October 1996



By popular demand...
The Desktop and Web Publishing Series begins Tuesday, October 8 with Producing Effective Newsletters. For more information, call Clermont College Business & Industry Training Center at 732-5224.


Picture perfect ad...
A refresher course on what makes print advertising work: it rewards the reader by providing news or information, solves a problem, or appeals to the emotions. Whether it is a letter, a postcard or an ad in a publication, it repeats the message three times--in illustration, headline and copy. Illustrations relating directly to the message work 32% better, unless they're a cliche. Leave out the illustration and the ad is 27% less effective.


Directed direct mail...
In order to produce an effective direct mail piece, it is important to keep the copy focused from your customers point of view. There are two key ways to insure this. The first is to list benefits rather than features. Your customer wants to know what your product or service will do for them, not the descriptive characteristics of it. The second is to limit the use of "I", "my", your company name, etc. in your copy. Words like "you" and "your" will improve the effect of your letter. There should be at least a 2 to 1 ratio with the "you" focused language as opposed to the "we" focused language. The more you have "you" statements, the more customer focused your piece is and the more likely it is to succeed.


A country market...
America's top 10 radio formats: Country, News/Talk/Sports/Business, Adult Contemporary, Oldies, Religion-Music, Rock, Adult Standards, Religion-Talk, Spanish, Soft Adult Contemporary. Country comprises 26.3% of all radio with News/Talk/Sports/Business a distant second with 11.7%.


Quote of the month...
"It is one of the most beautiful compensations in life that no man can sincerely try to help another, without helping himself." --Ralph Waldo Emerson


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