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THE LEVISON LETTER
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Action Ideas For Better Direct Mail,
E-mail, Web Sites & Advertising
Published by
Ivan Levison, Direct Response Copywriting
June, 2005
Volume: 20 Number: 6
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What's the right length for your sales letter?
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A while ago I had a chance to visit Petticoat Lane in
London's colorful East End.
"The Lane," as it's called by the locals,
is a working-
class street market where vendors hawk their wares in
loud, cockney accents.
Perhaps the most impressive vendor of all was a young
man
who was selling one of those "Vegomatic" type kitchen
gadgets that slice, dice, chop, etc. I stopped to hear
his rap and let me tell you, this guy could sell!
When you think about it, his little product (which
Gallagher parodies so beautifully) is literally a joke.
No one could possibly need the damned thing, yet this guy
would not be denied!
In a non-stop barrage of jokes, questions, and promises,
in a veritable harangue of features and benefits, he
created needs his enthralled audience never knew it had!
How could we live without little roses made from a
tomato?
How could we exist without a french fry, fifteen inches
long, extruded from a single potato?
Yes. He was fabulous, and his pitch ran for a good
fifteen minutes. While he was working no one walked away.
No one even moved. Why did he have us in the palm of his
hand? Because he always had something new to show us. He
was always engaging.
That's the lesson you should remember the next time
you
have to write (or review) a sales letter:
The letter isn't too long if it holds the
reader's interest.
Don't be like some marketers who believe that no one
wants to read their mail and therefore insist on using
one-side-of-a-page letters only.
These are folks who have no confidence in their writing
ability. They are scared to death that the reader will
instantly crumple up their letter and throw it in the
trash. That's why they want to blurt out their message
quickly and then run away.
That's not the way to approach writing a sales letter!
Instead, you need to understand that readers WILL stay
with you just as long as you're holding their interest,
identifying with their "pain," and showing them how you
can make that pain go away.
Maybe a one-side-of-a-page letter is all you need for
a
simple lead-generation project. Fine. Go short.
But if you've got a complex product to explain, or
there's some heavy-duty skepticism you have to overcome,
you may need two or even four pages to make your case.
That's not a problem. That's simply the space you need to
make the sale.
Just remember . . . stay lively, interesting, engaging,
and human and you'll always keep your audience with you
and on your side.
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How To Get In Touch
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Ivan Levison
Direct Response Copywriting
14 Los Cerros Drive
Greenbrae, CA 94904
Phone: (415) 461-0672
Fax: (415) 461-7738
E-mail: ivan@levison.com
Web Site: http://www.levison.com
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Copyright 2005, by Ivan Levison, All Rights Reserved.
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