June 17

John Carlton’s Best Ads: Your Personal Invitation

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I love to do “personal invitations”. It’s the ultimate use of personalization. You don’t have to make the piece “look” like a real invitation, but you can. I haven’t tested this option, but my gut tells me a little ostentatious “wedding invite” detail would boost readership.

More ”take away” stuff, too: The public is NOT invited, and it’s “once in a lifetime”.  Only the first 50 to respond will be allowed in.

When you have that kind of power — an event you KNOW the reader will be interested in (because this went to the house list of hottest names)– you don’t need to go overboard with your copy. The compelling nature of the event carries the workload.  That’s why I immediately went into the details of the deal, right there on page one.

Important: When you hold live events, you must overcome many more objections in the reader’s mind than you do when selling a simple product. They don’t want to have to fly somewhere, find a hotel, find transportation to and :from, dress up, feed themselves, etc. The money is one thing — but the hassle of doing anything live (especially in a strange city) can be daunting.

So, you’re making a sales pitch about the quality of the event… the value of the price… and the value of the experience. Don’t skip that part.

Just as important: Don’t let the reader think he has to have a certain level of expertise, if it’s not required. You don’t want to lose anyone because they “assumed” they were either too experienced… or not experienced enough… to get true value.


Click here to see the “Your Personal Invitation” ad.

(It will open in a new window or tab, so you can toggle between the ad and Carlton’s commentary.)


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