Identifying Talented Direct Marketers – The Copywriter

Written By Ted Grigg

The selection process for direct response copywriters varies depending upon what you are trying to accomplish. But what is clear is that the copywriter in any direct marketing channel must possess the ability to communicate in such a way as to either beat existing controls in a test or generate sufficient response to pay for the promotion to make money on a rollout basis.

All talents are essential for generating response. Proper media selection along with a product or service that people will pay for at the offered price and great graphics to stimulate the recipient’s interest all contribute to the successful campaign.

All of these contributions, as vital as they are, are not as important as the correct market selection and a compelling offer. From his experiences of what works, the writer should provide a leadership role in developing the offer.

For direct mail, for example, the list selection combined with the offer determine as much as 75% of the outcome of the direct marketing campaign.

Other than this fundamental skill, the writer must now assure success with these qualities.

-The writer must communicate the offer and product benefits convincingly. This means the writer must discern what product benefit he or she will be of greatest interest to the target market. We call this the main or unique selling proposition. All benefits are addressed in the message, but this single benefit provides the message theme. Does the writer’s portfolio display this clarity of thought and message unity?

-Does the copy show breadth? Are multiple industries portrayed in the work? Has cross-pollenization between industries occurred?

-Does the writer understand what typically persuades buyers by using tried and true techniques such as testimonials, Johnson boxes or PS paragraphs in letters? Is the copy personal in tone? Does the copy sell rather than just tell?

-For direct mail, do you see a large variety of packages that use involvement devices, online packages such as snap pacs and other innovative designs?

-When the writer writes collateral copy, does he routinely provide copywriter roughs as an organizational guide to the artist?

-In broadcast, how creative were the attention getters and calls to action? Does the copy continually ask for the order or is it an afterthought?

Aside from these issues, I like to work with writers who have a collection of controls or winners that progressed to rollout. Does the writer show the creative work that lost and compared it to what won?

The direct marketing copywriting shows a dramatically different skill set when compared to the general writer.

What other strengths do you look for when you hire freelance writers or writers for your direct team?

Ted Grigg
What Ted does best is increase response by beating controls, applying multiple channels to target markets, profiling customer databases and generally improving sales results using deep direct marketing principles. Regard Ted as your personal “think-tank” for your direct marketing planning and strategy development. After analyzing several hundred million dollars of direct response testing in all channels, he brings with him the knowledge accumulated from seeing what tends to work and what does not. Having worked on both the agency and client side of direct marketing, Ted understands the unique challenges faced by agencies and their clients. Agencies need to sell themselves and deliver sales results. And clients not only require results, but need ideas they can implement while focusing on tracking response using a relational database. If Ted brings nothing else to the table, by profiling customer databases and creating response propensity models, he quickly becomes the clients’ expert on their own customers. His formal training includes a BA from Abilene Christian University and two years of graduate work at Texas Tech University. For a national direct-to-consumer insurance company, Ted developed a revolutionary direct mail format that beat most standing direct mail controls for this company. He also generated more profitable business for this firm by expanding compiled list circulation of less than 10% to more than 30% of total direct mail circulation within a year. (Insurance business generated by direct mail demonstrated higher persistency than customers coming from other media such as print and DRTV.) Ted’s plan and implementation of Medicare lead generation campaigns for over 60 regional and national HMO/PPO organizations combined multiple channels that surpassed some sales projections by as much as 60%. Additional industry experience over the last 30 years includes B2B or B2C for finance, securities, home security, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, government, technology, nonprofit, retail, transportation, communications, and multiple categories in the services industry. As the founder of Wyse Direct (a division for Wyse Advertising in Cleveland, OH), he successfully launched and branded a new technology product for Seiko-Mead by supporting a nationwide sales team with a predictable flow of qualified sales leads. While a VP of new business development for the Grizzard Agency, Ted acted as the direct marketing strategist who refocused the agency’s culture to attract new commercial and fundraising accounts. At the time, Grizzard was essentially a direct mail fund raising production operation. His leadership and team building effectiveness prepared Grizzard for the eventual Omnicom acquisition and Grizzard’s successful integration into Omnicom’s large group of advertising agencies. An independent DM consultant, Ted continues to write numerous articles and conduct webinars on direct marketing techniques. He also wrote The HMO/PPO Marketing Plan — A Step-by-Step Guide publishing it through Executive Enterprises in New York City. During his youth, Ted was raised in Lille, France with his missionary family attending French schools becoming fluent in reading and writing French. Away from the job, Ted is a computer geek, blogger and science fiction buff!
http://www.dmcgresults.com
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