Your Direct Source Newsletter: Copywriting and Direct Response Tips and Techniques

Where to focus your marketing efforts in 2011

The use of Direct Mail has been declining steadily during the last decade, and the US Postal Service is feeling it. They anticipate an amazing loss of approximately $6B for 2010.

Companies have been cutting down on Direct Mail and putting a larger percentage, if not all, of their marketing dollars behind Web promotions.

So why should you go against the trend and add more Direct Mail to your marketing mix? Two reasons. First, there's less competition. Because of the large decrease in volume, it's now more likely that your piece gets opened and read. And, of course, that means more sales and a higher ROI. Second, because of over-use, e-mail response rates are actually declining.

How to find your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Denny Hatch, Freelance copywriter and consultant, has a simple formula for creating a Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Start by making a list of the features of your product or service. Then take each feature and turn it into a benefit (what will it do for your prospect).

Review all the benefits and decide which one is the most important. That's your USP.

Keep in mind your USP should differentiate your product or service from all others. Stress what is different, unique, or better.

It's Good to Know: How to verify an E-Mail address

When you're not sure if you have a correct or up-to-date email address there's an easy and free way to verify it.

Just go to verify-email.org and enter the e-mail address. You'll get an instantaneous response stating whether the address is valid or not.

Three More ways to optimize your web site

Joe Dysart, an Internet speaker and business consultant recommends the following:

Two secrets for increasing search engine ranking with Twitter

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