Writing a Mailshot

1. Plan Your Approach

1.1 Know what objectives you want the mailshot to achieve.

• You may want it to sell a product or to generate sales leads.
• You may want to launch a new product or service or break into new markets.
• You may be test marketing, to try out new products, packaging or campaign ideas.
• You may want to enhance your service to existing customers by giving them up-to-date information.

1.2 Identify your readers, so you know what sort of approach is likely to work best.

• What prior knowledge do they have about your product?
• Why do they need what you are offering?
• What do they want to hear about your product?
• What are their likely objections?

1.3 Choose the right format. Mail, fax and email give you three distinct options. Each of them needs to be written in a different way.

• Most mailings will consist of a pack of several items that is posted second class, or first class if the timing is important.
• Fax is limited to black and white and costs money to receive. It will only be welcomed by people who are keen to hear what you have to say. Fax mailshots need powerful content and should not go beyond a single page.
• Email is instant and almost free. Copy for email mailshots needs to be brief, factual and emphatic. (See Email and Marketing on the Internet.)