One of the critical mistakes made by copywriters and marketers who don’t understand the importance of what I call “copy cosmetics” is creating copy that is hard to read. Not because what it says, but because it’s physically hard to read.

Think about this for a moment. You either spend your time or hard-earned dollars on a professional copywriter to craft a unique and compelling direct marketing message. When the last period is added, you breathe a sigh of relief, and consider your job done.

Not so fast….

Now comes the important task of making your direct marketing copy:

- attention-grabbing
- personal-looking
- and easy-to-read

If you can accomplish these three goals, you’ve definitely increased the chances for a higher response rate versus not spending the time on the look of your copy and direct marketing.

Let’s look at a few direct marketing examples that came across my desk recently and study where they fall short in the copy cosmetics department.

This first example is an ad for a local restaurant in Philadelphia Magazine. Sure, there’s a classy-looking black and white photo to grab your attention, but can you read the copy? Not only is the font too small it’s also “reverse copy” meaning light colored type on a dark background. Knowing the demographic for this high-end restaurant probably doesn’t have the best eyesight, does it make sense to make the ad so unreadable?

Imagine spending the money on creating this direct marketing advertisement and running it in a high-priced magazine, only to fall short on readability.

This is a classic advertising blunder made by advertising agencies who don’t understand copy cosmetics. Their big goal is a nice-looking ad, not response (if you don’t believe me, look at this ad closer and tell how this ad could be measured).

Reverse copy is a definite response-killer and should be used only in certain ways and sparingly at most.

Here’s another example of a nice-looking “special report”, complete with the buff gym owner, but because of the heavy use of reverse copy, it makes the copy very hard to read, even for a younger target market.

Using full background photographs in marketing sure does look nice, but be very careful when placing copy on top of them and if you’re going to try to make somebody read the copy, keep it short and simple and as readable as possible.

Finally, here’s another classic, “let’s make hard it for the reader to read” mistake. This time it’s a direct marketing postcard I received in the mail from a local printing company (you’d think they would understand how to make a postcard easy to read, wouldn’t you?).

Besides not following proven direct marketing principles, check out how the font choice for their five “fresh ways.” Can you read them? Even with the actual postcard in front of you, you would have a very hard time. I have no idea why they decided to use a red, script font for these very important items for their postcard, but their selection of font definitely kills response. Make sure your font choices are readable to your target market and based on the media you’re using.

Not wanting to end this article on a negative note, this postcard does use one or two direct marketing techniques correctly. The black on white paper contrast helps make the overall piece much more readable and their use of a serif font for the body copy is a smart choice, since serif fonts (like Times New Roman, Courier, etc.) make offline direct marketing much easier to read.
The bottom line is the right use of copy cosmetics can make or break your direct marketing piece. Online or offline, it doesn’t matter. You must understand what increase readability and response and what decreases it.

If you want to know the right way to improve the response of your copy and direct marketing, check out my CopyBoosting Profit Secrets home study course. This is the recording of a one-day workshop where I focused on showing the right way to use more than 20 copy cosmetic techniques to improve the attention-grabbing power, readability and response of your direct marketing and copy. Grab your copy at http://www.mikecapuzzi.tv/special

So I was pleasantly surprised while having dinner the other day with my business partner at a local restaurant. This restaurant is owned by an entrepreneur who “get’s it.”

I know for the fact the owner is a consummate marketer and his success is evident at the large number of restaurants he owns.  As a matter of fact, he just published his first book, which was available for purchase as we entered the restaurant.

But this is not the smart strategy I am referring to.  The smart strategy, and one you can steal for your business, is what happened at the conclusion of our dinner.

When the waitress appeared with our check, she also handed both of us, two pieces of paper (notice she didn’t give us just one set, but two – one for each of us).

The first was a “business card” giving us a 20% discount at a future visit.  This is an extremely smart strategy to study for several reasons.

•    First, it was presented as a “thank you gift” for visiting that evening.  Who doesn’t want to be thanked and acknowledged for their patronage?

•    Second, the discount was substantial enough to get my attention.  Had it been a 5% discount – the card wouldn’t have mattered.  But a 20% discount is worth holding onto.

•    Third, the owner understands that consumers are funny and while they may enjoy dinner at his restaurant, it doesn’t mean they’re coming back.  By offering a substantial future discount, he tapped into human nature knowing that few of us can pass up saving money while enjoying a nice meal.

The only improvement I would suggest to him is putting a deadline on the card so that it forces me to use it by a certain date.  It could be a generic “Must Use Within 30 Days” or he could leave room for the waitress to stamp a date based on my visit date.

The other piece of paper was an invitation to join his VIP Club.  Again this example is worthy of study for several reasons.

•    First and foremost, he’s making a serious effort to get my attention and contact information.  I am sure he has an impressive marketing follow-up strategy by both email and direct mail.  I wonder what I will receive on my birthday and anniversary?

•    Second, he’s giving me several reasons to give him my contact information, including lunch at a 50% discount, giveaways, event specials, etc.

•    Finally, he’s reassuring me that my information is safe.

If you’re a bricks and mortar business owner – how can you use these two strategies in your business?

If you’re allowing people to visit your location and not giving them a BIG reason to want to return and be contacted by you in the future, you’re leaving large amounts of money on the table.  Study the Doc Magrogan example and use it in your business to improve your marketing!