Direct Mail Catalogs & Brochures: Write Captions That Sell

Many prospects skim through catalogs and brochures, glancing at the photos and reading the accompanying captions only when a particular image arouses their interest. That's when you have their attention. And so that's when you sell them.

My advice for writing captions is to never describe what readers can see for themselves in your photo.

If your photo shows a man in a golf shirt, for example, don't place a caption beneath the photo that simply says "New Golf Shirt." Instead, write a subhead that communicates a benefit that the reader cannot see, one that the photographer could never capture. Write something like this:

NEVER A HOLE IN ONE: Our new Glengarry Golf Shirt features a Teflon fabric protector that forms an invisible shield around fibers for superb protection against tears and punctures.

My second piece of solicited advice (you subscribed to the newsletter, after all) is to start your captions, whenever possible, with a pithy intro phrase. In five words or fewer, capture the essence of what you are saying with a clever word play, like the one above. Here's another example.

My local newspaper ran a story about the problem that my city is facing this summer with some homeowners watering their lawns every day when they should be watering every other day to conserve water. The story was illustrated with a photograph of a city bylaw officer, in uniform, at the door of a homeowner who was in the very act of breaking the bylaw. The photo caption began:

LAWN ORDER: Bylaw Enforcement Officer Jack Phillips issues a warning to homeowner . . .

That caption put a smile on my face and forced me to read the story. Your captions and subheads will do the same if you make them clever, interesting and laden with benefits that interest your readers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alan Sharpe is a business-to-business direct mail copywriter and lead generation specialist who helps business owners and marketing managers generate leads, close sales and retain customers using business-to-business direct mail marketing. Learn more about his creative direct mail writing services and sign up for free weekly tips like this at http://www.sharpecopy.com.

Washington State Lottery is selecting new advertising agency
Bizjournals.com, NC - 2 hours ago
The finalists for the contract were Dave Syferd & Partners and Jones Advertising, Interpublic Group’s TM Advertising and Omnicom Group’s DDB. ...

Good Life China (GLCC) Completes Advertising Production
FOXBusiness - 5 hours ago
... (GLCC) http://www.goodlifechina.com/ is pleased to announce that it has finished production on a multi-media advertising campaign that will include TV, ...

CNET News
Google cautions regulators factor into Yahoo deal
MarketWatch - 1 hour ago
Yahoo sought out its advertising partnership with Google as a means to bolster its sales and help stave off an unsolicited acquisition offer made by ...
Google says Yahoo online advertising deal to begin soon Direct Traffic Media
Google to Start Yahoo Deal by October, Schmidt Says (Update4) Bloomberg
Google & Yahoo Ad Deal Set for October Launch Search Engine Journal
The Daily Deal (subscription) - ClickZ Newsall 59 news articles

Indiatimes to start mobile advertising service by year-end
Business Standard, India - 8 hours ago
Com is planning to launch an advertising service on mobile phones by the end of this year. "The service 'Adringles' is based on ring back tone medium which ...

24dash
Rightmove Net Income Increases on Gain in Advertising Revenue
Bloomberg - 13 hours ago
Rightmove is taking advertising business from local and regional newspapers by charging less and about 90 percent of all new and existing homes for sale in ...
Rightmove’s profits rise as advertisers head to the web Telegraph.co.uk
'Major downturn' for property market ITN
Rightmove gains as home sellers gravitate to the net Finance Markets
all 10 news articles

Banks outran their advertising budget
Adevărul, Romania - 7 hours ago
Last years’ banking system development effects can be seen in advertising industry. Each banking institution has earmarked increasingly budgets. ...

The benefits of advertising
SmartBrief, DC - 3 hours ago
Advertising Age (08/25) Want to dig deeper? SmartBrief brings you news, research, and other information related to this issue. To track this topic, ...
Tips and checklists from search engine optimization expert SmartBrief
all 11 news articles

FROM ADVERTISING SECTION
San Jose Mercury News,  USA - 3 hours ago
By WHEELBASE COMMUNICATIONS Hyundai thinks a little smaller: As if Hyundai s sub-compact Accent isn t small enough, the Korean automaker is seriously ...

From an advertising section
San Jose Mercury News,  USA - 3 hours ago
Saab s size matters: It has been a fairly standard practice in the automotive industry to make every new iteration of a model slightly larger than its ...

DailyTech
Microsoft web browser that covers its tracks could hit Google’s ...
Times Online, UK - Aug 27, 2008
Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft are fighting for bigger shares of the world’s internet advertising market, which is estimated to be worth $40 billion a year ...
Internet Explorer 8’s InPrivate Could Block Advertising Wired News
Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 Goes 'Porn Mode' Red Herring
Microsoft's Explorer 8 boasts 'InPrivate' mode Irish Times
AdAge.com (subscription) - IT Business Edgeall 881 news articles

Wind Chimes and more...

Windchimes for great gifts!

Avoid The Big Advertising Mistakes