James,

Thanks for the great ideas.

I believe I got on the wrong track with this card by trying for a "I've been trying to reach you" type message as suggested by Roy Preece's AdSalespeople newsletter (That's not the right name, but it was a resource Gordon mentioned last week if you remember that.) I just hit a blank wall trying to do that, and ended up with a lifeless message. Maybe I just didn't "get" his concept. Oh, well...

Thanks for the super ideas and I will work on the headlines.

Best Wishes,

Jim Erskine

> Jim,

> I would start out by changing your
> "re." line. This is actually your
> headline, and "Small Town Tourism
> Ideas!" just doesn't cut it. Fact is,
> they really don't want any small town
> tourism ideas, they want tourists.
> (Actually, that's not even what they want,
> but it's a lot closer.)

> If I were writing it, I would come up with
> at least 50 headlines to choose from. So
> something like "re.: How to get
> tourists to spend money locally,"
> "You can instantly learn to pack
> tourists into your town," "How to
> make your town a tourist magnet almost
> overnight" or "Learn how to
> quickly and easily pull tourists into your
> town." OK, those are bad, I admit it,
> but it takes a lot of work, and I'm lazy.
> The idea is get their attention with the
> main benefit you have to offer them, making
> it personal.

> You may not be able to do this, but I have
> had great postcard results using this
> technique: On the message side of the
> postcard, personalize the salutation
> ("Dear Mr. Smith," "Dear
> Jim," etc.) Then personalize the re:
> line, "re.: How you can make Podunk a
> tourist trap." You could print the
> cards yourself using a merge document. Get
> heavy card stock, print full sheets four up,
> both sides, then cut them with a paper
> cutter.

> Of course, if you are buying labels, that
> might be a problem. But if you are getting
> names on disk, it would be a snap. And your
> results would soar.

> I don't think an email address is good
> unless it ties in to your offering nicely.
> For instance, [email protected] .
> I have had the best results by asking them
> to fax the card. The phone is good also.

> I don't like the sound of "Small Town
> Tourism Ideas!" Maybe just "Small
> Town Tourism" would be better. Maybe
> "Tourism Gold." I could be wrong
> about it though.

> You are probably trying to communicate too
> much in your body copy. Think about
> something simple, but compelling like this:

> "There's no reason Podunk couldn't pull
> in money-spending tourists like crazy. I
> have a FREE, no-obligation copy of Small
> Town Tourism Ideas! reserved in your name.
> Fax this card today to
> _________________________ or call
> _____________________ and leave your name
> and address. I'll hold your copy for five
> days, so go ahead and call right now before
> you forget."

> I'm too sleepy to clean this post up
> properly, but maybe you can get one good
> idea out of it.

> Good luck,

> James