The 14 Best Lines In Marketing
 By Jeffery Dobkin, marketing consultant, author, and professional speaker

Like old friends, these lines are of great value to have at your side. This reoccurring arsenal of words is a center point in almost all of my campaigns.

In Direct Mail:

“Gift Certificate Enclosed”

My very favorite line for getting my clients’ direct mail packages opened. Reasons?

• Gift certificates are inexpensive to print, at 1/3 or 1/4 of a sheet of paper - or less.

• Ship flat and it adds very little weight to your mailing package.

• High perceived value.

• Cheap to redeem—have no cost at all until redemption.

• May be targeted to specific merchandise or offers—good for overstock or high margin items.

• Naturally easy to track.

“Free Offer Inside” and “OPEN IMMEDIATELY!”

Works almost as well.

“Just Call and Get” and “Call Us TOLL FREE”

You must tell the recipient exactly what you want him to do for the best chance of having him do exactly what you want.

“Dear Colleague” and “Friend”

It’s one of my favorite salutations. So much better than ‘Dear reader,’ which is always my last choice.

“Thank you for your business and your trust.”

If you don’t thank them, how are your customers to know you care, or appreciate their business? They won’t.

“Thank you for your kind referral.”

One of the best ways to get business is through referrals. One of the best ways to get more referrals is to send a thank you letter to the person who made a referral.

“New Product Offers Benefit!” “Free Booklet offers how-to information.”

These headlines attract readers.

In PR: “Are you the person I should send this press release to?”

It’s much more likely your press release will be published if you speak with an editor. So: Call the editor BEFORE sending him or her a press release, and ask, “Are you the person I should send this press release to?” This will increase your chance of being published from 5% to 50%, maybe 70% or 80%.

“Nice speaking with you.”

Even if it wasn’t, “Nice speaking with you, thank you for receiving my call” should be the first line of the letter you include with the press release. This subtly reminds the editor of your conversation, and that the publishing of this particular release has great importance to you.

“And how did you hear of our company?”

Built into every advertising and marketing program should be a tracking system. A simple method: leave a stack of 3” x 5” cards next to each phone and when it rings—early in the conversation—ask “And how did you hear of our company?”

Take all the filled-out slips of paper and put them in a selected drawer. At the end of the month you’ll have a good idea which ad or program is working.

“It’s a little over, is that OK?”

OK, so it isn’t used in direct mail. But I don’t know of a deli counter man this side of New York who hasn’t used this up-selling line at least a thousand times a week. Pretty effective marketing, eh?

“Satisfaction Always Guaranteed.”

Heck, you’re going to get stuck with it anyhow if it comes back, might as well be a nice guy and say this right up front. It’ll increase your sales.

“Kindest regards,”

I sign off of every letter this way. Kinda’ nice, don’t you think?

---Source: Jeffrey Dobkin is a copywriter, a speaker, and direct marketing consultant. Call for his free instructional booklet of direct marketing tips: 610/642-1000 or visit his Web site at www.dobkin.com