Catalog Doctor: The Lost Art of Effective Cataloging
5. Analyze and Communicate Benefits, Benefits, Benefits
Possibly the most important and most broken rule. Why? It requires thinking (which I see displayed less and less nowadays). But the more thinking you do, the more your copy can zero in on relevant benefits — and the better your sales. First-thought copy doesn't sell as well as deeply thought-out copy. Merchants and marketers must think about:
Susan J. McIntyre is Founder and Chief Strategist of McIntyre Direct, a catalog agency and consultancy in Portland, Oregon offering complete creative, strategic, circulation and production services since 1991. Susan's broad experience with cataloging in multi-channel environments, plus her common-sense, bottom-line approach, have won clients from Vermont Country Store to Nautilus to C.C. Filson. A three-time ECHO award winner, McIntyre has addressed marketers in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, has written and been quoted in publications worldwide, and is a regular columnist for Retail Online Integration magazine and ACMA. She can be reached at 503-286-1400 or susan@mcintyredirect.com.