have these explosive techniques in your arsenal.

Both powerful attention getters that will instantly create a closer connection with your prospective customers when they see and hear what you have to say. Just hearing your voice alone will make a big impression and really stamp your personality on your message. Add the visual and you are tapping into one of our most potent senses and people will really feel like they know you.

Video is particularly useful if you have a product to demonstrate. If a picture can paint a thousand words – what can you say in a short video? And here’s a tip. Make it memorable. Keep in mind that even if you don’t make a sale you at least want to be remembered.

5. Give to get

Nothing gets attention better than FRE^E and don’t we all love getting something for nothing? But here’s a tip. Just because it’s free doesn’t mean it is not valuable or worse still, that it’s worthless. Really, ask yourself, would you want something that is worthless?

Now here are two important things to remember.

Firstly, you must give valuable information and “showcase” your knowledge as well as your generosity or there’s no point to this approach. Imagine what your prospective customer will think when you give away great content. How much more will they get in return for payment?

Secondly, don’t expect your prospective customer to know the value. You do and you must put a price on it. This honours you and honours them.

So put some or all of these ideas into your advertising and I guarantee you that people will begin taking much more notice of what you have to offer. Once you’ve got their attention you can lead them to read your sales message right to the very end.

Direct response marketing expert Kathleen Ann is the “Marketing Champion for Small Business and entrepreneurs”. Delivering simple techniques and tools you can use to increase sales and profits. Sign up for her free audio workshop “7 Steps to Advertising Success” http://www.PowerUpYourMarketing.com

The second step to the 7 secrets of advertising is to get more prospects to read your ad till the end. After all, if we don’t get to fully inform our reader how can we expect them to make a buying decision. And fully informed means, reading your ad right to the very end.

Here are 3 effective strategies to help you achieve this.

1. Break up your copy

Remember your prospect is looking for a reason to turn the page or click off to another site so it’s not just what you say but how you present it.

Use short paragraphs and sentences.

And break up your copy with Subheadings.

Subheads make it visually more appealing for the reader so they are more likely to start and continue reading if it looks easy.

Just be sure that the copy that immediately follows is totally relevant to the headline. And that each section flows into the next.

You should use them like bridges throughout your copy to move your reader from one point to the next – linking all the main elements of your letter. This also means that skimmers can quickly scan or scroll down your entire letter and still get the message even if they are not reading every word.

2. Turn features into benefits

You’ve maybe heard that we’re all listening to our own radio station called WIIFM or “What’s In It For Me.”
So if your prospect is thinking in “what’s-in-it-for-me” terms then you need to be writing in those terms.

They will only be stopping on your ad long enough to see if there is a possible solution to their problem.
And to keep your reader interested you need to be writing in WIIFM terms throughout your copy. Not just in the headline.

This means writing in benefits and not just features. Your prospect is not interested in your product or it’s features. They are only interested in what your product or service can do for them.

A simple way to translate features into benefits is by using the 2 magic words “which means”. If for example you are selling a television set with a really big screen. You could write “The top model in the A-brand range has a big 60 inch TV screen which means you can create a movie theatre in your very own living room”.

3. Use bullets effectively

Like subheads, bullet points help break up your sales letter and make it easy to ready as well as appeal to skimmers. People like that sort of checklist, like rapid fire.

Some of the most effective bullets are

- Blind bullets which are a teaser and don’t give anything tangible but they do create curiosity.

- Give away bullets where you give the reader a nugget of tangible information which makes them think if you are giving this away the information you are selling must be really great and valuable. Use this sparingly, say one at the beginning and one at the end of your bullet list.

- Short sentence bullets that let you pack in a lot of information in a concise way. Like a shorter version of a short paragraph.

- Written in benefit terms that translate a feature into a benefit that solves the reader’s problem.

Use these techniques to have your prospect reading your letter or ad right till the end you are bound to increase your sales results. Especially if they trust what you say.

Direct response marketing expert Kathleen Ann is the “Marketing Champion for Small Business and entrepreneurs”. Delivering simple techniques and tools you can use to increase sales and profits. Sign up for her free audio workshop “7 Steps to Advertising Success” http://www.PowerUpYourMarketing.com

The third step to the 7 secrets of advertising is to get more prospects to trust what you say.

Take it for granted that no-one believes you. Now, that sounds rather blunt, doesn’t it? But people don’t know you so why would they believe what you say?

Now you will also have heard that people buy from people they know, like and trust so here are 5 simple tips to build trust that you can put to use right away.

1. Use Photos

You could start with your photo in your ad or on your website and a caption underneath that. People can then see you and get a sense of connection. That’s a really, powerful way to build trust.

Photos of your clients are great too. It’s comforting to see that others have already put their trust in you.
And if you have a tangible product or can demonstrate your service in action, include a photo so people can see what it looks like. This immediately ads substance to your offer and proof that it’s real.

Of course if you have a bricks and mortar business include a picture of your building and personnel as evidence.

2. Honest Copy

Use honest copy to reveal the real reason behind what your are doing or offering. Firstly, it’s emotive and we know that people buy on emotion. But just as important is your authenticity will shine through in your words and that’s really, humanizing. People will automatically feel like they can trust you to do what you say.

3. Strong Guarantee

You simply must have a strong guarantee. You just can not go past making it a no-brainer to do business with you.

What are you prepared to do by way of a guarantee, if you don’t live up to your promises? Let people know they have got nothing to lose and everything to gain by buying your service or product.

Now days it’s not enough to simply offer a money back guarantee. That’s a given. You need to demonstrate that you will be the loser if your product does not live up to expectations, not them.

The truth is, very few people will take you up on your guarantee but it will increase your sales because you have demonstrated your trustworthiness.

4. Testimonials

Now, one of the most powerful things you can do to get people to trust you is to build your credibility through testimonials. You can’t just go around blowing your own trumpet all the time. What other people say about you is pure magic.

You get instant credibility and proof when someone else is validating what you say.

You could use those in written form with a picture or interview somebody. Ask them to speak about you and use the audio or you could video them – even more powerful.

So don’t think of testimonials just as a thank you letter that you received. You could even create your own. Help somebody write or speak about you in a way that will support what it is you want to share with other people. Powerful stuff.

5. Evidence your expertise

Many small business owners are very modest and humble and don’t really want to talk about themselves and blow their own horn.

But when it comes to something like listing your experience and your expertise and specific qualifications you simply must let your reader know. They won’t know otherwise.

Don’t hide behind it. If you’ve ever achieved it – share it and build that level of trust that you can, and will do what you say.

Now put some or all of these tips to work for you and you will increase your customers trust and increase your sales. Once you have got their trust you can work on getting more people to respect your value. Sounds similar – but it’s not the same thing at all.

Direct response marketing expert Kathleen Ann is the “Marketing Champion for Small Business and entrepreneurs”. Delivering simple techniques and tools you can use to increase sales and profits. Sign up for her free audio workshop “7 Steps to Advertising Success” http://www.PowerUpYourMarketing.com

A style guide is a document that helps writers and editors by answering the questions they will meet when editing. They vary greatly in length and cover a variety of different subject matter from how to attribute different types of information in academic works to how to properly write out a military commander’s rank in a newspaper article. One of the big reasons that style guides are so important is that they lend a certain uniformity to the look and feel for a certain kind of text. For example, all the papers that are done using MLA style offer symmetry of information and text that all the people associated with liberal arts disciples are familiar with.

One of the other useful aspects of the style guide is that, where there is a choice about the way something is expressed, it can provide the preferred option such as the use of capital letters (Supervisor versus supervisor), the use of symbols (% versus percent) and even the preferred spelling for certain words (colour versus color)

In some of the positions that you might find yourself in as an editor, it’s important that you get a brief of some description that answers all the questions that you will need to know. Before an editor starts any edit, there is some necessary preliminary work that needs to be done to ensure that the editor has the necessary level of confidence to do the job well.

The editor should be confident that they are familiar with the readers linguistic level and that they know the kinds of words and the knowledge level that they are working with. In effect, that they know who they are editing for. It wouldn’t do much good to use the words and phrasings meant for a plumber’s union magazine if the intended audience was university professors.

There are several other good reasons that you need a style guide. For example, all decisions about points of detail are made just once. Once they’ve been formalized, this saves any editor a lot of time and allows them to move on to other issues. Style guides also help to ensure that documents are consistent, and this helps to create a professional image no matter which type of document you’re working with.

Having a style guide handy is also essential when you’ve got several people contributing to the same document. Again, this promotes a consistency throughout that adds to a professional overall appearance.

There are many organizations and companies that have a in house guide as well and it’s a good idea for anyone who wants to work for a specific organization to familiarize themselves with that company’s rules.

Remember too that no matter what kind of text that you edit, you might want to produce your own style guide that will be specific to the kind of work that you are doing.

Robert Starr is a professional writer/editor with several published books and a degree in journalism. He’s brought 20 years of experience in the craft to his own on line writing/editing service. You can reach him at

http://www.robstarr.org/index.php