in this era of Internet marketing, e-mail letters and hard copy letters are equally effective. A
personal letter is more than simply addressing a generic letter to a person’s name. It is a
customized letter that is not scripted, but instead speaks directly to the recipient’s life or
work. While parts of your personalized letters might remain the same, much of each letter
should be different from recipient to recipient because it is the personal aspect of these
letters that makes them so effective. Baby boomers, especially, like to be addressed as
individuals, so they will respond well to this tactic.
In a personal letter, you can convey thoughts and inspire feelings that cannot be achieved
through most other means. We’ll demonstrate the difference these letters make in the
following examples.
Personal Letter (Sent as a Hard Copy):
Let’s say you run a printing company and you discover through reading the newspaper that
a corporate company is relocating to the area. You decide you want to contact the company
since you know they will need to reprint their stationery and forms to include their new
address. A typical marketing letter would simply tell them about your services by stating
something like:
Dear (Contact),
Perhaps you are looking for a new printing vendor to take care of your print and
graphics needs. We provide digital printing and traditional printing of postcards,
brochures, flyers and more.
I would love to set up a meeting with you to show you some samples. Please call me
at your convenience to set something up.
Regards,
John Doe
A Guerrilla marketer, however, would send a personalized letter directly to the person who
orders the printing, and would use language that speaks to the prospect in a much more
customized manner — transforming this sales method into one that entices the prospect to
want to work with them. Using the same printing company as an example, a guerrilla
marketer’s letter might look like this:
Dear (Marketing Contact),
Congratulations on your upcoming move to the Philadelphia area. As a resident of
Philadelphia, I can tell you that our area can really use a company like yours, so it
will be a great benefit to us!
As I am sure you will need to update your stationery and forms to include your new
contact information, I am providing you with the enclosed coupon for a future
printing order.
We provide full service printing and graphic designing services to the greater
Philadelphia area. After working with our clients for more than 40 years, we know
that you want a print vendor who can deliver quality products with an attention to
detail and a quick turnaround. That’s our commitment to you!
I have listed our capabilities below and will give you a call next week to set up an
appointment to show you a portfolio of our work.
Warm regards,
John Doe
Do you see the difference between these two letters? While the first one might generate
interest if it arrives in the right hands at the right time, it is unlikely that anything will come
out of it. That’s because there is nothing intriguing to spark an interest and there is nothing
personal about it. On the other hand, the second letter shows the recipient that you are
taking an interest in their company and that you have something of value to help them
meet their printing needs.
Personal Letter (Sent as an E-mail)
The guidelines set forth for hard copy personal letters are much the same for e-mail
personal letters. The main difference is that in e-mailed letters, you can enhance the letter
with pertinent links that can provide further information for the prospect. This can often
increase the effectiveness of a letter. Any time you can get the prospect to interact, you
increase your chances of making the sale.
By having the prospect click on a link to a special page on your Web site, you can create an
experience for them. You could have them answer some questions. You could have them
view a video. You could even have them play a simple game that gets them involved. What
creative ideas do you have to pull your prospects in and keep them interested? Use the
advantages of e-mail to provide them with visual inspiration to work with you. Provide
them with information that will really spark their interest and give them something fun to
engage in.
If you really want to blow them away, include a personalized URL (pURL) in your e-mail.
This is a web address that would be specifically for them. For example, if their name is
Cindy Jones, the pURL might be: www.xyzcompany.com/cindyjones. By clicking on the
pURL, the prospect would be taken to a page that is specific to them. If your database
information was really advance and up-to-date, you might know their favorite colors,
hobbies, items they have bought, etc. This pURL would look different for each person based
on their individual likes, and the characteristics you have captured in your database.
The more you can personalize your marketing message, the more you will win them over,
so don’t shy away from high-tech strategies like these. Baby boomers don’t shy away from
them – the late boomers especially enjoy technology and are excited to spread around new
and “cool” stuff like this. To create a pURL campaign, you can use the services of companies
such as www.astro-dynamic.com and www.completepurl.com.
Taking all of this into account, the example of the personal letter that we presented for the
printing company can be enhanced for e-mail as follows:
Dear David Fuller,
Congratulations on your upcoming move to the Philadelphia area. As a resident of
Philadelphia, I can tell you that our area can really use a company like yours, so it
will be a great benefit to us!
As I’m sure you will need to update your stationery and forms to include your new
contact information, I wanted to provide you with the enclosed coupon for a future
printing order.
We provide full service print and graphic services to the greater Philadelphia area.
After working with our clients for more than 40 years, we know that you want a
print vendor who can deliver quality products with an attention to detail on a quick
turnaround. That’s our commitment to you!
I have created a personal Web page for you where you can view a video of our
services. While there, you can take a poll that will double the savings of the coupon I
am providing for you! You can visit: www.xyzprinting.com/davidfuller to take
advantage of this offer.
I will give you a call next week to set up an appointment to show you a portfolio of
our work, and to help you take advantage of your savings.
Warm regards,
John Doe
Comparing E-mail Vs. Hard Copy Letters
E-mail letters and hard copy letters are both effective, but they both have pros and cons. It
is best for you to analyze those differences and choose which method works best in each
marketing campaign. Let’s examine those differences:
E-mail letters gives you the advantage to add links to help engage the prospect in
new ways, thus providing more information then you could provide in a hard copy
letter on its own.
. Hard copy letters have the surprise factor. To this day, people still love going to their
mailbox. They like to get “surprises.” A well-written hard copy letter can feel like a
surprise gift when opened. E-mail doesn’t have the same effect.
. E-mail letters are easily discarded. It is all too easy for someone to click delete
before even reading your e-mail. Hard copy letters, on the other hand, are almost
always opened and read to some capacity. Both options, however, will need to be
written so that they get to the point and grab attention quickly. With e-mail, you will
need a stellar subject line to get prospects to even open the e-mail. With a hard copy
letter, they will generally open it, but you will need to hold their attention
immediately once they start reading.
. E-mail is free and hard copy letters have paper, printing, mailing and postage costs
attached to them. That’s one of the main reasons why it is so popular. But that is also
one of the main reasons why hard copy letters stand out more. Since less people are
mailing hard copy letters these days, and more people are getting blasted with e-
mails, it is easier to get noticed with hard copy letters.
It is difficult for hard copy letters to get lost. Spam filters make e-mail quite
unreliable so you never really know if your letter will get to the recipient. Although
mail is never 100% reliable, the cases of mail being lost are few and far between.
Personal Letters Beat Mass Letters
For many companies, it is easier to send out a generic letter(whether e-mail or hard copy)
to see which one receives the best response from prospects. Because of this, Guerrilla
marketers will benefit dramatically from this approach since people are not expecting to
receive a letter with such a personal touch these days. At a time when e-mail is king,
customized snail mail letters are actually the secret weapons that will grab the most
results.
Personal letters do require research on your part, but their effectiveness is so much higher
than mass sales letters that the extra effort will be worth it. Plus, it allows you to save
printing and postage costs that are involved with sending out large amounts of generic
letters.
Thank You Letters & Keep-in-Touch Letters
The sale doesn’t end at the close. A Guerrilla marketer always thinks in terms of long-term
business with every client. They encourage loyalty and continued business with their
prospects and clients on a regular business by using a keep-in-touch program. Personal
letters are a great way to do that, and a combination of e-mail and hard copy letters in often
best.
To really blow your prospects and clients away, send personal thank you notes. This
strategy will allow you to stand out from the crowds of competition who don’t take the
time to do this. When people purchase a product or service from a sales person, that sale
has a lot to do with the relationship that developed between the salesperson and the
prospect. By sending them a thank you note, you let them know that they really are
important to you, not just the sale that was made.
Handwritten hard copy letters are especially effective for thank you notes because it shows
that you personally took the time to send it to them rather than a computer-generated
letter. As a prospect, you can thank them for meeting with you, for testing your product, for
requesting a quote, or anything else you can think of to show your gratitude. When they
become a client, a thank you note is a wonderful way to thank them for trying your
products or services and to welcome them and begin a loyal relationship with them.
Aside from thank you letters, you should aim to touch your prospects with a personal letter
at least once a month. This will allow them to feel as though you have their best interests in
mind, and it will keep you first and foremost in their minds when they need the products
and services you offer.
Follow Up Doubles Effectiveness
Whether hard copy or e-mail, the effectiveness of your personal letters doubles when you
follow up with a phone call. The beauty of this tactic is that by sending the personal letter
first, you have essentially converted the prospect from a cold call to a warm call, because
when you call them, you can refer to the letter you sent. At that point, you are no longer a
stranger in their eyes, and that makes the sales call much easier to make.
If you are told by your prospect that they don’t have a use for your services at the moment,
a Guerrilla would continue to send them personal letters (about once a month). This often
solidifies your relationship with that prospect and when a need does arise, you will be the
one they think of. You’d be surprised how many prospects will call 8 months down the line
because they have been receiving your letters monthly. Sales are not always instant since
people need to be currently in the market for what you are selling in order to buy. If you
stay in touch with them, however, you set yourself up to gain their business down the line.
This may sound odd, but the goal of your personal letter is not to receive a response from
your prospect. While you should include general contact information in your letter, you
should not ask them to contact you in the letter. The purpose of the letter is to spark their
interest and then to let them know you will be calling them to follow up. This way of
following up is a nice way of letting them know that you care and you are in control. If you
wait for the prospect to call you, you could be waiting for a very long time.
Writing a Winning Personal Letter
The keys to writing a winning personal letter are: to make the letter about the prospect
(not about you) and to give them something, rather than asking for something. Provide
them with some information they may not know, but would benefit them. Let them know
you understand their situation and are here to help them. For example, you can mention
upcoming events or promotions and explain how it has worked well for similar clients in
the past. If you are a marketing consultant, you might mention that this time of year is
when they need to start creating their marketing plan for next year. If you are a computer
salesman, you might mention new advances that would help the prospect with his
particular situation.
When you are writing your letter, keep it to one page (for hard copy letters) or about 5-6
paragraphs tops (for e-mail letters) and make your paragraphs no longer than 5-6 lines
each. Be sure not to overuse capital letters , underlined or bold text. Even if you create your
letter on the computer, it is still important to hand sign the letter in a different color ink
than the text of the letter. For e-mail letters, you can include a scanned image of your
signature.
Having a P.S. at the end of your letter adds much more effectiveness to the letter. For that
reason, be sure your P.S. includes your most important point. Here are some P.S. guidelines
to help you:
. Reiterate your call-to-action. Explain that waiting is detrimental.
. Add to your offer. Reinforce it or back it up with more incentives or urgency.
. Introduce a free offer or bonus.
. Mention a surprise benefit. This often inspires a person that is on the fence to act.
. Restate the heart of your offer, whether it is price, terms, service, etc.
. If your product or service is a tax deduction, a P.S. is the perfect place to mention
that.
. Remove any risk by stating your guarantee.
. State statistics that will help them feel better about deciding to work with you, such
as the specific number of clients you have helped in the past.
Outsourcing Your Letter Writing
In order for personal letters to be effective, they need to be well written, and that’s not
something everyone can do or has the time to do. Hiring a copywriter to write your letters
is money well spent in these cases. There are unlimited resources available on the Internet
these days where you can either post a project to receive bids or search through a database
of copywriters to choose one that you want to work with. Some of these sites are:
www.elance.com, www.odesk.com, www.textbroker.com and www.craigslist.com.
Remember that baby boomers want to buy. They generally have more disposable income
than they’ve had in the past and they want to spend it on things that make them happy and
help them improve themselves and their lifestyles. Show them the benefits of purchasing
from you as it relates to where they are in their lives, and you will have nailed down a
winning marketing weapon that you can launch over and over again for success.
