19 golden rules for writing copy for newsletters and leaflets that involves and persuades people (27 Sep 06)

One of the UK’s top experts reveals all

1. Understand your audience – you can’t write convincingly to a stranger

2. Vary your copy for different groups if you can: it almost invariably pays

3. Have a clear objective

4. List all the questions your audience might have – and make sure you answer them

5. Give every reason why they should do what you want – and deal with every likely objection

6. Write to a person – not to a list. i.e. make it personal and human as if you were talking to someone, not cold and officious

7. Do not worry if it’s long – make it interesting and your audience will read it

8. Don’t over-enthuse – don’t say “exciting” or “fantastic” if it isn’t.

9. Be honest – it pays!

10. Think of a picture that will bring your story to life

11. Use Courier font for letters – it’s impossible to get more than 80 characters per line. A maximum of 60 characters is better

12. Use Roman type for body copy in advertisements, newsletters, brochures & posters

13. Never use Sans Serif …

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