If You Write it, They Will Buy

I will admit to you that I am not a lover of America’s Favorite Pastime. I recognize that is offensive to everyone who pines for professional Spring Training and hours-long competitions and the scarfing of beers and hot dogs (the parts I actually enjoy). Lover of the game or not, I believe Field of Dreams is one of the best movies ever made. With one of the best lines ever. “If you build it, they will come.” And, naturally, in my line of work, I draw a parallel for you which is equally as profound.

“If you write it, they will buy!” Stunning postcard design gets you a double or a triple in the eyes of your reader. But it is the copy that makes them devour your benefits, moving them to put the Call-to-Action in motion. Homerun! …But how? What can you do to give your postcard the leg up on the competition? I’ve listed 6 Best Practices for Copy that will change the game:

Pre-determine the goal. And by that, I mean, what are you wanting to achieve with the campaign? There is a specific approach to postcard copy that is used to get sales, and copy that is used to further the marketing of a product in getting leads for future steps in the sales cycle. There’s nothing preventing you from adding copy which speaks to lead-gathering on a sales postcard, or from adding a QR Code that whisks them to a landing page. But try and focus your message primarily on either sales or leads.
Speak like your audience. That might be an odd thing to say, but you want to be sure, given your audience, that you’re using language they can easily understand, and that the approach/tone of the copy is appropriate.
Stay in the present. The product or service you’re selling is available right now. It is going to help the reader right now. It can be taken advantage of right now. Get it? Make sure that you’re keeping your copy tied to the present. I’m in two minds about future tense, but at the very least, you want to avoid past tense. (Think: could have, should have, would have.)
Less is more. I guess if you want to be super grammatical about it, fewer is more. It just doesn’t sound as good. Here, you need to make sure you aren’t overwhelming the reader with copy. Don’t bombard with facts you think are relevant. Don’t create word salad by saying in ten words what you could have said in five, or three! You’re working with limited space, so get to the point as concisely and effectively as you can without either tiring the reader (too many words) or making them assume what you mean.
SEO – or Search Engine Optimization – is key. Whether you’re solely using postcards in your direct marketing efforts, or if you’re combining them with landing pages, or Internet searches, it is key that you’re incorporating wording that is easily researchable. By using words which spark associations in the reader’s brain, whether you highlight/bold them, underline them, or put them in italics, SEO helps bridge the gap mentally, and it can also serve a greater purpose if you’re doing any kind of advertising online and need to ensure top search results for your product or service.
Solve & Answer. Part of the beauty of a postcard campaign (or any marketing campaign, really) is that your intention is to solve problems the reader might not have acknowledged they have, or answer questions they didn’t know to ask. Great copy can proactively engage readers and present ideas or responses which are key to them taking advantage of the benefits you’re telling them they will love.

The point of putting on a pro baseball game isn’t only to pit two teams against one another. It’s to put fans in the stands who contribute to an atmosphere of fun, of competition, of capitalistic pursuit, and maybe a little sport thrown in for good measure. If you build it, they will come. If you write it, they will buy.

Give Opportunity Knocks a call today. Our Success Coaches are on deck to get you into the game. Let us help you create strong copy for your postcard – and knock your campaign out of the park!