Can Web Copy Writers Learn From Direct Mail Marketing Techniques?

I think you hit the nail when you said that on-line marketers see that emails are free and do not do enough testing and learning.  I am largely a traditional Direct marketing working on Direct mail, Telemarketing and bit of DRTV, I recently started work with a group of successful online marketers.  Believe me they were as religious as we were in the  principles of direct response copywriting and in testing.

I believe this is what have set them apart and made them successful.

The principle to of direct response when the message reaches the audience is the same as in traditional direct mail. Of course there needs to be some consideration given to the fact the the audience is reading the message on screen.  I have spend a lot of time how to create the same emotion and excitement of receiving a 3 dimensional 5 piece piece kit on screen.  Will certainly to share that if those that are interested.

There are also technical constrains imposed on communicating digitally just as there are in DM mailing kits, page ads, etc  in traditional DM.   In presenting a message on the web, one would not only have to position to an audience but also to  search engines so that your page get properly ranked.  In emails one would need to avoid using words or formats that may result in the message being filtered resulting in non-delivery.
 
The e-marketing community has I believed spent excessive time learning and debating these technical issues of appealing to search engines and avoiding spam filters that they sometimes forget to pay due attention to the the “direct response requirements” of the their copy.  They forget that this is  fundamentally important when the message is ultimately being read.

I have come to learn that there may be some conflicts between an SEO and a copywriter.  Being in the advantaged position of the creative director, I often can resolve these issues. SEOs do often try to rewrite copies based on their “rathers” …putting in more than what is necessary for optimization…and this can completely cheese-off copywriters.

I see what we are going through as a dramatic change in media usage…writing for catalogs, off the pages, direct mail , DRTV uses the same principles of response but are constrained by the technical attributes of the media.  It is important that we mater these attribute but not let it divert us for the principle of response.

An important and valuable attribute of email is that it is free.  How we manage or abuse this advantage will impact the future of the direct marketing industry.

[Source: www.e-consultancy.com - Alexhar - April 2007]