Copyright 1998 Carol Ann Waugh

1. Lead with the most important benefit your product offers to teachers.
   
2. Expand upon the benefit. Since the first paragraph should be short, the second should emphasize why this benefit is important.
   
3. Tell the readers specifically what they will get when they respond.
   
4. Prove the value the teacher will receive by adding a testimonial from another teacher or a very brief case study of a customer school.
   
5. Tell the teachers what they will lose if they don't act now. You need to motivate teachers to respond quickly. Perhaps offer something for free.
   
6. Summarize your entire offer. Repeat the benefit - state why the teacher will be better off buying your product.
   
7. Close. Tell the teacher exactly what to do to buy your product now. Send in the enclosed reply card? Call immediately? Fax in their order?
   
8. Add a P.S. Repeat your offer and again, ask the teacher to act quickly.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
This article was written by Carol Ann Waugh, President of Xcellent Marketing, a marketing and new business development firm specializing in the educational and library market. Xcellent Marketing offers a variety of marketing services to help publishers increase their revenues and profits from identifying new markets, providing critiques of web sites and marketing communications such as direct mail, catalogs, advertisements, etc. as well as developing effective traditional as well as Internet-based marketing plans. Carol can be reached at (303) 388-5215 or at cwaugh@xcellentmarketing.com.