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Is a Sales Letter the same thing as an Article?

by Lance K
14 replies
I must have missed something big. I just got an email promotion and the sender was trying to pass a sales letter off as an article. I must have slept through the day where they became one in the same.

I opened the email because the subject was of interest. When I opened it, the email was about the same topic somewhat, but no mention specifically of the thing that was in the subject that got me to open the email.

So anyway, I'll check out the sales page to see if it deals with the subject matter that piqued my interest. But if I do happen to purchase anything, I'm clearing my cookies and buying direct from the merchant. I'm not rewarding somebody with an affiliate commission if they won't be a little more straight forward. Am I being to hard on the guy?
#article #letter #sales #thing
  • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
    If the person is trying to pass off a sales letter as an article then they are misleading you, so no, you're not being too harsh on the guy. Though you may want to drop him a short note on why he / she lost the sale.

    RoD
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    • Profile picture of the author Lance K
      Originally Posted by Rod Cortez View Post

      If the person is trying to pass off a sales letter as an article then they are misleading you, so no, you're not being too harsh on the guy. Though you may want to drop him a short note on why he / she lost the sale.

      RoD
      God idea, Rod. Maybe I will drop him a note about why he would have lost the sale. Turns out the product being promoted wasn't that closely related to the subject of the email either. Which might have been ok if he had even made mention in the email body of what was in the subject line and at least made an effort to draw a link between the subject line and what he was promoting. It was a pretty lazy & poorly thought out broadcast that just happened to have a pretty good subject line.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brannigans
    Key to email marketing is to match the title with the content. Just like the sales videos that promise to teach you how to do something and then it turns out you got to buy into whatever they are selling to get the promised content.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mary Davis
    Not at all -- you're giving him/her a valuable lesson in consumer education. Sounds like he broke the smart marketer's guidelines on several levels.

    1. Make Sure Your Email Content Lives Up to the Topic of Your Subject Line
    2. Offer Valuable Content within the Body of Your Email - Don't Just Sell
    3. Ensure that What You Are Linking to/Selling Actually SERVES the Needs of Your Audience
    4. Treat Your List Like PEOPLE -- Not Your Personal ATM
    5. Realize that Authenticity & Trust Bring You Loyalty (& Sales); 'Bait & Switch' Gets You a Bunch of "Unsubscribes" (and people who buy the product directly from merchant instead of through your link!)

    So no, I don't think you're being hard on him at all. Use your hard-earned dollars to reward marketers who do it right, and withhold them from those that treat you like a lemon to be squeezed of every dollar they can get from you.
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  • Profile picture of the author NicoleBeckett
    Originally Posted by Lance K View Post

    Am I being to hard on the guy?
    No. Unfortunately, this guy proved he's not trustworthy. First, he made promises in the subject line, and then didn't apparently deliver on them. Then, he made you think you were getting an article (something that's informative and helpful) and hit you over the head with a sales pitch. It's no different than sitting down to watch your favorite TV show, seeing the opening credits roll, and then having the actors pitch products instead of having a legitimate storyline :p
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  • Profile picture of the author Curtis2011
    I've seen material before that would qualify as both an article and a sales letter.

    The best one I can think of is some old David D/Eben Pagan material in the dating niche.

    What he did was write an article titled "The 7 Biggest Mistakes Men Make In Dating" or something similar.

    Then you list out the 1 thru 7 mistakes, and make a high quality article.

    But the kicker is that the #7 mistake is always "Not Getting Help" and then it sells you on how his products can help you with your dating problems, and then gives you a link to those products where you can buy them.

    So yes, it's possible to have an article be a sales letter.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by Lance K View Post

      Am I being to hard on the guy?
      NO.

      Rewarding mediocrity only breeds more mediocrity.
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    • Profile picture of the author Lance K
      Originally Posted by Curtis2011 View Post

      I've seen material before that would qualify as both an article and a sales letter.

      The best one I can think of is some old David D/Eben Pagan material in the dating niche.

      What he did was write an article titled "The 7 Biggest Mistakes Men Make In Dating" or something similar.

      Then you list out the 1 thru 7 mistakes, and make a high quality article.

      But the kicker is that the #7 mistake is always "Not Getting Help" and then it sells you on how his products can help you with your dating problems, and then gives you a link to those products where you can buy them.

      So yes, it's possible to have an article be a sales letter.
      I've seen those before too. This wasn't even close to that though.
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  • Profile picture of the author pingsters
    Banned
    No Both are different. Sales letter goes like this

    Intro/ Problem,
    Your Solution,
    Benefits of your solution,
    Bonuses.

    Not 100% sales letter goes like this but this is the general structure. Article is totally different.

    Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author clever7
    Originally Posted by Lance K View Post

    I must have missed something big. I just got an email promotion and the sender was trying to pass a sales letter off as an article. I must have slept through the day where they became one in the same.

    I opened the email because the subject was of interest. When I opened it, the email was about the same topic somewhat, but no mention specifically of the thing that was in the subject that got me to open the email.

    So anyway, I'll check out the sales page to see if it deals with the subject matter that piqued my interest. But if I do happen to purchase anything, I'm clearing my cookies and buying direct from the merchant. I'm not rewarding somebody with an affiliate commission if they won't be a little more straight forward. Am I being to hard on the guy?
    An article gives you information about something.

    A sales letter is an attempt to convince you to buy something without giving you any lesson.

    Many people send you email messages with offers instead of sending you information.

    I believe you were hoping to receive information instead of an offer.

    So what? This happens all the time.

    I have opened many messages with interesting titles to discover that the interesting title was related to something I had to buy.

    You shouldn't react this way.
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    • Profile picture of the author Curtis2011
      Originally Posted by clever7 View Post

      A sales letter is an attempt to convince you to buy something without giving you any lesson.
      That's a bad sales letter.

      All the good sales letter formulas I've seen include an "educate the customer" section.
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    • Profile picture of the author Lance K
      Originally Posted by clever7 View Post

      An article gives you information about something.

      A sales letter is an attempt to convince you to buy something without giving you any lesson.

      Many people send you email messages with offers instead of sending you information.

      I believe you were hoping to receive information instead of an offer.

      So what? This happens all the time.

      I have opened many messages with interesting titles to discover that the interesting title was related to something I had to buy.

      You shouldn’t react this way.
      I wasn't hoping to receive anything. I opened the message because I had subscribed to his list and his subject line piqued my interest when I was checking my new handy dandy promotions tab in gmail.

      I knew dang well it was likely a promotion. And that's what I was expecting because it's an email list of an internet marketer.

      The problem was this guy went out of his way to say it was an article. Which made me think maybe I was wrong in thinking that it was a promotion and that he was just passing on a good article. No big deal either way because the subject line piqued my interest.

      The bigger issue was that the email body didn't deliver on what the subject talked about. So whether it was a plug for an article or an affiliate product didn't really matter anyway. He just made himself seem extra lazy/sloppy/dishonest when he called the promotion an article.
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      "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
      ~ Zig Ziglar
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  • Profile picture of the author mianfarhanraza
    not at all
    A sales letter is use to persuade the reader to purchase a particular product or service unlike an article is use easy way to promote your products or services without spending a dime. so there a difference
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