http://www.isnare.com/?s=author&a=Alan+Sharpe Marketing Alan Sharpe Mon, 31 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=62441&ca=Marketing The number-one advantage of dimensional mailers is that they get noticed. Amidst the #10 envelopes, postcards and other traditional mail that your prospects receive daily, boxes, cylinders and lumpy oversize envelopes stand out. The number-two advantage of dimensional mailers is that they get opened... Writing Alan Sharpe Mon, 31 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=62918&ca=Writing Fundraising letters are about people. People talk. So your fundraising letters should include the voices of people. In a novel, the characters come alive only after you hear them talk. What they say, how they say it, when they say it, where they say it, and to whom they say it, deepens the meanings... Marketing Alan Sharpe Mon, 31 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=64059&ca=Marketing Two of the greatest challenges for a company doing direct mail sales lead generation are getting attention and creating attractive offers. A compelling package with a poor offer will flop. And a poor package with a compelling offer won’t even get opened. One advertiser who managed to both grab atten... Writing Alan Sharpe Mon, 31 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=64582&ca=Writing Back in 1985, which I now realize is more than 20 years ago, a homeless man stood at the corner of College and Yonge streets, in downtown Toronto, begging for money. This was his cry: “Quarter! Quarter! Dime! . . . Nickel! . . . Eeeeeeeeven a penny will do!” Of all the panhandlers that I met during... Marketing Alan Sharpe Mon, 31 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=65692&ca=Marketing You will succeed at business-to-business direct mail sales lead generation if you master three calculations, and your response rate is not one of them. Your response rate tells you only a small part of what you are doing correctly. I am assuming that you have a sales force, and that you use what is... Writing Alan Sharpe Mon, 31 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=66270&ca=Writing Successful fundraising letters are exciting to read. They take you to crack houses, battlefields, logging protests, prisons, floods and other places you will never set foot yourself. Effective donation request letters show you the organizations you support engaged on the front lines in the battle to... Marketing Alan Sharpe Sat, 08 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=58835&ca=Marketing I once wrote a direct mail piece that generated a dreadful response rate. It was too high. My client was a brand new stadium in Canada’s capital city, Ottawa. The stadium featured luxury suites that businesses could rent or lease to entertain prospects and clients, host corporate parties and reward... Writing Alan Sharpe Sat, 08 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=59444&ca=Writing How would your next fundraising letter perform if Agatha Christie wrote it? “Alan,” you’re whispering, “Agatha Christie is dead.” “I know,” say I. “But I’m trying to make a point here. So bear with me.” Agatha Christie is the world's best-known mystery writer and, apart from William Shakespeare, is... Writing Alan Sharpe Wed, 21 Jun 2006 00:00:00 +0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=54888&ca=Writing When is the best time to recover a lapsed donor? Before they lapse. Using a “pre-lapsed donor letter.” I heard recently of a non-profit organization that mails a special letter to all donors who are at risk of lapsing. This organization has found that pre-lapsed donor letters are effective at preven... Marketing Alan Sharpe Wed, 21 Jun 2006 00:00:00 +0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=55864&ca=Marketing The best guarantee to offer your direct mail buyer is one that hurts. You, that is. Like you, your potential buyer lives in a rip-off society where merchants sell shoddy products and vendors do not honour their promises. In this kind of selling and buying climate, the best way to increase response r...