Yes, according to Think Ink Marketing, a letter shop specializing in direct mail personalized by hand. The say handwritten envelopes are proven to increase the odds of your mailing being opened by 300% or more.

Reason it works: Handwriting personalizes the mailing and captures the attention of your audience much more than standard mailing labels or typed envelopes.

Tip: Handwrite both the mailing address and the return address. If you’re confident in the accuracy of your mailing list, try using no return address to spark the recipient’s curiosity and entice them to open it.

Source: www.ThinkInkMarketing.com

*This article appears courtesy of Bob Bly’s Direct Response Letter, located at www.bly.com

Direct marketing consultant Gary Hennerberg is a master at boosting response rates through proper usage of semantics.

He’s famous for increasing sales of a mail order bakery 60% by changing the name of their product from “fruitcake” to “native Texas pecan cake.”

He’s also worked the same magic in insurance, by calling his client’s product “financial protection” instead of “life insurance.”

“No one wants to buy life insurance,” says Gary. “But they seem to warm up to ‘financial protection.’ So that’s what I call it.”

Source: Gary Hennerberg, www.hennerberg.com

*This article appears courtesy of Bob Bly’s Direct Response Letter, located at www.bly.com

*by John Forde, whose free weekly e-Letter, “The Copywriter’s Roundtable” is definitely worth subscribing to.

It’s natural to get angry. And certainly, some pretty hot-tempered, “hair-trigger” individuals have still managed to do some very great things. But I raise this point for a reason.

See, you’d be surprised… shocked… unpleasantly stunned… by how one hot-tempered moment can undo years of building your career credentials. Yet, especially in the world of email, misunderstandings and flare-ups happen more than ever.

As a copywriter, I’d venture the likelihood is even higher, since the role actually requires that we constantly subject ourselves to critiques and directly measurable marketing results.

I once had a feud that lasted six months with a marketing manager who just wouldn’t get around to mailing my promo (when she did, finally, it became the control for two years).

Was it worth it?

Not a minute of it. The long emails I never sent. The ranting to co-workers on the telephone. All a waste of time, in retrospect. Not to mention what they must have thought of me after the call.

What do you do if you get into a hairy, hostile situation professionally? Some suggestions from the Wall Street Journal…

Delay your reaction. Count to 10. Wait 24 hours. Save the long, angry email as a “draft” and reevaluate hours or even days later.

Go elsewhere. Withdraw to another room, another office, another venue. For a few minutes or a few hours. See if you’re still as hot under the collar when you return.

Vent discretely. To a friend. A journal. Or just open a Word doc on your computer and start typing, “The trouble with so-and-so is…” Don’t stop until you’ve run out of steam. Then delete the document.

Agree then ask. “Yeah, you might be right… and if that’s true, tell me what you would do in the same situation.”

See the result. Net-net, what’s the outcome you’re after? Abandon revenge and make this outcome your target instead.

All easier said than done. And sure, I have my own hard time keeping my temper reigned in sometimes. But I can tell you this. Whenever I fail to respond coolly, I always regret it afterward.

Don’t you?

A colleague recently said to me, “No one has found the winning formula for successful online direct marketing yet.”

I disagree. A number of companies know exactly what works and are making small fortunes with it.

The primary concept is that online marketing works best when you e-mail to people who already know you.

Therefore, successful online marketers build their “house file” or “e-list” (lists of prospects and their e-mail addresses) using the process outlined below, and then sell to those people via e-mail marketing:

1. Build a Web site that positions you or your organization as an expert, guru, or leader in your field or industry. This is the “base of operations” for your online marketing campaign.

2. This Web site should include a home page, an “About the Company” page and a page with brief descriptions of your products and services (each product or service description can
link to a longer document on the individual item).

3. You should also have an “Articles Page” where you post articles your company has published on your industry or area of specialty, and where visitors can read and download these articles for free (e.g., a home improvement contractor would have tips for small do-it-yourself home improvement projects).

4. Write a short special report or white paper relating to the problem your product or service addresses, and make this available to people who visit your site. They can download it for free, but in exchange, they have to register and give you their e-mail address (and any other information you want to capture).

5. Consider also offering a monthly online newsletter, or “e-zine.” People who visit your site can subscribe free if they register and give you their e-mail address. You may want to give the visitor the option of checking a box that reads: “I give you and other companies you select permission to send me e-mail about products, services, news, and offers that may be of interest to me.”

6. The more “content” (useful information) on your site, the better. More people will be attracted to your site, and they will spend more time on it. They will also tell others about your site.

7. The model is to drive traffic to your site where you get them to sign up for either your free report or free e-zine. Once they register, you have their e-mail address and can now market to them via e-mail as often as you like at no extra cost.

8. The bulk of your online leads, sales, and profits will come from repeat e-mail marketing to this “house” e-list of prospects. Therefore your goal is to build a large e-list of qualified prospects as quickly and inexpensively as you can.

9. There are a number of online marketing options, which can drive traffic to your site, that I can help you with — or refer you to an expert I know and trust to help you with. These include: free publicity; e-mail marketing; banner advertising; co-registrations; affiliate marketing; search engine optimization; direct mail; and e-zine advertising.

10. The key to success is to try a lot of different tactics in small and inexpensive tests, throw out the ones that don’t work, and do more of the ones that are effective.

*This article appears courtesy of Bob Bly’s Direct Response Letter, located at www.bly.com