What’s Direct Mail Copywriting?

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Direct mail copywriting is writing for clients that goes directly to potential customers, often through email or postcards, with the goal of enticing them to buy goods or services. Skilled freelance writers can be successful in this field, but it can be hit or miss for businesses. While direct mail campaigns are still popular, the use of the postal service for delivery is decreasing due to the internet and alternative methods for direct marketing.

Direct mail copywriting is public relations, marketing, or advertising writing done for a client that goes directly to his or her potential customers, often landing in their inbox or email. Frequently marketed on postcards or through other highly visible methods when using the mail, such campaigns are usually unwanted. The purpose of direct mail copywriting is to entice potential customers to buy the customer’s goods or services. Direct mail campaigns are distributed to a large number of people in order to get as much customer attention as possible. A writer who is skilled at writing compelling advertisements usually does direct mail copywriting.

Freelance writers who are talented at writing pieces that move prospects into affirmative action are more successful at direct mail copywriting. This type of copywriting is considered advertising. Sometimes advertisements are brought to the customer via methods such as hangers, leaflets and flyers. These approaches are still considered direct mail even though the mailbox may not be the primary delivery method. Direct mail is meant to go directly to the consumer and bypass other third party interventions such as stores and vendors.

For the copywriter, direct mail copywriting can be a lucrative business. When a writer earns a reputation as an effective copywriter, clients seek him out for his expertise; however, for the businessman who pays for direct mail campaigns, the method is often hit and miss. It is easy to measure the positive response from customers at the end of receiving direct mail marketing campaigns, but it is more difficult to ascertain the number of people who perceive unsolicited advertising mail as annoying junk mail or spam. Recent commercial email legislation in many countries requires companies to offer recipients an opt-out link where they can remove their name from the mailing list. In this way, people who receive spam e-mail messages can block the flow of these messages from specific senders, but there is no such regulation for postal customers.

Direct mail copywriting for clients who have postal clients could be a dying art in many localities. In the United States, for example, the amount of direct mail delivered via the US Postal Service decreased by 10% in 2009. The decline is attributed to an economic downturn as well as the use of the Internet and alternative methods for direct marketing. While a decline in the use of the postal service for direct mail delivery is likely, direct mail is still a popular advertising method as customers can be targeted and correspondence can be optimized to drive positive results from those targeted customers . Writers with a talent for producing persuasive copy should always be able to find work.




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