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Best Bang for the Buck ... Press Release or Sales Letter

by The Niche Man
13 replies
This is a question that was posed to me by a client, so I'll pass it on to the experts and give him the link to this thread.

He has $2,000. He wants to know if he would get the best bang for his buck by hiring a copywriter to write a press release or a sales letter ... all-things-being equal.

It's a new hair conditoning product for braids. It all natural and it last longer than other brands on the market because of a special ingredient he came up with. He's a chemist not a marketer.

Thanks for your input.
#bang #buck #letter #press #release #sales
  • Profile picture of the author premiumonlinewriting
    Hi Niche Man. The answer is, it depends.

    For starters, a good press release can be done cheaper than a good sales letter. In fact, with $2000 to spend it doesn't even need to be an either/or scenario.

    But it also depends on where his business is right now. Is it a brand new start-up? Does no one know his business exists except his dog and his aunt, or does he already have a 10,000 strong email list?

    A sales letter is only useful if you have the traffic-pulling capacity to put eyeballs on it. The best sales letter ever written won't sell much if only 10 people read it each month.

    A press release is useful for building buzz, getting media coverage, and generally 'getting the word out.'

    But it's impossible to say what the ROI will be on each one without knowing the context. There's not really an 'all-things-being equal' comparison to make because it's apples and oranges. A press release builds exposure, a sales letter converts prospects to buyers.
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    • Profile picture of the author The Niche Man
      Originally Posted by premiumonlinewriting View Post

      Hi Niche Man. The answer is, it depends.

      Is it a brand new start-up? Does no one know his business exists except his dog and his aunt, or does he already have a 10,000 strong email list?
      Yes, it's a new start up. No mailing list. Stating from scratch.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Sales letter.

    Press release goes out once. Maybe people see it, maybe they don't.

    Sales letter can be sent multiple times. It's reusable.

    Press release is a fire-and-forget solution.

    Sales letter delivers a targeted message over and over again and is designed to drive qualified inbound leads to you -- if not sell them outright. Your client could be using it 10 years from now, if it turned out to be effective.

    Press release loads a one-time message of awareness into a blanket broadcasting system -- which people may never see. And then it's gone.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve The Copywriter
      A press release might create some "awareness" but it's completely unpredictable if it will produce any sales.

      So, definitely a good sales letter.

      Sent directly to the target audience to bring in an immediate response, sales and profits.

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author The Niche Man
        Originally Posted by Steve Copywriter View Post

        A press release might create some "awareness" but it's completely unpredictable if it will produce any sales.

        So, definitely a good sales letter.

        Sent directly to the target audience to bring in an immediate response, sales and profits.

        Steve
        His ultimate goal is to get into retail stores. He wants to spend most of his time creating and managing as opposed to marketing directly. At least that's my take initially.
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        • Profile picture of the author Steve The Copywriter
          Ok - I see what you mean.

          But it's the same strategy.

          A really good sales letter to the retailers and retail buyers.

          It might be easier starting with independent retailers because they can decide much quicker.

          When the sales are good - then the majors will want to get in.

          Betting your client would rather have the big retailers asking him - rather than him asking them.

          Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author TopKat22
    Sales letter for sure.

    You can get a PR done for much less.

    Do both, but if I had to choose one, it would be a sales letter on a webpage with an optin hooked to an autoresponder and build a list for sure.

    BTW, I had a friend who paid for PR's and I always wrote my own and posted them on fastpitchnetworking.com.

    Mine got picked up by at least 20 high profile news sites and I got thousands of hits from them and requests for interviews etc.

    Hers never got picked up and fell out real fast. So she asked me to write one for her. It got her 9 radio interviews and was highly active online for over 6 months and thousands of hits to her site. Who know how many other things then came about because of the 9 radio interview.
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  • Profile picture of the author Pusateri
    He's going to need some place to send any traffic generated by a press release, so the sales letter should come first. Press releases can generate initial interest, but they seldom close the sale. Need some kind of actual sales copy to do that.

    Tend Skin might be a good model. It's a formulation for razor bumps invented by a dentist. They concentrated on getting into salons and catalogs, as well as getting mentions in beauty mags.

    If you look at all the copy spread across the various pages of their site, it amounts to a full blown sales letter.

    Below the fold on this page are links to all the press mentions they received as a result of their press releases.
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  • Profile picture of the author debml
    I agree with Pusateri on the product positioning. I was thinking of Bumble & Bumble as an example. Some of their products are now available in retail stores, but initially, they were only available through salons, and that is still the only place where I can get their $32 magic potion.

    Women are funny about their hair care products... I think someone who invests time and money to have their hair braided probably is somewhat more likely to rely on the recommendation from the person who does their hair, especially since braids require different care than other hairstyles.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeyDreamboat
      Holy ****, are people getting paid $2,000 to write a press release?
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      • Profile picture of the author The Niche Man
        Originally Posted by MikeyDreamboat View Post

        Holy ****, are people getting paid $2,000 to write a press release?
        Not necessarily, that's his initial budget for a sales letter and or Press Release. Naturally he's not paying more than he should. But he may contact a Warrior in this thread for further clarification and details. He'll read this thread soon.
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        • Profile picture of the author MikeyDreamboat
          Originally Posted by The Niche Man View Post

          Not necessarily, that's his initial budget for a sales letter and or Press Release. Naturally he's not paying more than he should. But he may contact a Warrior in this thread for further clarification and details. He'll read this thread soon.
          Let him know I'll do the press release half off at $1k.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jennie Heckel
    Hi,

    I would split the investment up like this...

    1. Use part of money to do a short optin, to giveaway a free report.

    2. Write a free report, 7 to 10 pages with link to sales letter.

    3. BUILD A LIST to market to over and over again.

    4. Do a landing page style/sales letter for sales to test the market.

    5. Do a Facebook page for traffic to send to the sales letter.

    6. Save some money for seo and for traffic generation to send to the optin and the sales letter.

    7. Be sure you split test the market first with a shorter landing page to see what keyword phases and ads convert with a smaller investment, then when you know what converts roll this out to a longer sales letter/video etc.

    Good luck!
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