A person or business that might buy from you is called a
prospect. But they might just as accurately be called a skeptic.
We live in the age of the spam filter. And call-display. We live
in what fellow-copywriter Herschell Gordon Lewis calls, “The Age
of Skepticism.”

Your sales letters must overcome your reader’s built-in baloney
detector. Your prospective customers are on their guard. Here,
in no particular order, are some tips on how to prove your
trustworthiness on paper.

1. Third-party endorsements
If your
product has won an industry award for innovation, say so. If
your service was ranked among the top 10 in your industry by a
trade publication or other impartial group, mention that.
Leverage the positive press you’ve received.

2. Testimonials
If your clients have said
kind things about your company, your products or your customer
service, cite these accolades in your sales letters, with the
client’s permission, of course. Solicit these testimonials
often, and file them. Wherever possible, use the testimonials
that speak to the concerns and challenges facing each particular
prospect that you write to. To increase believability, cite the
full name, job title and company (and website if the testimonial
appears online) of each person who gives a testimonial.

3. Industry accreditation
If your company
is ISO 9000 certified, and if that is of value to your
prospects, say so. If you are members of your industry
association, or the Better Business Bureau, and if saying so
will increase your believability, mention that as well.

4. Longevity
The longer you have been in
business, the easier you are to trust. So mention your years in
business or the year you were founded, whichever sounds the most
impressive and plausible.

5. Industry leadership
Are you the leader
in your industry? That’s worth a mention. You can demonstrate
leadership in terms of annual sales, breadth of product line,
market share, number of employees, number of customers, and
number of countries where you have a presence.

Special challenges
If your company is
brand new, unknown, or cannot say any of the above things, there
are still ways to communicate trustworthiness. Incorporate your
business, since having Inc. after your name makes you look
established. Get a toll-free number. It says “big business” and
“customer service.” Offer a money-back guarantee. Offer “no
money up front, pay later” terms. Add the years that your
partners have been in business and present that figure as your
combined years of experience. Locate your office at a
prestigious address in the same neighbourhood where your
competitors are known to do business (Madison Avenue, New York,
for advertising, Saville Row, London, for men’s suits, and so
on).

© 2005 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and
in print provided the links remain live and the content remains
unaltered (including the “About the author” message)

Alan Sharpe
http://www.articlesbase.com/direct-mail-articles/how-to-convey-trustworthiness-in-direct-mail-marketing-sales-letters-872.html

Article marketing has become very powerful over the last several years and the popularity is increasing constantly. Due to the success that many have with submitting to article directories, new technologies have been created. These technologies and new tools have been designed to help make it easier for many to transition over into article marketing.

Article directories have started to upgrade their service to include many new tools and some even with brand new technologies that are created to help the authors and marketers take full advantage of article marketing. Many of these tools and new technologies have been created to make article marketing more automotive.

Taking advantage of automation will make your article marketing efforts easier and your life easier. Submitting your recent articles that you have written to thousands of article directories is now easier than ever. Creating interesting content filled articles has now become possible because of new technologies. Short articles can even be submitted to your blogs on pure auto-pilot.

Advancements That Will Change the History of Article Marketing

Article Submission — The popularity of auto submission for articles have been increasing and some developers have taken note of this popularity. There are many submission services online and software that can be run from your desktop. Not all auto submission is created the same though and this is where technology is starting to step in. Many auto submission services use generic categories to submit your articles, for more details visit to www.ezines-success.com which can be more harmful to your marketing efforts. Handfuls of submission services have decided enough was enough and have created powerful auto submission tools that will submit to each article directories exact categories. Think of how much more exposure your article could get by being submitted to the proper category.

Drip-Feed Submission — Blogs have been increasing in popularity and with that increase comes the need for automation of posting to your blog. Many marketers have 20 or more blogs and it is very time consuming trying to keep those blogs updated. Drip-Feed submission will take articles that you have written and post them to your blog on auto-pilot at the times your specify. You could drip-feed your blog with 1 or 2 articles per day or per hour. Only a handful of sites currently offer this technology but those sites are producing more powerful tools to make your life easier.

Content Creator — Until recently only a few article directories have been allowing a limited about of html in articles. There are a handful of sites though that are allowing full html that will actually allow the creation of article sales pages. With this brand new technology writers and authors have the capabilities to insert images, for more details visit to www.newbies-copywriting.com videos, flash, html templates and many other elements into articles. Using proper content creation can transform your article into a true work of art.

Though many of these tools and technologies are only available at a handful of sites currently, technology is increasing everyday and more powerful tools are being created. Think of how much greater of a response you can get from your recent articles that you have written by using these interesting article tools.

ruchika
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-marketing-articles/taking-advantage-of-automation-will-make-your-article-marketing-efforts-easier-738913.html

Books

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Product Specification :

ISBN :047012542X
Format :Hardcover: 346 pages
Publisher :John Wiley & Sons Inc
Date Published :06/30/2007
List price :39.95

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