http://www.mikecapuzzi.tv/2011/07/

In case you missed it, it’s well worth three minutes of your time to check it out.

On this particular episode I shared three tips for helping your improve your business and marketing.

Resource #1

The first was a little, classic book by Charlie “Tremendous” Jones called “Life is Tremendous.”

This book is less than 100 pages and over 2 million copies of this book have been sold since it was first published.  It’s full of positive and actionable leadership strategies relevant to everybody reading this article.

While you may not have heard of Charlie Jones, who passed away in 2008, don’t let that stop you from reading this book.  You can grab a copy for under $10.00 on amazon.com.

Resource #2

Would you like free access to a number of must-read newsletters from the late, great copywriting and direct marketing expert, Gary Halbert?  Then check out

www.thegaryhalbertletter.com

If you don’t know who Gary Halbert was, you should.  He was one of the most successful copywriters who ever lived before passing away in 2007.

Starting in the late 80’s, Gary wrote The Gary Halbert Letter, a monthly print newsletter full of marketing wisdom and Gary’s unique style of writing and wit.

Fortunately, you can access many past editions of Gary’s newsletter at the web site above.  And while it’s not the easiest site to navigate and it will take you a few clicks to get to them, but its well worth the search.

Resource #3

My last resource is a proven direct mail strategy and one I’ve used many times in my own business. It’s a format that practically guarantees the piece will be opened.

Think you know what it is?  It’s making your direct mail look like a personalized greeting card.

Who can resist not opening up something that looks like a birthday or greeting card?

The key for a successful mailing is to make it look exactly like a card envelope you would buy at a greeting card store.

You want to handwrite the recipient’s name and address or use a handwritten font at a minimum.

Personally, I put my name and return address on the envelope and depending on the context of the mailing, I may use a CopyDoodle on the outside as a teaser.

You should also use a live stamp.  The point is to make it look like you’re sending one card to one friend.

8 times out of 10, I will put in a greeting-card style mailer inside the envelope.  It could be a thank you card, an obscure holiday card or you can even make up your own holiday reason for mailing like my friend Charlie McDermott did with his recent National Web TV Day mailing.

So if you want to create a direct mail piece that begs to be opened, create your own greeting card-style mailer.

You can check out past episodes of my 3 in 3 web TV show (the only web TV show guaranteed to give you three valuable business resources in only 3 minutes) at

http://www.mikecapuzzi.tv/3-in-3

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If you’re like me and enjoy food, you naturally understand the value and importance of enhancing the taste of your food with various spices, accents and flavorings. Personally, I am a huge fan of hot and spicy food and I have a new-found passion for the Bhut Jolokia pepper or ghost chili as it’s sometimes known.

For my two daughters, it’s not ice cream if it’s not covered in chocolate syrup and rainbow jimmies.

My point is, when applied correctly, spices and flavorings make something that is good, taste even better. Add too much salt, hot pepper, or even chocolate syrup for that matter and you can ruin a perfectly good dish.

The reason the smart marketer and copywriter uses CopyDoodles (and other copy cosmetic techniques) is to take something that is good and make it better by knowing when and where to add these powerful copy enhancements.

Keeping with the food analogy (remember, I’m Italian) CopyDoodles add S.P.I.C.E. to your marketing or “Super Personal Instant Copy Enhancements.”

The KEY to unlocking the power of CopyDoodles is in knowing which “spice” to add, where to add it and how much to add.

Unfortunately, this is where a lot of marketers make fundamental, but preventable mistakes.

When I am working with private clients or mastermind members, I constantly start with three basic questions:

• Who’s your “who?”

• What’s the context of your relationship with your “who?”

• What’s the one thing you want your “who” to do?

The beauty of CopyDoodles is how fast and simple they are to use, but before I even consider adding a single CopyDoodle to any marketing piece, I give careful consideration to the three questions above.

The answers to these questions tell me what spice to add, where to add it and how much I can add.

Over the years, I’ve seen sales letters that looked like a wall of graffiti. I’ve seen advertisements where CopyDoodles were haphazardly thrown on. And I’ve seen newsletters, emails and other marketing materials where CopyDoodles were incorrectly used, resized, or looked terrible when printed because the person using them didn’t understand the fundamental concepts, techniques and psychology behind the proper use of CopyDoodles.

Truly, there is an art and science behind using CopyDoodles and copy cosmetics in general, which is why for the first time in 3.5 years, I am hosting a four-part, six hour CopyDoodles Best Practices Webinar Series for individuals interested in understanding the best ways to maximize the use of CopyDoodles.

Never before have I covered the A to Z theories, strategies, technical tips and short-cuts in such a concise, easy-to-attend and easy-to-understand way as with this series of webinars that you can attend from the comfort of your home or office.

This will be the most complete, advanced, with “insider secrets” training I have ever done on the power and use of CopyDoodles in both offline and online marketing. Even if you’re an experience CopyDoodles user, you will learn new ways to improve the look and response of your marketing.

The fee to attend the live webinars (and get access to the video replays) is downright cheap. I hate to use that word, but it’s a fact. For the level of training and insights I am going to deliver on these webinars, you’ll be kicking yourself for missing it. Just one, simple idea or strategy taken from the six hours of training could provide a phenomenal return on your investment.

Check out http://www.copydoodles.com/training for all the details, including my risk-free guarantee.

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Today I want to focus on an often over-looked, left to the last minute component of many direct marketing mail packages – the envelope. If you were to study any of the great direct mail marketers, each will reaffirm the critical importance of the design and look of your envelopes and how certain design principles can result in very profitable increases in response.

If you were to ask any layperson what the purpose of the envelope is and they will typically say its job is to hold your mailings contents together and get them delivered as you intended without them getting lost or damaged.

And they would be right. This would be the “physical” job of the envelope (and an important one at that), but it would not be the answer we marketers are focused on. Ask any sharp marketer what the purpose of an envelope is and he or she will tell you it’s to ensure the recipient notices your direct marketing mail and opens it immediately.

This is what your envelopes must do and in today’s world with all of the junk mail that we receive, this is no small task. Whole books have been written about envelope design and strategy and if you’re so inclined I would suggest you seek out books written by Dick Benson, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Denny Hatch, and Dan Kennedy.

If you don’t have the time or interest, you’re still in luck because I am going to give you several useful and easy-to-use strategies for ensuring your envelopes are getting ripped open immediately.

Two Envelope Design Strategies

There are two basic strategies you can employ when designing your envelopes. The first is what I call the positive recognition strategy. This strategy is designed to result in an “Oh, it’s from your-name-here and I need to open it” response.

This strategy works when you have a relationship with your recipients and that relationship alone is enough to get them to open the envelope (thought you may still want to use several of the envelope booster strategies I mention below).

The second strategy is to arouse significant curiosity from your recipient with your direct marketing mail piece. This strategy can be used with any type of market, cold or warm and it taps into one of the strongest human emotions – curiosity – to get them to open your envelope.

There are different ways you can arouse significant curiosity with your direct marketing mail envelopes, including:

• The envelope that carries a promise
• The important-looking envelope
• The questioning envelope
• The tell-all envelope
• The blind envelope

There are certain parameters that need to be considered when and how to use one of these styles of envelopes and to see examples of each of these, watch this video:

http://www.mikecapuzzi.tv/

Direct Marketing Mail: 10 Smart Envelope Boosters

Regardless of which of the two design strategies you use, there are several “envelope boosters” you can use on your envelope to get the attention of the recipient and practically guarantee they will open it immediately.

These envelope booster strategies are all concerned with “the look” of your envelopes and what you are doing on them to grab attention and yield response. Each is easy to use and anybody reading this article can and should use all of them when designing their envelopes.

1. Fun, live postal stamps – actual first class stamps get more response than bulk rate stamps. Consider using special edition, fun stamps to get more attention.
2. Use both sides – printing on both sides of the envelope can be a smart strategy to get your envelopes to stand out from the rest. Consider adding photos or testimonials to the other side so they will be seen as the envelope is being opened.
3. Non-paper envelopes – there are several alternatives to traditional paper envelopes, including translucent, mirror, linen, denim and clear envelopes.
4. Unique envelope shapes – consider sending your next direct marketing mailing in a unique sized envelope that stands out from all the #10 and 9 x 12 envelopes that fill your mail box. One size I like to use is the invitation sized envelope to send personalized mailings.
5. Colored envelopes – a smart strategy to tie into the time of year or an upcoming holiday (e.g. red envelopes for Valentines Day). There are just as many envelope colors as there are sizes and materials.
6. Tease with CopyDoodles® - using handwritten fonts and doodles and teaser copy on your direct marketing mail envelopes helps them stand out and get noticed right away.
7. Alert with CopyStamps – simulated rubber stamps on your envelopes creates a sense of urgency. Like any of these boosters, these should be used within the correct context of your entire mailing.
8. Engage with CopyComics – Putting cartoons on your direct marketing mail envelopes can be a fun and unique way to engage your recipients, especially when they are personalized to the individual. Check out this video where I show smart ways to use cartoons in your marketing.
http://www.mikecapuzzi.tv/advertising-a-business-using-comics
9. Fun, quirky elements – In this day and age, anything that stands out from all the plain vanilla marketing is a good thing. There are certain elements you can add to your envelopes to make them appear as one-off and individualized as possible.
10. Unique photos – I love using fun, unique photos on envelopes. Photos are proven attention-grabbers and should be used in your direct marketing mail design arsenal.

For more details on these 10 envelope boosters and to see examples of each, please check out this video:

http://www.mikecapuzzi.tv/

I hope this article has opened your eyes to the rather important job your envelopes have and the major part they play in getting maximum response out of your direct marketing mail campaigns. Your envelopes should not be an afterthought when it comes to creating profitable and response boosting direct marketing mail.

If you would like to discover more ways that your marketing can stand out with the use of CopyDoodles and copy cosmetics, check out our Copy Boosting Profits Secrets Course and our CopyDoodles Best Practices Webinar Series!

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Today, unfortunately, many marketers thumb their noses at the timeless and proven strategies used by the legends of direct response marketing like John Caples, David Ogilvy and others in favor of the shiny-object-du-jour.

And while technology and improvements in marketing and advertising a business are always welcome, it should not come at the expense of studying, understanding and applying the strategies that have worked in the past.

One such marketing strategy, often used in the 20^th century, was the use of comics and cartoons to grab attention and increase marketing response.  Many of the most successful brands relied on the attention-grabbing power of cartoons when promoting their products, though it is one of the best ways to advertise.

In his classic book “How to Make Your Advertising Make Money,” the famous copywriter and marketer, John Caples said,

“For more than 50 years readership studies have shown that comic strips are among the best read features in publications.  Making an ad look like a comic strip can greatly increase readership.”

So why aren’t more marketers and those advertising a business using cartoons and comics today?

Is it because they no longer work?

Or, we’ve become too sophisticated?

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

I believe there are several reasons, but one of the biggest is that with all the technology advancements we have, we all tend to forget the more basic and fundamental strategies for boosting response (this is the reason all smart marketers and copywriters use CopyDoodles®).

Tapping into the emotional connection of cartoons is an example of this oversight and it leaves the smart marketer with a huge advantage.

Advertising Age magazine had a huge advantage with the success it created with their personalized cartoon campaign back in the early 1990’s.   By using a cartoon with a personalized caption on the envelope, letter and response form, Advertising Age created a super successful marketing campaign.

Now you too can tap into the power of personalized cartoons and I show you exactly how to do it in the 12 minute video on Mike Capuzzi TV.  The techniques I show on this video could be worth thousands of dollars to you when you’re advertising a business, and best of all, anybody can use them to create attention-grabbing marketing.

I have used these strategies successfully and so have many of my students and I believe so much in the power of cartoons and comics, I have created almost 500 (and the number is still growing) customizable CopyComics, which can be found on our CopyDoodles Access Club site.

CopyComics are copyright-free cartoons that you can quickly and easily personalize.  You can use them either for print marketing or Internet marketing and in both cases, when used correctly, they will boost the attention-grabbing power of your marketing when advertising a business!
Want a more in-depth lesson so you can discover how to effectively increase the attention-grabbing power of your copy with comics and cartoons? Check out my Home Study Course and Cd-Rom: How to Boost Response with Cartoons

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My fax back was short and to the point… HELL YEAH!!!

I own the very first edition (1990) of The Ultimate Sales Letter and it was the book that introduced me to Dan Kennedy and his powerful marketing strategies.  To be asked personally by Dan to contribute to the 2011 edition of this book is an honor and shows how important Dan considers the topic of “copy cosmetics.”

As a matter of fact, back in May, I was the guest of Dan at his Business of Copywriting Academy where I discussed the topic of copy cosmetics and the critical relationship between HOW your copy looks and the response it gets.

Over the past few years, I’ve immersed myself in the study of copy cosmetic techniques and strategies.  One of these techniques includes the use of handwritten margin notes and doodles, which triggered the idea for CopyDoodles® first for my own client work and most recently for thousands of business owners around the world.

Copy cosmetics are an often overlooked, but critically important topic for any direct response marketer or copywriter.  Their proper use allows you to create attention-grabbing marketing that is easy (and fun) to read and makes an emotional connection with the reader.  Plus they set you apart from the 97% of marketers who don’t use them.

Plain Vanilla Letter

Letter Using Several Copy Cosmetic Strategies!

I’ve already started working on the chapter outline and I’ve identified 27 unique copy cosmetic strategies everybody should be using when crafting their copy (online or offline – it doesn’t matter).

Just today I was interviewed by restaurant marketing expert Rory Fatt, on how independent restaurant owners can use these techniques (if you would like a copy of this interview along with a cheat sheet of 27 techniques I will be writing about in the next edition of The Ultimate Sales Letter, simply share your copy cosmetic thoughts below and I will make sure we email it to you when it’s ready).

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Mike Capuzzi presenting at Dan Kennedy’s Business of Copywriting Academy

This intense two-day workshop was designed to help professional copywriters improve their business by learning the fundamental marketing and business strategies Dan is so famous for.  Dan literally pealed back the curtains to his own copywriting business and showed attendees the nuts, bolts (and even warts) of how he built a seven figure copywriting business.

Mike Capuzzi & Dan Kennedy

Even though I was a guest, I still took pages of notes and was reminded of so many important success strategies we all need to be aware of in our businesses.  The most fundamental being one I first read from Napoleon Hill in his September 1921 edition of his magazine, “Hill’s Golden Rule.”

The September 1921 issue of Napoleon Hill’s “Hill’s Golden Rule”

In the issue of his magazine, Napoleon Hill wrote an article entitled “The End of the Rainbow,” where he described a number of turning points in his life and how they affected his path to success.

One idea in particular was fundamental to all others and in Hill’s own words, he writes,

“Here I got hold of the idea that it would pay me to perform more service and better service than what I was actually paid to perform.  This idea has become a fixed principle with me, and it now modifies all of my actions wherein I render service.”

Take a moment and re-read Hill’s words.  While I am sure the idea is not new to you, Hill’s simple idea is profound and truly a key to success for everybody reading this article.   Imagine if every business owner would deliver MORE service and BETTER service than what he or she was actually paid for.

I wonder what this would look like? And more importantly how can you and I make sure we are following this fundamental principle?

After being reminded by both Dan Kennedy and Napoleon Hill, I spent this past weekend remapping some of my own business strategies to ensure I was delivering more than what my own clients and customers were expecting and paying for.

The big result was a “new member” campaign together for members of my soon-to-be-released CopyDoodles Access Club.  My goal is to create an extraordinary experience for all new members and to do as much as I possibly can to help them improve their own businesses.   The campaign consists of emails, direct mail and a very valuable, surprise bonuses that all new members will receive automatically – and without them having to ask.

In 2010, no entrepreneur or business owner can afford to have gaps in their business and marketing.  Now is a great time to consider tightening up your own business practices.

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Well I'm on the road again today this time to Cleveland, OH to speak at Dan Kennedy's "Business of Copywriting

Dan and Carla Kennedy stopped by to say hi to my wife Becky and I at the booth.

Academy."

I am going to be one of only three guest speakers at Dan's event and I'll be speaking on the topic of Copy Cosmetics.

The workshop is for professional copywriters and they'll be there to learn how to improve their marketing and business.

I'm excited to talk to this group because as you know, copy cosmetics is really my expertise.

I'm also excited to talk about the release CopyDoodles® Access Club or “CopyDoodles 2.0” as some folks have been calling it because it really is the future of CopyDoodles®.

CopyDoodles® Access Club allows you as a CopyDoodles customers to access all your powerful, attention-grabbing content –  even faster and easier than before!  And here's the good news,  CopyDoodles® Access Club includes CopyDoodles, CopyComics, CopyFonts, CopyFlash, and our innovative CopyGenerators.

So make sure to check back to my blog often as I'm hoping to post some pictures and notes from Dan's "Business Of Copywriting Academy" and I also plan on sending out some tweets and updating my Facebook page.

Talk to you soon.

Mike

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Apparently there is some nasty, algae-type stuff floating around the North Pole. As the camera panned the ocean, this goo was floating on the water’s surface, leaving a disfiguring wound on an otherwise pristine natural setting.

Being a copy cosmetics geek, I couldn’t help but make the mental connection of how many people add a similar type of nasty goo to their copywriting and marketing design, in an effort to grab attention or even worse, make a half-hearted attempt to copy somebody else’s work.

The copywriting “goo” I am talking about is a misuse of the copy cosmetic techniques I teach and like the Artic goo, it takes away rather than adds to the effort. Whenever I speak or coach a master mind member, I always go back to what I call “functional design.” This means that every copy cosmetic technique used has a specific and functional purpose in mind. Everything is done with intention and careful thought. Nothing is done haphazardly.

Here’s a perfect example of what I am talking about...

Ever since I created CopyDoodles™, people all over the world have grasped the power of how adding handwritten notes and doodles to your marketing materials can boost response. However way too often I see what I consider a misuse of CopyDoodles, which I believe can result in decreased response rather than a boost!

Here’s the three biggest blunders I see:

1) Using too many CopyDoodles! The big benefit of CopyDoodles is to create “eye stops”, grab attention and cause the reader to pause at particular locations within your copy. However when too many CopyDoodles are used, it only confuses the reader. I always say “overuse = abuse” and when everything is emphasized, nothing stands out.

2) Using too many styles of CopyDoodles at one time! Currently there are five different styles of CopyDoodles found on the CopyDoodles membership site. This means, if one so desired, five different looking handwriting styles could be used on one piece or web site. BIG MISTAKE! Again I go back to one of the reasons I created CopyDoodles, which is to help people create their own “handwritten notes and doodles” quickly and easily and most importantly realistically! This is a key point – realism. If you were actually adding your own handwritten notes the old way, you wouldn’t be writing in different styles and handwriting – would you? This would make it appear like multiple people are adding notes, which doesn’t make sense to me, so why do it with CopyDoodles? I highly suggest you use one style of CopyDoodles within a single marketing piece.

3) Using too many colors! Much like mistake #2, using too many colors is often distracting and unnecessary. It creates the false illusion that you picked up different colored pens to make your notes. I don’t know about you, but the thought of picking up different pens to add notes to a letter to a friend doesn’t make sense. And if it doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t seem real.

Which brings me to my final point. Effective copywriters understand that one of their main missions is to connect with the reader in a personal, 1:1 way. I often teach it’s like writing to a friend. Might you add a doodle here and there to draw her attention to areas within your copy?

Absolutely!

Would you make your letter look like a wall of graffiti, with different handwriting and different colors and way too much goo? I think not.

Keep these principles in mind when you craft your next marketing piece and watch your response rates soar!

To get your own FREE CopyDoodles and discover the power of boosting your marketing response using handwritten fonts, CopyDoodles, visit http://www.copydoodles.com.

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I did a double-take to see if this was one of my CopyDoodles (it wasn’t, but it sure looked close).  But it was gratifying to see a major magazine use this ultra-effective copywriting design technique to grab attention.  For the last 18 months, I have been teaching people how to use this technique to create instant "eye magnets" that literally force your reader to engage with your piece.

Lately, I have been seeing the use of simulated handwriting more and more.  It’s in the Sunday paper, it’s on television and in magazine ads.  As a matter of fact I have seen a number of book covers that use this technique to stand out, including this one.

In my marketing consulting company, I have done a number of split tests and across the boards the materials that contain handwritten notes and doodles always perform better than those without them.  Of course you have to know how and when to use them appropriately (just slapping a bunch of CopyDoodles on your materials without proper thought can be counter-productive).

The use of simulated handwriting goes back a long way in advertising and I have a theory as to why I think simulated handwriting is being used so effectively today.   The use of computers, word processing and laser printers has created “homogenized marketing.”  95% of everything looks the same.

And when you introduce a handwritten or hand-drawn element to the mix, it becomes very different in a simple, human kind of way.  The effectiveness of a simple red handwritten note and doodle can be huge.  Look at the book cover above.  Its power is in its simplicity and human appeal.

I believe the use of simulated handwriting is one of the easiest and fastest ways you can grab attention in your marketing.   My CopyDoodles makes this fast and easy and you don’t need a graphic designer to do it for you.  Check them out!

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