Discover 30 Powerful Words That are Proven to Increase Sales Now

In the last 30 years the purpose of advertising has shifted from selling products to winning awards for the advertising agency. A quick test of this is the Super Bowl advertising, which is often cute, clever and aesthetically magnificent but usually the point of the ad is buried in the cuteness of it.

If it sells, it is creative. After all the point is to generate a return on your advertising investment, right? This, in essence, is the first rule of direct mail design according to legendary designer and author, David Ogilvy. But what sells?

The following are 30 powerful words you can use to increase response and sales:

Use words that grab the reader’s attention. Here is a recent list of “Words that Grab Attention,” produced by Starch INRA Hooper Research Worldwide:

•  Announcing
•  Discover
•  Easy
•  Exclusive
•  Free
•  Guarantee
•  Health
•  Help
•  Immediately
•  Introducing
•  Know
•  Learn
•  Love
•  Money
•  New
•  Now
•  Powerful
•  Profits
•  Protect
•  Proven
•  Results
•  Safe
•  Save
•  Secret(s)
•  Today
•  Trust
•  Understand

The other rules to creating effective results driven advertising are:

1. Keep it simple. When the prospect receives your post card or brochure in the mail you have about 2-5 seconds before they make a decision to keep or trash it. The message and design has to grab attention and communicate a benefit.
2. Benefits sell. Make sure that whatever your offer is, it contains benefits to the end user. People buy benefits.
3. Layout and eye trail. Eye trail simply means where your eye goes when you look at the piece. The design must guide the eye to key points of the message. Post cards that have too much information on them tend to be confusing. Another element that ads to “eye confusion” is too many photos or a photo not matching the message. If you have looked at a post card and felt confused and had the urge to throw it in the trash, it was most likely because the design of the card did not guide your eye but scampered you all over it.
4. Call to action. You have to tell them why they should respond, how to respond and a benefit of responding “now” as opposed to six months from now.

The above is a short list of key elements necessary to creating an effective ad. I would refer you to a previous article on the 10 points of a successful ad.

Our purpose is to help make direct mail marketing simple for you. We offer turnkey service from design to print and mailing depending on what you would like.

If there is anything you have questions about please give us a call at 727-536-4173.

Mark Hale
CEO