The only way to write a successful piece of direct mail is to take your time over writing it

I write direct mail for a living.  To create a page of A4 copy normally takes me about three or four hours.  Then I like to leave the copy overnight and return to it the next day when I might spend another half an hour or so, just making a few changes.   (Sometimes however I look at my work, and feel that I have just not hit the right note, and then spend several more hours changing the whole approach.)

That's how do it.

Compare that with the approach adopted by many of the people who send me their direct mail copy, asking me to comment on their work.   Most of them have written the text in five or ten minutes, writing it as they would write a letter to a relative - straight in, no planning, just write it.

Naturally I think my approach is right - and by and large I seem to get some good results for clients - sometimes some stunning results.

So what is it about my work that makes it take so much longer than the approaches of my less experienced colleagues?

There are several factors....

1.   The headline is so important that I often take 25% of my time on that one section alone.

2.   Although I write the initial draft fairly quickly, I then spend a lot of time making sure each sentence flows naturally, and is not too long.

3.  I look at paragraphs and paragraph length as well, making sure that not only is the copy legible, but that it is also easy on the eye.

4.  Next I spend an inordinate amount of time on the minutiae of phraseology - changing individual words, deciding if I want "I can't" or "I cannot" and so on.  At this point I am hearing in my head the voices of the sort of people to whom I write, listening carefully to the way they speak, and trying to get close to that.

5.  Now I come back to the overall pattern.  Have I not only got the message across, but also managed to incorporate a number of points at which a reader who is skipping down the page is tripped up by the text and forced to read in detail.   

6.  Then in comes the big question - hopefully I have written very much for one individual, a representative of the people who will receive this piece.  But have I written about that person's needs and wishes, or am I just writing about the company and its product?

Each of these questions sends me back to the script which is played with, amended, twisted, turned and re-written over and over again to get the effect I want and which I believe, from my experience and my devotion to the theory of direct mail outlined on this site, will give us results.

Occasionally I have to stop and decide if I would not be better off scrapping one section of the piece.  Sometimes such a rewrite leads me to believe that the whole approach needs to change - but that is quite rare these days (although it still happens once or twice a month).   If I do make wholesale changes by this stage I do so while keeping the earlier edition and then compare the two.  Which one really works?

Now I believe that all this work is necessary and helpful if one is to take note of the theory of direct mail and all the factors that lie beneath it.  I do not believe it is possible to write successful direct mail as quickly as some of my customers do.

If you would like to see an example of my writing, please go to www.copy.ac and follow the links.  That will show you a business to business letter.   There are similar letters for the education market on www.solo.ac and for a shared mailing on www.shared.org.uk    

In each case what I have done is put up the letter, and then given a line by line analysis of how I came to write it in that way.  I hope you find that helpful.

If you would like to submit a leaflet or letter or brochure to me for analysis please do send it to me at Tony@hamilton-house.com or fax it on 01536 399 012

Tony Attwood

Free analysis of your mailshot

This article is written by Tony Attwood, Chairman of Hamilton House Mailings Ltd.  If you would like to discuss the writing or design of your mailing campaign, or indeed a single mailshot, with Tony, without cost or obligation, just call 01536 399 000, or email Creative@hamilton-house.com   You can also send Tony a copy of your latest advert and he will call you back with his thoughts on how your response rate could be raised - again without cost or obligation.