A Top Copy Writer Helps Businesses with Their Direct Response Needs During The Recession

Feb. 14, 2010 - PRLog -- Bob Bly, a direct marketing consultant and one of the nation’s top copywriters, offers free tips on direct marketing solutions to help businesses survive the recent tumultuous times. Bly placed reports such as “Survive the Recession” and “Marketing with Content”, as well as Direct Marketing ROI calculator and tips on direct response advertising on his website, free of charge.

River Vale, New Jersey – February 2010 – As the economy is poised to turn around, now more than ever businesses need to develop good marketing strategies and utilize advertisement which brings results. Bob Bly, who has 3 decades of experience in business-to-business marketing has decided to share some of his knowledge with business owners, and is offering free reports on his website.

One of the most efficient ways to market is the print ad – a good print ad. Says Bly: “In order to define what constitutes good print advertising, you start with understanding what a good print ad in not”, that is:

It is not creative for the sake of being creative, it is not designed to please copywriters, art directors, agency presidents or even clients and its main purpose is not to entertain, win awards or shout at the readers.   

So, what makes successful direct response print ad?
1.   It stresses a benefit.
2.   It arouses curiosity and invite readership.
3.   It provides information.
4.   It is knowledgeable. Successful ad copy reflects a high level of knowledge and understanding of the product and the problem it solves. The opposite approach - assuming the reader is completely ignorant - can insult the reader’s intelligence and destroy your credibility with him.
5.   It has a call to action. Good ad tells the reader the next step in the buying process and encourages him to take it NOW.     

These are the characteristics of a successful direct response ad. “But”, you may ask, “what about general advertising?”

Well, the best way to make your general advertising more effective is to write and design it as a direct response ad. Applying all the stock-in-trade techniques of the direct marketer virtually guarantees that your advertisement will be better read - and get more response - than the average “image” ad.

“I agree with Howard Ruff” adds Bly “when he says that everything a marketer does should be direct response, since results are all that matter, not the appearance of the ad.”

For a comprehensive list of tips and for more information about successful direct response marketing please visit www.bly.com.

# # #

Bob Bly is a freelance copywriter and a direct marketing consultant, specializing in business-to-business and direct response advertising. In addition to offering online marketing solutions, Bly has written copy for over 100 clients and is the author of more than 70 books. He has presented marketing, sales, and writing seminars for various groups, and taught business-to-business copy writing and technical writing at New York University. Bob Bly can be reached at rwbly@bly.com.